The Fat Fallacy: The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss (Paperback)

~ Will Clower (Author) "IT WAS A BRILLIANT MORNING..." (more)
Key Phrases: artificial margarine, faux foods, pork chop filets, The Fat Fallacy, United States, New York Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Humorous and enlightening … filled with a quality often overlooked in science: common sense. Clower has written a brilliant book. -- The Reader, October 2001

The most convincing answer I’ve ever seen, and reflects exactly my own experience of living, eating and drinking in France. -- Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence and French Lessons --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Fat is not the enemy!


Croissants. Brioche. Brie. To the American palate, these foods are fattening and oftentimes “forbidden.” Yet they are the regular staples of the French diet. And though almost half of all Americans are overweight, France’s obesity rate is at a low eight percent, while the French also boast fewer cases of stroke and heart disease. It’s clear that America’s obsession with low-fat and fat-free foods has ultimately failed.
In The Fat Fallacy, neuroscientist Will Clower explains precisely why the American diet sabotages weight-loss efforts and discusses how French eating habits can lead to better health and trimmer physiques. In this revolutionary work, Dr. Clower explains:

• How highly processed “fake foods” are the real culprit in the American diet
• Why it’s not just what you eat but how you eat that makes a difference
• Easy ways to adopt the habits of the French to melt the pounds away, including
complete dinner recipes—with dessert!

Finally, here’s a plan that cuts through the high-protein/low-fat debate. It’s not a gimmicky diet program but a way of life that will invite Americans to enjoy food like never before—while being healthier and trimmer than they ever could have imagined.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 297 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (April 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400049199
• ISBN-13: 978-1400049196
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,957 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worked for me!, January 2, 2005

By	Online Shopaholic (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

I first spotted The Fat Fallacy in a bookstore at a time when I was feeling frustrated at not being able to shed those last 10 pounds after months of exercising more regularly than I ever had before and trying to eat low-fat. I was intrigued by the idea that I could eat foods I love - cheese, full-fat premium ice cream, and chocolate - all while losing weight.

It sounded almost too good to be true, but I'd seen firsthand from a trip to Paris that the French ate very differently from us yet stayed thin. Also, many of Will Clower's comments made a lot of sense intuitively. I decided to give it a try, hoping for the best, but promising to stop if it caused me to gain weight instead.

I tossed out the skim milk, "low-fat" cheese, and processed foods containing high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and other artificial ingredients (you'd be amazed how many things include them!). To refill my pantry and refrigerator, I bought cream-top yogurt, whole milk, cheese, freshly baked french bread, good olive oil, high-quality dark chocolate, fresh vegetables, etc. I loved eating the new foods, found I didn't need to eat as much as before to feel satisfied, and was amazed at how quickly I saw the pounds start coming off.

Within just over a month of making the changes, I had lost the 10 pounds I'd been struggling with. Another 5 pounds that I wasn't even trying to lose came off in the following month, leaving me happily surprised to have dropped 3 clothing sizes. Wow! It's so wonderful to be able to enjoy food without guilt, and to be happy with my body at the same time!

I've since bought several copies of The Fat Fallacy to share with friends and family who've expressed interest. I'm always happy to be able to tell people about this book, as it encourages a healthy lifestyle rather than a "diet". It's definitely worth reading, and the recommendations seem so much healthier than some of today's trendier diets. Hope you'll read it and get as much out of it as I did!

141 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could This Be America's Weight-Loss Solution?, March 26, 2004

By	Chris Frost (Ingalls, IN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Fat Fallacy : Applying the French Diet to the American Lifestyle (Hardcover)

The Fat Fallacy is a refreshing new way (or rather old way) of looking at food. In our search for the quick-fix weight-loss solution, we have basically abandoned food and learned to embrace a diet of generally non-edible chemicals that have been dressed to resemble food. This becomes apparent at the end of every chapter, where there is a "faux-foods" quiz, which lists the ingredients of a common food substance and dares you to identify it. I only got one right, and wondered why I've been eating all this stuff. His advice is grounded in common sense - "if it ain't food, don't eat it" - and is actually quite easy to follow. How much time do Americans spend obsessing about how many carbs or sugars or fat grams are in their "food"? And when was the last time an American actually ENJOYED one of these low-fat, low-carb, low-sugar, low-taste, low-nutrition meals? The basic idea behind this "diet" is that Americans are fat because they eat too much. We keep getting fatter in spite of all the diet "foods" we eat. The human body doesn't get the nutrition it needs from this chemical soup, so it remains hungry until it gets some kind of real food. This is the typical binge. It's really quiet disgusting if you think about how much we eat. But in The Fat Fallacy, we are shown how to choose real food and enjoy it, all the while losing weight. How? When your body actually gets the nutrients it needs, it stops telling you that it's hungry, and that's when you stop eating. Pretty simple stuff. No agonizing over what frozen-food item has less fat or less carbs, no more choking down those tasteless food-sticks, no more disgusting eating habits. Our bodies need food. Be nice to your body and give it some.

308 of 341 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Reader, March 4, 2005

By	CLL (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews

You sort of get the feeling that he's bottling tap water and trying to make millions off of it. I'm sure he's a very nice person, but there is nothing that qualifies him to write a diet book regarding the French lifestyle, save his two years in France. Basically, if you Google "french diet" or "French paradox," the various articles and such, including ones mentioning W.Clowers, will tell you what you need to know about the French Paradox. Also, read all the reviews on this site, you'll learn everything you need to know about the book without buying it. Though this book is almost 300 pages in length, you could capture the formula he sets forth in a one-paged pamphlet. There are 2 things to keep in mind: (1) the way you eat; and (2) what you eat. (1) Way: Basically, three square meals of real, unprocessed food and no snacks. (NOTHING processed, not even light butter or aspartame or corn syrup, etc.) Eating slowly is most important, small bites of delicious foods, chew slowly, put fork down between bites. Sips of water and red wine between bites. Enjoy and try to eat in several courses. (2) What: Fruits, veggies, whole grains of course. But most importantly, the French believe that dairy (whole milks, whole cheese, whole yogurt, real butter) and dairy fat, vegetable fat (olive oil), and fat from ducks and geese are healthy; not healthy are fats from animal tissue, i.e., beef fat and pork. Lots of red wine, coffee, and small amounts of dark chocolate. Have red wine w/ your meal, and a small strong coffee and chocolate after Lunch and Dinner. Also, walk everywhere, make exercise an organic part of your life. I got all this off of Google searches and so his book wasn't any more informative. Pretty basic and it works b/c, miraculously, all that dairy fat deliciously and effectively kills your appetite and you're (I'm) not thinking about food constantly. Basically, print out this review, and apply those steps with a better guide book, such as French Women Don't Get Fat or Joie de Vivre (written by a French restrauteur living in America), which explains especially well the French way of eating. W.Clowers seems like a really nice person, but his writing is boring and sort of meanders all over the place. (He's a scientist, not a writer.) And one can't escape the feeling that he's really trying to make millions, especially in light of his website and future book projects and ridiculous chocolate eating courses, by bottling tap water! I think it's pretty dishonest to charge a bunch of hardworking Americans a seminar fee to "teach" them how to slowly melt a piece of chocolate on their tongue. Did that 1/2 ounce piece of chocolate cost $100? I'm tired of diet "guru" after "guru" trying to make it rich quick off the American people. He's yet another who's quickly put up a website to charge membership fees with "advisors" with questionable qualifications. 80 million French are doing it without him, and so can you!