Abraham marketed it as a complete program whereby users would drink Slim-Fast for breakfast, lunch and a snack, and then eat a “sensible” dinner, for a daily total of 1,500 calories. 4.

The beverage was intended to constitute breakfast and lunch followed by a “sensible” dinner, as its television commercials advised.

A ready-to-drink version appeared in 1989. ... Slim-Fast then got a big break when Oprah Winfrey told her TV audience in 1988 that she had lost 67 pounds with the help of a product called Optifast.

Slim-Fast roared into the weight-loss market in the 1970s, and Mr. Abraham used his fortune to back Democratic candidates and push for Mideast peace. Accessibility statement Skip to main content.

S. Daniel Abraham, a onetime traveling salesman who started a line of weight-loss products led by the popular Slim-Fast diet drinks and who later used his fortune as a major Democratic political ...