FRENCH WOMEN DONT GET FAT

I bought this book a while ago and recently finished it having only ever read a few pages at a time before going to sleep. It wasnt the sort of book that totally absorbed you, the sort that once you start, you just cant stop. But I enjoyed it and thought I'd review it in case anybody was wondering what it was about.

Firstly let me say that it had some really good sensible messages in it. It would appeal to the more mainstream reader rather than those who aspire to be athletes in any form. Eg: if you take your training pretty seriously and like to live by some / many diet rules then its not going to be your cup of tea. Each to their own, me thinks.

The author (Mireille Guiliano lives in America and happens to be the CEO of Champagne Veuve Cliquot) writes of her life as an exchange student when she gained a lot of weight due to poor eating habits. Upon returning home to France, her mother put her onto the family GP (aptly named Dr Miracle) who gently guided her on a journey of gradual and sustainable weight loss. She details the proceess she went through to:

1. become aware of her eating habits
2. undertake a "re-casting' (like a mini detox - one weekend only) 
3. then progress through the first three months making some gradual changes to her eating
4. learn some smart tips to minmise the (potentially negative) effects of the changes in order to maintain a healthy relationship with food and to continue to enjoy the pleasure it gives.
5. learn how to maintain a healthy weight long term WITHOUT dieting but being smart and mindful when it comes to food.

She writes with such passion about the foods that the French enjoy and I was cheering and agreeing with her love of bread, wine, champagne and other traditionally forbidden foods that many people go out of their way to avoid. (Chocolate too but of that I'm not a fan). A strong message is "choose quality over quantity" and this also resonates well with me.

Some people might be thinking "yeah its just another diet book subtley marketed to not appear so" but I found it to be more a message of "you can have anything as long as you balance it all out" or simply put "the MODERATION message" worded in some fancy ways. There are lots of recipes too but I havent tested any.

Chapter 10 "Moving Like a French Woman" takes a VERY mainstream approach to exercise and had me giggling at her perception of "small free weights (one and a half to three kilos) used in simple, familiar exercises are a good way to preserve upper-body tone and bone density and supplement the cardiovascular benefits of an active lifestyle." But on the other hand she does advocate an active lifestyle with messages such as "walk everywhere", "take the stairs whenever you can" and she writes quite extensively about the importance of breathing. Again there's some basically good advice there for our typically lazy Aussie culture.

To finish she gives quite a long list of tips and tricks that she and French women use to enjoy a wide variety of foods while staying slim. Most had me nodding my head (French women love bread and would never consider a life without carbs), some had me laughing (French women will dress to take out the garbage - you never know) and the one I really needed to hear (French women do stray, but they always come back, believing there are only detours and no dead ends.)

It was a good book for me as it aligned with my philosophy on food and eating and how I aspire to live my life (except for the light weights for upper body toning LOL). The last tip that hits home for me is this:

French women choose their own indulgences and compensations. They understand that little things count, both additions and subtractions, and that as an adult everyone is the keeper of her own equilibrium."

Hail French women and hail to living lean and healthy while never feeling deprived.

:-) M