I adore Bethenny Frankel, and I’ve been a fan of hers for years, but I’m on the fence about her book: Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting.
Most of Bethenny’s advice is common sense and information that I’ve read in various health and fitness magazines over the years. In fact, I already use a lot of her tips to balance the way I eat in my everyday diet. While nothing from the book really surprised me, Bethenny’s approach was a good reminder to practice a little self-control every now and then. Much of Naturally Thin is about eating in moderation, not denying yourself, and satisfying cravings, but parts of it seem to highlight some disordered eating behaviors.
Naturally Thin is split into two sections: The Rules and The Naturally Thin Program. In the first section, Bethenny explain her 10 basic rules:
1. Your diet is your bank account
2. You can have it all, just not all at once
3. Taste everything, eat nothing
4. Pay attention
5. Downsize now
6. Cancel your membership to the clean plate club
7. Check yourself before you wreck yourself
8. Know thyself
9. Get real
10. Good for you
In theory, all of Bethenny’s rules are great advice for someone wishing to lose or maintain their weight. A number of the rules hit home for me and changed my thinking about how, when, and why I eat.
- Your diet is your bank account. This is basically the thinking behind Carrots ‘N’ Cake. You can have your cake as long as you eat your carrots! 😀 Bethenny explains that you need to balance your food choices. She suggests balancing a carby meal (oatmeal) with a protein-packed meal (salad with chicken breast) and a final meal that combines both carbs and protein. This rule opened my eyes to the lack of protein in some of my own meals– no wonder I am a bottomless pit after eating 2 carb meals in a row!
- You can have it all, just not all at once. I’ve actually repeated this rule in my head when dining out or attending special events with lots of yummy food. Obviously, I don’t deprive myself, but I don’t need to treat myself to every delicious treat that passes my plate. For instance, when eating out, I don’t need to have a piece of bread from the bread basket, a glass of wine, an entree, and dessert! Bethenny suggests picking what you most want most and enjoy it. You can always have dessert another time– it’s not going anywhere.
- Good for you. This was my favorite rule out of the bunch– mostly because I blog about what works for me everyday on CNC. For example, I eat oatmeal with nut butter almost every morning, but that doesn’t mean you should eat the exact same thing. Maybe you dislike mushy foods. Maybe the thought of breakfast makes you sick to your stomach and dinner is your favorite meal of the day. You need to find out what is good for you and do it. You are the only person who really knows what is good for you.
The second section of Naturally Thin goes through a week of Bethenny’s eating and shows you how to implement the rules in everyday life situations. In this context, a number of her rules made perfect sense to me. In other instances, however, it seemed like she wasn’t eating nearly enough calories. For example, here’s what Bethenny ate in one day:
- Breakfast: Hummus and roasted red peppers on one pita triangle. (One pita triangle is not a meal!)
- Lunch: 1 glass of Chardonnay, 1/2 spinach salad with crab meat and hearts of palm.
- Snack: 1/2 bag of popcorn with sea salt, one bite of a cookie.
- Dinner: 1 Skinny Girl Margarita; green salad drizzled with ginger dressing, 1 spicy scallop hand roll with mayo but no rice, 2 steamed vegetable dumplings, 1 steamed crab dumpling, 2 pieces of sushi. (Taste everything, eat nothing.)
- Snack: 2 bites of a friend’s Pinkberry frozen yogurt. (How is this a snack!?)
Bethenny may have been balancing her “bank account,” but skipping meals and counting 2 bites of food as a snack is not a nutritious diet to me. Of course, this was just one day of Bethenny’s life and she was doing what was good for her, but I find her calorie intake pretty low (even for someone living a relatively sedentary lifestyle). Bethenny admits that her eating habits are not perfect, but, personally, I would pass-out from eating so little! I think including this second part of the book sets a bad example for those striving to be “naturally thin.”
Even though a number of things bugged me about Naturally Thin, there is something to be gained by Bethenny’s approach to eating. It calls on you to be accountable and responsible for your own food choices, but encourages you to enjoy “what you really want” in moderation. However, it is important to remember that this book was not written by a doctor or Registered Dietitian, and what works for Bethenny may not work for you. Some women may thrive to be “Hollywood thin,” but, to me, the Naturally Thin Program is unrealistic and unhealthy, especially for someone trying to lose weight in a healthy way. While I like many aspects of Bethenny’s eating philosophy, I don’t see her diet as ideal for optimal health for most people.
