Description (cont'd from above)

The "French Women Don't Get Fat" Diet

French women know something that we Americans don't: how to enjoy food without gaining weight (that's in addition to knowing how to look impossibly, effortlessly chic). The "French Women Don't Get Fat" Diet sets out the idea that all you need to do to look like a slender French woman is to think like a French woman, and by extension eat like a French woman. Make some changes to your lifestyle and daily behavior and - voila! - you'll be elegant and slim. Or at least you'll be thinner.

You'll have to abandon the-oh-so-American habit of eating mindlessly while multi-tasking. Pay attention to what you eat and savor every bite with all your senses. You'll be able to control how much you eat, increase the variety of what you eat, and truly enjoy small amounts of indulgent foods. There are no foods that you absolutely may not eat, but you should emphasize vegetables and fruits in this French diet.

The underlying notion is that you can fool yourself into satisfying your appetite without having to sacrifice all the pleasures of food. There are a handful of guidelines and rules to help you realize this lofty goal. For instance, you'll need to eat seasonally and regulate your meal times. There's no specific road map to follow. You personalize the principles of the diet to suit your temperament, lifestyle, likes, and dislikes.

What makes The "French Women Don't Get Fat" Diet a different weight loss plan?

This French diet philosophy is that you can have it all - as long as you only have a little of it. By enjoying every bite (and keeping to small portions), you will happily lose weight and stay slender. In other words, this is an individually-oriented portion control plan that encourages you to reduce or temporarily cut out foods and change behaviors that you find problematic. There is no general checklist of foods that you must not eat.

What is The "French Women Don't Get Fat" Diet?

The "French Women Don't Get Fat" Diet looks at weight loss as a slow and steady process that you can incorporate into your daily life. It claims to reject the notion of dieting per se, but you may find some of the rules in the program make you feel just like you're on a diet. You can savor thoroughly what you eat and stimulate your senses by mindfully eating a variety of foods.

This French diet uses perceived differences between French and American eating and lifestyles to urge you (the American) to change your evil ways. Americans eat larger portions of a limited selection of foods, while French women eat smaller portions of a great variety of high-quality and tasty foods. French women eat more fruits and vegetables than Americans. And French women eat with all of their senses to allow less food to feel like more.

If you stop being so American - enough already with the processed foods and oversized, repetitive meals - you'll be on your way to weight loss. There are four main phases to this secret French diet program:

• Phase 1: For three weeks, keep a diary of everything you eat.
• Phase 2: For about three months, try "recasting" by discovering and then temporarily reducing "food offenders" that you overeat. You can reward yourself on one weekend day each week by enjoying some of your favorite foods.
• Phase 3: Begin this stabilization phase when you are at least halfway to your goal weight. You can slightly increase what you eat, but still must make sure you are losing or maintaining weight. You can reward yourself a bit more frequently than in Phase 2.
• Phase 4: Once you have reached your weight loss goal, keep following the plan's eating principles.

Between the first two phases, the author recommends a 48-hour diet of "Magical Leek Soup." You should consume this simple leek and water blend one cup at a time, every two to three hours. You can eat an alternative "Mimosa Soup" (including lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, leeks, parsley and celeriac) if the magic of the leek soup doesn't work on you. You can drink as much water as you want. You can also eat leeks with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and sparingly used herbs or spices. Good thing this interval lasts only two days.

There are many recipes in the "French Women Don't Get Fat" Diet book and on the Web site, but you won't find many meal plans. You also must figure out portioning for yourself, since there are few particulars about correct portion sizes. If you're cooking one of the diet's recipes, you can calculate a serving by dividing a recipe into single servings. You can also use a food scale and eat 1- to 5-ounce portions of food items like fish, meats, and desserts.

Here are some other important principles on this French diet plan:

• Prepare your own meals often and plan meals in advance
• Have two servings of homemade or all-natural plain yogurt daily
• Do not eat processed and packaged foods
• Have a true breakfast
• Eat slowly
• Eat new flavors
• Have foods that can work as substitutes when you are craving "food offenders"
• Add some physical activity by walking to school/work or climbing stairs

What are the weight loss expectations?

You set your own goals since the plan provides no specifics about how much weight you can expect to lose. At three months, you should have lost at least half of the weight you wanted to lose.

Is exercise promoted?

Physical activity should be part of your daily routine (if approved by a physician) on this French diet program. You don't need special clothes, since the program promotes exercise for which you can wear street clothes, like walking, biking or climbing the stairs. Make movement part of your daily life rather than making a special time to work out.

Are supplements recommended?

This French diet plan recommends that you should begin to add a multivitamin to your daily regimen when you are between 35 and 55.