The French Way

I'm curious to see if anybody has read French Women Don't Get Fat. What do you think?

It seems like there are two paths to choose from: schedules meals three times a day (like FWDGF), or a system when you eat solely when you are hungry.

Which one is better?

As Sintiachita says, you can't blame the US for poor eating habits, what is to blame is laziness, pure and simple.  Eating habits here in France are changing, and have been since the 50s when electricity and canned goods started becoming prevalent.   It's gotten enormously more noticeable in the last 10 years. 

The French government has put into place an advertising campaign to get people to exercise more and eat less sugary or fatty foods but ultimately it's up to individuals exercising personal responsability for themselves and their children. 

The problem is that it's easier to just go to McDonalds than to cook a well-balance meal.

Hi from Paris!

I live in Paris and am battling with the extra kilograms so some French women do put on some extra pounds! I do find that there are 2 things with the French lifestyle that help: 

a) The "If I don't cook it, I don't eat it" rule.  So yes, you can eat that slice of pizza or chocolate cake but you have to make it first (from scratch). I guarantee that'll keep your cravings in check (+ you know what you put into it!).

b) The "is is really worth it?" rule. The occasional glass of champagne is better than the regular glass of beer and if I'm going to have a piece of cheese, it's got to be seriously good stuff. Also at 18 $ a pound for that lovely Basque ewe's milk cheese, I'm going to curb my consumption.

That being said, there are no secrets : a calorie is a calorie on either side of the Atlantic! But if you're going to eat, it should be fun and pleasant.

The Italians are even thinner than the French. 

I think it's because they sit at the table and enjoy what they eat with other people, carry on pleasant conversations, and they don't eat to excess.  Most Italians eat pasta every day, but it's a small serving and just a starter course in the meal.  Both lunch and dinner start with either pasta or soup, then plenty of vegetables in season and small servings of fish, poultry, and rarely meat.  There is always a fresh salad dressed with olive oil.  Dessert is not served, but there is usually a tray of fruit and maybe a good piece of cheese. 

One thing I found hard to get used to was that breakfast isn't really important.  We had coffee and bread, with maybe a little home made apricot preserve, no butter.  Mid morning it was coffee again and a little snack.  I lost so much weight it made me question the American rule that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. 

Sweets are eaten only once in a while on special occasions.  I was there for six weeks and we went out for gelato only twice.  We had dessert once, at a restaurant.

I don't agree that Italians are thinner than French.

It's too overgeneralized. The Italians may be equal to the French overall, but comparing city life to smaller towns, there is difference.

Breakfast is lighter compared to the traditional American breakfast. However, if one has a bowl of healthy cereal or a piece of toast with butter (v. American) than that would be similar to Italian breakfast.

Pasta is about an American cup cooked. Also, what helps with cooking is that Italians generally live near their family. The mother has something cooking because she is traditional however today's mothers serve fast food or something to their children more often.

Always finish a meal with fruit. If one eats a meal with beans and pasta, meat or poultry is not needed. It's all about getting what you need, but no more than that.

LOL at "cheese eating surrender monkeys!"  But seriously, French food has a lot of heavy sauces and the like, doesn't it?

I am wrapping my head around American "French Fries" influencing the French diet. 

My favorite restaurant is "Le Central" in Denver.  The food there might be considered more home style cooking as oposed to high cuisne.  It is wonderfully fresh and not at all over laden with sauces.  I think that is just a bad stero type from some long ago time when sauces were a fad. 

I read the book and enjoyed it.  It reminded me of the 16 months that I lived there.  I didn't weigh myself, but I probably dropped 25 lbs, which I gained back pretty quickly when I got back to the USA.

I remember spending a night looking for a ring which had fallen off my much thinner ring finger.....

I remember the food being rich.  Much richer than American food.  Full fat yogurt and cremes, foie gras and confits, fried potatoes (frites and the even fattier forestiere), cheeses of every sort, baguettes, flan, basque cakes, pudding, meringues, tartes, crepes, cassoulet, hypersweet Jordans breakfast cereals, Chinese food in rich sauces, etc etc etc.  These were not diet or health foods by any stretch. None of these readily available foods had more than a hint of whole grain wholesomeness, and most of them were full of saturated fat.

I attribute the weight loss more to walking ALL THE TIME EVERYWHERE than to watching the calories that I ate.  Living in a city made that easier than it is now in the US suburbs.  [The French suburbs are even tougher - no safe place to be a walker there on roads with no shoulders or sidewalks and very fast drivers.] 

To answer the original question regarding 3 meals a day. I've been more successful losing weight and keeping it off in the USA.  It makes no difference whether you eat 3 or 6 meals as long as you count the calories and maintain an overall slight deficit.  The most important lesson from my stay in France wasn't to count my meals but to KEEP MOVING.

French woman, like most other Europeans are not as big as Americans bc they walk EVERYWHERE, did spend hours in front of the tv and don't have a processed fast food joint every 0.23 miles like we do in the States.

Just do what your body works well with, but DO NOT skip meals. That just ruins your metabolism.

mperic, where I lived there was fast food about every 50 feet -  a McDo, a Quick, or a patisserie, or a boulanger, a sandwicherie or a couscous stand.  And the French invented the fast food restaurant we now know as a bistro. 

Actually, that whole thing about the food being rich in sauces comes from the time of the aristocrats.

To perserve the food, and kept it warm. Thats what the sauces main purpose was. Also this gourmet French cuisine that people think of is actually from the royal courts. The sauces 1)showed wealth 2) hid bad meat 3) kept food warmer because courses would reach into something like 30.

The peasent food is similar to the italian peasent food. It is fresh, lighter (cream, eggs, and milk were expensive) and all around healthy.

I adored this book. It's European not even very french. Wonderful. Plus I adore Guiliano.

I've been to France and I've also been to this remote village in Indonesia for charity work....The French ain't got nothing on those villagers...I swear...90 year old women with hard, thin bodies and ploughing fields, you see old ladies fitter than many 20 year old city kids! I ate the way they did for about a week...lots of veges, alot of them can't afford meat so they eat tons of tofu and tempeh and eggs, some rice and tons of veges in every meal...fish, chicken and red meat are eaten when they can afford it, which is only a few times a week. My host was a 95 year old chain smoking woman, she works the fields every single morning and even I couldn't keep up with her level of energy....It was truly inspirational going there, I didn't come across even 1 overweight person. 

I cannot comment on France, but I have been to Italy and actually talk about this alot with friends.  There is definitely a lot less processed food over there.  I was in Italy for 2 weeks.  I must admit, after every meal, I felt great!  I never felt that "full" or uncomfortable feeling, or bloated.  I was eating pizza and pasta, but everything was natural.  My energy level increased and I can honestly say that my stomach and digestive track had never felt better!  I also lost 1 pound.  AND believe it or not, I had at least 1 chocolate bar a day (it was one of the food items that reminded me of home. haha)

Ok I have lived in Italy for 5 years now so I'm going to step in lol

Yes, it's true that Italians don't eat large portions, tons of desserts, take time to eat with their families (they have a 4 hour "siesta" here!!), have fresh vegetables, don't eat lots of meat, etc. etc.

BUT that DOES NOT apply to a vast amount of Italians who are now turning to a "American" lifestyle, so to speak.  The first year I was here, I lived with a host family where the host mom would buy limited amounts of vegetables and would drown them in olive oil or fry them.  She used TONS of convienence-packed meal starters and foods for our meals.  And my host dad was a butcher, so we ate red meat EVERY single night!  And this was not just my family- I have experienced it in all parts of the country, at all socio-economic statuses, and it's become a huge problem.  obesity is starting to affect Italy pretty noticably.  Whenever I walk around I see an increasing amount of fatter kids.  I remember a small town that I lived in one year, where the whole town rejoiced when a vending machine was installed!!  And since many Italians eat nothing, or cookies, for breakfast, they tend to grab less wholesome foods that are convienent for a snack.  And the Italian kids LOVE McDonalds!!

So what I'm trying to say here is that yes, you can say that Europeans have "healthier" or "thinner" lifestyles, but not for long...  The most important thing is eating everything in moderation, like thankfully most Italians still do, and to eat as fresh and heathily (no processed!) foods as possible, which again, thankfully, most Italians still do.

But I'm so worried about this new generation...

Well no-one is blaming the American people for causing the rest of the world to become obse, stop being so touchy about it.

The fact is that chains like Subway, Mc Donalds, Burger King, KFC, etc have been spreading like a forest fire over here.

They are litteraly everywhere, litteraly there is a junkfood joint in almost every street corner and they have usually long opening hours. I'm not exaggerating, and they are cheep, very cheap.

Because many people are lazy, it is unfortunatley often easier to go the ceap, quick and availble choice compared to taking the efford in selecting a more healthy choice.

So it's not the Amarican people that make the Europeans fat, we do that ourselved by making the wrong choices and chose to endorse companies that, just so happens, are American in origin.

I believe in planned meal hours- if we are overweight, it's because we are eating too much/too often. This is how the French eat. Planned hours, no eating between, but some can't do with only 3 meals, so planned snacks help.

The Americanization - sedentarization might be better - of European culture that I saw was a product of shame and greed.  The shame: driving somewhere was always preferred to shameful walking.  The people I worked with couldn't understand why I would walk to work when I had a car, and many of them commuted by car in to the city from American-sized distances.  The greed: who invented Wal Mart?  Carrefour (or maybe Tesco in the UK) was there first.  The little greengrocers and bakeries steadily disappeared from the inner city in favor of the box stores out on the ring road.  "Cheaper" always seems to replace "better" no matter where you are.

And the proliferation of inexpensive electronic home entertainment is worldwide.  Like Al Gore, the French claimed the invention of the Internet (aka Minitel).  Great from a communications standpoint, but not from a dietary one.

Recently I`ve visited both Milan and Paris (spent ~10 days in each). I`ve only interacted with young university students, and of course seen the way people on the streets look.

French women DO get fat; it`s not as bad as in the US, with severe obesity, but nearly ALL the young ladies I have met in Paris were either hovering at the higher end of the healthy BMI or overweight. But as I said, it was pretty difficult to spot obese people anywhere, so that`s one nice bonus. And as someone else mentioned, it is true that there are bakeries (with amazing tasting stuff!!), pancake places and fast foods literally everywhere, the density of the places is amazing. But there are also fresh produce grocery stores on every street corner, so you can definitely eat healthy if you want to.

As for the italians, they definitely look much leaner and healthier. What I clearly remember is seeing a lot of middle-aged fit people walking everywhere, and their postures and attitudes were amazing - they looked incredibly at peace and relaxed, even if they were speed walking. Something I did definitely not see in Paris. Italians also eat a ginormous amount of salads and crudites in general. Sure, they will also have pizza as an appetizer, but JUST ONE SLICE, topped off generously with tomato sauce, and just a bit of mozarella cheese - not tons of sausages and bacon. Sure, they will also have pasta, but not more than a cooked cup (sometimes just half), but it will surely be drenched in a rich, delicious vegetable sauce.

Both cultures tend to take their time eating and chatting, but generally, from what I have seen, the French will prefer a fruit tart, whereas the Italians will choose actual fruit. And it most definitely shows.

Original Post by trendstudent:

What I got out of the book, French Women Don't Get Fat, is that they savor good quality food instead of devouring larger portions or junk.

i think this is key.  the french (and most europeans) can take three hours or more to eat dinner.  when you sit at the table for that long, you have to know how to pace yourself.  it's about conversation, variety, wine, and enjoyment, not about filling a hole.

is every meal eaten by every french person every day like that?  of course not.  but the attitude toward food and meals is definitely different there than in the US/north america.

Original Post by mperic81:

Just do what your body works well with, but DO NOT skip meals. That just ruins your metabolism.

Miss a single meal and your metabolism slows is stuff and nonsense.

If it makes you feel special to eat french, then go for it. I recommend the fois gras.

 

Sorry to be the annoying French girl here but you might want to try foiE gras too

That said I think a lot of the reason behind the 'skinny French women' thesis is in the lifestyle and 'traditional' diet. French women are getting bigger it is true, for the same reasons everyone is getting fat - more processed foods, more TV etc, but the 'traditional' French woman basically wouldn't get fat, yes.

An average traditional French woman will wake up to bread and a little juice and coffee, they then WALK to work. She sits down for a 1 hour lunch (a company must give by law 1 hour for lunch to all emloyees). She takes her time to eat what she is hungry for - this might include some not-so-healthy food such as a 'croque-monsieur' (white bread, ham, cheese, white sauce) but there is always a side salad to fill her up before hitting the carbs/protein/fat... Add the odd expresso and cigarettes in the afternoon- that's a 0 calorie snack (not saying that's healthy either!). And finally more walking to get back home... 

Being from a French family, dinner at home is always 4 courses and no one is fat. That is because there is always a starter of some sort of crudite, then veg and lean meat, then a lactose product (yoghurt or cheese) than a little dessert like baked apples for example. It is A LOT of food but it's all really healthy and eaten again around a dinner table where everyone enjoys the food and takes their time to eat it. No one snacks after that...

I think that is the concept of any weight maintenance programme really - there is nothing particularly French about it: eat a bit of everything, keep active, take your time to think about what you eat, enjoy it and stop when you are full!