I think there is some useful information in this book. But there is a lot of other stuff going on as well and much of it is outdated.

Guiliano’s basic premise is that French women don’t get fat, because they eat slowly and appreciate their food. They don’t mindlessly binge. They don’t deny themselves the pleasures of eating. They consciously think about what they eat and enjoy every bite. Okay, so far so good. That’s reasonable advice.

I was all for the first few chapters. There’s this whole thing about making a food journal and recalibrating your system, which some may find useful. I felt that the appreciation of each bite of food was more reasonable for me so I’ve been working on that. I try to satisfy my body and mind without overindulging.

The book is full of generalizations about how great French women are and how they do everything right as well as how us stupid, fat Americans are doing everything wrong. I wasn’t horribly offended by this, but it mostly just got repetitive by the end. We get it, Americans are terrible. Let’s move on.

The book also pretty much tells you that you can be a fat slob or have a perfect skinny “French” body, like those are the only two options. Like I said, outdated. It was published 13 years ago so I get it. But it’s definitely okay to have a body that isn’t a twig and still feel good about yourself. I’m all for each person making their own decisions and not having a body type thrust upon them. Work on being healthy, not necessarily thin. There is a wide range of body types and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Also, because it was written 13 years ago, there is no thought to sustainability. Everyone should eat wild caught fish, because who cares about overfishing practices. And everyone should drink out of disposable plastic bottles because reusable ones will make you look lame and it is the “French” way. Again, outdated.

Another thing that bugged me was how this clearly privileged lady seems to think that everyone has the time, expenses, and energy to go shopping everyday at a fresh farmer’s market and cook all of their own food. It’s great you grew up with fruit and nut trees and an awesome veggie garden, but not all of us have that option. This is just not realistic for some people. She seems to think if people just tried harder they could do it, but if it’s between daycare and the extra expense of organic food, it’s not much of a decision.

Also, she really lost me when she said you should limit your dessert at a restaurant by taking a few bites then telling an elaborate story while the waiter takes the rest of your hardly-touched food away to be thrown out. Excuse me, if I’m paying for that dessert, I’m eating the whole damn thing. Nobody is wasting chocolate cake on my watch.

While she promotes taking mindful walks, she’s pretty against working out. She thinks gyms are a silly American thing that is a waste of time. While I don’t necessarily “enjoy” working out, I do enjoy the fact that I’m strong enough to move furniture by myself and carry the groceries up the stairs in one trip. Neither of these things would be possible if I only took walks. Walks are a great way to get exercise, but I hate how she demonizes weights like women shouldn’t be strong. Do something active. I don’t care what it is, but be active. If that’s taking walks, great, but you don’t have to tell people how dumb they are for wanting to be able to carry a roadside bookshelf home without assistance.

Overall, the book was okay. It started out well, but then kind of lost me. In general, I’m behind her idea that people should eat healthy, but also not deny themselves pleasures in moderation.

There are many recipes in the book (many of which contain meat and poultry so as a vegetarian they didn’t work for me). She does recommend leek broth during your recalibration period. I didn’t do any of the recalibration stuff, but found that the leek broth was a good snack that kept me full between meals, so that was nice.

What I found most helpful in this book was that you should try to make healthy decisions throughout the day. When you eat, really taste and enjoy your food. Don’t just eat to eat. Eat to experience pleasure. Don’t deny yourself the foods you love, but eat them in moderation, and again, enjoy and savor them. And also, leek broth is delicious.