French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
FIRST IMPRESSION
The secret of eating for pleasure, and still keeping a slim figure…..
This book presents many of the reasons why American women today have problems maintaining a healthy weight. It may be an eye‐opener for some, a reminder of what they already know for others, but the point of this book is that there is no magic, other than the magic that comes out of eating food that’s good for you, controlling your portions and putting exercise in your life everyday.
Some of the points the book makes in particular:
Rid your home of “the usual suspects” i.e., the fattening foods that are far too tempting to keep within easy reach
Make food preparation a ritual ‐ enjoy the selection of what you buy and the way you prepare it
Drink plenty of water, especially first thing in the morning
Keep a small, healthy snack with you at all times just in case you get a craving for something that would not be good for you
Walk everyday
Enjoy what you eat
Drink wine in moderation
Do any of these points sound familiar? Most likely they do. Most of us do know what we should eat, and how much. We also know that we should put activity in our lives every day. This book reminds us of these things, and in a simple, direct way.
A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD
There is nothing about this book that says French women are “better” than American women. It is more about the differences in attitude. At one point Ms. Guiliano talks about how she had put on twenty pounds after moving to the U.S. , and that this is what motivated her to get help from a physician she refers to as “Doctor Miracle”. She goes on to say that what this doctor did was to remind her of what she had learned as a girl growing up in France. How to approach food, how to make it a pleasant part of life without going overboard, and without including fast‐foods and snack foods that are full of fat, additives and sodium.
The book offers a three month plan to change your thinking about food, and how to achieve a healthier lifestyle. One of the things I like most about the author’s philosophy is that this is not a “diet program” that has a start and finish date, leaving the dieter with the question of “what do I do now?” at the end.
Instead, this book is about how to live in a society that surrounds us with all kinds of fattening foods. Let’s face it, a person can gain weight just as easily from eating too much food at a fine dining establishment as they can from a place with a drive‐through. There may be a distinct difference in quality to be sure, but overeating is overeating is overeating. We must teach ourselves to control the portions in front of us.
To do this the book goes on to suggest that we take the food on our plates and divide it in half, and eat that much, slowly and enjoying what we are having. We should aim to not eat the rest, but if we really need to, eat half of the half that remains.
This means we must concentrate on knowing when we are truly hungry, not just eating because it looks good or we think we need to “clean the plate”, etc. This may take practice, but it’s a very good idea.
YEA OR NAY
My own suggestion with this book would be to read it through, try some of the many recipes Ms. Guiliano provides, and eat half of what you would normally put on a plate. Take that walk everyday, add extra water to your diet, and when it comes to drinking wine, make it red if you can, and limit your consumption to two glasses.
I give this book a very high recommendation. If you take what Mireille Guiliano says to heart , you will benefit from a lifelong relationship with your food that is healthy, satisfying, and sans extra weight! One of the highly useful features of this book is that it also features recipes that any woman can handle making. All in all this book has the potential to provide American women with a simple, uncomplicated ways to get the weight off and keep it off.
I purchased my copy of “French Women Don’t Get Fat” at Barnes & Noble. This book is available at many other retail outlets, both online and in-store.
Read more about Ms. Guiliano at her website:
I love the philosophy of this book! Love what you eat – but be in control of how much! We can all learn something about keeping trim from French women. They don’t have the weight issues we have here in the U.S.
I saw this book and it looked so interesting! Now I have to buy it and put it to use! Thank you for the review!
I read this book and have tried some of the recipes. The hardest part is cutting your portions in half. We’re used to this pile of food on our plates and it’s hard to see anything less in front of you. I have to admit that if you stay with it, you get results. What we should see as normal we are seeing as small and it amazed me to think about how much food I was putting into my body that I did not need. It’s kind of gross when you think about it.
Some of the advice is good, but if you hate wine and yogurt you’re going to be in trouble! I do like the idea of cutting portions though. The book has a point there. Personally, I think that if anyone wants to use this as a way of losing weight, they should also join your “Health 365″ Nancy. You say a lot of the things this book says, only you say it better in my opinion!
This book is good overall, and I agree that changing our lifestyle here in the U.S. is important. What does happen though is that in this book and lots of others out there the author tells we should not give in to emotional binge eating but doesn’t give us enough suggestions as to how to beat it.
Your program, Nancy, does do that. The best thing about French Women is the recipes. They are awesome. Try the soups!
I agree that this book isn’t all you need. But it is a beginning. I like Nancy’s Health 365, and what’s nice about it is that you can still use this book or whatever else you want to do. I did Nutra Systems for almost a year and it did help me lose, but it was so limiting. I couldn’t do it again.
Just got this book and I really like it! The author make intelligent suggestions, and she reminds me of you, Nancy, when she says that we just need to focus on living healthy and enjoying life.
Thumbs up here!
This gives great advice! I think that she does have a lot in common with you, Nancy, so doesn’t that kind of prove that American women and French women are really alike?