Month: April 2015

Why French women don’t get fat

We’re home from Paris, but I’m already planning ways to get back there, either for a vacation or for real life. There’s a large Arabic speaking population in Paris, maybe there’s a future job opportunity for Josh? (Not even kidding. I’m all in for post-retirement Paris living.)

Anyway, several people have written best seller diet books over the past few years capitalizing on the idea that French women eat calorie dense foods like brie and croissants and are still rail thin. After spending the past week observing their habits, I have figured out that French women stay thin by doing 3 things:

First, they smoke. That’s got to be good for 10 pounds, at least. And they start young, like High School young. Funny enough as a non-smoker I didn’t have any issues with 2nd hand smoke because there are laws against smoking inside restaurants and public buildings and because the French don’t really walk and smoke (just like they don’t walk and drink coffee). Aside from the guy with the cigar in line at the Eiffel tower (who wasn’t French) and the woman sitting on the bench next to me at St Chapelle, my vacation was smoke free. It would probably be a bit different in warmer weather if we wanted to eat outside, but it’s very nice not having to dodge sidewalk smokers as we walk.

Second, French women don’t eat breakfast. I’m generalizing a lot, but breakfast is a cafe au lait (coffee with steamed milk) and maybe a croissant or a bit of baguette. The “big breakfasts” on the menus were usually just coffee, juice, a pastry and maybe an egg. There were also omelettes on the menu, but they were always accompanied by a salad which makes me think that the French don’t see them as breakfast food. And I never saw anyone with anything more than carbs and coffee in the morning. Meanwhile I had my pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) and an omelette because I was on a quest to find the best chocolate croissant in Paris and I needed more than sugar to start my day.

ordering lunch for breakfast? Oh well. Yum, yum. French ham and cheese . . .
Third, French women move. They may sit to smoke and drink coffee, but they are in motion the rest of the time. Striding down the street, all business, up stairs and down, hopping on and off the metros, never pausing to rest. You know those flat escalators/moving walkways that they have at airports? In the US generally people stand to the right, letting the walkway do the work and a few motivated people pass on the left. In France, everyone walks the entire time. It was like watching an army of ants on the move. Escalators up and down? Everyone walks. Always in forward motion. In 6 days I saw only one woman standing as she rode the escalator and I’m pretty sure she was American. 
I finally have met my people. Josh always teases me that I walk too fast, like I’m in a race. It felt great to join a tribe of people on the move. Like our own version of the Amazing Race. On a mission to catch the next metro, reach the top of a flight of stairs, or get to the next cafe for a coffee. The French understand that sitting is for relaxing and standing means it’s time to move. An added bonus? People weren’t walking and looking at their phones. One thing at a time. 
I’m not going to take up smoking and I ate my way through Paris, but I did manage to walk more in a week than in the past month. Unfortunately our Middle East lifestyle is pretty sedentary with all the sand, heat, and lack of public transportation, but I can try to move more than I’ve been. Ironically, while I was on vacation, my dog got fat (a combination of steroids and trash eating most likely). I probably should jumpstart my plan to move more by walking with him. Au revoir!