How long has it been since you lived in France, Mme. Guiliano? I must ask because I live in Limours, very close to Paris, as you know. Yesterday I went to another near by village to shop at the Mall. There is a GOSports in the Mall with all kinds of exercise equipment in it, but that is beside the point. When I was leaving my neighbor was dragging her stationary bike out onto our shared courtyard for her morning ride of an hour and she was dressed in a man’s white t-shirt and spandex shorts. On the way to the mall I read two roadside signs for two women’s athletic centers. Once at the mall I saw more than a  couple of women whom I would say fell into the age bracket between 20-35 in jogging suits. At the big store most women over 45 were overweight by, just guessing, 12-25kg (25-60pounds). The women in their early 20s were about average weight. Now the woman who was in front of me in the check out line was interesting. She unloaded more than a week’s supply of yogurts, ready made sandwiches, pizzas, and other prepared foods yet she herself couldn’t have weighed more than 115 pounds and she stood about 5’7". (I know because that is the height of my daughter.)

In both pharmacies in this little village there is an entire wall lined with dietetic aids and prepared portion size meals. Every single evening I see a group of 3 women jogging. On the weekends I see several women jogging along the country roads and a few riding their bikes.

Ma Belle-mare, who is 69, works in her garden daily but before she starts she warms up on her stationary bike and various other machines in her basement, as does her husband. They have been french all their lives. But it is not only a phenomena of my in-laws. They tell me that their brothers & sisters do likewise; 15 people then. My sister-in-law belongs to a gym and goes 3 evenings a week. 

I applaud your efforts to encourage Americans to enjoy life more and at the same time realize that portion size is the key to weight maintenance. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone in France who is not concerned with their weight and the weight of their pets. There are only two French people I know who do not have a daily exercise regime, my mother-in-law who is 94, and my husband.

I do think that this sort of idealized French lifestyle has it’s drawbacks. The French are seriously trying to have all photos in magazine which have been photoshoped tagged that they have been alterred and are not representative of the actual model. My physician tells me that the pressure to be size 0 is so intense on women that her practice is divided by those women whom are anorexic and those older women over 45 who are overweight.

France is struggling with the same weight to health issues.

I’m a gym rat, and I look forward to my daily 90 minutes at the gym.  I love starting off the day by running, lifting weights, and stairclimbing.

However, I spent my teens in France, and I agree that they have a different view of exercise.  When I lived there, I did a lot more jogging outside, and the streets, even in the small towns, encouraged walking from place to place.  On the flip side, My neighborhood in the Cincinnati suburbs has no sidewalks!  I still try to go for walks outside, but I’m usually dodging traffic and cars are honking at me, or someone thinks my car has broken down and they offer me rides home.  Leave me alone and let me walk!

And I totally agree on the eating issue.  I think doctors did the world a huge disservice when they went through that "6 small meals a day" recommendation.  Now, people think it’s okay to NEVER STOP eating!  You should eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with maybe an apple or a yogurt for a snack.  Eating chips, candy bars, and drinking soda all day long is NOT 6 small meals!

Embrace exercise.  The gym is where I stretch, yawn, meditate.  I may swim, do yoga,  pilattes,  or jump rope.  My time is my own. How can anyone not enjoy this?  Think about how great I feel after a good workout and all I need to do is look in the mirror and  know I will go back tomorrow.  Eat to live,  not live to eat. I’m a senior, didn’t always think this way.  The French walk for exercise just to catch the train.  Park the car as far from the shop as possible.

1. Sedentary Lifestyles

2. Portions

3. Sodium / High Frustose Corn Syrup

If you cut back 30% on food intake, stick to things from the ground or that had a mother, eat nothing from a box (processed), and walk more, you will see amazing results.  Gyms are sooooo overrated. 

I thought it was…

Cigarettes, sans showering, being snobs.

I too wish that our country would be more receptive to investing in bike lanes and sidewalks.

Joy

One main point that I haven’t heard anyone mention was that the French aren’t used to the heavy work weeks like we are in America.  The American work week is considered 40 hours a week, compared to the French 30 hours a week.  There are plenty of us who work near 60 hours a week in America. So with the time juggling of work, Americans have less time to work out.  So good for the French for having more time to excercise and take leisurely strolls around the park. Yeah!  Now back to reality…..

I spent the last year in France and let me tell you why they aren’t fat.  They don’t eat.  They really don’t.  Here is a typical meal, from what I could tell…breakfast: rice crispies or coco crisps (both will 3% milk usually —that is their low fat option) croissants, chocolate croissants (often with extra addings—like nutella).  Lunch: its optional, maybe a few carrots or a salad.  Dinner: a few veggies maybe and meat.  And ALWAYS several slices of baguette.  It was an odd experience.  Its not just the french either.  In germany, they bread with toppings for breakfast, eat a semi-hearty lunch, then for dinner eat more bread and topping.  And aren’t germans known also for being fat?  So I don’t see how the meals correspond? In general europeans eat a TON of bread that is another factor.  I honestly think it is mostly due to the walkable or bikeable cities…it sucks we don’t have that in America. 

 but I agree with the others who mentioned that physical exercise is necessary as well.  I enjoy working out, it boosts my endorphines and makes me a happier person.  Frankly I wish we could be as skinny as the french and have that walkable lifestyle but we are a completely different culture and doing this is extremely difficult.

We live in the US right now and we are always surprised to see all those people with something to eat in their hands at any time during the day. People here eat and snack all the time. You don’t see french people going to work with a coffee and a bagel in a bag. They have breakfast before leaving the house and they wait until noon to have lunch (they can have a coffee at 10 am but a small black regular one with no add of caramel, strawberry or any else flavors). After lunch they wait until dinner and most of the time they don’t go to restaurant, they eat at home because french women cook. We are also amazed by the portions American people are able to eat. This is an hypocrite system because people are told to loose weight and they are pushed to eat more and more. This is also a problem of money. It would be so easy to serve reasonable portions and to make people pay less. This is not a good habit to go back home with a doggy bag, this give bad habits and sometimes instead of leaving food to take with you, you eat everything you have in your plate.

Most of all, french people appreciate what they eat, they take their time, they discuss, they wait between each course. Here, the server push you, if you let your fork on your plate one second, he is here to take your plate away. There are a lot of things to change before being able to reach this goal: eating for the pleasure, take the time to eat, enjoy what you eat and overall cook at home (not processed food) real food, simple and tasty. We have noticed that it is impossible to have simple food in this country, there are always sauces, cream, spices, sugar etc..etc…

I can give to anyone interested a typical french meal, I don’t know if you will appreciate it.