French Women

Full Name: French Women Don't Get Fat

Origin: Created by a busy New York executive named Mireille Guiliano, who was born in France

Description: Unrestrictive diet that attempts to follow the lifestyle habits of French women; while following this diet everything can be eaten in moderation

Likes: Small portions of everything including wine and cheese, and everything in moderation

Dislikes: Large meals

Looking for: A dieter who doesn't want a restrictive, calorie counting diet

Works Well With: Fresh fruit and vegetable stands and markets

Mireille Guiliano shares the slimming secrets of French women in her top-selling diet book. Her weight loss diet doesn't count calories, or cut fats or carbs. According to Guiliano, the secret behind successful weight loss is eating only high quality foods and watching your portion sizes. On this diet, you should enjoy what you eat, but eat only in a reasonable quantity. Guiliano's diet is based on her own observations and is backed by very little substantial research. However, due to the overwhelming popularity of her book, her self-proclaimed weight loss diet seems to have some relevance, although it may or may not turn up results.

According to Guiliano, French women don't 'sweat it out at the gym', so this diet doesn't call for a lot of exercise besides walking. Walking is a great form of exercise, but it's important to also include strength training in your plan if you want to tone up all over.

For the first few months of the plan, the dieter is to keep a food diary and write down everything they eat. Once they begin to reach their weight loss goals, they should begin to adjust their plan and use the diary to recognize any trigger foods they may have. Also, since this weight loss diet doesn't require the dieter to eliminate particular foods, more attention should be put on portion sizes. For example, if the dieter happens to overindulge at one meal, they should add more exercise to their day or cut back on the portion sizes at the next meal.

This diet is intriguing, but is also a misconception; French women get fat just like any woman, if they overeat and don't exercise regularly. It is nice that this diet attempts to create a positive relationship between dieter and food, but the overall principle seems a little too basic.