How Do the French Stay Slim?

Posted: 9. July, 2010 0

How do the French stay slim? Surely they should have a weight problem. Almost in every French city you can find a boulangeries with pastries and a cafe where Parisians linger for hours. The French can be seen carrying bottles of wine and calorie rich baguettes made from refined flour. A meal may last an afternoon. The French live in a gourmet’s paradise and yet they fail to put on weight.

To be fair they are not all slim, but more are slim than fat by a large margin. Just look at the statistics – 30% of Americans are overweight, 23% British and under 10% French. It is a big difference. How do they do it?

Portion control and wine

It is not so much what they eat as how they eat. They may take a long time over a meal, but the portions are not large. The French enjoy conversation, this slows things down enormously. They drink wine, but generally in moderation. There is no tradition of excessive beer drinking as in Anglo Saxon countries. Beer contains more calories than wine and binge drinking on beer is binging on calories. The French do not drink to get drunk like many Anglo Saxons and so they drink less.

French men and women are sportive

In France there is not the problem of overweight teenagers. The reason is that young French boys and girls are sportive. Competitive cycling is a national obsession and, particularly in the south with its climate, water sports are popular as well. They many walk. Children are encouraged to walk to school and at weekends families enjoy rambles in local parks or in the countryside. Even in a fantastic city like Paris the “Bois de Boulogne” gives people 3 square miles of park land for recreation and rest. Other cities in other countries have parks, but the French seem to use theirs for exercise more than most.

Size Matters

Order a sandwich in France, and you may be surprised to get few tomatoes with mustard and one thin slice of ham on a baguette. It has nowhere near the calories found in an American-style overstuffed cheeseburger or deli sandwich.

And there lies another secret to the French secret of slimness: Portion control.

I attended a child’s birthday party where the adults enjoyed espresso and mini pastries while the children played. After having one tiny pastry, my instinct was to go for another until I realized that none of the adults had more than one paper wrapper next to their coffee cups.

Conclusion

It is a different and healthy lifestyle which shows that with enough exercise and eaten in moderation, sugars, fats and carbohydrates do not necessarily cause obesity. There are no secrets in looking like a French. Just take more exercise, eat less, relax and you will stay slim. You can start at home, throw out those beers in the fridge and remember to buy smaller plates. Have a continental breakfast, drink black coffee, do not snack on junk food and sit down to two meals a day. You don’t have time? Make time. The French are not layabouts, they just see the importance of living a healthy longer life. You can do the same.