Product Description

Eat what you love and love how you look! Let the girls show you how it's done.

If your two favorite girlfriends wrote a hilarious, insightful book about how to look and feel fabulous without denying yourself the pleasure of great food, it would look just like this! The authors bring their unique perspectives (girl-about-town and mother of twins) to show how, whatever your lifestyle, you can balance eating smart and eating rich, and still look amazing in that little black dress. No strict rules, no boring talk about glycemic index, just savvy advice, complete meal plans, and more than 75 amazing recipes, plus an emergencies-only The Little Black Dress Diet-how to eat when you absolutely must fit into your dress by the weekend.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18562 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The brilliance of this fun-to-read munching manifesto is its ability to adapt itself to the vagaries of real-world eating; the writer-editor authors understand the temptations of workaday life and lazy weekends and provide practical tips that allow even dieting dropouts a bit of the leeway they crave. Underscoring the importance of portion size, the duo explains how to avoid recreational eating. In light-hearted prose aimed at women, the authors suggest eating "like a food writer"-sampling favorite foods and discarding the rest. Convinced that the lion's share of overeating stems from boredom, they explain how "breaking a food rut at home" can jump-start dieting results. "The Skinny on Drinks" may be the most valuable chapter, as it reminds readers just how many pounds those Cosmos and Frappuccinos can pack on. Packed with little black dress-friendly recipes that are simple to whip up, this upbeat guide is fun enough to bring any veteran calorie counter back from the dieting doldrums.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Melissa and Robin are food lovers whose unique perspectives and hilarious insights make The Skinny relevant to any woman who's ever wanted to look and feel fabulous without denying herself the pleasures of food. Brooklyn resident Melissa Clark adores her out-on-the-town life in New York City, including cocktails and late-night dinners, and still fits sleekly into her favorite little (size 2!) black dress. She's spent her entire professional life associated with food. After working as a cook and professional caterer, she earned an M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University and launched a career in food writing. Her writing appears in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country, Real Simple, and more. She has also collaborated on 17 cookbooks, one of which received both a James Beard award and the Julia Child Cookbook award in 2000. Robin Aronson likes to write about what she knows. This high-energy mother of twins loves good food, yet has lost her baby weight and still looks great in her little black dress. Before and during her own pregnancy she wrote The Whole Pregnancy Handbook: A doctor's guide to the wise use of conventional and alternative medicine before, during and after pregnancy, with Joel M. Evans, M.D. (Gotham: 2005). She's been editor in chief of the web site for Parents magazine, associate publisher of Tikkun magazine, and managing editor of a website devoted to food and dining. She lives in New York City with her husband and (adorable) twins.

Customer Reviews

Some great tips!!!
I have read a lot of diet and nutrition books, so it's important to me to find something that gives new ideas or perspectives. The main thing I took away from this was learning to appreciate and enjoy every bite. The authors really push the idea of eating what satisfies you and stopping when you're full. I often ate healthy meals on autopilot, because they were healthy, but I didn't love them and I'd still be hungry later...but by eating what I want (healthy versions), I am always satisfied at the end of the meal and not hungry. They say something to the effect of, you'll be surprised how less food can be filling if it's what you WANT, and it's true. Also, I tried some of the recipes and I like them a lot. The authors suggest trying new foods, because you enjoy tastes you haven't had in a while and therefore eat less, and I've also found this tip to be true.

I'd say this is a good book for people who have dieted before and know a lot about it, but are a little bored or need to kick it up a notch. It's good for beginners, but because they don't encourage counting calories, someone who doesn't know calorie counts could easily go overboard because so many things that seem healthy are not.

Changed the way I eat
I am so thankful for this book. Yes, a lot was common sense but their were a few tips that made the whole book worthwhile. One example is their suggestion on eating more veggies. Now I know this is not a new thought but they gave me a whole new perspective on how to do it right. I now expand every meal with veggies (which I happen to love anyway so its not too hard). If I'm having chicken and rice for example, I have just a little smaller portion of chicken and about half the rice than I would usually have but I mix the rice with grilled bell peppers, mushrooms, etc. So what would have looked like a dinky little portion of rice is now a huge mound. No counting calories, no food journal, this plan is about true freedom and is not just another diet. In a little over a month, I have went from 126 lbs. to 117 lbs. and still declining at a steady pace. I never thought this 38 year old body would fit into a size 2 again but now I see hope. Oh yeah...the recipes are incredible too.

Heard it All Before...
Lots of good information but it's all pretty much common sense. I am a weight loss, self-help book/magazine/website connoisseur (I'm lookin' for that life-changer)and I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone who is similar. It's the basic, "don't finish your meals, make healthy choices at restaurants while still satisfying your cravings, don't eat something just because it's right in front of you, eat your fruits and veggies, drink lots of water..." stuff. Another major downer in my opinion was the recipe section of the book. I think that most women who are trying to lose weight are struggling because of their reliance on convenient food, probably due to the fact that convenience is what their lives allow. Thus, The Skinny's recipes are useless unless you can spend 25 or 30 minutes just making lunch. Also, many of the recipes seem like they'd be pretty pricey.

The book is fun and easy to read and parts of it made me giggle but it definitely is not my life-changer.