The French Way

This afternoon in Monmouth Coffee in Borough Market, I had a delightful conversation with a Parisienne who is possibly the only French person I have ever met who a) LOVES London b) Prefers London to Paris (more to do, more vibrancy, more positivity) c) thinks our food is world-class.

It got me thinking, French women’s figures are the envy of the world. But why?

In a world where diet is probably the second word on many women’s lips, we are all searching for that diet miracle that works. The french diet is an anomaly, full of saturated fat, baguettes, croissants, red meat. But their figures defy the rest of the world. There are even books about the French Madame’s diet. A quick search on Amazon.co.uk came up with: French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guilian; The French Diet by Michel Montignac; The Fat Fallacy: the French Diet secrets to permanent weight loss by William Clower. (BTW: I’ve not read the synopses or lifted the cover of any of these, so I have no idea what any of them say or advocate so please don’t hold me to ransom if they are just-another-diet-book-with-a-fancy-cover).

France's Secret Weapon?

Mme Parisienne is a lady of my Mum’s age, slim, beautiful skin and wonderful vitality.  Well travelled and the mother of three grown-up kids of my age. I wanted to know her secret. What is it about the way the French eat that allows them to be the most glamourous culture in the world. Do they refuse dinner? Do they eat one meal a day and drink coffee for the remainder? Does the French croissant have a secret fat-burning enzyme that the rest of the western world aren’t allowed to know about?

Mme’s Parisienne’s Top Dietary Tips:

1) Always cook your own food. Do not eat convenience food as you are not in control of the ingredients.

2) Eat three meals a day. Do not snack.

3) If you want to eat a cake/tart/dessert; do but don’t make it a daily habit. When you do have one, enjoy every last mouthful.

4) Think about your portion size. Do you really need to eat off a plate that size?

5) Think about what you are eating and enjoy it. When you are full, stop eating.

6) If you have problems getting to the shops regularly to buy fresh vegetables, stock up on good quality frozen vegetables. Picard Surgeles specialise in gourmet frozen food. An excellent concept for busy, time-poor Parisiennes who want to eat fabulous food.

7) If your clothes are not fitting properly, do not buy a bigger size, it is a sign that you’re eating too much or too much of the bad stuff. Do something about it. Adjust your diet or lifestyle.

8) Exercise, exercise, exercise. You don’t need to go to the gym, just walk. Mme Parisienne told me that she knew that her mother was at the end of her life when she called a taxi – after a life of walking between 3-4 hours a day.

9) Do not overfeed your child when they are young, even if they are crying for more. Fat cells are formed in infancy and overfeeding can exacerbate the onset of obesity.

10) If you have a fabulous lunch or dinner and eat a lot then compensate for this by reducing the volume of food you eat at the next meal.

11) Always eat at a table. Do not walk whilst eating. I repeat Do. Not. Walk. And. Eat. When you do this, you don’t allow your stomach the time to digest, absorb and assimilate the nutrients from the meal.

Mme also commented that French women do not deny themselves anything, however they do not over-treat themselves, mainly because they are too vain. I prefer to think that they take pride in their appearance. Fashion-wise you can spot a French woman at 50 paces. They are always immaculately turned out and put the rest of the world to shame with their style and panache. We could definitely take more than a few leaves out of their books. In our defence, one thing that stays with me was Mme’s praise of the positivity of London, the variety and quality of fresh food, our loyalty to innovation in culture and the arts. However, she would like to see eating in theatres and cinemas banned and I agree with her entirely…

Let Them Eat Cake!

I was alerted to this Telegraph article on twitter by @bitchbuzz which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. ‘Research’ suggests that if women stare at a piece of cake then they will be less likely to eat it. The author is not credited but it must be a male staffer… surely any woman would disagree.

Chocolate cake... Yum!

The study of 54 females, asked 50% to stare at a picture of chocolate cake, the other half at a flower. When presented with a choice of snack –an oatmeal cookie or a piece of chocolate – more of the Cake group chose the oatmeal cookie. The groups were split by dietary consumption: healthy – cake group; unhealthy – flower group; the psychologist concludes that this history and the correlating groups choice to mean that staring at unhealthy food will make you choose a healthy option.

Since when were oatmeal cookies a healthy option?????

Errrr. No. Oats do not automatically = healthy. Nutrition-wise, I would go for the chocolate every time. Not only is an oatmeal cookie all carbs (albeit is unrefined) you can bet your bottom dollar that the biscuit contains sugar, honey, oil, and possibly some dried fruit – more sugar.

Healthy option? Not in this lifetime.

There has been a fallacy for years that ’health bars’ such as flapjacks and museli bars are a healthy snack. The marketing is focussed upon the wholesome ingredients of oats, nuts, rice puffs etc, however all is not what it seems. Whilst they are maybe more nutritious than a Mars Bar or Snickers, you have to ask what is the sweet gooey stuff that binds everything together? Of course if they contain nuts and/or seeds the protein will help slow the release of sugar into the blood stream but it more than the body needs and will not help those who are on the blood sugar rollercoaster.

The confusing thing is that manufacturers call sugar by a myriad of names including: glucose, barley syrup, rice syrup, honey, maltose, partially inverted syrup… So unless you’re up to speed on the latest names, its very easy fall into the trap of munching on a lot of needless calories before you know it. And I haven’t even talked about the carbohydrates or the fats yet…

Anyway, in my book, staring at a gorgeous cake will not stop you from deciding not to eat it, the opposite. There is always an option to say no, depending on the time of the month of course, however, the longer I dwell on the decision, the more I rationalise the choice. I find that the best course of action is total avoidance, or sharing if you’re with a friend.

Perfect summer snack to fix that sugar craving

My Top 5 Tips for avoiding cake:

1)   Never go food shopping when you’re hungry. Tempting treats will always find their way into the trolley as the brain stops thinking rationally and searches out for food that contain glucose (sugar), the brains main source of fuel.

2)   If you feel hungry, drink a glass of water and wait 10 minutes before eating. Our body often signals that its hungry when in fact we are dehydrated.

3)   If you have that sugary craving, avoid a carbohydrate-laden snack and go for something naturally sweet such as carrots, apples, or strawberries.

4)   Chew your food well. A sugar craving after eating is your body thinking it needs more energy to digest what’s been eaten.

5)   Have a few nuts with something sweet to help reduce the flow of sugar into the blood stream.

***However, I’m a realist and if you’re in a gorgeous restaurant, or have had a bloody awful day and want to treat yourself, then go ahead, be my guest. BUT enjoy that cake, love the experience & don’t do it every day.

Your body will love you for it.***