Weight Loss for Food Lovers

Friend me on Facebook to hear the latest!

Welcome to the official Weight Loss for Food Lovers page. I'm Dr George Blair-West and can I start by thanking you all for the great support you have given this book. You might be interested to know that I was recently contacted by the Copyright Agency of China asking if I would agree to having my book translated into Chinese (it was translated into Dutch around the time of its release in the UK and Europe). My immediate reaction was why? When I think of this culture, I think ‘thin’. Apparently not. I have since discovered that as they have become more westernised and the parents indulge their one precious child, the weight has been piling on! Now 220 million Chinese are either overweight or obese! That is ten times the entire Australian population!

The French Paradox comes to an end in one generation!

We have seen the same development in France. As I wrote about in Food Lovers, the French ruled when it came to eating and loving delicious food and keeping the weight off. Despite a diet of croissants, white bread and rich hollandaise type sauces, they continued to have the lowest rates of obesity and heart disease in the world. The only other country that equalled their record was Japan (but there is no surprise there when you are eating fish and seaweed!).

The French taught their children from a young age how to eat their rich tasty food in small, fully-savoured portions. Their mindful awareness extended from not just eating with all their attention on the food (if the French talk when they eat it is usually about the food they are eating) to stopping eating based on mindful self-awareness. They stop eating when they are ‘no longer hungry’ – not when they are ‘full’. Some clever research showed how the French stay much more attuned to becoming aware when they are no longer hungry while we eat until we are full – a difference of several hundred calories per meal! Their capacity to eat rich, potentially fattening foods but stay slim was called the ‘French Paradox’, but sadly, it is all changing.

With the arrival of the American-style fast food chains in France, they, like the Chinese, are slowly fattening up, starting with the teenagers. Those Americans have a lot to answer for! Over the last five years, the French Paradox has been becoming less paradoxical and more usual as they let go of generations of eating in their unique way – and joining the fat party the rest of the world has been having. In one generation, we are likely to witness the loss of the healthiest eating culture in the world. Maybe those of us who have studied it can keep it alive in our own families and sub-cultures. I would urge you to do your bit for this worthy cause and teach your children and those you care about how to eat their food mindfully and check in to notice when they are no longer hungry rather than ‘full’.

And yes, I have literally just joined Facebook after having every socially-networked woman and her cat point out that I am not on there and keeping up with the times. I would love to have you as a friend and I will let you know about what is happening with my new book due out in early 2012 - click here to visit my page or just search George Blair-West in Facebook. In the meantime, love your food!