annebarone.com
French Chic & Slim
Nouvelles
News and Opinion from Anne Barone to Keep You Chic & Slim — INDEX to Previous Nouvelles
image: Kitty resting
|| 4 August 2026
Rest When We Must
When I woke this morning I was aware that the stress I had been under the past weeks (I will tell that story and its lessons another time) — plus all the garden work I had done — had taken their toll. Body and brain were sending a message: You need to rest.
I was also aware that my several attempts at writing and posting a Nouvelles these past couple of weeks had never produced an actual uploaded article. I needed a quiet day (especially since the afternoon high is to be 105 degrees F.) and I needed to write a Nouvelles.
Confirmation of my need for rest came not long after breakfast when I suffered a moment of dizziness and fell. Fortunately I fell into a big woven basket of towels so I did not suffer much damage beyond scraping some skin from my arm and leg.
Common sense tells me that I need to rest and recuperate before I do myself real harm. I will be back to the website as soon as I am feeling better. I have some thoughts on latest development in the Karen Carter murder case in the Dordogne. And I want to tell you about my experience with a sleep mask. Soon, I hope.
be chic, stay slim. live well — Anne Barone
|| 20 July 2026
Whatever happened to Ségolène Royal?
Ségolène Royal. When she was the Socialist candidate for the French presidency in 2007 against Nicolas Sarkozy, we followed her campaign (and ultimate defeat) closely on the website.
Since then the focus has been more on chic French first ladies. First Carla Bruni Sarkozy and then Brigitte Macron.
But a few days ago I found myself thinking: Whatever happened to Ségolène Royal? And to Valérie Trierweiler, the woman with whom Ségolène Royal’s partner of 30 years and father of their four children François Hollande was having an affair while Ségolène was campaigning for president?
Thanks to a recent article in The Times UK, I found the answer to my questions.
As for François Hollande, he has recently announced his intention to run again for president. (He served 2012 to 2017.) Surprisingly François Hollande currently polls as the most liked politician in France, despite all that scandal about the scooter and his dumping Valérie Trierweiler who was serving as his French first lady for Julie Gayet, a film actress and producer whom he later married and who it is assumed would be his first lady should he win a second term as French president.
And Ségolène Royal has also announced her attention of running for president again. The French political soap opera resumes.
Do the brains of the multilingual age more slowly than those who speak only one language?
As I mentioned in the previous Nouvelles, a recent study done at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language in San Sebastián, Spain reports that people who spoke more languages tended to have brains that looked younger than expected for their chronological age. Specifically that “those who spoke two languages had brains that appeared six years younger, those who spoke three had brains that appeared seven years younger and those who spoke four languages had brains that appear 13 years younger.”
But some factors need to be taken into consideration on these study results. First of all, the study was done in the Basque area of Spain where people regularly spoke three or four languages. But the area of the study also effectively qualifies as a “Blue Zone.” In a Medium article Phil Arche, an American of Basque decent, points out that like other “Blue Zones” such as Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; and the Seventh Day Adventists community in Loma Linda, California, people in this Basque area studied had lifestyles that favored longevity.
That is, their exercise came from activities like walking and gardening not the gym, they believed their lives had purpose, they had cultural ways such as prayer of dealing with stress, they ate moderately with diets that included many plants, they had strong affiliation with family.
It would be interesting to compare the Basque study results with a similar study done in a different part of the world where people regularly spoke two or more languages. There are surely cities in Canada where people speak both French and English as well as a language learned in another country in which they were born.
In any case, if you do speak more than one language as many who follow this website do, you may be ahead in the brain ageing game.
be chic, stay slim. live well — Anne Barone
|| 12 July 2026
Helping Chic French Women Stay Slim
I had planned a Nouvelles about a study that found that multilingual people had younger brain age than those who only spoke one language. I will save that topic for a later Nouvelles because I thought you would enjoy a recent email from our Special Correspondent Kat, currently back in France. Kat reported an experience in Deauville that demonstrates one of the things in France that help those chic French women stay slim. Kat wrote:
Dear Anne,
I am definitely back in France. Today, after our usual early morning walk up and down the length of Deauville beach I popped into Dupont to buy one of their very superior baguettes, as Epi d’Or in Pont L’Eveque is currently fermee for congees annuelles.
You may remember my reports on Dupont; when it was located in Trouville, we often popped in for a delicious little chocolat chaud or caffe creme when shopping at the wonderful nearby fish market. Annoyingly, it has moved to central Deauville, where parking is virtually impossible, so those days are behind us, but, today, I wanted a good baguette, so I left my husband in the car with an eye open for traffic wardens and was lucky to bag the only remaining “tradition” on display.
On my way back to the car, clutching my booty, I couldn’t resist breaking off a tiny bit, just to see if they were still baking them as beautifully as I remembered. No sooner was it in my mouth, than I heard a voice. “Bon appetit!”. A passing man was giving me a reproachful look. “Merci, Monseur”, I replied, after swallowing my morsel of crust, and resolving to sin no more. In France, unless you are a babe in arms, or a ravenous adolescent, you do not eat whilst walking on the street!
Best, Kat
Kat’s experience while tasting the morsel of crust while walking to the car is a good example of how societal pressure in France helps keep the French slim. A complete stranger felt compelled to gently scold her for a tiny violation of the rule to eat only when seated. And it works. As Kat wrote: she resolved she would “sin no more.”
be chic, stay slim. live well — Anne Barone
|| 28 June 2026
Observations at the Boucherie
Recently I posted a Nouvelles (in two parts) with comments from our Special Correspondent Kat “is Paris Still Paris?” From her same visit to France, Kat emailed observations of shopping in a boucherie in Pont L’Eveque. Her email begins with a reference to an article in the Times UK about a new book on ageing, Choose Your Age: Unlocking the Cellular Science of Longevity by the French biogerontologist Jean-Marc Lemaitre then, continues to the boucherie. Kat wrote:
Dear Anne, If you still subscribe to the “Times”, you’ll have seen the article on Lemaitre’s book “Choose your Age”, and be as pleased as I was to learn that French obesity figures are now back to 1990’s levels (whilst figures in the U.K., and, no doubt, the US, continue to rise.)
The reason, I imagine, is that the little fling the French had with junk food is over, and they have reverted to the eating habits described in your books.
I had first hand proof of this yesterday morning, when visiting the Boucherie in Pont L’Eveque. Ahead of me in the (long) queue were youngish couple with a child, who seemed to be about two years old. They, and the child, exchanged greetings with the server, then they ordered “deux fillets de veau” for themselves, and “une fillet de dinde, pour Mademoiselle.”
They then headed off to the Fruitier, for vegetables and fruit.
Best, Kat
Anne Comments: The French government has put much money and effort into their anti-obesity programs. As a result, as Kat observes, the French are going back to a more traditional way of eating resulting in a downward trend in obesity rates.
Actually there has also been a slight decline in obesity rates in the past couple of years here in the USA. But this does not reflect improvement in eating habits, but rather the use by millions of people of the weight loss drugs Wegovy and Mounjaro. In the UK, despite the widespread use of these same weight-loss drugs, that use has not reduced the obesity rates.
A recent article in the French newspaper Le Monde announced that since mid-June French GPs can prescribe anti-obesity drugs, (before only specialists) but the French doctors interviewed for the article are not convinced these medications are the way to permanent weight loss. And those who choose to take them will have to do so at their own expense. In France, diet and lifestyle changes are still considered best apparently.
be chic, stay slim. live well — Anne Barone
|| 20 June 2026
Chic & Slim Waistline and Wardrobe
One of the “French lessons” that has helped me stay slim through the decades was that there is a connection between staying slim and maintaining a slim wardrobe.
Recently I had an email from Monica telling me how my advice on this topic has helped her stay chic and slim. Monica wrote:
Hello Anne, I wanted to drop a note to tell you how much I enjoy your writing, and how it has helped me keep both my waistline and my wardrobe slim. I recently picked up my worn copy of Armoire Boudoir and Cuisine Savvy and reread your Armoire chapter describing wardrobes. I was surprised to see how much it informs my style now.
I appreciate the time you have taken to share your knowledge and your wisdom with others. I will be thinking of you when I visit Paris next month. Merci! Monica
Much thanks to Monica for her kind words. And best wishes for her upcoming trip to Paris.
Apologies that my Nouvelles have been so infrequent of late. But our weather here has been miserably hot and humid and I am finding the sweltering days take a higher toll on energy levels and brain function now that I am progressing through my eighties than when I was younger. Especially on the days we have Heat Advisories.
The raccoons are back causing problems with their mischief, and my old cat suffered an accident that injured her mouth. I am having to spend much time preparing a special diet for her. Chicken broth I really don't mind. But puréed semi-raw liver that now seems to be her food of preference almost makes me gag.
I have more information to share with you. And I hope the interval between this and the next Nouvelles is only a matter of days.
be chic, stay slim, live well — Anne Barone
|| 26 May 2026
Is Paris Still Paris?
Our Special Correspondent Kat has recently visited Paris. I asked Kat to give us a report on whether Paris is still the same Paris that many of us came to know. Or have recent political demonstrations, city renovations — all those things your learn about in the media — changed the city noticeably?
I think you will find Kat’s report interesting.“Is Paris Still Paris?”
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
|| 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.