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For doctorsTwo keto books are best-sellers in Quebec
, medical review by Dr. Bret Scher, MD
in Book 
Here’s a big bravo to Diet Doctor columnist and colleague Dr. Èvelyne Bourdua-Roy.
Her two French-language books about the keto diet, with medical information and tasty recipes, have both achieved top best-seller status in the Canadian province of Quebec.
Volume 1 of “Perdre du poids en mangeant du gras” (English title: “Eat fat to lose weight”), which was released in January 2018, has sold more than 75,000 copies. Volume 2, released in January this year, has already sold 50,000 copies and is currently 2019’s most sold book in Quebec.
Bourdua-Roy, a family doctor in Montreal, was astonished to learn the bestselling news: “I thought chances were slim that I would sell 6,000 copies! But my goal wasn’t a bestseller, it was simply to make this important information about low carb available in French.”
Quebec is predominantly French-speaking, with 95% of its 8 million residents using French as their first language. The province is also known as the maple syrup capital of the world, with that golden, sugary syrup sweetening everything.
Bourdua-Roy says the huge interest in her book in a such small market shows the winds of change are sweeping through. “It’s a real phenomenon. People want to know how eating less sugar can help them get healthier. They are opening their minds to the therapeutic options of low carb.”
Congratulations Evelyne. Or as they say in Quebec about a job well done: ” Quel boulot!”
According to leslibraires.ca, the second book ranks 17th in 2019, not first.
https://www.leslibraires.ca/palmares/?view=couvertures
The first book seems to have ranked 23rd in 2018.
https://revue.leslibraires.ca/actualites/le-monde-du-livre/les-50-mei...
"Quebec is predominantly French-speaking, with 95% of its 8 million residents using French as their first language."
Quebec is not 95% francophone. More like 77%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_demographics_of_Quebec
"The province is also known as the maple syrup capital of the world, with that golden, sugary syrup sweetening everything."
Actually, maple syrup is quite expensive. We export a lot of it, but most of us eat it only occasionally because of the price.
Oh, and "good job" would be "bon boulot," not "quel boulot", The latter would mean "what a job."
Thanks for the comment Pierre and apologies for leaving out co-author Josey Arsenault. Big congrats to her, too.
It was Evelyne's editor who gave her the sales stats, which she passed onto us; we had no reason to disbelieve her. Evelyne is checking back with her editor to see what her source is.
I am Canadian, too, and it was my error to say 95% French as first language. What I meant to say was 95% use French as the language of daily use of our two official languages. (Stats Canada reports 94.3% of workplaces in Quebec are French, while outside of Quebec, English is the official language use in 98% of workplaces.) Of course as a nation of immigrants, Canada has many people whose first language is neither French nor English. But I think we can both agree that of those who settle in Quebec, it is usually French they learn and use. What I was trying to tell our readers outside Canada is that in Quebec, French is the dominant language -- so a French-language keto book would naturally be popular -- even though close to 50% in the province would also be bilingual.
You may not use maple syrup much, but my friends and relatives all across the country sure do, at least before so many of us went low carb. And not just for pancakes, cookies and pies, but to glaze hams and meats, glaze salmon, add to pork and beans, toss in with roasted Brussel sprouts, candy the sweet potatoes or yams, add to plain yogurt, flavor bacon.... My American friends are always amazed the way we used maple syrup because they reserve it for pancakes. I even had an old recipe for a delicious maple flavored pork chop which I no longer use. In my family, pre-low carb, we poured maple syrup on vanilla ice cream as a really common dessert. Evelyne and Josey's book even has a low-carb replacement for maple-sugar pie, which is considered a classic Quebecois dish.
As for the last point, French is indeed my second language and I am not fully bilingual so thanks for the correction. But if you notice, I never said good job nor gave a direct translation. I just noticed on Evelyne's Facebook page that all her English friends like me were saying "Congrats" and "Well done" her French-speaking friends were saying "Quel boulot."