French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

From the dust jacket: Stylish, convincing, wise, funny - and just in time: the ultimate non-diet book, which could radically change the way you think and live.
French women don't get fat, but they do enjoy bread and pastry, wine, and regular three-course meals. Unlocking the simple secrets of this "French paradox" - how they enjoy food while staying slim and healthy - Mireille Guiliano gives us a charming, empowering take on health and eating for our times.
I think I gained three pounds this week while reading this book. You see the part about 'indulge in what you really want instead of the imitation chemical filled diet foods' really took. The rest of the advice - not so much. Here are the bullet points and my resolutions...

*I did look around the produce department when I went grocery shopping at the commissary to see what a leek might look like but they didn't appear to have any so Magical Leek Soup didn't happen. I'll try to check out the fancier grocery store and see what they have.

*I nodded along to the 'drink more water' admonishments, that really does help me but I am addicted to my diet colas and didn't make any progress on that front. I'll try to add a cup of water every night before dinner this week. In fact, I'll try putting a glass of water at each person's place next to their initial glass of milk. We go through five-six gallons of milk a week so I know these three children are getting plenty of calcium but water I'm not so sure about.

*I wore my pedometer one day only to discover that despite working all day long, I had only logged 1200 steps. My job is apparently even more sedentary than I thought! I'm going to try adding walking back to my day and I did walk last night!

*I'm certainly not making any homemade yogurt no matter how easy she says it is. I will try to buy yogurt and eat one a day, I mean, I do listen to the news, I've heard about how important dairy is to weight loss.

The other idea that I would like to try is not putting all the food on the plate all at once. Dinner for our family is a together time but it does go by quickly. I am always amazed at how much longer it takes me to get the meal on the table than it does for the family to eat the meal. So I'm going to try to sneak in a "salad course" or a "soup course" rather than having soup (as we sometimes do) in bowls right there beside our plates or salad in a big bowl in the table to take as you like. Slowing us down would be good for health and for extending that family time allowing for more bickering between the children conversation.

She talks a lot about balance and equilibrium and compensation...so those indulgences I've been enjoying are supposed to be balanced with a "corresponding reduction". Aha, even the non-diet can't get around that sticking point...EATING LESS FOOD!


This is one of the books on my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2009. Click on the logo to see the rest of my list.