FWDGF Vegetable Soup Recipe

The first thing you're supposed to do using French Women Don't Get Fat (FWDGF) is keep a three week food journal, eating normally, to discover what foods are the "offenders" as Guiliano calls them. Well, I'm not the most patient person and I have a pretty good idea of what foods are offending my waistline so ... on to the next step. For 2 days you eat either Magical Leek Broth or Mimosa Soup. Sadly, Mimosa Soup contains no orange juice or champagne. It is however, more hearty than the leek soup so I opted for the Mimosa. As usual, I made the recipe my own and luckily it turned out to be delicious! Let me note, I will not be eating only soup for 2 days straight because, well, I don't want to. I'll replace 2 meals a day with this soup for 4 days or so. Here's the recipe a la FoodFlirt90210:

4-6 cloves fresh garlic
2 tsp grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
1/2 pound carrots
1 bunch celery
1 medium turnip ( Try them you'll like them!)
4 large leeks
1/2 cup chopped flat Italian parsley
1 large box low-sodium vegetable broth
water
2 tbs Turmeric
2 tsp Paprika
1 tbs Ancho Chili Powder (any mild chili powder will do)
1 small head cauliflower
1/2 head green cabbage

Peel and chop garlic. Saute in large soup pot with grapeseed oil until golden brown. Turn off heat.
Clean and coarsely chop all vegetables.

Just an FYI, you only use the light green and white part of the leek for this recipe. Make sure to wash them really well as they tend to hold a bit of dirt inside.

Place all vegetables in pot with garlic except for cauliflower and cabbage. Pour broth over veggies then add water until covered.

Bring to a boil over high heat then add spices using wooden spoon to combine. Simmer, uncovered for 40 minutes.

Add cauliflower and cabbage and cook for another 15 minutes.

Serve soup hot with a dollop of plain yogurt on top. Salt to taste if necessary. This huge pot o' soup should last 2-5 days.

I've Been Overly Flirtatious ...

It is possible to be overly flirtatious with food? Well, my "skinny jeans" seem to think so. I'm afraid I've been flirting with a few too many foods, too many times a day. Oops! Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Enter "French Women Don't Get Fat," by Mireille Guiliano. This book came out in 2005 and reads like a novel, but it's actually a book on how to lose weight in a very reasonable, doable way ... the French way. Now, French people are the original foodies (Italians may disagree) and thus, would never shun great food or live on protein bars and frozen meals. GROSS! So, I've decided to revisit this excellent little book, which focuses on conscious eating, the opposite of mindless eating, which has become ever so popular in America.

In short, you start out with a 2 day diet of homemade soup, then follow with three months of wonderful, albeit healthy, mainly homemade meals. You must agree to eat your meals sitting down at a table, not watching TV or talking on the phone. When you eat you focus on just that, eating. You taste the flavors and enjoy each bite. You take your time and eat slowly. You notice the first signs of being full and push the plate away, even if you're not a member of "the clean plate club." You also decide which foods are most likely the culprit for your weight gain. For me ... wine and sweets, so for three months, I'll keep those two items to a minimum, meaning weekends only.

I began this "lose five pounds" process 3 days ago and I have to say, it's AMAZING how a small amount of really wholesome food can be so satisfying. I was out to lunch the other day, ordered a chopped veggie salad, dressing on the side, and made the conscious decision to eat 1/3 of it and then decide if I was full, which I was. Normally I would have dove right in, munching away, paying more attention to my boyfriend than my meal. This time, I tried to enjoy each nuance, each ingredient and guess what? The meal was so wonderfully satisfying, I didn't think about food again until dinner! If you're a food lover who wants to shed a few pounds, this is the easiest diet plan around.