French Women Don't Get Fat

"French Women Don't Get Fat, The Secret of Eating For Pleasure", is the title of a book written by Mirelle Guiliano which I recently read as I was interested to know how French women can possibly eat a diet that uses a lot of eggs and dairy products and drink wine and champagne and remain so slender. I found the book interesting but really it just reinforced what we all know. Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day as often we mistake thirst for hunger, eat lots of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables, eat fish every week, eat meat 3 times a week and balance what you eat with the right amount of physical activity.
The book is well written and has some nice recipes in it and has reminded me to do those things I knew I should be doing!
Trying to eat a little more sensibly this week after having house guests all last week and a dinner party on Saturday night I have tried several of the recipes from this book. I made grilled lamb chops which were marinated with lots of fresh mint blended with olive oil and dijon mustard which were delicious. I served these with a cauliflower gratin where the cauliflower was cooked in milk and then grilled with a topping of some of the cooking milk mixed with an egg and grated cheese. Interestingly this book states that the French don't really eat eggs for breakfast or drink milk but get plenty of these through their cooking.

The other recipe I tried last night was chicken breasts (with skin and still on the bone) marinated in lemon juice, chopped garlic, olive oil and fresh rosemary. These were also grilled and were very tasty and moist.
Another trick this book suggests is to have a small serving of healthy soup before your main meal so you are not so hungry. Consequently I have a big saucepan of vegetable soup in my fridge this week!
I did also try the "Floating Island with a dose of Cocoa Powder", a dessert also know as "Snow eggs". Basically you beat egg whites with a little salt until stiff and cook spoonfuls of this mixture in a hot mixture of milk, vanilla and sugar. Once you have cooked the snow eggs you make the milk mixture into a custard by adding egg yolks. You serve the snow eggs floating in the custard sprinkled with cocoa. I found the snow eggs too "eggy" and think they would have been nicer with a little sugar beaten into them (not as good for you obviously!). The custard was nice.
To increase your fruit intake you can also make fruit based desserts such as rhubarb compote or grilled pineapple. Furthermore this book suggests two small servings of low fat greek style yoghurt per day. If you are looking for something to kick start you back into healthier eating I would recommend reading this book even if you just take a few healthy tips away from it. There is a second book which is just a recipe book called "The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook". You can see all available books at http://mireilleguiliano.com/section/primary/2 and find a lot of recipes at http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/recipes
Now I just need to balance my desire to cook interesting meals with keeping my diet balanced!! Not always so easy when you love cooking and eating new foods!