Weight Loss & Diet Plans

Naturally Thin

Naturally Thin: What It Is

If you want to give up calorie counting, eat whatever foods you want, drink margaritas, and free yourself from a lifetime of dieting, this book may be for you. Best known as the outspoken socialite star of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York, author Bethenny Frankel claims to have the secrets in Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting.

 After a lifetime of dieting and making poor eating choices, Frankel says she found a way to free herself of "food noise," guilt, and obsession with dieting. She says that when no food is forbidden, your relationship with food improves.

Her 10 golden rules for becoming Naturally Thin are:

1. Your diet is a bank account (you need to balance your calories for the day).
2. You can have it all -- just not all at once.
3. Taste everything, eat nothing (share food, eat small bites).
4. Pay attention (say no to mindless eating.)
5. Downsize your portions now.
6. Cancel your membership in the Clean Plate Club.
7. Check yourself before you wreck yourself (stop emotional and binge eating).
8. Know thyself (know your trigger foods).
9. Get real (eat more whole foods and fewer processed ones).
10. Good for you (make peace with food).

"This is not a diet book because diets don’t work, but you do need these rules to help change your life," Frankel says.

Frankel says she wants to free you from obsessing over food and diet books and give you license to eat whatever you want -- just not too much of it. Think tastes and bites, not meals. "Take small bites, share food with friends, and don’t be afraid of foods like pasta," she says.

Throughout the book, Frankel offers girlfriend-type advice to help readers choose filling, high-fiber foods; learn about real hunger; and know when to give in to food cravings.

Although she recommends eating wholesome, organic foods and never cleaning your plate, she gives permission to break the rules without guilt -- as long as you jump right back on the program.