New slimline Nigella strides out in stripes

HAVING dropped from size 16 to 12, Nigella Lawson appeared to be taking precautions against overindulgence yesterday.

She buttoned up her doublebreasted jacket as she headed into lunch at Melbourne restaurant Taxi during the Australian tour for her latest tome, At My Table.

Nigella, 58, says she never diets, attributing her newly svelte figure — accentuated by the stripes of her trouser suit— to yoga classes.

She has also burned off a few calories Down Under defending the more suggestive of her instructions, such as: ‘My empty vessels are ready to be loaded.’ All, she says, are innocently intended.