Rating: 
Summary: The New Look in Food
Review: This book applies "common sense" to eating, and suggests "the French diet" to Americans. The main point is to eat "real foods" and avoid "faux foods", and how to tell the difference. He spent two years as a Research Fellow in Lyon France. He ate as much as he wanted, and lost weight (p.7). The author is a historian at University of Pittsburgh. The book has a list for further research. The beginning says the book is intended to be an enjoyable informational and educational supplement, not medical advice.There is a fashion in foods. One year we're told butter and eggs (the traditional defense against tuberculosis) are bad for you; years later we are told just the opposite. The life insurance weight table from 1940 only reflects the Great Depression, the worst catastrophe in the twentieth century. What was the life expectancy then? "There are no fat people in France. If you find any, they speak English" (p.15). Perhaps an oversimplification? Eating a French diet (bread, butter, creamy cheese, etc.) caused a loss of weight or volume. The average French life span is longer (p.17), even though they "smoke like fiends". Bad fat comes from red animal meats (or the ingested chemicals?) not from milk (always considered "good for you"). Higher consumption of animal fat correlates to higher heart disease (p.21). A fat deprived diet lowers the metabolic rate; the body burns up fewer calories. Then the body conserves fat (p.24). Those who eat poorly, and too much, gain weight. You have to eat right, take vitamins, and walk more. You cannot lose weight sitting by the television. Page 27 notes the result of eating bread and pastries, cheese, butter, cream, and whole mile products. Don't snack between meals, get outside and walk around; take time when eating. (Note that his family were young and active.)
Rating: 
Summary: LIfe-changing
Review: This book has changed my life. After years, ok: decades, of struggling with my weight, I've lost pounds easily and consistently by following this plan. I love to cook, love to dine at the many excellent restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, and always plan my travels around good places to eat. I began as a size 14, am now a size 10 and am confident of reaching size 8 --slowly, but surely, while eating fine food all along the way.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely fabulous book
Review: this is an amazing book that everyone should read. it really helped me a lot. i'm recovering from subclinical anorexia, and my therapist put me on this diet. using it, i was able to gain weight safely and develop a more psychologically sound relationship with food. i know i'm probably the only reviewer of this book praising it for allowing me to gain weight, but it hasn't been a lot, and i've really learned that fat is NOT the enemy, which i used to think and obsess about. try it. it's wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: MUST READ - GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD HEALTH
Review: This is the most balanced book on getting the 'right diet' that I've ever read. The author has exposed America's unhealthy obsession with 'low-fat' and 'no-fat' foods (which the author refers to as 'faux foods') and the fact that Americans are increasingly fat, fat, fatter!
Since I have been on this diet, all the cravings for junk food have gone. I was someone who lived for sugar and now I do not want any of it. I use to crave coffee in the morning as well but realized I didn't want that wired up feeling & acid stomach. I switched over to a caffeine-free coffee substitute made from soyabeans I found on the net at www.S o y c o f f e e.c om.
It so easy for someone to tell you to eat less, but if you are craving bad foods, eventually you will fail. In the first five days I was on this diet all the craving ceased and I was already 8 lbs down. If you were like me and cannot wait for your next slice of cake and at the same time really want to change your lifestyle, Try this.
After only one week of beginning to modify my diet according to the author's suggestions, I am eating smaller amounts of REAL food and have already lost 2 pounds. And I'm happy! Hey! Anyone who tells me 'Eat chocolate -- it's good for you!' is going to get my hearty recommendation. BUY THIS BOOK!! If you are serious about making a change, this book will not disappoint.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a fallacy....
Review: Unfortunately the author makes you think that you can eat as much fat as you like without any problems. I think this message is wrong.
The author doesn't talk much about excercise which is very important and can stop you from becoming overweight.
The book also encourages you to eat foods that are very high in carbs and also high on the glycemic index. Which in my opinion is not a very good idea.
French people live a completely different lifestyle compared to others and not all of them are slim. I have seen some fat ones too.
The best way to try this method, is to stay in France for a couple of weeks or months.
The diet is not very practical either. If I have only 30 mins for lunch at work, how will I be picking at my food for hours?
If you are not careful, following the methods in this book will actually make you fatter!
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