Rating: 
Summary: Not bad...
Review: Anne Barone has put together an explanation of the mythical habits of "chic French women" and FWIW, it's not bad advice. There are several books out at the moment which discuss how it is that French women captivate the rest of the world. It isn't the best of these books but it is the first
Rating: 
Summary: An ideal for the spirit as well as the body!
Review: Anne Barone treats not only the overweight body but the downtrodden spirit of the overweight woman in this short and deceptively simple book. Personal style and self-esteem while gaining control of one's eating is emphasized. A new and very welcome entry into the self-improvement forum. Having a French grandmother, I am amazed at her and her friends' ability to eat, drink, and be merry--and slim!
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Summary: J'adore Chic & Slim!
Review: Anne Barone's book "Chic & Slim Encore" is a favorite on my bookshelf, so I was delighted to discover her earlier work "Chic & Slim" has been reprinted."Chic & Slim" is the original book written by Anne Barone to share the secrets of how the French women eat rich foods, drink wine, are rarely seen at the gym and still manage to wear size SMALL! The key according to Anne is the choices the French woman makes. She chooses natural unprocessed foods. Portion sizes are smaller. Exercise is fit in naturally by walking everywhere. Water not soda is the beverage of choice. Sugar is eaten in moderate quantities. Instead of aiming for quantity, the French aim for quality. Eating a small slice of the finest pastry instead of a whole box of processed twinkies. Drinking one or two glasses of red wine instead of a number of unhealthy cocktails. Don't supersize your fries and double your burger. Instead eat a little portion of "pomme frites" with a palm size piece of grilled chicken. Forget the salad dressings with synthetic ingredients instead dress your lettuce with just a bit of heart healthy olive oil and vinegar. Anne also goes into "ATTITUDE". The French women sees herself as a beautiful women despite her physical flaws. She is worth the effort of eating well, taking care of herself. She deserves to be slim and healthy. Many American women are unfortunately caught in a cycle of trying to look like the models we see in magazines instead of enjoying what we have and making the most of it. The French woman does things that make her feel good about herself. She dresses to look and feel her best. No sloppy sweats and big gym shoes. Clothing that makes her feel feminine. A perfume that reflects her personality. The book "Chic & Slim" also shares Anne's triumph of losing weight when she stopped dieting and started eating like the French. She shares more of her ideas at her website annebarone.com. "Chic & Slim" like its sister book, ""Chic & Slim Encore" is a must read for the woman who wants to learn to enjoy and appreciate herself more. The woman who wants to get off the diet rollercoaster and learn to eat sensibly and with joy. A true treasure!
Rating: 
Summary: a wise addition
Review: Basically, this is a delicious book that is a light-hearted change from much of what is written about weight control and self-image. Its greatest contribution is promulgating the attitude that food is to be enjoyed and "enough" trumps "more than enough" in all things. In addition, French women choose to eat just enough because it makes them feel better and aids digestion rather than because it's shameful to eat more. I also like the emphasis on quality foods. I had already been exposed to the idea of eating enough to satisfy in a workshop and other books more than 20 years ago, but those authors said you should allow yourself all foods with no prejudices at all. I found this was too much freedom, and I was choosing sweets way too often. One statistic quoted in Anne's book that has made the biggest impression on me is that the French average only five pounds of sugar consumption per person per year compared to 90-plus for the average American! Yet they love food! This has helped me not choose the flavor of sweet many times more than I would have in the past. I do have several problems with the book. I think it is misleading to say French women eat "all that rich food," implying that they eat a lot and often. They don't. Basically, from what I can glean from the book and website,they eat what Overeaters Anonymous has been recommending for years: three moderate meals a day with no snacking in between. This I have not been able to do. I work long hours, getting up early and waiting until I am hungry for my cafe-au-lait and teaspoon-of-butter-on-good bread breakfast around 6:30 or 7 a.m., but by 10:30 a.m., I am legitimatlly hungry. Herbal tea just doesn't do it to tide me over to lunch. (I am a teacher and have 30 minutes to eat lunch-not a lot if you want to take small bites and chew thoroughly.) I also get authentically hungry around 5 p.m., which is too early to have dinner. I eat quality snacks, but I haven't been able to do without them without becoming completely preoccupied with food because I am so hungry! I am not talking about that desire to eat; I mean HUNGRY! Maybe my body will change after I have implemented these behaviors for awhile, but I refuse to go for hours being hungry. It smacks too much of deprivation and punishment. I also have a bit of problem with Anne's acceptance that people should feel ashamed of being fat. I want to believe that becoming slimmer should stem from recognizing the body's real need for food and honoring that rather than thinking that I am a disgusting fat slob. (Granted, she doesn't say this all the time, but when she does, it's quite palpable.) I also think she benefitted more than she knows by actually living in France for quite awhile before she left and was able to implement the ideas all over the world. I don't think my complaints should keep anyone from reading and benefitting from this terrific book. It also has great stuff on beauty, style, the life of the mind, and the importance of examining your own life and developing your own lifestyle, including eating habits.It should be in the library of any woman who struggles with food and weight.
Rating: 
Summary: thank goodness I read the customer review
Review: I had no idea this author was such an idiot. Thank goodness I read the prior review, visited her web site, and then made the informed decision not to buy such political garbage woven into a book. As a native Texan I take offense. She is seriously misguided. I will get my advise elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Fun to read and so informative!
Review: I learned a good deal from this book and had a great time reading it. Sure, the author is a Francophile and thinks the French are perfect (read "Almost French" by Sarah Turnbull for a more balanced view), but the tips she offers are useful and inspiring. I emailed Anne after reading Chic & Slim, and she rewarded me with a helpful and generous response.
I've read some of the rather vitriolic reviews here, and I think Anne is getting a bad rap (although the reviewer who mentioned that high fructose corn syrup is an ingredient in Heinz ketchup is correct!).
Rating: 
Summary: totalement psychotique
Review: I purchased all three of Anne's books last year, since I was interested in the "French paradox". I was quite disappointed in that all three books contain the same information - there is nothing new in the second or third book to make either one a worthwhile purchase. The strange obsession with the French borders on disturbing - it makes you wonder why this woman lives in Texas, a fact that she manages to insert in nearly every paragraph of all three books. The lack of editing is laughable both in her books and on her website. It makes me wonder if it is deliberate, like she's trying to give the impression that English is not her first language.
I was appalled at her website postings earlier this month, which prompted me to comment here. Her rambling on about her depression over the presidential election, and devising a way to make sure no one who voted for Bush can purchase her books or access to her website is outrageous:
"Trying to find a way to exclude the Bushies proved problematic. If I switched over to an emailed newsletter, there is no way I could verify for whom someone voted so as to exclude the Bush voters from reading the information.
Of course discontinuing the postings is unfair to those of you who supported Kerry and Edwards and also unfair to all of you who access the website from outside the USA who could not vote one way or the other. So I am rescinding that previous decision. You will have some postings at least for a time.
Actually I probably ran off most of the Bushies with my pre-election postings. With luck, I can sufficiently annoy the rest with future postings so they too will cease to visit the website."
Gee, if I return the books I purchased from her with a copy of my voter registration card, will I get a refund? News alert: President Bush is not shoving high-fructose corn syrup down our throats, nor has he forced every American carrying a drivers license to purchase a gas-guzzling SUV. In all her undying praise for Teresa Heinz-Kerry, I wonder if she's ever taken a gander at a Heinz ketchup label. High fructose corn syrup is one of the first ingredients on the list. Funny, I don't see Bush's name on a container of evil, processed, "pas chic" food.
She pigeonholes the entire USA as a nation of obese, obnoxious, insatiable over-consumers. A bit of unsolicited advice, Ms. Barone - neither bitterness nor negativity are considered "chic", and will not translate into many book sales. No amount of French pouting and flirtatious foot-stomping will change the results of the 2004 presidential election, so you have two choices: deal with it or leave. If it's so great in France, why on earth don't you live there?
For a well-researched book, I recommend The Fat Fallacy by Dr. Will Clower - someone who has done his research, and manages to provide valuable, insightful information to Americans without the up-turned nose and degradation that Ms. Barone employs.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and Inspirational
Review: I've got all three books in this series. They are fun to read and helped inspire me at least to make some changes that have been helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Very unbalanced author
Review: I, too, have purchased all 3 of Ms. Barone's books, and while I enjoyed the fantasy she portrayed about the perfection of the French woman and how slim, intelligent, refined, etc. they ALL are, I really don't buy it. The method she describes to lose weight can definitely work, but it all comes down to eating in moderation, not snacking and being more mindful of your habits. A far better book on this topic is The Martini Diet by Jennifer Sander. Ms. Sander mentions the French a couple of times, but makes the topic of losing weight while thoroughly enjoying yourself and life much more fun. She puts everything in terms more identifiable with Americans and shows us all how to live more glamorously. Reading her book is like having lunch with a girlfriend. Anne Barone, as mentioned by other reviewers, seems to be coming paralyzed by her political views. She has made some very mean-spirited comments on her website and seems downright frightening. I wish I had known what type of person this author was before I had also wasted my money (although they are cheap books). I'm contemplating returning the books to her so she can resell them to someone else after she does a background check on their politcal persuasions! Entre Nous is also an enjoyable read on this topic, as well.
Rating:
Summary: Chic Sham
Review: Ms. Barone has successfully produced a work in which she describes how she "thinks" the French woman eats, loves, and lives. Something tells me that a truly "chic" woman would not spit food into the sink while tasting a dish she was preparing, nor would she non-chalantly dismiss an extra-marital affair, as Ms. Barone suggests. I have a feeling that Ms. Barone spent some time on France, but her status as an expert lies in her own mind.
In reading more of her writing on her website, I found myself even more disturbed by her delusions of grandeur. For example, in some of her earlier journal entries, she blasts a book publisher for daring to publish Susan Powter's "Stop the Insanity" rather than her own mediocre writing. I guess she felt that since they're both from Texas, that Susan stole her demographic? Politics aside, her bitterness is a little too unpleasant for my taste. Is it really chic to be this transparently bitter?
I would suggest a book by someone who has actually been to France in the last 20 years, like Mireille Guiliano or Will Clower. They can offer a more palatable approach to this lifestyle, rather than the bitterness of a Chic Sham.
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