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French Diet – American Women

with Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD and Mireille Guiliano

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Live Events Transcript

Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, says that French women don't get fat, but they do eat bread and pastry, drink wine, and regularly enjoy three-course meals. Kathleen Zelman, director of nutrition for the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic, chats with Guiliano to unlock the secrets of this "French paradox" -- how to enjoy food and stay slim and healthy. They joined us on March 10 for a conversation, and to answer your questions.

If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.

MODERATOR: Kathleen Zelman, director of nutrition for WebMD, is interviewing our guest, Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure for WebMD Live. Welcome ladies, let's begin.

ZELMAN: In a nutshell why is it that French women don't get fat?

GUILIANO: Because they've learned to eat with their head and they fool themselves.

ZELMAN: What are they fooling themselves about?

GUILIANO: First they eat with pleasure, using all their senses. They also eat sitting down, which is very important, because if you eat standing up, in front of the TV or multitasking, you tend to overeat and want more. You eat on some kind of autopilot and you don't enjoy what you're eating.

ZELMAN: How can we learn how to eat with our senses?

GUILIANO: By making some choices and taking a few meals to start with where you sit down and do nothing but eat. Pay attention to the color and presentation, the portions, the chewing and the eating slowly and you're going to notice you get satisfied much faster and you will eat less.

ZELMAN: What is wrong with the American diet?

GUILIANO: It's first that your relationship with food is different than ours. We eat for pleasure; you eat feeling guilty, feeling food is sinful and following diets that are all about deprivation. Your eating is about one-size fits all, do this, don't do that, eat this, and don't eat that. That doesn't work, it's very stressful and we already have a stressful life.

Obviously if diets worked, everybody would be thin. People eat fast food, a lot of food with preservatives and coloring -- artificial; what I call poison food. My book is a lifestyle book that says: okay, do your little diary or journal and try to pick a few things from my hundreds of tips and apply them to your life. Apply the ones that are easy to do to begin with.

ZELMAN: I totally agree that diets don't work. But another facet of our lifestyles is that we also eat very large portions which certainly add to our weight problems.