French Women Don't Get Fat

[stellart]

theres this great breakfast chain around here, and they focus on all these really elaborate fruit plates. not like in the states where itès greasy this and fried that and butter everywhere.

Are you talking about Coras ?

I <3 Coras !

i'm totally talking about coras!! that place is everything amazing.

[ElizaKelly]

Great book! Some of the tips are priceless. So much of it is just sensible eating too. Science can go so far of course but a lot of it comes down to common sense.

Was really interesing to read too that French, on average spend the most amount of time per day eating than the rest of the world - yet are one of the most trim populations!

Says a lot for scoffing your food hey!

Thanks for the post

[Agrandic]

I went to a little place called Les Sables d'Olonne its on the West Coast in Vendee like an hour south of nantes right on the beach. Of course there were temptations there like tons of ice cream. But I enjoyed ice cream about every other day and still was able to work it off by walking the beach and just overall being active. Now the reason I am doing SBD is because I have become very inactive because of school and my eating habits are down the tubes. I need to rev my metabolism. Oh how I wish I was in France

[anotherncbeachbum]

Some interesting concepts but it's just a stereotype. There are a lot of "overweight" people in the EU. My family is from southern italy and they're all heavy. Not the supersized folks you see waddling around walmart but they're not thin people. Some of that is probably genetics, too.

They do things differently though. Morning meal is coffee and a roll. For my grandfather he has an onion, a chunk of cheese, a roll, a cappuccino (which is for breakfast only, never later in the day) and a cigar. Lunch is pasta with veggies and protein if he happens to off something that day. Dinner is late, around 8pm and takes a while. No hurry to eat. No TV on, no books at the table. The table is set and everyone gathers around and eats and drinks (heavily). He's 95 and still gets up early to work on his land (he grows olives). Typical dinner might be a small plate of pasta with olive oil or soup, then meat, then veggies. Then fruit and cheese as a dessert. Lots of wine, some of which almost put me into the ground.

If people would switch to a diet like they have - fresh veggies, fruits, meats, cheeses, local bread - I think that we'd all shrink a good bit. I think that if you compare the concept behind the SB diet it matches plain old "healthy eating".

[RedRox]

Don't discount the time and enjoyment factor either! We simply cannot digest properly when our bodies are still in "fight or flight" mode with our sympathetic nervous system active and predominate. We need to activate our parasympathetic nervous system aka "rest and digest" mode in order to properly digest and absorb our foods. The quickest way to do this is through our breath, but simply doing things like taking the time for our meals, not eating standing up, not going through drive-thrus and/or eating while we drive, and actually enjoying the company of our families and friends while we actually and mindfully enjoy our foods would go a long way as well! IMO, that's an often overlooked component of the european style of eating. too often we focus simply on the foods themselves. It's more than that. Environment and attitude towards foods and meals play a role too.

[Agrandic]

Amen