A well written book which although listed as a diet book it is as much an introduction to the Italian way of life (at least the eating bit) There are a collection of good tasty Italian recipes, each recipe gives the calorie count for a portion size and also a breakdown of the quantity of fat, saturates, sugars and salt in each portion. The principle in this book is based on two diet plans one for women (1500 calories) and one for men (2000 calories)These plans are broken down into the number of calories per meal (Breakfast 250 calories, Lunch 450 calories, Dinner 600 calories plus an allowance of 200 calories for alcohol and milk; Woman's plan). A complete menu is given for one week with full instructions as to how to make each meal, it is suggested that this plan is used for 2 weeks and after that the reader should create similar plans using the other recipes in the book. It does emphasise that the Italians eat smallish portions and do not usually snack between meals. Each recipe has a preamble telling something about the reason for the choice and often hints for example there is a hint never to cook with buffalo mozzarella but use cow's mozzarella as the buffalo one make the dish very watery by releasing too much milk but should be used uncooked in salads etc.
All of the recipes are fully explained with none of the chef type terms that could confuse a novice cook.
The only criticism is that the recipes are for 2, 4, 6 or even 8 people it would have been better if this had been consistent.