|
|
|
Cabal
 |
We are still a nation of rather slim people but this is changing, fast, as our eating habits are changing. Instead of eating a slow meal at noon we now swallow a sandwich, and we are buying more and more ready meals and drinking sodas. Waistlines are expending accordingly though we have still lots of work to do to catch up with the US. In France I am fat, in the US I was average size, on the sturdy side. I don't know which is the most frightening. And we start seeing fat children in the streets.
Those who do not grow fat are usually people who still live as we all used to. Average breakfast with two slices of bread and jam, coffee or tea. Average lunch with salad for starter and some meat with vegetables. Average dinner with salad or soup and a main course that may or may not have meat. ONE serving of each only, and no heaping on your plate. No gulping your meal in front of the TV but seating down at the table and eating slowly. No soda, no orange juice filled with sugar. A little wine and plenty of water. And snacking is absolutely forbidden. No grazing in the fridge whenever you feel peckish, be it for kids or for adults. You will wait for meal time.
The size of the serving helps as well. In an American restaurant you can feed two French people (and sometimes three) with one serving. Thanks goodness we have not reached that state and I hope we never will though I am not very optimistic.
As for going to different shops for food items, this is not really the truth anymore. We have the highest ratio of hyper and supermarket per people in Europe. Too many women work in France to have the time to shop elsewhere, though it is true that you still find food shops if not as many as before. We do walk though, petrol is expensive and parking is a pain in the big cities, so we take the bus or the underground and use our feet. |
|
Belin42
 |
They walk a lot, eat small portions, have a yogurt or fruit for dessert. They don't eat haute cuisine on a daily basis, the French eat at home (they actually cook all varieties of vegetables) and don't eat out nor rely on take-out food as much as Americans do. They focus on pleasure and quality rather than nutrition and quantity so they don't feel guilty about food, they enjoy it.
You should listen to Mireille Guiliano, author of the best-selling book French Women don't get Fat: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mireille+guiliano&search_type=&aq=f
She is full of common sense and she is so French! |
|
snicket
|
i think in france there are not as many fast food places like there are in america. they probably serve a lot of organic and light foods. also it really has to do with portions. americans are known to pig out...and not cook as much.. |
|
Rillifane
|
Great cuisine is not the cause of obesity. Overeating is the cause of obesity.
People are obese because they eat too much of whatever it is they are eating. Of course, the universal availability of cheap, grease and sugar laden junk food in the USA and the utter lack of self control on the part of most Americans means that the USA has become a nation of fat slobs. |
|
RAZNA
 |
A large part of the answer comes from the way of life. As my French teacher explained, Americans buy all their groceries once a week in a single supermarket, walk very little, drive everywhere, and park as close to the entrance to each store as possible. In fact, lots of people I know will do very silly and not very nice things to get closer to the entrance. They'll park in spots that are marked for handicapped people, or borrow a car that belongs to someone who is disabled, that has the license plate with the little wheelchair on it, so they won't get ticketed for parking illegally in that spot. It doesn't bother their conscience at all that they are preventing someone who is really disabled from parking in one of those spots, either. When I worked at the dog pound in Los Angeles, our parking lot was always full of cars from people who were trying to get closer to the entrance to the private gymnasium next door. I thought that was very silly, people who were paying top dollar to exercise on fancy equipment, but who were too lazy to walk for free, as few as 10 more steps, parking in the lot provided by that gymnasium!
But in France, the women go to the shops every day to buy the food for that day's meal. And they don't go to a single giant store. They go to the butcher shop for the meat, the bakery for the bread, the market for the vegetables, and so on. Each type of food is purchased at a different shop, which specializes in that type of food. Plus, the women walk from store to store, carrying their purchases in a basket, or pulling a larger basket. So they are getting a lot of exercise, not driving everywhere and avoiding walking like it was some sort of plague.
Also, French people in general drink wine with every meal. This has been shown to have many health benefits. One is to curb the appetite a bit. You have a sip of wine with every few bites and you don't need nearly as many bites to feel full. Plus the red wines especially have chemicals in them that tend to dissolve some of the fats that are in a lot of the red meats that you eat. So, the cholesterol and such that just builds up in the muscles and bloodstream of Americans (who believe themselves to be very virtuous in avoiding wine) and gives us heart attacks and strokes, and being driven out of the bodies of those wicked, evil -- but very wise -- French people.
So maybe those French people know something! |
|
Lindsey G
|
To speak to some of the answers from other posters, the French do have several fast food chains. You can even find some American ones there like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, and (I don't know if they still have this one, but they used to have) Burger King. There is plenty of fat/calories to be found in French cuisine... think of all the heavy cream-based sauces, pastries, wines, etc. However, one of the other posters said it best... the French are not about quantity. They're about quality. Instead of grabbing a burger on the go from McDo because they're in a hurry, they take time out of their day to enjoy every meal. This includes preparation as well as consumption. They may eat at the fast food joints, but it's pretty infrequently that this occurs. They do tend to dine at home, and they'll typically sit over a meal (enjoying company and such) for at least an hour, often more like two. Because they do this, they eat more slowly, which makes them feel full on less food. Also, when cooking, they do tend to prepare more vegetables and healthier food in general. They don't snack that often (when they do, it might be fruit, yogurt, or the odd baguette), and (especially in the cities), they use public transportation and walk everywhere. |
|
savithri_gopalan
|
Becoming fat depends on what you eat. Non fat food
can be made tasty too. Tasty food need not be high in
calorie. May be french women consume tasty but
healthy food.
savithri |
|
Francoise
|
Obviously you haven't seen many French women , have you ?
In fact France is hit by the problem of obesity. The first victims are women. 40% of the population are too fat and 1 in 3 persons is overweight in France.
http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/nutrition/poids/obesite_etat_lieux_niv2.htm
2/3 men and 1/2 women are too fat in France :
http://sante.nouvelobs.com/Site/Actu.asp?idfx=RSS_ljs&ID=5086&Rub=Forme+-+Vitalit%E9
Between 1997-2006 , all living persons in France had gained at least 2.1kg, but growing only 0.4cm taller and 3.4cm fatter in their waist which the lattest means shorten their lives.
http://www.cite-sciences.fr/francais/ala_cite/science_actualites/sitesactu/question_actu.php?langue=fr&id_article=6803
Obesity has been grown to a serious problem that needs to be tackled in France now. With the consummation of cigarettes, alcohol, heavy meals with many courses plus high calories dessert doesn't help, not to mention all the popular American fast food links such as Mcdonald, KFC, Burger King plus the French fast food link ' Quick'.
The popular size for women's garment used to be between 36-38, now it's 40-42 . Government survey also showed that from the way things are going , within a few years, a quarter of the children in France will suffer from obesity. |
|
ValGal
 |
French women and men walk A LOT, everyday. Most don't drive into the city; they take the subway. Also, they do not snack between meals. Thirdly and unfortunately, a lot of them smoke. |
|
Anil
|
you know it better..... |
|
richard b
 |
The British eat to live - and grow fat!!
The French live to eat. |
|
B K
 |
STEREOTYYYYPE |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
News
Travel Topics
Travel Forum Travel Directories
Dictionary 
Travel
Forum 
France 
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
