French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure

This book is one of the many I have read over the past year that take a much more zen approach to food. In particular, it has been wonderful for helping me reframe how I think about food choice and body image. I really appreciate how the author focuses on ENJOYING food instead of fearing it. I also appreciate her encouragement to skip the scale and focus on simply feeling comfortable in your clothes. I can't say that I've lost a lot of weight following the principles in this book, but I am certainly enjoying food a lot more, which was the higher goal for me.

So what has changed? I'm sitting down at a table for most meals now, instead of grabbing random handfuls of things throughout the day. I prepare foods with the best quality ingredients I can buy. I make an effort to "plate" my food (give it a nice presentation) before I sit down to eat. I give myself a smaller portion than I think I want, because I'm not likely to go back for a second helping, but I am likely to overeat if the first helping is too big. I try to give my full attention to the meal, instead of watching TV or reading something on my phone while I eat. I ask myself, each time I eat, "What do I like about this food?", and I answer with vivid descriptors that make me glad I'm eating ("It's creamy and tangy and just sweet enough to be satisfying!"). I also put down my fork after every few bites to ask myself whether I'm still hungry, and I stop eating when I'm satisfied, which is not the same as "full" or "stuffed." It's an important distinction, and one that we've lost in this country. I make an effort now to rely on my brain to tell me when I've had enough, instead of waiting for that uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. In short, the "French way" of eating has really helped me to enjoy food again!

The book falls short in a couple of respects, however. First, she can come off as condescending towards Americans. I can overlook it, because I think the principles are worth ignoring the slights. But some people have found it off-putting to the point where they can't read the book. Second, she doesn't seem to understand the challenges faced by most middle-class American families. I live in a big city, in a walkable neighborhood, where I can dash out to the (very nice) corner market to pick up ingredients for the evening meal. I also have enough economic security to pay $10 for a bag of fresh cherries without feeling the pinch. My in-laws, however, are underemployed and live in a McMansion suburb where the nearest grocery store is a mega-chain 10 miles away. They are morbidly obese and desperately need some help turning their lifestyle around; however, this book offers them very little help. They are not going to walk to the grocery store; and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to afford most of the foods that this book recommends. It just doesn't make economic sense to buy a $5 bag of apples when frozen pizzas are 3 for $10. I wish she would have suggested ways to adapt her principles to the realities faced by the poor and lower middle class in America, but alas she did not.