Gourmet Dieting

Eleven months ago, Tom Donnelly was a big man in Washington. He was a columnist for the Washington Daily News and he weighed 350 lbs. Today he is still a columnist, but hardly a big man; in less than a year, he has lost 175 Ibs. This week, in a series of articles for the Scripps-Howard papers (illustrated by a composite before & after photograph), Tom Donnelly, resolute gourmet, tells how he did it with a minimum of outrage to his taste buds Dieting need not be prolonged torture he says, but it's important "not to let yourself be kidded by the deluge of diet propaganda now flooding the country Dieting . . . is hard work, especially the beginning, when you make the transition from the full dinner pail to the practically empty stomach."

Donnelly's educated palate, which had been responsible for putting the weight on was equally helpful in taking it off. The dull taste of most calorie-free concoctions stimulated him to all kinds of creativeness with garlic and oregano basil and mace. For browning meat without grease: "Put some skim milk in a pan Sprinkle lean veal chops with salt, cinnamon and ginger. Put in the pan, broil basting occasionally." For a sauce for shrimp: "Blend [in an electric mixer] a fresh tomato or two with some fresh or dried basil, a twist of lemon peel a little lemon juice, a sliver of garlic, and dashes of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. Add to this sauce some fresh chopped celery and celery leaves."

Meat is Donnelly's "silver lining of the diet cloud," and he urges dieters to spend their hot-fudge-sundae money on beef If the call of the soda fountain becomes 'too importunate to be ignored, he suggests the following corruption of the banana split: On a banana half (50 calories) arrange a scoop of Spanish cream and pour over the cream a sauce made of either fresh strawberries or black cherries moistened with orange juice."

Like many a dieter before him. Donnelly found that one of the major hazards was the solicitude of his friends. "No matter how brave, persevering and stoical you may be while dieting, your friends are inclined to view you with alarm People who used to tell me they were worried about my health because, after all overweight can kill you, soon started telling me that starvation was a terrible thing and did I really think [I] was all right?"

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