French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

Happy New Year! 🙂

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to 2010.  Goals in mind, ready to take action!

During the holidays, I read a book called “French Women Don’t Get Fat” by Mireille Guiliano.  After many years of trying different ways of eating (vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, low fat, low calorie, you name it I did it), I’ve completely changed the way I think about food.  I often think of the times I’ve visited Europe and how completely different they are around food.  They don’t think about it very much, they just eat it!  Meaning, their relationship with food is very different from ours.  We love it, we fear it, we obsess about it, we become obsessed with it, so on and so forth.

I don’t believe the answers can be found in a book, and quite frankly, I don’t really believe any one culture has it “right”.  But I do think it’s interesting that my parents were the first to have serious disease in my family line.  They were the also the ones who left Europe and ate the Standard American Diet for an extended number of years.

In this book, the author describes her personal story of moving to the USA and gaining a considerable amount of weight.  She goes into the typical French diet and French lifestyle, and although we can’t completely adopt every French habit (depends on where you live), she states that it is possible to add more French habits, especially with the increased awareness that we now are experiencing (i.e.more organic food chains, farmer’s markets, etc.)

I enjoyed reading about the attitude and relationship that French people have with food-something I think it very different here in the US.  How many times have you been at dinner or at a party and sat down with a piece of dessert only to think or say “I really shouldn’t” or “this is so bad for me”.  I have.  When I started to think about the reasons why I did that, it came down to fear of food. I have since changed my habits, but it does take time and work.

Some statements she makes in the book about French women that I like:

• French women eat smaller portions of more things. American women eat larger portions of few things.
• French women eat more vegetables.
• French women eat more fruit.
• French women don’t eat “fat-free” or “sugar-free”, or anything artificially stripped of natural flavor.  They go for the real thing in moderation.
• French women balance their food, drink, and movement on a week-by-week basis.
• French women don’t snack all the time.
• French women honor mealtime rituals and never eat standing up or on the run.  Or in front of the TV.
• French women do enjoy wine regularly, but with meals and only a glass (or maybe two).
• French women walk everything they can.
• French women eat for pleasure.
• French women don’t diet.

Those are just a few statements that the author makes in this book.  It’s a fun and easy read that I recommend to anyone who is looking for a book that goes into lifestyle changes than a diet to follow for a certain amount of time.

Have an amazing day! Carpe Diem!

Best,
Jeannette Stojcevski