Scarsdale Diet

The Scarsdale Diet started out in the 1970s as a one-page handout written by Dr. Herman Tarnower. Dr. Tarnower was a cardiologist with a practice limited to mostly wealthy businessmen who lived in Scarsdale, New York, a suburb of Manhattan. The diet was a quick way to drop a pound a day, but only if you followed it to the letter.

In 1978, Dr. Tarnower expanded his one-page typewritten sheet into a book that he and his girlfriend, Jean Harris, wrote together. Mrs. Harris once described that they wrote it frantically within a matter of a few days and finished just hours before the publisher’s deadline. They made up recipes that they did not have time to test but included them in the book because they needed to fill space. The book quickly became a best-seller. However, Dr. Tarnower and Mrs. Harris became not only famous but notorious when she shot him to death on March 10, 1980, during a lovers’ quarrel.

The Scarsdale Diet Rules: Have the same breakfast every day. If no amounts are indicated, you can eat as much as you want. Do not use cream or sugar in your coffee or tea and prepare meats without fats, catsup or other sauces. Use only herbs and lemon juice for seasonings and salad dressings. Artificial sweeteners are okay to use on grapefruit and in coffee and tea.

Tarnower, Herman (Dr.) The Complete Scarsdale Diet (New York: Bantam Books), 1982.

Created: 1982

Categories: Low Fat

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