Based on the Book: French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure
The Ultimate Non-Diet Book – by Mireille Guiliano
The #1 national bestseller that launched a fabulous French Revolution about how to approach healthy living.
Unlocking the simple secrets of this “French paradox” – how French women enjoy food while staying slim and healthy.
Only 11% of French people are obese compared to 30% of Americans who are 30 pounds heavier than a healthy weight.
“Years ago I started a French revolution dedicated to helping each American woman live bien dans sa peau. Take your pleasures, have your diversions. Above all, make sure you enjoy yourself.”
A diet that recommends wine, chocolate and cheese – and no-calorie and no guilt?
Oui, says Mireille Guiliano, author of “French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure”
To sum up her recipe for weight loss success:
- Eat high-quality foods in smaller portions
- Choose quality over quantity
- Savor each bite
- Do some physical exercise
- Eat three meals a day at regular times
- Breathe properly
- Keep good posture
Through the diet, Guiliano recommends eating a wide variety of fresh, seasonal vegetables with plenty of good seasonings and herbs. And fish, fruit and liquids – water and soups.
Guiliano recommends eating two servings daily of yogurt, a French favorite. You can have wine or champagne, but not liquor. Sweets are OK in small quantities.
Here is a sample of a spring menu du jour:
Breakfast: Yogurt, cereal with strawberries, bread, coffee or tea.
Lunch: Asparagus flan, green salad, cherry clafoutis without dough, noncaloric beverage.
Dinner: Pea soup, grilled lamb chops, cauliflower gratin, rhubarb compote, a glass of red wine.
Her basic success formula is: eat only good quality food, in small portions, slowly and mindfully. Making small changes to your eating habits and getting regular physical activity, like walking, are the secrets to successful lifetime weight control.
After 3 months of sticking to this meal plan, your new habits should be set – you’re ready to live your French lifestyle.
French women don’t get fat, but they do eat bread and pastry, drink wine, and regularly enjoy three-course meals. In her delightful tale, Mireille Guiliano unlocks the simple secrets of this “French paradox” – how to enjoy food and stay slim and healthy.
The key? Not guilt or deprivation but learning to get the most from the things you most enjoy.
A life of wine, bread-even chocolate-without girth and guilt? Pourquoi pas?
Emphasizing the virtues of freshness, variety, balance, and always pleasure, Mireille shows how virtually anyone can learn to eat, drink and, move like a French woman.
The French Woman’s Manifesto
- French women don’t get fat.
- French women don’t diet.
- French women eat more vegetables.
- French women drink water all day long.
- French women don’t snack all the time.
- French women love to discover new flavors and are always experimenting with herbs, spices, and citrus juices to make a familiar dish seem new.
- French women know l’amour fait maigrir (love is slimming).
- French women take the stairs whenever possible.
- French women think dining in is as sexy as dining out.
- French women eat and serve what’s in season, for maximum flavor and value.
- French women don’t eat fat-free , sugar-free, or anything artificially stripped of natural flavor. They go for the real thing in moderation.
- French women eat with all five senses, allowing less to seem like more.
- French women do enjoy wine regularly, but with meals and only a glass (or maybe two).
- French women eat for pleasure.
- French women never let themselves be hungry.
- French women love to sit at a cafe and do nothing but enjoy the moment.
- French women avoid anything that demands too much effort for too little pleasure.
- French women know one can go far with a great haircut, a bottle of Champagne and a divine perfume.
- French women are stubborn individuals and don’t follow mass movements.
- French women walk everywhere they can.
- French women care enormously about the presentation of food. It matters to them how you look at it.
- French women plan meals in advance and think in terms of menus (a list of little dishes) even at home.
- French women get a kick from Champagne, as an aperitif or with food, and don’t need a special occasion to open a bottle.
- French women eschew extreme temperatures in what they consume, and enjoy fruits and vegetables bursting with flavor at room temperature, at which they prefer their water too.
- French women eat and serve what’s in season, for maximum flavor and value, and know availability does not equal quality.
- French women honor mealtime rituals and never eat standing up or on the run. Or in front of the TV.
- French women never let themselves feel stuffed.
- French women never let themselves be hungry.
- French women eat three meals a day. French women don’t snack all the time.
- French women don’t often weigh themselves, preferring to keep track with their hands, eyes, and clothes: “zipper syndrome.”
- French women balance their food, drink, and movement on a week-by-week basis.
- French women eat with all five senses, allowing less to seem like more.
- French women love chocolate, especially the dark, slightly bitter, silky stuff with its nutty aroma.
- French women typically think about good things to eat. American women typically worry about bad things to eat.
- French women eat smaller portions of more things. American women eat larger portions of fewer things.
(Source: https://frenchwomendontgetfat.com)
Book Reviews:
“The perfect book . . . A blueprint for building a healthy attitude toward food and exercise.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“A perfect, slim (and slimming) read for dieters and bon vivants alike.” — Marie Claire
“It’s hard not to be enlivened by a [weight-control] book that celebrates both chocolate and bread, and espouses such wisdom as ‘Life without pasta? Perish the thought.’ — The Washington Post Book World
Based on the Book: French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure
The Ultimate Non-Diet Book – by Mireille Guiliano, available on Amazon.com
