I read it, I thought it was interesting. IIRC it was mainly about intuitive eating - eating smaller portions of really good food, eating when you're hungry, taking time when you eat (lingering over your meal), stopping when you're full and exercising. I'm just not really an intuitive eater - I always want to eat (even when I'm not hungry) and I have a hard time stopping.
It has been awhile since I read it, but that was my overall impression of the book!
Although I agree with the concepts of appreciated food and the celebration of every meal, I found the writer to be pretentious. She does clearly outline in the first chapter that this is not a concept for anyone having to lose more that 20 pounds. However, I found her simplified version of weight loss to be a little too "easy" for my taste.
I found her book funny and common sense. She says to avoid high fat and artificial foods, such as it's better to have a tsp of real butter than tablespoons of margerine, better to use a bit of real sugar than to drink cans of "sweetener." She talks about eating foods in season, fresh vs processed foods, drinking lots of water, getting exercise.
I got it from the library and it's really more for people that are already thin, I think. it has good advice as stated above, eating 'real' vs. fake processed garbage, but it's also devoted to making absolutely amazing gourmet food for dinner and only needing/wanting a small portion because it's so amazing.
#1. most of us don't have time at night to make "amazing gourmet" every night
#2 if it's so amazing i'd want a bucket full of it
#3 i don't eat lunch at an outdoor cafe with french bread, brie, and wine
#4 i wish i ate lunch at a cafe with french bread, brie and wine
I loved the book. I didn't follow it exactly, but I gleaned what I could use from it and then re-read it periodically as inspiration. I found it fascinating due to the cultural difference between the US and France in regards to food. I definitely think that her style of eating is helpful when traveling to help maintain.
I did some googling to see if I might be interested in reading this book.
Sadly, it seems that the traditional French cultural approach to food that promoted a healthy body weight is being undermined. But I would take the problems they are facing now as evidence that their traditional approach to food was in fact effective for maintaining a healthier body weight.
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NPR's Morning Edition, January 24, 2007 · The rate of obesity in France has doubled in recent years, to 12 percent — a figure approaching U.S. fat stats. A nation once eternally trim must now rethink its approach to eating and even dress sizes.
And from the International Herald Tribune [Note: somewhat dated
(2005); the trend has only continued]
PARIS: Doctors here are perplexed by the runaway success in the United States of the best-selling advice book "French Women Don't Get Fat."
...
In fact, in France, as in much of the world, the culprit is changing eating habits, experts said, as France's powerful culture of traditional meals has given way to the pressures of modern life. The French now eat fewer formal meals than they did just a decade ago and they snack more. Another cause is the rising availability in France of fast food and prepared foods, which tend to be higher in fats and calories.
...
In the past, the French shopped mainly at markets, green grocers and butchers, and they prepared two leisurely, formal meals a day, Cohen said.
Now kids eat at school. Workers lunch at their desks. Vending machines selling candy and chips are plentiful. There are far more supermarkets and frozen food emporiums in Paris than in Rome, for example.
The average French meal has decreased in length from an hour and 22 minutes in 1978 to just 38 minutes today.
French Women don't get Fat-The Book
