I just finished reading this book and I completely LOVED it! Let me tell you why...
When I picked this book up, I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard a few good things about it and it did look interesting so I figured...why not? It certainly exceeded my expectations, despite being not what I thought. This book is, simply put, about healthy living and healthy mindset. It doesn't tout any flash-in-the-pan wonder diet or drug, it is very simple and to the point. Its a lot of stuff that we all know but most of the time (myself as well) choose to ignore or think we are too busy to care about. It also has a multitude of fabulous French recipes.
The book preaches a common sense approach to living and eating - drink lots of water, eat more vegetables and fruit than meat, take the stairs, moderation - all very simple and realistic. My favourite part of this book though is her healthy mind recommendations. Mireille points out a huge difference between European and American relationships with food - Europeans have a healthy, loving relationship and Americans have a love/hate/guilt relationship. Europeans love food, don't deny themselves little pleasures (think chocolate, a glass of wine and the occasional cannoli), don't feel guilty after eating a carb and certainly don't punish themselves on a treadmill for it. Americans are bombarded with messages everyday that tell them to count calories, don't eat that, eat this instead, carbs = evil, go with non-fat no taste, be unsatisfied it means you're consuming less calories and so on.
As someone who has lived in Canada, Italy.........and had a steamy affair with Paris one summer....I can definitively say that Mireille is correct. Fostering an unhealthy relationship with food - one based on guilt, punishment, prohibition - is just that: unhealthy. My relationship with food and physique is very European, I eat healthy but I never deny myself anything and I never overindulge either. I exercise (not punish) by doing activities I enjoy and I always take the stairs. As such, my body is happy and I have maintained the same healthy weight for years (that means, to me, that it must be my equilibrium weight).
So if you want to learn to feel good about yourself and your body, I highly recommend this book.
When I picked this book up, I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard a few good things about it and it did look interesting so I figured...why not? It certainly exceeded my expectations, despite being not what I thought. This book is, simply put, about healthy living and healthy mindset. It doesn't tout any flash-in-the-pan wonder diet or drug, it is very simple and to the point. Its a lot of stuff that we all know but most of the time (myself as well) choose to ignore or think we are too busy to care about. It also has a multitude of fabulous French recipes.
The book preaches a common sense approach to living and eating - drink lots of water, eat more vegetables and fruit than meat, take the stairs, moderation - all very simple and realistic. My favourite part of this book though is her healthy mind recommendations. Mireille points out a huge difference between European and American relationships with food - Europeans have a healthy, loving relationship and Americans have a love/hate/guilt relationship. Europeans love food, don't deny themselves little pleasures (think chocolate, a glass of wine and the occasional cannoli), don't feel guilty after eating a carb and certainly don't punish themselves on a treadmill for it. Americans are bombarded with messages everyday that tell them to count calories, don't eat that, eat this instead, carbs = evil, go with non-fat no taste, be unsatisfied it means you're consuming less calories and so on.
As someone who has lived in Canada, Italy.........and had a steamy affair with Paris one summer....I can definitively say that Mireille is correct. Fostering an unhealthy relationship with food - one based on guilt, punishment, prohibition - is just that: unhealthy. My relationship with food and physique is very European, I eat healthy but I never deny myself anything and I never overindulge either. I exercise (not punish) by doing activities I enjoy and I always take the stairs. As such, my body is happy and I have maintained the same healthy weight for years (that means, to me, that it must be my equilibrium weight).
So if you want to learn to feel good about yourself and your body, I highly recommend this book.
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