Why French Women don't get Fat

Tmeos

Just wondering if anyone had read this book http://www.amazon.com/French-Women-Dont-Get-Fat/dp/1400042127

I picked it up today, more out of my obsession with France than as a diet guide. Just wondering if anyone else had read it and what your thoughts are. From the first chapter or two if seems she is proposing everything in moderation and focusing on the quality of food and ritual of eating to maximise enjoyment. Does anyone have any thoughts on the French way of eating?

Jarren

cigs,coffee,salads

The Scientician

Their obesity rate is the lowest in Europe but is rising. Whatever it is that they used to do to stay skinny, fewer people are doing that now.

SuperDude87

jarecki1976 wrote: »

cigs,coffee,salads

Lung cancer is rising at a tremendous rate in French women. The price they are willing to pay apparently....

unknowngirl!!

Im just back from a year living in France and I don't think its as much the diet as the amount of exercise everyone does. The majority of people walk or cycle to work and every evening people would be out jogging and running. During lunch time a lot of people would swim or play tennis before having a light lunch. I was working in Air France and not every lady was super slim, most had normal bodies and some were over weight.

I think in general the attitude to food is much different in France. People eat when they're hungry and stop when they are full, I rarely saw people snacking.

southsiderosie

A different take on the 'French Women Don't Get Fat' mythology:

Before we come under assault by the rest of the French Women empire (the TV show, the movie) we should take this mythology—Americans, hopelessly schizophrenic about food; French, universally blessed with natural moderation—with a grain of Breton sea salt. The first problem with this picture is that it may already be out of date. Guiliano grew up and learned her eating rituals in the '50s and '60s. Today, thanks to globalization, the French are starting to eat, and look, more like us: According to a recent article in the Times of London, the traditional French meal is eaten by only 20 percent of the population. Instead, they increasingly favor the abbreviated, on-the-go meals of Americans. The national rate of obesity is rising fast. While only 6 percent of the population was obese in 1990, today the proportion is 11.3 percent. That is still well behind the same figure for the United States (22 percent) but on track to match our levels by 2020. The French are not happy about it. In a parliamentary report last spring highlighting the dramatic increase in obesity, legislators proposed launching a new government agency to fight weight gain, to be funded by a tax on high-calorie or high-fat foods.

Which brings us to the second way in which the American/French divide is more complicated than Guiliano acknowledges. The French accept a level of government paternalism that would not go over easily here. The way that French families eat, or until recently ate, is actually a product of state intervention, as Greg Critser pointed out in a 2003 piece in the New York Times. At the beginning of the 20th century, concern over France's high infant mortality rate led to a largely state-sponsored movement called puericulture. The movement's initial focus was on getting mothers to breastfeed; clinics were set up across the country, and the government required factories to have areas for nursing. But puericulture advocates also stressed that overfeeding infants was worse than underfeeding them. For older children, they advised regular mealtimes, modest portions, no seconds, and no snacks. Children's own appetites and preferences were to be ignored. This is the tradition in which Guiliano was raised, and which she proposes to those of her readers who are parents. It is another interesting paradox: The French ability to take pleasure in food, and to choose food based on taste rather than dietary dogma, begins with a child's lack of choice, and a degree of parental and state authoritarianism.

The third problem is that, while they may be admirably successful at staying thin, French women are not necessarily more balanced in their attitudes about food. While many people think of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia as an American problem, they are, as far as can be measured (and these statistics should always be taken with some degree of skepticism), equally prevalent in France. In the United States, somewhere between 0.5 percent and 3.7 percent of women will be anorexic in their lifetimes, while 1.1. percent to 4.2 percent will suffer from bulimia. Between 2 percent and 5 percent of Americans binge eat. Among young French women, an estimated 1 percent to 3 percent are anorexic; 5 percent are bulimic; and 11 percent have compulsive eating behaviors. Certainly, young French women today are as interested in eating disorders as their American counterparts. While Guiliano enjoys her publishing success here, a quite different book is in the spotlight in France: a memoir of bulimia called Thornytorinx. (The title is an anatomical name for the digestive tract.) The book has been favorably covered by the French press, and its author, a 25-year-old actress named Camille de Peretti, appeared last weekend on one of France's most popular talk shows.

Bottle_of_Smoke

While only 6 percent of the population was obese in 1990, today the proportion is 11.3 percent. That is still well behind the same figure for the United States (22 percent) but on track to match our levels by 2020.

Wonder is that a typo, I think approx 24% of irish people are obese, more like a third of americans. I can't see it being as low as 22% in 2005

livinginkorea

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-obesity

OECD Health Data 2005

The Scientician

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Wonder is that a typo, I think approx 24% of irish people are obese, more like a third of americans. I can't see it being as low as 22% in 2005

The statistics for being overweight and being obese are conflated in nearly all the (non-scientific) literature. IE you can be overweight without actually being obese.

Bottle_of_Smoke

The Scientician wrote: »

The statistics for being overweight and being obese are conflated in nearly all the (non-scientific) literature. IE you can be overweight without actually being obese.

Yeah there are even more who are overweight. The 33% of Americans and 24% of IRish are the ones who pass the obese mark. When combined, the overweight/obese groups make up a majority of the population

livinginkorea wrote:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/he...health-obesity

OECD Health Data 2005

Surely that's not right for ireland. Only 13% were obese? Though appears accurate for US and UK

jam_mac_jam

It is not acceptable for French women to be fat and that is a huge difference. In Ireland it is. Yes they eat better food anyway and drive less in cities but a bigger influence as far as I am concerned is the social stigma towards weight gain is much higher in France. They dont actually smoke an awful lot more then we do, bit of a cliche, in Ireland I think its 25% in France I dont think it would be much higher than 30% which is not a large amount to explain it. In that book when the author came back from England and she had put on weight her father told her she looked like a sack of potatoes, and so she went and lost weight. An example I think.

The book is a little bit patronising, esp towards Americans. Its good but common sense really.

Rakish

Check out the Dukan diet http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dukan-Diet-Pierre/dp/144471032X

There is a new book out which I am reading at the moment... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dukan-Diet-Life-Plan-Bestselling/dp/144473606X/ref=zg_bsnr_270701_1

Its good stuff

all_smilz

on a personal level I just had a french tenant move out of my home. She had some very funny attitudes to food and eating.
Mostly ate Madeira cake for breakfast, salad(e) for lunch at one and ate her dinner at ten o clock at night before going to bed.
She often declared she didnt like chocolate but her cupboards were full of it and her bedroom (grrr) was often littered with pizza and chinese dinners. She bought the cheapest of the cheap food (not because she had to as she was on a high salary).
She didnt smoke or drink at home and went to the gym 5 days a week.... she wanted to take up swimming to "keep my shape" but declared she hated pools as they were dirty.... I said why not do it because you LIKE it? Which she found hilariously funny.
I have lived in france also and worked with many french people over the years so I am just picking out one odd example but she didnt possess one cheese, one clove of garlic and munched on prunes (presumably for constipation) instead!

--Kaiser--

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

It is not acceptable for French women to be fat and that is a huge difference. In Ireland it is. Yes they eat better food anyway and drive less in cities but a bigger influence as far as I am concerned is the social stigma towards weight gain is much higher in France. They dont actually smoke an awful lot more then we do, bit of a cliche, in Ireland I think its 25% in France I dont think it would be much higher than 30% which is not a large amount to explain it. In that book when the author came back from England and she had put on weight her father told her she looked like a sack of potatoes, and so she went and lost weight. An example I think.

The book is a little bit patronising, esp towards Americans. Its good but common sense really.

I think social acceptance is a much bigger factor than people realise. In continental Europe it's not really seen to be 'OK' or 'normal' to be overweight, so consciously or subconsciously, they end up watching what they eat more.

This country I find a bit warped with regards weight, I'm frequently called skinny (which I'm not, I'm merely lean). A guy at work told me he was on a diet, but, not for weight loss, just for his cholesterol, because, and I quote "I have no fat". When he said this I was literally speechless, this guy has a hefty beer gut, but he just sees it as completely normal.

Ouchette

jarecki1976 wrote: »

cigs,coffee,salads

+1

All the French girls I know who live in cities just have a couple of cigs and a coffee for breakfast to take the edge off their hunger until lunchtime Probably a bit of a generalisation, but it seems to be all about appearances, not health.

opinion guy

Ouchette wrote: »

+1

All the French girls I know who live in cities just have a couple of cigs and a coffee for breakfast to take the edge off their hunger until lunchtime Probably a bit of a generalisation, but it seems to be all about appearances, not health.

Jaysus thats nasty

leeroybrown

Most continental Europeans (male and female) I know view it as normal to eat relatively healthy foods and get regular exercise. Here it's the direct opposite.

opinion guy

leeroybrown wrote: »

Most continental Europeans (male and female) I know view it as normal to eat relatively healthy foods and get regular exercise. Here it's the direct opposite.

Completely agree. Thought I also think its much easier to be health in cities in France and Germany say as they tend to have proper cycle lanes and places for runners etc etc. Its also much easier to get out of the city to mountains lakes etc with their very high quality public transport

Edit: let me add - I went for a rare recreational cycle in dubs yesterday and almost got killed by someone who doens't know how to indicate. Is it any wonder people tend to avoid such risks here ?

Deedo

I have to agree with a previous poster who put it down to the level of exercise. Having spent quite a bit of time in France, they have a very health relationship with food - yes there are lots of salad and seafood with plenty of full fat cheese and of course they're fond of the glass of wine with dinner and lots of bread.

However, they do tend to a lot more in teh outdoors - they love their gardens, are very house proud and do spent a lot of time doing stuff with the family at the weekend. And of course, with cycling practically the national sport, you'll always see lots of people, old and young out on the bikes. Great lifestyle I have to say!

Boulevardier

Lets face it, a lot of of them smoke like fish.

Mind you, I have met a few that I am sure do not, and they have good figures as well.

leeroybrown

I think the exercise is the key thing. Once a lot of people I know finish playing team sports exercise disappears from their lives. That's the end of secondary school for a lot of guys and quite a lot earlier for most girls I know. I've an okay-ish diet supplemented by a monumentally unhealthy intake of booze but I'm in still reasonably fit and not carrying too much extra fat because I regularly walk, cycle, play tag rugby.

Boulevardier

Leeroy, are you a French woman? Your tag does not suggest it.

DoesNotCompute

Thought this was appropriate:

Tmeos

Don't think that's overly appropriate to be honest....

I do agree that she comes across a bit patronisng and she probably suffers from the idelalised image of their homeland that most ex-pats have. Plus she grew up in the france of the 50's/60's which is a very different proposition from today. The key thing that I have picked up from it so far is the emphasis on really enjoying and appreciating your food. For example I reckon you could have ten weight watchers frozen deserts and still not feel as full as you would after half of a really amazing desert from a decent restaurant. Maybe it's psychological but I think if you feel you have had something of great quality there is no need to overindulge.

One thing that has got me thinking is she talks alot about the difference between European and American Cuisine however from my experience I would identify far more with the American that the supposedly European.

awanderer

Ouchette wrote: »

+1

All the French girls I know who live in cities just have a couple of cigs and a coffee for breakfast to take the edge off their hunger until lunchtime Probably a bit of a generalisation, but it seems to be all about appearances, not health.

I stopped posting on Boards.ie long time ago but I had to make an exception when I read that. That seems so absurd!

I believe you should be careful about who your friends are! I am French and lived ten years in Paris before I moved to Ireland, yet I never met anyone who would have smoked instead of having breakfast in order to remain slim! While I smoked, and quite a few of my friends did, it was for the same reasons Irish women smoked: I was addicted to cigarettes. Some of my friends skipped breakfast but also for the same reason some Irish women do: to sleep longer or because they didn't feel like eating first thing in the morning. If one of my friends had smoked instead of eating just to look nicer I (as well as my other friends) would have seriously worried about their priorities.

That said I was slim when living in France and put on quite a lot of weight when I moved to Ireland (despite smoking as much), yet I would not be able to answer the op's question. The only thing that might maybe be a clue (but as I said I am not definite about it) is that in France, I would be looking forward to lunch or diner while here I seem to think about food (and eat/snack) all day long.

opinion guy

awanderer wrote: »

I would be looking forward to lunch or diner while here I seem to think about food (and eat/snack) all day long.

Its the Irish weather - forces the prehibernation gorging instincts to kick in all year round

Ouchette

awanderer wrote: »

I stopped posting on Boards.ie long time ago but I had to make an exception when I read that. That seems so absurd!

I believe you should be careful about who your friends are! I am French and lived ten years in Paris before I moved to Ireland, yet I never met anyone who would have smoked instead of having breakfast in order to remain slim!

Fair enough but I'm not making it up. Maybe it is just the 15-20 French people I know, (but I doubt it tbh, or coffee and cigs wouldn't be widely known as a French breakfast.)

Those from the countryside had excellent diets and great attitudes towards food though.