Manage your weight -- with pleasure
Healthwise by Virginia Linn
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
link to article
Can you guess what "food" this is? Water, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, sodium caseinate, natural and artificial flavors, dipotassium phosphate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, polysorbate 60, carrageenan, beta-carotene coloring.
Answer: CoffeeMate nondairy creamer.
After reading that, do you really want to put it in your coffee?
That's one of the points that University of Pittsburgh neurophysiologist Will Clower makes in his book, "The Fat Fallacy," (Three Rivers Press, $12.95) that's just been released in paperback.
It focuses on the success -- and mystery -- of the French diet in controlling weight. Meals that include buttered croissants, cream, eggs, full-fat cheeses and decadent desserts keep down the weight of an entire country. Eight percent of the French population is obese, vs. 30 percent of Americans.
What Clower, 39, of Forest Hills, is trying to promote is a lifestyle: Don't fear a normal level of natural fats in your diet, adopt eating habits that control portions, foster lower weight and build a greater appreciation of the food you eat. How you eat is just as important as what you eat. Quality vs. quantity.
He wrote the book after spending two years as a research fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences in Lyon, France. You won't find margarine, skim milk or many snack-filled vending machines there. Cars don't come with cup holders, and exercise is more functional than deliberate.
The average French life span is longer than ours (two years for men, three years for women), even though smoking is more prevalent than it is here. The rate of heart disease is three times higher here than in France.
The book really doesn't break new ground, but puts into focus -- against the backdrop of America's soaring obesity rate -- a lifestyle that happens to be working.
Beyond daily wine servings, their habits go a long way in controlling weight: Take smaller bites, don't snack between meals, finish what you have in your mouth before putting something else in (savor every bite!). Get outside and walk around, take your time at the table and talk with your fellow diners. Have some meats, veggies, breads, desserts -- a little of many things.
The French also go low on animal tissue fats (particularly red meat) and high on other natural fats, he said.
Clower blames much of the problems of the American diet on what he calls faux foods (remember the delicious description up top?) that have replaced fresh and natural foods for the wrong reasons. Among the culprits: Stove Top stuffing, Cool Whip, Cheetos and Hellmann's 97 percent Fat Free Mayonnaise Dressing.
He self-published his book in September 2001, and the Random House division picked up the paperback.
"One of the things that is different [in this book vs. others], is that I'm relying on a set of cultural habits to help us guide our food choices, as opposed to a series of scientific results," he said last week during a quick break in his current book tour.
"If you're Ornish, you have data and evidence to support the low-fat diet, if you're Atkins, you have data and evidence to support the exact opposite conclusion.... My point of view is a little more straightforward.
"The user-friendly nature of this is based on the observation of success."
Readers who adopted this lifestyle have expressed relief at not having to micromanage their diet anymore. "The best thing," he said, "is that food is no longer the enemy."
So push aside whatever disdain you may have for the French and enjoy croissants, brioche and brie. Eat those carbs and flavor your coffee with full-fat cream.
I can't say that Clower's book will prompt me to take two-hour leisurely lunches during the week (instead of eating au bon pain at my desk), but it does relieve my guilt in eating (very slowly) butter, chocolate and rich ice cream. And from now on, I'll steer clear of the Stove Top stuffing.
"Manage your weight -- with pleasure"
Linear Mode
