What better way to indulge without the bulge than following this savvy French way of eating that has become a catch-all diet craze and a promising way to help up get skinny by get this – eating with a fork! You have to wonder, are we so animalistic now that we have forgotten to eat civilly with the appropriate utensils?
Well maybe, when you consider the amount of street food, snacks, sandwiches, burgers, tacos and chips that we eat all super-stocked with calories, fat and carbs. While this packs on pounds, look for another thing they have in common- hand to mouth eating. And with that, an increased risk you will overdo it!
So enters “Dine Avec Une Forchette” (Dine with a Fork). Once food gets into our mouth all bets are off at control. That’s because there’s a lot going on that brings great reward to our brains. These pleasure sensations are hot-wired and provide little impulse to stop.
Luckily, you can now not only slow down your eating but also remove from your diet those foods that cannot be conceivably eaten with a fork. But can the French savoir-faire on diet and being thin save us from ourselves? The answer it seems may elude you.
It may seem straightforward but actually, you need a primer on how to fork. The rules of forking extend far beyond the utensil and dictate when and what you eat. The fork diet is top heavy in daytime calories which basically reverses a common American eating pattern of late night eating with large meals and snacks.
Taboos on chocolate, dairy, cheese, dessert are off as long as you eat them earlier in the day. Advantages to both the psyche and metabolism can be seen as you can neutralize and satisfy your cravings in a safer time slot and with more control than in the evening.
Theoretically, this may be better for your metabolism as you can get a chance to expend these calories over the day, not stock pile them in your liver and fat cells when you are sleeping.
It can be fabulous to fork and in time it may help you to change your eating pattern and lead to weight loss by lightening up that evening load up meal.
Fork your dinner! This meal involves maximum restriction on food choices and mandates you only use a fork. That means no cutting, spreading, slurping, pouring or finger eating. That means no white or red meat, stews, sauces, condiments or fruits. Your choices are limited to a meal of fish, vegetables and some brown grains. If you are still curious, take a look at a sample of a day in the life of the fork:
A Day in the Life of the Fork
Breakfast:
Buttered whole wheat toast with several slices of cheese or
Ham, 2 eggs, and buttered toast
Lunch:
Hamburger and Salad and a small piece of cake or
Chicken and pasta with vegetables and a scoop of ice cream
Dinner:
Salmon and asparagus and brown rice or
Filet of sole and spinach and quinoa
So gather your will and determination and get ready for forking. But like all fad diets, a fork in the road is inevitable. The needless restrictions and contradictions in what you are supposed to eat may bore and frustrate you and usher in a return to old habits.
If you really want to fork yourself thin, learn how mindful eating, meal planning and behavior changes can take center stage and lead you to a new lifestyle. But if you think the French are thin because they fork more than us, well, you must be forking kidding!
Nicolette M. Pace MS, RD, CDE, CDN, CFCS
Nicolette founded NutriSource Inc. to provide quality education,counseling and nutrition services for a diverse community population,emphasizing a holistic approach toward food, nutrition and preventative healthcare. She is an accomplished presenter and writer whose work has been featured on countless print, online and television venues that include, CBS, ABC and Fox News as well as Seventeen, Fitness, More, Dr.Oz, Everyday Health and AOL. She has been on the faculty as an adjunct professor of Nutrition at CUNY and at Touro College and she also offers insight as a media spokesperson for the NYS Dietetic Association.
Originally published October 2012
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