Quotes from Mireille Guiliano

Tout est question d'équilibre (Everything is a matter of balance):

As the French know well, ritual is how we give meaning to different aspects of being alive, including the most elemental: birth, marriage, death, and through it all, until the end, eating.

you must understand there is nothing noble in failing to discover and cultivate your pleasures. (It will make you not only fat, but grouchy.)

If bad eating habits are your way of compensating for another problem, stay tuned, because French women have a much more varied menu of compensations.

Analyze your diary by determining what seems excessive in your judgment. You might begin by asking, "What could I live without—or at least with less of?

Give us being and feeling over having any day.

La actividad física permite aumentar la fuerza y la masa muscular, incrementa el ritmo metabólico, reduce el colesterol malo, reduce los lapsus de memoria, aumenta la calidad del sueño, reduce la tensión sanguínea, disminuye la rigidez muscular y refuerza la movilidad y el equilibrio. ¿Qué

Hunger is distracting and unpleasant, almost as much as being bloated or stuffed. You should no more skip meals than you would skip filling your gas tank—you'll only be stranded later.

Making choices that are meaningful to you is the essence of the French woman's secret.

Tout est question d'équilibre

Learn to say no, with an eye to saying yes to something else.

I would advocate that chocolate be covered by health insurance, but that is admittedly a very French public policy perspective.

Expose them {your kids} to the widest variety of vegetables and fruits, showing them how good things can be in season. Tasteless fruits and vegetables won't win them over for life.

Garbage in, garbage out~

value simplicity in all things, never serve any aperitif but Champagne. Hard liguor requires a bar, special paraphernalia, and a variety of glasses, as well as messy shaking or stirring. More important, it numbs more than it tickles the taste buds. When you've spent time and money preparing delicious food for your guests, the last thing you want is to render them unable to taste it. That will eliminate one of the most important topics of conversation!~

French women typically think about good things to eat. American women typically worry about bad things to eat.

French women love bread and would never consider a life without carbs.

Ever since that day in Chicago, whenever I see such scenes, I think of a quote by Billat-Savarin, the eighteenth-century 'modern' gastronome, well known for his writings and meditations on the physiology of taste and for his famous dictum 'We are what we eat.' But he also wrote even more revealingly: 'The destiny of a nation depends on how it feeds itself.

There are no recipes, only ingredients~

French women know one can go far with a great haircut, a bottle of champagne, and a divine perfume.

dressing well was also a sign of respect, for yourself and for others.

French women eat and serve what's in season, for maximum flavor and value, and know availability does not equal quality.

Gastronomic boredom leads to lots of unhealthy eating. If you don't make improvisation and experimentation part of your eating life, you are sure to find yourself in an eating rut.

Entertaining is an act of friendship and cooking is an act of love.