French women don't get fat?

let me at em!

Published on April 20, 2005 By foreverserenity In Health & Medicine

I’m kinda getting sick of the phrase, “French women don’t get fat”. I mean, why the heck not? Who do they think they are? Now, I have nothing against the French, despite the obvious antagonistic stuff they do from time to time. I like the language a lot, I just love the way they speak. One of my best friends is French, although she’s also, part Jamaican, part Belgian, part Asian. So I have absolutely no malice against the French.

But whenever Americans and their weight problems are being discussed, some people turn to the other side of the continent to look at the French and their appetites. That’s if they have any since they are ALL so thin, reed thin I might add! Now how can they generalize like that? After all, there must be one or two “heavy” people there now aren’t there? Am I to believe that these women don’t put on any weight at all, even during and after childbirth? Or old age – er, excuse me, getting older? They can’t possibly stay the same weight as they get older now can they? You’re telling me their metabolism remains the same forever?!

Believe it or not there is actually a book entitled “French Women Don’t Get Fat”, written by Mireille Guiliano. I haven’t read the book but I’ve seen excerpts from one of those online magazines I subscribe to. In it she states French women (and this is verbatim) “have a voracious appetite for wine, bread, cheeses and chocolates.” And that “the difference in weight has to do with the 300 years of gastronomic rituals and respect for food that the French have developed….” [copied from Link]

You know what else Ms. Guiliano said? She said we American women gulp down our food! We do what?! Ok, (rolls up sleeves) is she trying to insult me? She’s gotta be kidding right? Well, apparently not. We obviously don’t know the difference between living to eat and eating to live! We starve ourselves too much and so we become obsessed with food. We don’t have a good relationship with food is basically what she’s saying.

Mmm, well, most American women don’t have good relationship with food; we do tend to obsess about our body in one form or another. That much is true. But I know we’re not that bad. Ok, so there are some of us who are a little overweight, (I’m that), and some might be a tad too obsessed with what they eat or don’t eat (no way I’m that), and some just don’t give a damn, (I was there too); but in no way do we gulp down our food. Yes, we might be in a hurry at times because of the kids, are work, or an appointment, but that’s no reason to insult us now is there. And that’s no reason to say we live to eat. That’s what you implied Ms. Guiliano!

I won’t be too hard on her though, she does have a few good points about eating that I’ve re-learned and started doing prior to reading that article. A few things that a lot of Americans are now learning or re-learning too, like portion size, and eating more often and drinking more water. And of course the big one, being more active.

There are a lot of people who have weight problems, young or old, child or adult. One thing I do know for sure is that we are aware of it and are actively doing something about it. I know this because of all the magazine, television, books, and other medium featuring people, not just celebrities, but regular people being proactive about their lifestyles and it’s all for the betterment of that individual.

Just don’t let me hear another comment that French women don’t get fat! Oh yeah, Ms. Guiliano is French! She lives half the time in the US, go figure!

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