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French Chic & Slim
Nouvelles
News and Opinion from Anne Barone to Keep You Chic & Slim — INDEX to Previous Nouvelles
image: Cover Organ Speak by Giulia Enders
|| 5 May 2026
Giulia Enders Organ Speak: What It Really Means to Listen to Our Bodies
One of the books I recommended in the Resources section of The Barone System was Giulia Enders book Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ. In addition to putting me on track to finding a solution to my digestive problems, the author’s account of how, when doctors failed to find a treatment for sores that developed on her body when she was a teenager, she had to work out a cure on her own. The message here is that sometimes we must find solutions to health problems ourselves.
In her new book, Dr. Enders is attempting to give us information on how we can listen to our bodies to maximize its systems to keep us healthy, both physically and mentally.
So far I am on page 82 (of 253) in the Apple Books ebook edition of Organ Speak. I must admit that I find Dr. Enders metaphorical storytelling style of explaining human physiology more obfuscating than informative. More so in this book than in Gut. Nonetheless, the information in the section on lungs (the first organ discussed) made me aware of how much, particularly when exercising, I was breathing through my mouth rather than my nose. (When and why I began this I have no idea.) And that this mouth breathing might be contributing to the almost chronic allergic cough I have developed.
I continue to read.
be chic, stay slim. live well — Anne Barone
|| 26 April 2026
Buckingham Palace Breakfast Tea
Definitely the most fun tea I have had an opportunity to try.
image: Buckingham Palace Breakfast Tea
Last Christmas I received a box of Buckingham Palace Breakfast Tea as a gift. With the teabags individually packaged in heavy foil, this tea is obviously not meant to be an everyday tea. But in that week of miserable cold last winter, our Texas Freeze 2.0, I drank it every morning. The smooth, full-bodied tea fortified me against the cold. Looking at the gaudily decorated box in which the tea is packaged lifted my spirits.
That box! There it sat, all royal purple and vivid buttercup yellow with lions and unicorns and crests — and festooned with roses and crowns and gold foil swirly accents.
The tea, a blend of Indian and African teas, is good: large leafed and bagged in elegant silky plant-based biodegradable pyramids for best brewing. The taste is much that of Fortnum & Mason’s Royal Tea.
The colorful box is securely held shut with almost invisible flaps at the front corners. These tiny flaps work so well that at first I thought there were hidden magnets.
Buckingham Palace Breakfast Tea is part of the Royal Collection Trust for Buckingham Palace, with proceeds from its sale to that charity. And it has the snazziest copyright notice for packaging I have ever read: © His Majesty King Charles III 2024.
Much thanks to our website Special Correspondent Kat for giving me the opportunity to taste this delightful tea. I have another tea Kat sent and her description of drinking it under special circumstances to share with you soon.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 19 April 2026
A Difficult Week
A difficult week. Amid the effort to complete my taxes before the deadline, my allergies went on a rampage against the spring pollen, the cat injured her mouth and I am having to prepare special foods she can eat. Then there were the tornado watches, two hail storms (my poor iris) and then, Saturday, just after midnight, winds out of the north blew at more than 40 miles per hour. Gusts clocked in at 54 mph. Wind far more damaging to my iris than the hail.
For someone for whom bread is an important part of her diet, the worst disaster of the week was discovering that the Teflon lining of my new bread machine was peeling off into the bread dough as it mixed. Of course, making the bread dangerous to eat. This required arranging to return the bread machine. (I was still within the deadline.) And then shop for and order another bread machine. This time with a ceramic lining on the bread pan. A new bread machine is on the way.
And there is the ongoing distraction of the war. Peace looking even less likely than at any previous point. So depressing.
In all this I have been trying to write a Nouvelles about a fun tea I have recently drunk. Soon, I hope. Soon.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 5 April 2026
White Asparagus
Asparagus is one of the joys of spring to which I look forward every year. Wonderful anytime (try an asparagus omelette for breakfast as well as for lunch or supper), these green stalks make a wonderful accompaniment to the traditional Easter dinner ham or lamb.
But I have never shared the adoration that the French have for white asparagus. That is asparagus grown covered to prevent exposure to sunlight.
Apparently the Germans are even fonder of white asparagus than the French. If you have never tried it, you might enjoy trying it.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 25 March 2026
Hélène Meillard: French Etiquette Advice
Etiquette has long been important to the French. And Americans visiting France often cause themselves problems when they break the basic rules.
According to the article I read this morning in The Times (UK), a French woman Hélène Meillard is attempting (via Instagram) to explain the basic rules of French etiquette to those who might not know comme il faut.
One rule: you do not say bon appétit before eating. Surprised? I must say that I never in all the meals I ate in French homes or at dinner parties attended by the French heard anyone French use this expression. My guess is that Americans adopted the phrase from Julia Child who used it in her television cooking shows. Literally bon appétit expresses the wish that you have a good appetite so that you can fully enjoy your meal. In any case, if you are dining with the French, it is considered rude to say it.
Another rule: Do not arrive on time for a dinner party. This, of course, is more or less standard everywhere. But the French always have a practical reason for their etiquette rules. Arriving 15 minutes to a half hour later than the stated time of the invitation, the French say, you give your hostess time for last-minute preparations should she be running late. And never, never arrive early.
Hélène Meillard also advises that on entering a French shop you should greet the owner/service person before you state what you wish to buy. An initial Bonjour, Monsieur or Bonjour, Madame is likely to get you a better shopping experience. This is a piece of advice that I have often given to those planning a trip to France. My feedback is that it earns good results.
In addition to her Instagram postings, Hélène Meillard has put her advice into a book: Brillez par votre savoir-vivre (“Shine Through Your Knowledge of How to Live”). I do not know if there is yet, or will be, an edition in English.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 12 March 2026
Weight Control Technique That Usually Doesn’t Work
There is a decades-old weight control technique (American, not French) in which if someone finds themselves craving (and overeating) a high calorie food, then they allow themselves to eat the food until the very idea of taking a bite of it is repulsive.
As one advocate of the technique said: “I ate bagels until my body got down on its knees and begged for broccoli.”
This, of course, will not work with ultra-processed foods that the food industry has designed that the more you eat, the more you crave. And I suspect it will not work with made from scratch homemade foods either. I have an obese friend who confessed to eating a whole chocolate cake in one afternoon and she still craved chocolate cake.
As I discovered this past week and a half, this technique does not work when I found myself reading too much war news and analysis — and not writing the Nouvelles that I had planned to write and post.
I thought if I allowed myself to read an unlimited number of articles, I would find myself at a point where I could not read anything more that had the words “war” or “Iran” in the headline.
Did not work. Of course the situation in the Middle East is continually changing, and my desire for the latest updates not diminishing even with the increasing number of disturbing photos of bombed buildings and burning ships.
What is required, with war news — as in weight control — is to focus on quality — and on portion control. Moderation. Moderation. Moderation.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 19 February 2026
French Bakery Poilâne In Difficulties
Just hours after I posted the Nouvelles on bread knives, I read the that the renown French bakery Poilâne was in financial difficulties. These, the article stated, largely brought on by competition from bakeries more popular with Gen Z tourists who prefer new bakeries that have gone viral on social media because of their “food porn.” Food porn defined as “the highly stylized, glamorous, and often indulgent visual presentation of food.” Despite its tradition and high nutrition few would say the big, round brown loaves with hand-scored letter P were“visually indulgent.” And then there was that little problem with rats that got into one of Poilâne’s production sites. Quel dommage!
In the original Chic & Slim: How Those Chic French Women Eat All That Rich Food And Still Stay Slim I wrote about Poilâne. In the book I explain that while the long, thin crusty baguette is as much a symbol of France as the Eiffel Tower, the baguette is not traditional French bread. Rather it was brought to France in the mid-19th century by an Austrian diplomat.
Traditional French bread is the round whole wheat sourdough loaf that had fed the French for centuries. I wrote:
As for revolution, the French underwent another 200 years after the original. This time the revolution was in bread. Parisian baker Lionel Poilâne waged an energetic campaign to bring the French back to the more nutritious traditional round whole wheat sourdough loaf.
Poilâne’s efforts rated him attention by the international media, including a cover story in Smithsonian magazine. His method makes country bread by an ingenious marriage of traditional techniques and modern technology in which quality has not been sacrificed. Poilâne bread became immensely popular.
Poilâne has bakeries not only in France, but also one in London. Our Chic & Slim Special Correspondent Kat who lives in London has, in the past, emailed about having Poilâne bread with her breakfast cup of tea.
I read about Poilâne’s recent financial problems in The Times UK. When I looked around for an article on the situation on a non-subscription website, I found one in The Daily Mail where one, unfortunately, often has difficulty finding the article in the barrage of advertisements popping up around the webpage.
The Mail's “on the brink of closure” stated in the article title seems an exaggeration. In The Times UK article Apollonia Poilâne, who took over the directorship of Poilâne when her parents were killed in a plane crash when she was 18, is quoted saying: “We're reworking all the basics to enable Poilâne to bounce back… There are very few bakeries like us, known throughout the world.”
Poilâne’s principal competition The French Bastards may offer Tik-Tok’s preferred “food porn.” But no one has called it “Louis Vuitton of boulangeries.”
Daily Mail article on Poilâne’s financial difficulties
There are also a couple of comments in a Guardian article about the relation of social media to Poilâne’s financial problems. titled Food porn’: Are sexy meal pics ruining the restaurant industry? Swanky eateries are attracting an influx of influencers — whereas those that produce less varied and photogenic fare are struggling
One piece of advice I would offer to Apollonia Poilâne: If she wants Poiâne to compete with The French Bastards and other “food porn” competition, in her recipe section on the Poilâne website, either delete that recipe for quiche made with vegetable peelings (the part usually thrown away). Or else use some more colorful peelings than what the photo shows. The French have traditionally tried to discard nothing in their cooking. But that vegetable peeling quiche photo is really so depressing.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 16 February 2026
Bread Knives
Recently The Times UK published a bread article in Q&A format. The writer asked Richard Bertinet, a French baker who teaches a bread baking school in London, what bread knife he recommends. His preference is the Opinel No. 116 Parallèle because it has a “curved, serrated blade to help cut through the crust evenly.”
When I read his recommendation, I thought of my Opinel No.12 knife my son had given me after the Texas Freeze to cut the dead branches out of my privet. (Though it would have taken me years to trim the damage the cold had done to my privet bushes with that little knife — even though at that time Opinel was labeling it as a small saw.)
Opinel is the French knife company that is renown throughout the world for the quality of its knives. My son believes that if Anne Barone writes about the French, she should use French knives. I have an all-purpose small folding knife as well as a four-piece kitchen essentials set and the No. 12.
My Opinel No. 12 has a curved, serrated blade the French baker prizes in the Opinel No. 116 Parallèle. I thought it should cut through the crust nicely on my yet-uncut loaf of bread sitting on my kitchen counter. I tried it and it worked very well. (But my American bread knife with the straight blade and serration that is only about one-fifth of the Opinel No. 12 is still my preference for slicing the bread that my current bread machine produces.)
Yet I wasn’t really surprised when I went to the Opinel USA website to look up the No. 12 and found that since my son gave me the knife seven years ago, Opinel has repurposed that No. 12 as a Bread Knife.
The Opinel website description:
The No.12 Serrated Folding Knife is unique in its design, and makes the perfect folding bread knife. Ideal for slicing firm loaves and tough rinds of large fruits and vegetables, the serrated stainless steel blade folds into the beech wood handle, making the knife easy and safe to store and transport for outdoor use. A serrated knife does not slice through paper or nylon like a straight edge would. It's best to use a serrated blade to cut through tough exteriors like bread crust or a ripe tomato that would be crushed otherwise!
As I wrote in a Nouvelles a few weeks ago about my struggles with my new bread machine, I am still unhappy that the Bake program does not allow choice of crust color [crispness]. But I think my Opinel No. 12 knife will be just the thing for slicing the baguettes and round rye loaves that are my next bread projects. Dough kneaded in the bread machine and then baked in my Breville toaster oven whose reviews praise its utility for baking bread.
Today we are celebrating Presidents’ Day / Washington’s Birthday. A memory that has remained for decades from my visit to Washington’s home at Mount Vernon is that of the bread ovens where 50 loafs of bread were baked daily in Washington’s time there. They were in operation when I visited, as I understand they are today. Is there anything that smells quite like baking bread?
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 31 December 2025
Forward In 2026 Despite All
I am writing this Nouvelles the afternoon of the last day of 2025, looking both backward and forward.
Oh, dear! If I were to give a name to this year, it would be The Year of the Leaks. Beginning early in the year with the mysterious living room ceiling leak that refused to be repaired. Misdiagnoses of the problem became evident in November when the installation of new shingles to repair severe hail damage to my roof revealed four square feet of rotten wooden decking beneath the old shingles.
Then in December the leaks moved outside. The first caused by a handyman who was trying to remove a garden hose from the backyard faucet and broke the faucet pipe. A five-day wait for a plumber. Then, a few hours after the repair was completed, a new, far worse leak bubbled up out of the ground. Another five-day wait for a plumber during which the water had to be kept turned off except for a few minutes each day to fill jugs and bathtub with water.
The backyard leaks seem to have been repaired, but now my poor cat has injured her leg and we are dealing with her recuperation.
I find myself facing a new year exhausted from coping with the continuing calamities of the old.
Yet, as I was writing this Nouvelles, I was listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony which includes the “Ode to Joy”. Beethoven was deaf when he wrote this symphony, depending on his inner ear to hear the music he was writing. A reminder that we can move forward despite all.
Happy New Year
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 24 August 2025
Comment on Benefits of Walking After a Meal
In the previous post, I discussed the medical advice to take a short walk following each daily meal. I received an interesting comment on the topic from Pilar about her own experience with the exercise. Pilar wrote:
Anne, I can verify that for myself, walking after a large meal is so very effective.
Recently, for a couple of months, I wore a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor (CGM) — no prescription necessary — to monitor how my body reacted to certain foods.
But the most revelatory insight from the CGM was how much my glucose dropped even after just 10-15 minutes of walking after a meal. Whereas a healthy meal would cause my glucose level to go from 100 to 130/135 (perfectly normal), a 10-15 minute walk would drop it back down to 105. This means less insulin in the body which is a huge win. Sincerely, Pilar
Much thanks to Pilar for sharing her experience, and especially for providing us with the specific readings and type of glucose monitor. Her comments also reminded me that we now live in a time where reasonably priced medical devices are available that make it possible for us to have information that helps us to live a healthy lifestyle.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 13 May 2025
Good Words For Anne’s Books And A Sunscreen Reminder
Recently an email from Synthia had good words for my books and also reminded me to preach my annual sermon on sun protection for the face.
Synthia wrote:
Just purchased your new book and I'm so excited to read.
Like many others have explained to you, your books have changed my life. I was able to travel much in the last 20 years, and for the most part, keep my wardrobe and weight in check and just live a very European inspired lifestyle.
I am so grateful for you and the lessons you have taught me which I now teach the new generation; my children who are now adults. I am proud of their interest in travel, reading, food, cooking, etc...They are rarely on social media and focus on developing their minds and living a full life.
My husband and I are planning a trip to Scotland this July. I don't know what to expect but I will let you know!
Merci to Synthia for her comments on my books. Perhaps after her trip to Scotland she will report her take on Scottish chic and slim.
You may remember that about a year ago, I shared with you Synthia’s experience with a Merkel Cell Carcinoma that had developed in the area just below her eye and required rebuilding her lower eyelid after the carcinoma was removed.
A Reminder:The area just beneath the eye is particularly sensitive to sun’s harmful rays, So a good sunscreen (without any carcinogenic ingredients) and sunglasses with UVA and UVB filtering are helpful in protecting you from things that might develop there.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 10 April 2025
Choices
It’s spring here at Provence-sur-la-Prairie. The hailstorm over the weekend took its toll on the budding iris and roses — and a lot of the new leaves on the trees and shrubs. But despite the near-freeze early Sunday morning, the warmer days this week are encouraging the survivors.
One of my joys of spring is asparagus. My brother arrived this morning delivering two big bunches freshly cut from the field of a farm just outside the town where he lives. Bringing also just-laid eggs from the same farm. So omelette with asparagus is on the menu.
Recently two comments on my new book concerned choices. Nicolle in New Zealand wrote:
Congratulations on your new publication, I purchased from Kindle instantly. It was a very enjoyable read and compliments your other titles. Also I revisit your advice regularly and always read your website Nouvelle updates.
As I approach 50, the importance of exercise is made so clear, and your routine of Pilates and stretching is a good reminder for me to maintain my Tracy Anderson Method subscription as I age. Yes, it’s hard, but it’s harder not doing it. And in the end, we choose our version of hard, don’t we?
Warm regards, Nicolle
Vicki in Friday Harbor also wrote on the topic of choices. In her lengthy and interesting comments on The Barone System, she wrote:
One of the quotes I pay attention to daily is: What people have the capacity to choose, they have the ability to change. This one from Madeleine Albright. I firmly believe that our daily choices are just that: choices.
About six months ago my favorite neighbors decided that it would be better for their children to grow up in Europe and made the choice to relocate. Their sea freight is on the ship. They depart in a few days.
One of the questions I was asked often in the early days of this website was why I did not remain in France instead of returning to the USA. The answer was family reasons. But in hindsight it appears I might have made a better choice. Oh dear!
|| 31 March 2025
Reader Comments on The Barone System
Such a reward for me when a reader tells me my information has been useful. Recently I was especially rewarded by comments from Donna who has been reading my books and articles for more than 20 years. Donna wrote:
Hi Anne,
I have been reading your books and blog for over twenty years. The books changed my life by introducing me to a new way of living (the French way) which led to a better figure, better wardrobe, better work relationships (using the mystique technique) and more walking. It would take a book of my own to explain how your writings changed me fully.
I read your new book last night and was shocked by all the health information you now possess. I can tell that you have thought about and studied these issues for many years. I was very impressed and you have motivated me yet again, to become even more conscious of good eating and maintaining my health as I approach age 70.
When I look back on my weight journey over the years, I am always impressed that the factor that changed me the most was the Chic and Slim books, especially the first three. Your writings worked their magic on me as I believe your new book now has.
The other day I had a doctor's appointment. There was a 3rd year medical student with my doctor and as I was answering her intake questions, my doctor reviewed my weight graph with her. She asked me what the single most-important factor was in my weight loss journey which was slow and steady over several years. I told her it was the philosophy of Anne Barone's Chic and Slim books and found myself explaining the French Chic way of life that started it all.
Anne, I am so grateful you wrote those books. And I am so grateful to be able to start implementing the teachings of your latest one.
Thank you so much,
Donna
And, thank you, Donna for your lovely email.
Some techniques are useful for staying slim whatever your age. But each advancing stage of our lives brings new challenges to staying slim — and healthy. My aim in writing The Barone System was to give you both the techniques that helped me lose weight and stay slim 55 years, as well as those that I am finding helpful coping with the special difficulties in staying slim and healthy now that I am 80.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 26 February 2025
Comment On A Comment
Last week Provence-sur-la-Prairie was enduring a Mini Texas Freeze. This week we are enjoying lovely spring. Nice compensation.
Lots of interesting comments on the new book coming in. Karen in Rosemount commented that she did not remember me writing on the website about suffering the pelvic prolapse that I discuss in the book. That was because I did not write about it there. Nor did I write on the website about my severe digestive problems, my problems with low protein, the West Nile Virus episode, why I did not gain weight during the Covid pandemic as many did, and several other matters covered in the book. This was purposeful.
First of all, I particularly dislike buying a book by a writer whose articles I have been enjoying and finding that the book is just a rehashing of the articles with little or no new material.
Just as I have always tried not to repeat in a subsequent book remedies and techniques I wrote about in a previous book, in The Barone System on staying slim and healthy despite coping with the problems of ageing I wanted to offer material that I had not written about on the website.
Secondly, in the new book, I wanted to be able to not only discuss a problem, but to explain the solution that I found for that problem. In the case of my severe digestive problems, finding a workable remedy required years of research as well as many trials of various solutions — the majority of which, I am sorry to say, did not give the results I had hoped for. But just as in my mid-20s I eventually found a solution for getting rid of my excess weight, I am happy to say that I did eventually find a solution for those severe digestive problems and for other problems plaguing me the past six years. In the new book I was able to discuss solutions for those problems too.
More comments on the comments on the new book in coming Nouvelles.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 10 February 2025
The Barone System in paperback—and Kindle
For those of you who prefer print over ebook you can find The Barone System at the links below.