The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet
Encyclopedia
Dieting
Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...
system and accompanying book (The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet plus Dr. Tarnower's Lifetime Keep-Slim Program) by Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Herman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower was a cardiologist and the author of the bestselling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet...
with the co-author Samm Sinclair Baker
Samm Sinclair Baker
Samm Sinclair Baker was the author/coauthor of many how-to and self-help books, most notably The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet which he coauthored with Dr. Herman Tarnower....
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Scarsdale Medical Diet
The Scarsdale Medical Diet specifies a very specific and structured diet that is to be followed exactly for the first 14 days, another 14 day period follows that still specifies certain foods to eat, but is less structured and allows additional foods. A grapefruitGrapefruit
The grapefruit , is a subtropical citrus tree known for its sour fruit, an 18th-century hybrid first bred in Barbados. When found, it was named the "forbidden fruit"; it has also been misidentified with the pomelo or shaddock , one of the parents of this hybrid, the other being sweet orange The...
for breakfast each day is meant to supply enzymes necessary for burning the 700-calorie per day diet. Artificial sweeteners are used in place of sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
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Critics acknowledge that the diet gives quick results but say that weight loss on the plan results simply from the reduced caloric intake, and is mostly water weight that is quickly regained; in addition, critics argue that the diet is so extreme as to be unhealthy. However, many followers of the diet report positive results.
Book
The book, originally published in 1978, received an unexpected boost in popular sales when its author, Herman TarnowerHerman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower was a cardiologist and the author of the bestselling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet...
, was murdered on March 10, 1980, by his long-time lover Jean Harris
Jean Harris
Jean Harris was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia who made national news in 1980 as the defendant in a high-profile murder case of her lover Dr...
, the headmistress of The Madeira School
The Madeira School
The Madeira School is a private, non-denominational preparatory boarding school for girls located in McLean, Virginia, United States. Originally located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., it was founded by Lucy Madeira Wing in 1906 and moved to the Northern Virginia suburb of...
, a fashionable boarding school for high school girls in McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
. The murder was the subject of a 2005 made-for-TV movie called Mrs. Harris
Mrs. Harris (film)
Mrs. Harris is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Phyllis Nagy. The teleplay, based on the book Very Much a Lady by Shana Alexander, focuses on the tempestuous relationship between Herman Tarnower, noted cardiologist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Complete Scarsdale...
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