Unions claim many youngsters are so thirsty and malnourished that they cannot concentrate on their lessons.

In a disturbing report, they say a constant diet of fatty, unhealthy food is making some pupils too tired and bloated to work.

They say food and soft-drink giants are exploiting children, singling out companies who offer free school equipment in return for tokens from crisp packets and sweet wrappers for particular criticism.

Last night, the Scottish Executive vigorously defended its record in promoting healthy eating in schools.

Ministers are ploughing millions of pounds into free fruit initiatives and breakfast clubs to improve nutrition.

But teachers accused companies of putting profit before children’s health and called for them to be prevented from advertising in schools.

The problem was highlighted by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association yesterday, following research into the quality of nutrition in schools.

Unhealthy food in canteens is having a serious impact on educational attainment, teachers say. Many pupils are seriously dehydrated-because of their addiction to fizzy drinks containing caffeine and arrive at school on an empty stomach, leaving them too lightheaded and hungry to focus on lessons.

Barbara Clark, the union’s assistant general secretary, said: ‘Properly nourished children learn better and have a more disciplined attitude in schools, yet the costing of school meals often makes it difficult for caterers to provide a sufficient range of healthy food for pupils.’

Politicians and teachers are concerned about the role of food and drink companies who run free school equipment promotions and also advertise in schools.

Walkers Crisps has provided more than six million free books to British schools in the last three years, but many believe the scheme has encouraged youngsters to eat more salty snacks.

Mrs Clark said: ‘The role of sponsorship by food and soft- drink companies causes serious concern as this can send conflicting messages to children about less healthy foods and drinks.’

The association will this week send a list of recommendations to the Executive, including reviewing arrangements for awarding school catering contracts to minimise brand name advertising and reducing the amount of fast food in canteens.

Dietitian Gaynor Bussell of the British Dietetic Association said: ‘Schools will consider any way of getting extra cash, but the companies aren’t in it for charity.’

She added: ‘ The body is like an engine.

If it doesn’t get the right fuel, it won’t run as well.’ A spokesman for Walkers Crisps said: ‘We are very conscious of our responsibilities as a company when it comes to advertising and sponsorship. We believe that crisps and snacks form an important part of a healthy, balanced diet.’

A spokesman for the Executive said ministers recognised that healthy eating habits were essential, highlighting its Eating for Health action plan.

He added: ‘It is a farreaching policy to improve Scotland’s diet, with particular focus on youngsters.’ …”

This will be good news for most, since the low-carb diet irritated some people beyond measure. It just annoyed them. Perhaps it was the counter-intuitive nature of the diet - bread was bad, but a 6-foot-diameter pepperoni log was A-OK. Perhaps it was the sudden profusion of low-carb products aimed at desperate faddists. There were low-carb steak sauces, for example. Normal steak sauce: 4 carbs. Low-carb steak sauces: 3 carbs. No one ever put on a pair of pants, felt the waistband bite and thought: I gotta cut down on the steak sauce. So what killed the diet? Well, the South Beach Diet - you eat only the items left on the plate by Miami-based fashion models who lost their appetite after two lines - had hipper graphics. Price gouging by Atkins didn’t help either. One bar of Splenda-infused sawdust? That’ll be $19. In the end, though, most people simply couldn’t see the point of living if it doesn’t involve pancakes and French fries. Period. Next popular diet: the High Fructose Corn-Syrup Diet. You rub it on your skin. You’re too busy scraping off the yellow jackets to eat. …”

“The university was very accommodating in terms of setting up the kitchen,” said certified kosher chef Joel Weinberger, who is the one-man team that supervises the kosher facilities. Although the space is small, only 70 square feet, Caltech pulled out all the stops, stocking the kitchen with all new appliances, utensils, pots and pans.

New equipment made the job of creating a kosher cooking environment much easier, said Weinberger, because there was no need to kosherize used pots and appliances. Used equipment would have to be kosherized through a process depending on the item’s use.

“With a pot, for example, that is normally used to boil water, I would boil water in it and let the water boil over,” Weinberger said. “After sitting idle for 24 hours, the pot would be rendered kosher.

“It’s really a matter of exposing the item to its most extreme use and then letting it sit idle for at least 24 hours,” explained Weinberger.

Weinberger, who is also a certified kosher inspector, prepares between nine and a dozen lunches and dinners for students daily throughout the school term. It’s a small operation, but Weinberger also takes special orders from campus faculty and prepares meals for Orthodox Jews on staff at the nearby Jet Propulsion Lab.

The kitchen, now in its third year of operation, is also accepted as hallal, meaning it meets Muslim dietary requirements as well. Three Muslim students on campus this year are taking advantage of the kosher meal plan.

More than simply maintaining a kosher environment, preparing kosher meals involves following a complex code of what foods are permissible and how they are prepared, said Weinberger. Familiar tenets of the kosher diet include never mixing dairy and meat products in meals, as well as the exclusion of pork and shellfish, but the list of rules is long. Most critical to the kosher diet are the rules that govern how permissible meats are butchered and prepared for consumption, according to dietary laws laid out in the Torah.

Each meal prepared by Weinberger is also specially packaged with a seal from the Rabbinical Council ensuring its kosher content.

Because meat and dairy products must be prepared in separate facilities and he is limited by space, Weinberger maintains a nondairy kitchen, opting to prepare lots of beef, chicken and fish dishes.

The kitchen is kept under lock and key, to ensure its kosher integrity, and Weinberger is always present during meal preparations, as mandated by the Rabbinical Council. The kitchen is also inspected on a regular basis by the council.

“The university staff is extremely devoted to its students,” said Rabbi Nissim Davidi, Kashrut Administrator at the Rabbinical Council. “We are proud to work with this premier institution to provide first-class kosher supervision.” …”

Cutting Dietary Fat is the Key. Dr. Katahn’s theory is really quite simple. He says that if fat is severely restricted in the diet, a person will lose weight regardless of how many calories he eats. The natural reaction to such news is, “You mean I can eat all I want as long as I cut down on fat?” According to Dr. Katahn, the answer is yes.

He cites recent research which suggests two reasons why low-fat diets are important for weight loss.

1. The body is quite efficient at converting dietary fat into body fat, but sadly inefficient at converting dietary carbohydrates into body fat. (See EN December 1987.)

2. Regardless of the diet’s fat content, the body still burns the same amount of fat after a meal, so that if the diet is low in fat, the body turns to fatty deposits for fuel. The Appendix offers a more detailed discussion of the scientific basis for Dr Katahn’s diet, as well as 13 references to back up his statements.

Not Magical. The diet itself is well-balanced with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. And of course, its credo is low fat. The book offers several detailed weekly eating plans with fat counts for each meal, as well as 100 low-fat recipes to try.

What Dr. Katahn never seems to mention in his book, however, is just how difficult it is to keep dietary fat to the levels he advocates: 20 to 40 grams a day for women and 30 to 60 grams for men. To put these gram amounts in perspective, consider that a one-ounce slice of cheddar cheese or a 3-ounce serving of salmon provide about 9 grams of fat; one tablespoon of oil, butter or margarine, 12 grams of fat; 3 ounces regular ground beef, 18 grams. It’s easy to see how quickly fat adds up. Anyone attempting to keep daily fat within The T-Factor Diet’s limits will find it difficult at best.

Good Dietary Advice. While the low-fat levels may not be practical for everyone, the diet is a good one. And the calorie levels are low, even though Dr. Katahn discourages counting calories. (Since fat has 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories for protein and carbohydrate, total calories automatically drop when fat is reduced.) Dr. Katahn also recommends gradually increasing fiber intake and getting plenty of calcium-rich foods.

The book devotes an entire chapter of detailed information to the importance of exercise in losing or maintaining weight. Dr. Katahn is an unabashed convert to fitness himself, having lost 75 pounds 25 years ago and having kept it off.

The book also has a chapter entitled, “The T-Factor Program for Children and Adolescents,” in which Dr. Katahn wisely discourages any type of severely restricted diet. Children, he says, should just enjoy healthful eating.

The Last Word. Though the diet book is sure to sell, there’s really nothing that qualifies it as a “scientific breakthrough” as the book’s jacket declares. And while the diet may be a healthful one, not everyone will be up to the challenge of adhering to the greatly restricted fat intake it calls for. Rating **Borderline Recommended …”

It was one of those life-defining moments for 13-year old Jan Marshall. When she was 7, she went along for the fun of it on a hunting trip with her father and brother. Dad got an antelope, and the guys set about gutting it on the spot. “Gross. It was nasty,” recalls the immediately committed herbivore. It’s been veggies, beans and rice ever since. Jan|s mom still eats meat. But she|s also now a pro at meatless spaghetti sauce, vegetarian pizza and burritos with beans.

Jan Marshall was surely an oddity six years ago when she converted. Today, a lot more parents find themselves preparing dual menus. No one keeps a census of vegetarians, teenage or otherwise. But a survey published in Vegatarian Times magazine a year ago found that 12.4 million Americans considered themselves to be vegetarian, about a third more than the magazine had identified in 1985 - and many experts agree that teens are the fastest-growing segment. Long-time vegetarian Sally Clinton has certainly noticed the interest. Clinton, who speaks on vegetarianism to high-school classes and edits How on Earth!. a quarterly newsletter aimed at vegetarian teenagers, has seen her engagement calendar fill up and her subscriber list grow to 1,500 in the first year of publication. (A subscription, $15 a year, is available by writing PO Box 3347, West Chester, PA 19381.) According to a recent poll of more than 2,100 teens by Teenage Research Unlimited, an Illinois marketing research firm, 1 in 4 thinks being vegetarian is “in.”

Some teens, like Marshall, act out of compassion for animals. Others, newly informed that eating wheat instead of cows spreads the earth’s resources further, make the decision for environmental reasons. Some simply hope to lose weight. Few teens swear off meat because they think giving it up is healthy - and many bemused parents worry that it|s not.

In fact, vegetarian teens who know what they|re doing may come closer to an ideal diet than their older-fashioned folks. Nutrition experts have concluded in recent years that Americans overdose on protein - yes, even kids who seem to grow an inch a minute - as they shortchange themselves on greenery and grains. Men need 63 grams of protein a day and average 90, for example; teenage boys get as much as 40 grams more than they need. The revised Food Guide Pyramid, introduced a year ago by the Department of Agriculture, calls for only two or three servings of protein-rich foods like meat, fish and poultry and another two to three servings of dairy products - a conspicuous switch from the old recommendations for unlimited meat, poultry and dairy foods. Now, the emphasis is on unlimited consumption of breads, of breads, cereals, grains, vegetables and fruits instead.

Still, the growth spurt of puberty makes so many demands on a teenager that most nutritionists advise forgoing the purist vegan vegetarian approach - one that eliminates eggs and dairy products - in favor of an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet that allows both. Robbing the diet of animal protein also threatens to denude it of essential vitamins (particularly [B.sub.12]) and minerals (especially calcium, iron, and zinc) that are found in abundance in meat, eggs and milk products. A lack of vitamin [B.sub.12], which is needed to make blood cells, can result in a rare blood deficiency called pernicious anemia, with symptoms that include such neurological abnormalities as tingling in the fingers and toes. Jan Marshall suffered from bothersome fatigue until she was found lacking in [B.sub.12]. “Now I make sure Jan has a good supplemental vitamin,” says her mother, Kathy Marshall.

Parents of committed teens will certainly find that meal planning takes on a new complexity. The advantage to getting a day|s protein quota from meat and dairy products is that these foods contain “complete” protein - in other words, a serving gives you the whole range of amino acids needed for growth. And the need for these amino acids jumps dramatically after puberty, as teens begin going through height and weight increases unparalleled since their first year of life. While a child between the ages of 7 and 10 needs only 28 grams of protein a day, 15-to-18-year-old boys need 59 grams, and girls 44 grams. Yet the solution for vegetarians is not so simple as loading the menu with grilled cheese or pizza; that|s only likely to raise fat intake to unhealthy levels. For teenagers, as for adults, nutritionists agree that fat should be restricted to 30 percent of total calories.

The right way to complete a teenager’s protein is to mix and match foods artfully: nuts or legumes with grains, grains with milk or yogurt or nuts and seeds with grains, for example. A peanut-butter sandwich on whole wheat bread, a helping of rice and bean casserole and a snack of cheese rolled in nuts all qualify as servings of complete protein. For guidance, beginner vegetarian cooks might consult “The New Laurel|s Kitchen” by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders and Brian Ruppenthal and the classic “Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappe, which was revised in 1991. Parents don’t have to obsess about combining every amino acid at the same meal, which until lately was thought necessary. The various combinations that result in complete protein will be effective as long as they’re made within a 48-hour period.

Teenage girls who carelessly swear off meat are doing so at the worst time. Meat is a convenient source of much of the added iron girls begin needing after menstruation starts; a 6-ounce hamburger provides just under a third of the recommended daily allowance for girls of 15 milligrams. (Boys need 12 milligrams.) A vegetarian can easily get enough iron in beans, peas, lentils, cereals, green leafy vegetables or nuts: A half cut of lentils, for example, has 3.3 mg of iron, a cup of fortified bran flakes 12.4 mg. Dried apricots, avocados and sunflower seeds are iron-rich snacks. But the iron from nonmeat sources is not as readily absorbed as the iron from meat. Because vitamin C taken with these iron-rich foods increases the body’s absorption of iron, nutritionists recommend a serving of orange juice, strawberries, cantaloupe, tomatoes or other food rich in the vitamin with each vegetarian meal.

Perhaps the strongest argument for leaving milk in the diet is that the years between 9 and 20 are the most critical for building up bone mass; once you’ve reached your mid- to late 20s, the accumulation of new bone mass slows considerably. The typical teenage girl gets between 59 percent and 75 percent of the RDA of 1,200 mg of calcium, according to the 1989 National Adolescent Students Health Survey. And recent research suggests that the RDA is not set high enough for teens; some nutritionists believe that to defend against future osteoporosis, teenage boys and girls should get 1,600 mg a day. One cup of milk contains about 300 mg of calcium, and some brands of orange juice are now fortified with the mineral. One-half cup of cooked, frozen spinach provides 139 mg. Most dried beans are also good sources.

Although vegetarian teens do have to pay close attention to squeeze in all the necessary nutrients, most should be able to pull it off without taking vitamin supplements as long as they eat a variety of foods. (Kids who don’t eat eggs or dairy products will need vitamin B[sub.12].) But it probably means there’s no more room for calories that don’t pack a punch. In other words, forget potato chips after school; from now on, it’s tahini spread on crackers.

BREAKFAST

1 wheat and honey bagel 2 tbs natural peanut butter 8 oz. fat-free yogurt 1 cup orange juice

LUNCH

1 whole-wheat pita pocket filled with salad 2 tbs Italian salad dressing 1/4 cup (2% fat) cottage cheese 1 cup trail mix (apricots, raislns, cereal,

sunflower seeds) 1 cup skin milk AFTER-SCHOOL SNACK strawberry-banana milkshake

DINNER

2 cups tabouli (bulgur, broccoli,

red pepper, scallions) 4 pieces melba toast 1 vegetable and cheese omelet 1 1/4 cup fresh strawberries

seltzer, water, or diet soda

EVENING SNACK

1 1/3 cup corn chips, salsa …”

The good news is a diet which lets you eat three square meals, including plenty of burgers, sausages and ice cream.

The bad news is that you have to eat all three meals within two hours and starve for the rest of the day.

The Warrior Diet mirrors the eating habits of our cave-dwelling ancestors, who tended to eat just one hearty meal a day after killing their prey.

Researchers are now carrying out the first detailed study into its success.

Two groups of volunteers, aged between 40 and 50, have been given identical diets of ‘ordinary’ foods including burgers and ice cream.

One group eat at normal meal times and the other eat all three meals between 4pm and 7pm. Whilst most struggle to ‘gorge’ at first they eventually find it suits them more and many have lost weight.

Dr Mark Mattson, chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at America’s National Institute of Ageing, is carrying out the study. Because it is still continuing he cannot produce results but says the early signs are promising.

‘I have had 40 or 50 emails from people who ate one meal a day,’ said Mr Mattson, who follows the same regime himself and boasts a slender frame.

‘Most say it was uncomfortable for the first one or two months, but then they have felt great. Some lost a lot of weight. Some have seen changes in their blood glucose and blood pressure that suggest better health.’ The first group are served a threecourse evening meal, typically soup and bread, roast chicken and vegetables followed by fruit. Breakfast consists of cereal and bread, sometimes accompanied with sausages or eggs, and lunch is soup or salad.

The second group are given the same menu but have to eat it all during one early-evening sitting.

The hours between 4pm and 7pm are chosen because that is when we tend to be hungriest.

Dr Mattson added: ‘From an evolutionary point of view, our bodies are accustomed to feasting and fasting rather than grazing. Three or four meals a day may be good for young people but not for adults.’ Between the gorging hours, the recommended drinks are water and fruit juices. Dieters are advised to minimise alcohol consumption, though the occasional glass of wine or beer is allowed. The Warrior Diet is, however, dismissed as just another gimmick by British nutritionists.

Professor Andrew Prentice of the Medical Research Council’s international nutrition group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said: ‘Metabolically, it looks as though nibbling is a good way to do things. It is much healthier and does not put as much strain on the body taking in so much food all at once.’ And last week a Government adviser warned there is no scientific evidence that fad diets work.

They become popular only because of celebrity endorsements - but cannot back up their claims to produce dramatic weight loss, said Claire Mac Evilly of the Medical Research Council.

ON THE MENU TONIGHT Between 4pm and 7pm dieters eat: DOs AND DON’Ts Don’t * Introduce all tastes, aromas, textures and colours possible into your meals * Detox by minimising on meat intake every few days * Rotate between days of high carbs, high fats and high protein * Exercise * Eat a variety of fruit and vegetables * Stop eating when you feel more thirsty than hungry.

* Drink water and fruit juices during the day.

* Minimise alcohol consumption. An occasional glass of wine or beer is allowed Cereal or bread with eggs or sausage Sandwich or salad Roast chicken and vegetables * Eat meals except between 4pm and 7pm. If hungry eat raw fruit or vegetables * Have ‘wrong food’ combinations such as grain and sugar and carbohydrates and alcohol * Eat foods containing hormones, pesticides, artificial sweeteners and additives * Restrict the amount of food you eat Soup and bread * Avoid any particular food group such as carbohydrates or fats * Count calories

Chuck those low-fat snacks and complex carbohydrates. Proponents of the “Paleolithic diet” say we should eat as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did before the introduction of agriculture.

Bison steaks and roots, anyone?

Here’s the general concept: Humans evolved several million years ago, whereas agriculture dates back only about 10,000 years. Therefore our bodies are still biologically primed to eat berries, roots, vegetables, fish and meat but are not so well adapted to grains and dairy products.

Therefore, for better health (and to lose weight) we should cut back on wheat, corn, milk and cheese and eat more meat, fruits and vegetables - doing our hunter-gathering at the grocery.

Lots of diet gurus have joined the caveman club. There’s “Dr. Citron’s Evolutionary Diet and Cookbook” and “NeanderThin: A Cave Man’s Diet to Nutrition” by Ray Audette. Even Barry Sears, creator of the popular Zone diet, incorporates some of this thinking into his prescription for more proteins and fewer carbs. Upcoming are: “Starch Madness: Paleolithic Nutrition for Today” by Richard L. Heinrich and “Evolutionary Fitness” by Arthur De Vany. (For more information than you can digest in one sitting, try: www.panix.com/(tilde)paleodiet/)

In his best-selling “Eat Right 4 Your Type” (Putnam), Peter J. D’Adamo, a Connecticut naturopath, takes a slightly different approach. D’Adamo believes we should eat according to our blood type. Those with Type O (46 percent of the population and the oldest genetic type) should eat lots of meat with little or no grains or dairy products. Type A (40 percent), which developed after agriculture emerged, should eat vegetarian. Type B (10 percent) can have a varied diet, and type AB (4 percent) are best off eating vegetarian with some meat and dairy.

D’Adamo developed this formula after his father (also a naturopath) noticed that some people didn’t do well even on healthy spa diets. He also found studies that linked blood type to susceptibility to certain diseases or conditions. Certain blood types, he said, promote malabsorption of foods such as gluten, even producing toxic chemicals.

In D’Adamo’s view, only Type O should follow a Paleolithic diet, putting him at odds with the “Paleo people,” plus vegans (strict vegetarians) and traditional nutritionists.

Why have early humans - who didn’t live long or have high standards of grooming - become our culinary models? Nutritionists point to a carbo-loading letdown, and admit their exhortations to eat pasta and whole-wheat bagels have backfired.

Registered dietician Lisa Kaufmann of Londonderry, N.H., said the calls to cut fat “got people in trouble.” While Americans are eating less fat, they’re gobbling down more calories from low-fat foods loaded with sugar.

As for eating like a caveman, unless you exercise like a caveman - chase down elk on your way home - you probably won’t lose weight, said Jeffry Blumberg, Tufts University professor of nutrition.

A real Paleo diet, D’Adamo noted, would be to “eat a Thanksgiving meal one day a week and six days a week have no food.”

Moreover, experts say, we can’t be entirely sure exactly what early humans ate. Bone fragments survive more readily than seeds or vegetables - leaving the impression that early man ate more meat than he really did. “You get a biased picture,” said Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard professor of prehistoric archeology.

Nikolaaf van der Merwe, Harvard professor of scientific archeology, says teeth fragments clearly indicate early humans were omnivorous - our foreparents ate whatever they could hunt down or dig up.

Research on more modern hunter-gatherers indicates, for example, that only 20 percent of the calories in the African bushman diet was from meat, van de Merwe said. It’s true that Eskimos - who have low rates of heart disease - subsist primarily on seal meat and fish. But to get supplementary nutrients, they will devour the contents of a seal’s stomach. Raw. “Keep that in mind,” said Boston University professor of archeology Curtis Runnels.

Still, there is evidence that agriculture was not exactly the best thing for the human diet before sliced bread. Runnels said comparisons of bones and teeth of hunter-gatherers and early farmers shows farmers suffered from periodic starvation. Skeletons suggest the introduction of maize to the North American Mississippian culture stunted growth, van der Merwe said.

Experts agree that eating a wide variety of foods is healthy. Most modern societies rely on only about 14 food groups, whereas the Australian aborigines snacked on more than 200 different plants and animals, Runnels said.

Interest in Paleolithic cuisine may reflect modern fascination with native cultures, goddess worship and achieving a simpler, more natural existence, said Mary Beaudry, who teaches an anthropology of food course at BU.

And our chief obsession remains weight loss: D’Adamo said he first pitched his formula as promoting healthy eating; Putnam editors were more excited by its weight-loss results. Putnam publishes the followup cookbook “Eat Right 4 Your Type” in January.

Harris, 69, has served 11 years, 10 months and six days of her sentence of 15 years to life for the 1980 shooting of Tarnower, her longtime lover. Last week, she suffered her third heart attack in prison, said Shana Alexander, Harris’s confidante and co-author.

Cuomo had denied three previous requests for clemency, despite receiving nearly 25,000 letters and a petition with more than 50,000 signatures on Harris’s behalf, said her attorney, Michael Kennedy.

The governor relented this time, aides said, because of Harris’s failing health and her record of good work in prison.

Harris learned of Cuomo’s action today in a telephone conversation with Aristide Haravon, a cardiologist in Mount Kisco, N.Y., and one of the surgeons who operated on her three hours later.

Haravon said he received a phone call from Cuomo’s office asking him to convey the news if he thought it appropriate just before surgery. He said he decided to do so and phoned her at Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. “She was elated and happy and started crying,” Haravon said. “Then she said, `I can’t believe it.’ ”

After several hours of surgery, Haravon said that Harris had been given four heart bypasses and “so far . . . is doing fine.”

Harris was in intensive care last night after seven hours of surgery. Hospital officials said she would probably be hospitalized for at least 10 days.

Formerly headmistress at the selective all-girls school in McLean, Va., Harris applied her talents to educating fellow inmates and their children at the all-female Bedford Hills Correctional Center, a maximum-security facility in Westchester County.

“Despite her advancing age and emerging medical problems,” Cuomo said in a statement, “Ms. Harris consistently sought to apply her skills as a teacher and educational administrator for the benefit of other inmates and their children.”

Since she was sentenced in March 1981, many people who once judged Harris harshly have concluded that her sentence was excessive. Vito Titone, a judge on New York state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, had voted to uphold Harris’s conviction while a justice in the Appellate Division. Today, he applauded Cuomo’s decision, saying Harris is a threat to no one.

“She was a battered woman, an emotionally battered woman, not a murderer,” Titone said. “Maybe if she were tried today, things would be different. We know more now about battered women.”

Harris has always maintained that she drove to Tarnower’s estate in Purchase, N.Y., with a .32-caliber revolver the night of the murder because she wanted him to kill her. She was nearly deranged, she said, suffering from withdrawal from an amphetamine that Tarnower had prescribed for her for more than nine years. Harris said she was ready to commit suicide that night and simply wanted to say goodbye.

Their affair of 15 years was ending. Tarnower, 69, a bachelor with a profitable cardiology practice, had taken up with his assistant, a younger woman, it was revealed at Harris’s trial. Prosecutors argued that Harris killed Tarnower in a jealous rage.

Testifying on her own behalf, Harris insisted that Tarnower was shot by mistake as the two struggled for control of the gun. At times appearing haughty and argumentative on the witness stand, she failed to convince the jury, which convicted her of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Harris appealed her conviction on grounds that her attorney provided an inadequate defense, failing to present her as an extremely emotionally disturbed defendant. But her appeals failed, and her lone remaining hope for freedom was clemency.

“She had almost given up” after Cuomo rejected clemency three times, Kennedy said in a telephone interview today. “She harbored a tiny glimmer of hope each year . . . then when the hopes were dashed, it hurt all the more.”

Literary and prolific, author of three books while imprisoned, Harris wrote personal letters appealing to Cuomo for her freedom. With each new book, her network of supporters grew, and they deluged Cuomo with letters and petitions.

This year, “I had a confidential source indicate to me that we had some reason for optimism,” Kennedy said. “But I didn’t share that with her. I’m not sure she could have taken the disappointment had it not come through. I’m not sure she could have survived that physically.”

As she awaited surgery, Harris never mentioned the prospect of clemency in a phone conversation Monday night with Alexander, who has become a close friend since she wrote a book about Harris’s trial. A book of Harris’s letters to Alexander describing her life as an inmate was published this year.

“She told me she was frightened,” Alexander said. “And she sounded very, very tired.” Harris “never was based in self-pity,” Alexander said. “She never cried or sobbed. She’s one of those persons who does better in adversity and tends to fall apart when things are going very well.”

Cuomo’s grant of clemency makes Harris immediately eligible for parole. Her 15-year minimum sentence would not have sent her before the parole board for the first time until February 1996.

In most cases, authorities said, the state Board of Parole quickly frees prisoners granted clemency. In Harris’s case, the parole board is faced with an exemplary inmate.

As Prisoner 81-G-98, Harris resided in the facility’s “Honor Block,” reserved for inmates with a record of above-average behavior.

She taught parenting skills to young mothers at the prison’s children’s center. She organized an annual summer program enabling inmates to receive regular visits from their children. Every Friday, she went to a separate ward to visit the mentally ill inmates, playing Bingo with them and washing their hair.

She contributed all proceeds from her books to the Children of Bedford, a foundation she established to provide scholarships to enable inmates’ children to attend some of New York’s finest private schools, her attorney said.

“No matter what you know or how you feel about the events which resulted in her imprisonment,” said Elisabeth Griffith, current headmistress at Madeira, “she gained the admiration of hundreds of people once she was in prison . . . . She took her own gifts into that environment and cared for people.”

Although Harris’s criminal behavior brought the school a degree of infamy, Griffith said, her deeds as an inmate have inspired the school’s students to become involved with prison-support programs, such as those providing babies born in prison with clothing and inmates with cosmetics.

Friends said they anticipate that, even after Harris is freed, she will continue writing about women inmates and their children and working on their behalf. Most likely, she will retire to a small cottage that she bought in rural New Hampshire with royalties from her first book, Alexander said.

With one exception, prison life has changed Harris little, Alexander said. “She once believed that, if you got up on the witness stand and told the truth, the truth would make you free,” she said. “And she doesn’t believe that any more. She’s wised up.”…”

If we ignore this premise, we run the risk of developing ill health and disease. Deficiencies and excessive intake of macro and micro nutrients will reek havoc with your system. And guess what? The food guide pyramid is probably not the answer.

Problems with the Pyramid

Think about it, when are you ever happy with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach? While such a method may be appropriate for some people, there are always those for who it is ineffective.

Eating the wrong food will manifest disease from cancer to digestive disorders and diabetes to heart disease. This is a weakness of any diet out there that does not appreciate that we are biochemically varied beings.

A further cautionary point is the pyramid’s recommended level of grain and cereals intake. The suggested six to 11 servings are potentially dangerous. However, this is a whole other debate. A great book on the topic is ‘The No Grain Diet’ by Dr J Mercola.

Why are we Different?

What is it about us that means we need a different diet to the next person?

In his book “Biochemical Individuality”, Dr R Williams states that the human body is individual in every aspect from size and shape to the cellular level. Our genetics determine these anatomical and physiological variations and relate to our specific nutritional requirements.

Unhealthy vs Healthy

This is where it can get tricky. The fact is that you could be eating what is classically defined ‘healthy’ (fresh, organic, local produce), but is actually not your ideal nutrition.

Your ideal might even be slightly or radically different to your partner or children’s requirements. If this is you, then you are already on the way to achieving your optimal health and you just need to do some fine-tuning.

A Diet Specific to You

Sideline your preconceptions of what is considered classically healthy (often dictated by multinationals).

Raise your body awareness and perception of how you feel during and after you eat.

How does the body respond? If you feel lethargic, sluggish, bloated, aggressive, depressed, then that food may not be for you. What sustains your energy and leaves you satiated, able to concentrate, and makes you happy and emotionally stable?

All too often the above positives are not achieved. The simple fact is that they should and can be.

How to get in tune: Subsequent articles will cover two specific approaches; Metabolic Typing and BioSignature Modulation.

Based on scientific findings, practitioners will work on an individual level to find out what imbalances exist in your body chemistry and function and provide protocols to provide the body with the nutrients required to restore health and maintain ideal body weight.

Remember, your body is asking and waiting for the correct fuel to do its job and grow stronger.All you have to do is supply it. „”