Customer Reviews

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too: Eating to Be Sexy, Fit, and Fabulous!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Melissa Kelly has understood that quality food is the key to the Mediterranean diet, but her book "Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too" (Collins, 2006) is flawed.

Kelly does a good job of introducing an uninformed reader to the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle. Her emphasis on eating real, high-quality food highlights one of the most important qualities of the Mediterranean diet. Her recipes and notes regarding serving sizes (especially with wine) are quite useful. Her tips in Chapter 11 of the book are great, and should have been the guide for the entire book. Anyone who follows the tips will be on the path to good health.

While I recommend the book for the above reasons, I believe that it is important to also note the flaws. First of all, Kelly notes various studies regarding the Mediterranean diet, but does not provide the sources of those studies either in the text or in a bibliography. It would be nice to be able to consult those sources about which she writes, and noting the sources would give her statements more substance. For this reason, the book seems more opinion-based than fact-based.

The main problem I have with this book is in the diet itself. Kelly mostly bases the diet that she describes on an Italian diet, but the meal she describes would not be eaten by Italians on a daily basis. A meal consisting of an aperative (which is hardly ever a martini in Italy, as Kelly states), antipasto, soup, pasta, a fish course, a meat course, salad, cheese and dessert could be found at Italian weddings or on special holidays, but a typical day would be quite different and significantly lighter. Kelly does reduce the meal components for her seven-day sample menu, however.

Having lived in Italy and taken an interest in why Italians seem slimmer and healthier, I have done quite a bit of research into the subject and would give this book 3&1/2 stars. Kelly provides a good introduction and tips for those who have little to no knowledge of the Mediterranean diet, and the book should be read (keeping in mind, of course, the weaknesses found within) for its general tips on food quality and enjoyment of food.

EDIT: In my original review, I failed to point out two things. First of all, as another reviewer states, there are quite a few (and often incorrect) foreign phrases thrown in throughout the book. While some work, many seem needless.

I would also like to note that the final part of the book (chapters 11, on) seems like a completely different text, less contrived, more "inspirational" and more informative. These chapters would have been enough to make a successful book.

I love "diet" books and decided to read this one after completing similiar types of books from the French and Japanese perspective. I think this is the best of the three I have approached so far.

Like the other lifestyle diet books, Kelly focuses on eating what pleases you and making better choices. I, however, found her tips (except for eating fish) much easier to follow. She also did not come across as pretentious as some of the other aforementioned books.

Her reciepies are flavorful and easy to follow and her suggestions on organic markets (websites as well) is useful. I have developed a new fondness for organic/greek style yogurt.

This isn't really a diet book. It is promoting a lifestyle based on cooking for yourself and eating fresh foods. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and think Kelly does have good advise. I would definitely recommend this over the other "lifestyle diet" books.

Co-owner and chef of Primo restaurant in Rockland Maine, Melissa Kelly enthusiastically espouses the Mediterranean lifestyle in her new book, "Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too", an obvious take-off of the mega bestseller, "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Giuliano. Rather than focusing on the epicure wonders of one country, Kelly shoots for the melting-pot American approach of multiculturalism and sails the wine-dark sea in search of a metaphorically food-loving Ithaca.

Unlike Giuliano's vignette-styled success, Kelly takes a foodie's approach: food snobbery and sheer gastronomical delight reign supreme tempered with gluttonless slow eating and small portion sizes. Her best tip? Special treats like a scoop of gelato shouldn't be eaten every day, but when one indulges the three-bite rule should be enforced; delight in only three bites and then stop before excess rules over commonsense.

Kelly's book cruises along tracking other `real food' diet/lifestyle road maps like the "Sonoma" and "Fat Fallacy" regimes. If there is a difference its intaglio is the wealth of recipes that Kelly includes from seasonal staple dishes from menus of her famous restaurant composed of fresh ingredients facilitated by Primo's own vegetable and herb gardens. After explaining her Italian-American rearing on Long Island (you go girl---I am also an Italian American from Old Bethpage), she divides the book into familiar components---forgive my explanatory license here. Topics like `high flavor', `variety', `olive oil', `the market and garden', `tapas portions', `whole grain', `meat control', `eating at the family table', `water and wine', `eating little but eating well', `heart healthy', `living a small rural life', provide a glimmer into the svelte world of the archetypical Mediterranean woman with the addition of health factoids and individual stories that are geared to launch the convenience driven American mindset into a landscape resplendent with a cornucopia of good choices and the breathing room to utterly enjoy and savor the options.

Although not your typical diet book replete with dietary dos and don'ts, Kelly does round out her information with a nuts and bolts chapter that answers the obvious questions of how? how much? and when? with a seven day-menu planner that controls portions, includes the wholesome foods discussed in the previous chapters and adds a little meat for a little excitement.

Along with this, she plugs the idea of balance and contentment which seems to embody the Mediterranean woman and calls to mind that relaxed feeling that one gets even after a short two week trip abroad. Even though she admits that life in America seems very far away from life in the Mediterranean, she asserts that she "almost [has] it right" bolstering her opinion with Charlotte Cushman's words "To try to be better is to be better."

Kelly's chatty style reflects the ease she employs to welcome us into her quasi-Mediterranean world. At times her enthusiasm runs amok and she falls into the same annoying foreign language usage utilized by Mireille Giuliano in FWDGF. Overtly, Mireille shamelessly uses her `French-ness' to charm her super-sized American audience; sadly Kelly's pseudo sophistication runs the foreign phrase gamut using too-cutesy italicized comments from Gibraltar to Lebanon that annoy rather than instruct and detract from otherwise good information.

Bottom line? While Melissa Kelly's all-American pluralistic approach in "Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too" works well on the level of providing good information and interesting recipes, it seems that the current marketplace is saturated with so many books advocating real food and slow eating that they all seem to cover the same ground. Under the guise of learning the newest need-to-know slenderizing secrets of different cultures, we learn only a few simple facts: Eat well, eat slowly and enjoy life. Recommended to those who would appreciate some staple Mediterranean recipes.

Diana F. Von Behren

"reneofc"

This book is an inspiring addition to food and lifestyle books--Chef Melissa Kelly offers wise advice on what--and how--to eat, noting the flawed and dysfunctional relationship many Americans (myself included) have with food. Some of her key points are obvious: eat fresh, quality foods that are well-prepared, and slow down long enough to enjoy them (and realize when you've had enough). Fresh really is better--I've tried several recipes from the book, and find them easy to manage (though not simple), beautiful to look at, and delicious. My children (ages 6 and 3) are hooked on Kelly's pasta alla puttanesca recipe (I did cut down on the red pepper flakes). Kelly encourages a small glass of wine with dinner--the book is big on flavor, and low on restriction. I feel like I'm learning about food all over again, and I'm inspired by Chef Kelly to eat to be sexy, fit, and fabulous.

This book absolutely changed the way I think about eating. If nothing else, Kelly's straight forward and easygoing approach will have you slowing down at mealtime and appreciating your food in a new way.

While the scope of the book is very broad, that is exactly what I liked about the book. The recipes and way of eating are not limiting but more of a guideline. Much of the text is a bit repeptitive, but the principles are worth repeating.

The medical community's been telling us for a long time that the Mediterranean way of eating--lots of fresh veggies and fruits and whole grains, not so much meat, and olive oil--is good for the heart and for longevity. In her book, Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too, chef Melissa Kelly reminds us, with exuberance, that we eat not only for sustenance but also for pleasure. We like to eat!

James Beard Award-winning chef Kelly takes readers on a tantalizing journey through the tastes of the Mediterranean. Far more diverse than being Italian or Greek, the recipes of the region are not bound by the borders of countries. Rather, they draw from the rich resources of all the lands that border the Mediterranean Sea and from the sea itself.

With chef Kelly's recipes and guidance, I can make elegant, sophisticated dinners for guests or simple, serve-yourself meals for my family. I'm not likely to sell my 15 year-old daughter on braised rabbit, but she's a big fan of salmon (three recipes in the book) and wants me to prepare the Pomegranate-Glazed Pork Tenderloin so she can buy the pomegranates (fruit that's always fascinated her). And she can make a number of dishes by herself, even shopping for fresh ingredients at our local Farmer's Market.

Enjoy your food! Eat what you like! Such simple concepts, yet ones that have lost context for us in our crazy lives where meals are often an odd junction between science and haste--counting grams of this and calories of that jumbled in the rush to get something to eat. If we are what we eat, as the saying goes, then I'm all for eating to be sexy, fit, and fabulous. Aren't you?

This is an excellent resource of interesting facts + recipies on how to stay healthy. It was recommended by my husband's doctor who treats him for prostate problem.

This book has inspired me to get cooking again after the summer heat has gone. I am loving all the recipes in this book and so far have tried 5 and I'm only on page 111 !! The recipes do not call for exotic ingredients as some of the other reviews had said.I live in the rural Appalachian mountains and if I can find goat cheese I'm sure other people can too ! As for the organic,buy it when you can find it or afford it or buy the usual produce.I love the way this book has introduced me to different ways of preparing foods I usually eat such as roasted beets in a salad with goat cheese (very creamy and yummie! and making roasted veggies in the oven and then puree them and add to pasta !! I especially like the inspiration to make my own salsa with toasted pitas too. All in all this book is an easy read and the recipes are easy to follow and very delicious.I would highly recommmend this book to friends and family easily.

Great book by a great chef. Not only is her food amazing, but her approach to life is refreshing. I both highly recommend the book and Primo.

I read everything I can get my hands on regarding the Mediterranean lifestyle. This book is well written, although, if you have read other books on the subject, there is not a lot of new information. For me, the real value in the book is the recipes. I try to eat this way and I am always looking for sources of recipes. The recipes here are interesting and good