Review of Naturally Thin
By Bethenny Frankel With Eve Adamson
May 22, 2009 Lisa Ann Schleipfer
Bethenny Frankel would freak if she saw a review of her new book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, under the "diet book" section of a website. Frankel doesn't believe in diets, or food fads, or not eating a beloved food. When she uses the word "diet," she literally is referring to the food a person consumes, not a restrictive eating and exercising plan.
Frankel works incredible hard at separating her advice, summed up in book form, from other diet books and plans out there. Rather, her rules are based on thought processes, her measurements are loose, and promotes customized daily food choices.
Sprinkled throughout the chapters are sidebars of "Thin Thoughts," which highlight ideas or personal experiences Frankel relates to the reader. Other snippets include "Bethenny Bytes," short details about what Frankel ate in a particular situation, whether she was being naturally thin or not. Each chapter includes recipes at the end, specific to the topic of that section.
The Rules
Part one of the New York Times bestseller lays out the ten Naturally Thin rules, along with a few other tidbits and tips about how dieters psychologically set themselves up for failure. In summation, the rules are practical and seemly obvious suggestions for the reader to change his or her thinking about eating, portions, and negative self-talk.
The rules teach the reader how to slow down when it comes to eating, and to pay attention to the body, and how to decide when he or she is full. Frankel does not put restriction on a single food, instead in encouraging readers get in the driver's seat when it comes to their diet.
Through these rules, Frankel is able to illustration that normal portion sizes in America are out of control, (such as "burritos the size of your head"), and that eating sensible, logical meals is possible. Frankel also emphasizes that naturally thin people, even she, are apt to stray from the rules,
The Naturally Thin Program
Part two of the book takes readers through a single week of implementing the ten Naturally Thin rules. In these chapters, Frankel reviews each rule, offers eating suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert, even drinks—including the infamous Skinnygirl™ Margarita.
Throughout the book Frankel emphasizes that strict meals are unenforceable and unnecessary. Leaving naturally thin followers to eat breakfast at noon, partake or not partake in snacks, or eat more than one sweet throughout the day. For readers that require even more guidance, an appendix details Frankel's eating log for a three-week period.
Becoming Thin, Naturally
The logic and steps in Naturally Thin are simple and straightforward, from choosing to eat real over processed foods, to stopping eating when one is full; Frankel delivers her message with humor and lightheartedness. Most importantly, she asks readers to be truly honest about their eating habits, their food choices and their overall diet, a refreshing change from forcing wannabe dieters into submission.
Can the rules be implemented into the average person's life? Certainly. Not fixating on Frankel's exact personal menu (the size 0 chef clearly eats a small quantity of food each day), but rather listening to one's body, knowing one's metabolism and pitfalls (an uncontrollable desire for doughnuts, for example), and eating foods the reader truly enjoys tasting, Naturally Thin is a fully implementable program.
Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 10: 1-4165-9798-0.
Naturally Thin
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