Living: Diet of the Hour

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Taking it off the Scarsdale way

In fashionable restaurants such as Manhattan's "21" Club and Washington's Duke Zeibert's, an inordinate number of customers appear to be feasting-or fasting, as the case may be-on the same simply prepared dish. Fish if it happens to be Monday night, beef on Tuesday, lamb if Wednesday. Peculiar? Not to these diet devotees. They are merely following the latest popular weight-loss regimen: the Scarsdale Diet.

Originally devised 19 years ago for his patients, the diet is the brainchild of Dr. Herman Tarnower, 69, a Scarsdale, N.Y., cardiologist and internist. Mimeographed copies of his diet gradually made the rounds of local country clubs, were lent by enthusiasts to friends in other parts of the country and were eventually taped on refrigerators from New York to California. Not surprisingly, the good doctor was prevailed upon to write a book, padding his original diet with 244 pages of familiar advice and additional menus. The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet (Rawson, Wade; $7.95), whose cover boasts, LOSE UP TO 20 POUNDS IN 14 DAYS AND KEEP THEM OFF, has sold some 270,000 copies since it was published last January.

"My diet is simple and time has proved it safe," explains Tarnower. "People are willing to put up with the discipline and deprivation necessary because they know it works." The discipline is strict indeed. No alcohol, no snacks (except raw carrots and celery), no sugar, no oils. The dieter must follow, for two weeks at a time, a day-by-day menu that allows no substitutions. At least by the dieter. Tarnower himself changed the menus somewhat when he wrote his book. For example, the dinner that the original followers most dreaded (cottage cheese, eggs and cooked cabbage) has been changed to roast chicken, spinach, green peppers and string beans.

Tarnower's formula is merely the latest variation on the familiar high protein-low carbohydrate regimen. Although food quantities are not specified, the doctor believes that most Scarsdale dieters average 1,000 or fewer calories a day. Many naturally complain of lassitude and find that their weight loss is only temporary. But others, like Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, who lost 40 Ibs. on two two-week stints, are more than satisfied. The diet, he says, is "a thing of beauty." It is also, unquestionably, the diet of the hour. Some socialites with no weight problems at all are following it simply because it is chic. "Everyone's been on it," declares a Chicago hostess. Donna ("Sugar") Rautbord. "I believe its appeal is its popularity."