Welcome Fall (in the northern Hemisphere), the season when many of us begin to slow down, eat more carbs, and maybe gain a pound or two.
For inspiration and encouragement, here is a list of habits that reportedly help French women keep their weight down—and this, within a cuisine based on butter! The list has been around a long time, passed around from friend to friend. Mine’s stuck permanently on my refrigerator.
I think it’s pretty clearly aimed at American women, pointing out many of our really unhealthy habits.
French women don’t:
Snack
Graze by the light of the fridge
Eat lunch at their desks
Keep a stash of food in their office
Eat huge portions
Have breakfast for dinner
Use bottled salad dressing
Drink sodas—diet or regular
Buy “fat-free” or “lowfat” versions of real products
Eat on the run
Drink alcohol, except wine with meals
Refuse to eat what’s served
Eat popcorn and candy at the movies
Count calories or fat grams
Say no to dessert
Eat cheese before a meal (only after)
Go to all-you-can-eat buffets
Have croissants for breakfast every day
Buy in bulk
Eat in front of the television
Ask for seconds
Eat bread before meals
Is one or more of these a special problem for you? If you could say goodbye to one bad habit on this list, which would it be? (For me, snacking and eating at my desk).
sallymandy
20 comments:
I'd fail miserably in France if "Happy Hour" is ignored and cheese is meant to be adored after dinner! Wine and cheese BEFORE dinner is a must in my life. ;)
I'm not really guilty about any of these....except Diet Cokes. That one would be tough.
I don't say no to dessert often enough and have been known to have a glass of wine before the meal out on the terrace - oops, and then another with the meal.
What nobody tells you is that Americans work through their lunch, or have a miserly thirty minutes to swallow something. As a teacher I had thirty minutes from bell to bell. If a student wanted to ask me a question, he/she took a bit of that time, if I needed to go to the restroom, know ten minutes, if I walked to the cafeteria, knock another ten. See? No time for lunch. We all work too many hours, drive too many hours, and put in more hours in a week than any other country.
I'm suprised by the 'Have croissants for breakfast every day' what do they eat for breakfast?? I pictured a cafe aux lait and croissant as the perfect French start to the day.
I crave a croissant from Starbucks every so often when I get my morning coffee. At least it isn't sugar laden like most of the other choices. If I have something sweet for breakfast it sets up more cravings all day for sugar stuff.
Buy in bulk, wine is a must but have cut down to the weekends while trying to loose a few pounds, more than a few. Sneaks up on you.
What an interesting post. I have gained weight recently. I blamed it on the fact that I am injured and can't exercise but really it is because I am guilty of doing everything French women don't.
I'm a lunch-at-desk offender. But it's difficult not to...really no place comfortable in our office building to sit and eat and I don't have time to go out every day.
"Graze by the light of the fridge" would be my weakness. If you eat in the middle of the night it doesn't count, right?
Darla
Eat huge portions. That'll be me then....
hmmmmm....great list but according to this list I am French! Why the big thighs then?????? <;-)
Wow.
;^)
I'm breaking a lot of rules.
;^)
In defence of some American women - most of my friends work out every day and weigh less than their kids. Most depressing!
Darn. I do all of those more or less. Except buy in bulk because I live in a studio. The hardest ones to give up, for me, would be all you can eat buffets, soda, and eating on the run.
Thanks you, by the way, for your wonderful comment the other day. It makes blogging and writing worthwhile when even just one person understands what you're trying to express :)
Loved your post but I have to say - as a Londoner living in France I think this list is really about Parisian women, a breed apart. I live in the French region of Brittany where a lot of women are on the larger size - hurrah. I see them eat croissants for breakfast, I see their trolleys in the supermarket and spot pizzas, I see their treats for the family - fattening unhealthy things.
One thing I have noticed when eating in French restaurants - that French men don't eat the bread on the table either. Of course the English families not only eat the bread they are given, it is then refilled and that is eaten as well. It's too delicious not to.
They don't eat buttered bread, either. (If there is butter it's usually baked into it, as pastry or piecrust.) But they DO smoke. Not all of them,but far more than North Americans.
I'll eat a my desk and about 4 pm will eat anything in sight.
l can vouch for this totally.....
they sip every thing, take small bites, and chew each mouthfull a zillion times, they put the fork down between bites
My english half though overcomes my french half and so I am heavy...doh
Having spent some time in Paris, I was really surprised by the typical skinny Frenchwoman's approach to breakfast: Just coffee. Perhaps a small pastry if she is feeling daring. Over here, we are told over and over by experts that a healthy breakfast keeps you slim (and sustained for most of the morning). I like my huge breakfast. I've learned the French way of picking at my lunch and dinner from my French friend Yuuki. It works! Act as if eating is not the reason you are there. Sip, talk, move food around your plate while looking contemplative, leave your eating utensils alone...anything but actually consume what's in front of you :)
This is fun, and Frenchwomen do on the whole still have a lower obesity rate than women in much of North America (including us cousins in Québec) and several other European countries, but a) obesity is increasing in France too, as are bottled salad dressings, prepared foods and rushed meals b) this has always been a generalisation, differing by region, urban/rural and social class.
I've often attended after-work parties in France where there was not only wine and cheese, but also saucisson!
Northmoon, most frequently a "tartine" of crusty bread (an exception to the no butter on bread rule, this can have butter and jam) though nowadays people also eat yoghourts and different things for breakfast. I'm a bad Frenchperson as I need a bit of protein in the morning or I get a headache - no, not a "full English" greasy breakfast but often a slice of lean chicken, that sort of thing.
We have to keep in mind that this "Frenchwoman who doesn't get fat" is part of a larger myth that has little to do with contemporary life in that country.
I love the way french women eat, so smart! And thankfully, I make my own salad dressing, never drink pop and unfortunately do not eat croissants every day for breakfast. When I was in Paris a few years ago, I did though, and felt very french!
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