Has anyone ever tried this? I've been looking at the book "French Women Don't Get Fat" and it looks intriguing. i just don't think that low-fat foods satisfy a craving at all. I'd rather have a little peice of fudge than eat a huge peice of low-fat cake.

That and the fact that my guy hates low-fat food and my daughter is too young to eat a low-fat diet.

It is basically calorie counting. If you depend on calorie counting, you can vary what you want to eat whether its small portions of higher calorie foods or larger portions of lower calorie foods or a mix of the 2. I've never read the book but if you've ever been to europe, you'd know they also walk a lot more than us which can include walking to the market every day to buy fresh food for the day.

Hmmm...sounds like I should just stick with calorie counting use less of the 'real' stuff. And I actually do a lot of walking anyways. Thanks for the input!

Hi, I've read the Frenchwomen book, too. I liked it. I don't follow that diet exactly, but I began losing weight eating foods that are fresh - lots of fresh vegetables - prepared with the best olive oils, balsamic vinegar, spices and fresh herbs, because when attention is given to the quality of the ingredients the meal is more likely to taste divine and be truly, deeply satisfying. My proteins are splurges, really, a little shrimp or scallops or some sashimi w/wasabi. Anything to keep myself on my diet, but 3 oz. portions. I fill up on the vegetables, though. It is my 3rd day rebooting my diet and the 3rd day is always my most difficult, so I try to make it as pleasurable as possible. Today, for example, I had an egg and a latte', a snack of lite Babybel cheese 2, and shrimp, stir-fry fresh veggies, and I juiced a glass of greens. Later, I plan on having another egg maybe w/a cup of chamomile tea, and dinner will be a piece of rotisserie chicken, freshly-made gazpacho (w/o the bread in it), and maybe a ruby red grapefruit for dessert. Another little piece of cheese later if I'm hungry, which I will be. I've been losing weight on a protein/vegetable/fruit combination of food w/ small protein snacks. You should definitely fit that piece of fudge into your life if that is satisfying to you. For me, it's the cheese. I haven't been counting calories although I write everything down. I used to count calories. That definitely works, too. I've found that if you feel hungry in between meals you will definitely lose weight.

The book IMO was pretty DUH for me- eat right- don't eat in front of the TV or with distractions, limit portions, have a better attitude about food, and so on.

Things I thought were crazy were things like, go to the market daily for fresh foods, and so on, I'm like yeah okay maybe in Europe they have time to do that- but where I live I don't have time to sit in crowded markets- I work 7-4 pm, then get home and make dinner- I do all my shopping on the weekends, I can't run to the store every 10 minutes to get some cheese and meat or whatever!

I also don't cook stuff that's obviously low fat to my family. Like if I make fish- I don't fry it, I grill it, just as yummy. Or for dressings I buy things like the Just2Good ones, that are so much healthier than regular dressings- but are SO GOOD. Little changes over time are better than huge ones that overwhelm.

I love the book and the principles, which are, yes, basically eat less, move more, but presented in a charming way. She doesn't really advocate calorie counting per se, just eating less in general, eating fresh food, having a certain attitude, take walks. Delightful but not really a "diet" book.

I am puzzled by the title as I saw plenty of fat ones when we lived there. LOL.

The lady who wrote the book is French and I believe currently lives in the U.S., but she writes about the French lifestyle and ways in which it helped her lose weight when she was younger. I've never been to France so don't know if they live that way currently there.

It is a delightful book, though, and there's a website I believe. I think it is a for pay website, though.