Ever wondered why so many people in France stay slim? This video explores the French lifestyle, eating habits, and cultural habits that make staying thin easier than you might think. 🥖🍷🇫🇷
#FrenchLifestyle #HealthTips #StaySlim #EatingHabits #Wellness #FranceCulture #Shorts
#FrenchLifestyle #HealthTips #StaySlim #EatingHabits #Wellness #FranceCulture #Shorts
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Why are French people so thin when the food just looks like this?
00:04I'm French, I live in Paris, and that's the number one question I get asked,
00:09especially when I make food videos.
00:11So let's get breakfast together while I tell you all my thoughts.
00:15So one of the first reasons people always think about is the food quality.
00:20And I have to tell you that I, just like a lot of French people, mostly eat fresh food.
00:25There's so many little food shops around me, and it's super easy to shop for fresh food every single day.
00:31Like today, for example, I just bought my bread after my run, and it just added five minutes to my
00:37day.
00:37And most people do that because there's an abundance of tiny markets,
00:41both in Paris and in other cities, big and small, there's at least one market a week.
00:46And it's super easy to buy fresh food.
00:48Fresh food is literally all around us.
00:51Like this bread that I'm about to eat, it was made fresh this morning.
00:54And by the way, if you were expecting me to eat a croissant,
00:57you're very wrong because sugar is seen more as a treat in France
01:01and not something like you would eat every single day.
01:04I'll tell you a bit more about our relationship to treats and sugar a bit later in the video.
01:10But one thing is sure is French food is very filling.
01:14Like I eat pretty much this every single day,
01:17which is two to four slices of bread with a ton of butter, a fruit and some tea or coffee.
01:23And I'm not hungry until lunchtime.
01:25And my personal opinion is because I eat a lot of good quality fats like butter, olive oil.
01:31And this is not only super tasty, this butter is so delicious, but it also keeps me full for longer.
01:36Also, I feel we eat a lot of fruits and veggies.
01:39Like it was the basis for every meal growing up and dessert is always a fruit for me.
01:45And fruits and veggies are super high quality and tasty in France.
01:49And they're so easy to find.
01:51Like right next to me, there's this super cute street with a lot of different fresh fruits and veggie stores.
01:56And it's so easy to get delicious fresh fruits and veggies that are in season.
02:00Also, every time I eat breakfast in a video, people tell me that I don't eat enough,
02:04that the portions are too small.
02:06But that's just how it is in France.
02:08Portions are pretty small compared to the rest of the world.
02:11I used to live in New York City.
02:13And when I first moved there, I was so excited at how much food they were giving us.
02:18I was like, great, I can only buy food once and eat twice.
02:21That's how big the portions were for me.
02:23Obviously, now I'm used to it.
02:25So I just eat everything they give me.
02:27But portions are way smaller in France.
02:29And another reason people always give when they talk about this, about why French people are so thin,
02:34is supposedly our active lifestyle.
02:37Yes, of course, our cities are made for walking and biking.
02:42There's a lot of public transport.
02:44You can walk pretty much everywhere, especially in Paris or in any big city.
02:48I would say that physical activity is more woven into our daily life.
02:52But to be fully transparent with you, I don't think these are the main reasons why French people are so
02:57thin.
02:58There's actually deeper reasons, both positive and negative, that I want to talk to you about.
03:02And the first thing I need to tell you about while I make my lunch is cooking.
03:06So actually in France, most of the people I know make most of their meals from scratch.
03:11For example, growing up with my parents, we never ate takeout.
03:15We actually didn't even have a microwave most of my life.
03:18And the only time we ordered food delivery to my parents' house was when my American boyfriend, Bobby, did it.
03:25So eating homemade food in France is really common.
03:28And eating simple meals like this one is what we usually do.
03:31So if you've watched my food videos in the past, you see me eating a ton of food with really
03:37cool restaurants meals.
03:38And obviously that's not how I eat most of the time.
03:41Most of the food I eat is actually super simple, very basic, with a lot of fruits and veggies.
03:47And it's actually how I prefer it.
03:50I couldn't eat at the restaurant every single day.
03:52And I need to eat simple and good homemade food most of the time to be happy.
03:58Also in France, dinner parties, like having your friends over for dinner is super, super common.
04:05Most people do that.
04:06No matter what age they are, you always invite your friends over for dinner, for some food.
04:11People bring homemade cooked food.
04:13And eating overall is a more social experience.
04:16So for lunch, I usually eat alone because I'm working.
04:20But growing up, one thing I did with my parents was eating all of our meals together,
04:25seated at the dinner table, and everyone eating the same thing.
04:28So we're talking breakfast and dinner, obviously, but also lunch anytime I was not at school.
04:34And even now, as an adult, if there's someone in my house, I will eat a meal with them.
04:39And I will share the same thing.
04:41We will find something that we both like and share a meal.
04:43So I think, like me, a lot of French people are conditioned to see eating as a social event.
04:48Like, it's not just something you do to fuel your body.
04:51It's also a time you can relax, unwind, you know, share good conversations with people,
04:57catch up with your family.
04:59And for that, you know, you really want to eat slow because there's three different courses.
05:03So you want to pace yourself to finish at the same time as the others.
05:07And you're not going to leave the dinner table unless everyone else is done.
05:10So as you can see, with what I'm showing you today, there's three main meals you eat
05:15when you're French.
05:16And they're super structured.
05:18Like, they happen at very specific times.
05:20Like, breakfast is whenever you wake up.
05:22I always eat lunch between 12.30 and 1.30 p.m.
05:26And apparently 90% of French people do too, according to this study.
05:30Like, it's crazy how much people eat at the same exact time.
05:34And then dinner, it's around 8 p.m. with your family or with your friends.
05:38And I cannot stress that enough.
05:40It is super weird for me to not eat at the official French mealtimes.
05:45When I was first dating Bobby and I met his family, since they're American,
05:49they didn't have those exact standard mealtimes where people would eat at the same exact time.
05:55Sometimes people would just eat when they felt they were hungry.
05:58And I was so confused.
06:00Like, my internal clock was totally lost.
06:03I didn't know if it was lunch or dinner.
06:05Nothing made sense to me.
06:07And I always asked Bobby, like, which meal are we on right now?
06:10And when Bobby came to my family, it was the opposite end of the spectrum.
06:15My parents wanted to be nice.
06:16They actually created a menu for the week with, like, breakfast, lunch, and dinner with different dishes.
06:23So, yes, there's a lot of structure in France.
06:25And you always know when your next meal is gonna be, which I find really relaxing.
06:30Now I'm used to the U.S. way of eating, so I just ask to eat at the times I'm
06:36hungry at, which are conditioned by my French education.
06:38But it feels relaxing to know that every single day at 12.30, you're gonna have a nice meal.
06:43I don't know.
06:44Might just be my upbringing, but I love it.
06:45And by the way, for lunch, I'm not only eating this massive salad with arugula, tomatoes, mushroom, and chicken.
06:51But if I'm still hungry after that, I still have half a loaf of bread waiting for me and a
06:56bunch of fruits that are always on display at my house.
06:59And by the way, if you're traveling to France, you should absolutely make sure you check the restaurant's opening hours
07:04before you go anywhere.
07:06Because a lot of restaurants will be closed outside of the main French eating hours.
07:10And for that, you're gonna need to have data on your phone.
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08:13All right, so now let's talk about food education.
08:16That's such a big thing in French culture.
08:19It's a very important part of a kid's upbringing.
08:21And from a very young age, your parents have you try a bunch of different foods to educate you, and
08:27have you try different things.
08:29So when I was a kid, my first house was just next to a Rucamadour cheese farm, so this very
08:35soft, delicious goat cheese.
08:37I was maybe two years old, I don't remember, obviously I was tiny, but apparently I was obsessed with this
08:43cheese.
08:43So kids eat the same things as adults, very, very quickly.
08:47When I was a kid, I obviously liked kid stuff, like fries or McDonald's, but I would be offended if
08:54I was at a meal, and there were adults around me,
08:56and I had a specific kid meal, like with like, I don't know, like pasta shells, or like something that
09:01the adults were not eating.
09:02I wanted to eat the adult meal.
09:04And I feel that's a pretty shared feeling among kids and adults, that you just make the same thing for
09:10the whole table,
09:11and people, you know, like, they can take more or less of the food, and you just make something that
09:15fits everyone.
09:16Also in France, kids are also taught table manners, which are very important.
09:21So being able to sit at a table for an hour, you know, it's a skill, especially when you're a
09:26kid and you want to run around,
09:28eating in a way that's not dirty, so that you can go at restaurants.
09:31And this means that very quickly, you can be integrated in the structure that's very important of breakfast, lunch, and
09:37dinner,
09:38eating the same thing with everyone.
09:40Also from a very young age, kids are taught basic cooking skills, like, I don't know, making a salad, making
09:45pasta, that type of stuff.
09:47As you can see, again, it feeds into the other points, so we are all trained to like that type
09:53of homemade food shared with other people.
09:55And here, we're getting a bit into the darker stuff, which is peer pressure.
10:00I feel it's a big part of why French people are so thin, because keeping the group atmosphere is super
10:07important.
10:08Like, if you're seen as being weird, you will not be invited again to dinner.
10:12Let me give you an example.
10:14I know a person, and here obviously I change details because I don't want them to be recognized, who has
10:19terrible table manners.
10:20Like, the few times I've eaten in front of them, it has made me nauseous, it was so bad.
10:25And here I now have been conditioned to feel that way, and feel that his manners are just not culturally
10:30appropriate because of my upbringing.
10:32But that's not the only thing where you can have a lot of peer pressure in France.
10:36Like, for example, substitutions are not always accepted, like, you know, asking for something without onions, for example.
10:43Overeating, it's not seen as good as well, and you could have a lot of peer pressure around that.
10:48And also, in the workplace, and I've been personally victimized, I'm joking, obviously.
10:54But if you don't eat with your colleagues, people will tell you off.
10:58Like, you have to share your meal with your colleagues.
11:00And the only time I had a job in France, like a corporate job in France, and I ate at
11:05my desk,
11:06people actually told me that I needed to eat with them.
11:10So that's what I did.
11:11So as you can see, those unspoken rules are quite tightly enforced, sometimes unconsciously.
11:17But the most harmful peer pressure I've felt in France is that it is okay in France to tell people
11:25if they've gained weight.
11:27In the US, where my boyfriend Bobby is from, and where I've worked as well,
11:31it is not okay to tell people things about their bodies.
11:34Like, you cannot go to someone and be, oh, you've put on a few pounds.
11:37People will not want to talk to you after that, and they will feel it's very inappropriate.
11:41Well, in France, you can actually do that, and a lot of people will do it.
11:45I personally hate it.
11:46I don't want to know.
11:48I don't want people to tell me bad things about myself, but people will do it.
11:52And people will comment on your body, and it does make you feel bad.
11:56Like, for example, I remember summer, where I gained a few pounds when I was in my early 20s,
12:01and everyone wanted to tell me, and this didn't make me feel good.
12:05Like, even if you decide to not care, it kind of makes you watch a bit more what you eat,
12:11or just not feel the best about yourself and your body.
12:14Obviously, I'm not a Frenchman, so I do not know for guys,
12:18but as a Frenchwoman, I do feel there's a lot of pressure to be skinny.
12:22One thing I do like about France, because not everything is so dark,
12:27is that there's less of a focus on extreme dieting than in other countries.
12:32There's more an idea of staying balanced,
12:34and obviously that's a more healthy approach to eating in general.
12:38So when I was living in New York, I was so excited at first,
12:43because there were so many products, like, you know, like sugar-free muffins,
12:47healthy ice cream, all of this stuff, so of course I ate them all.
12:52It was like, this is amazing, like, I'm gonna eat unlimited ice cream,
12:56and then obviously I discovered that it is a trap.
12:59It just gets you used to making those treats a part of your everyday life,
13:03and I quickly got fed up of them,
13:06because for me, these products, they're seen as a treat,
13:10and the diet version is actually not as satisfying as the real version.
13:14Like, for example, let's take a cake.
13:16France is known for cakes.
13:18Cakes are great in France.
13:19They're very sweet.
13:20They're very fatty.
13:21You only eat them for special events,
13:23like a Sunday lunch, or a birthday, or a special celebration.
13:27You don't eat them every single day.
13:29I feel, and I think a lot of people feel this way too in France,
13:32that having the real deal from time to time
13:35is actually more special than having, you know,
13:38the lesser version every single day.
13:40And I feel having this idea of, like, special meals that you're really gonna enjoy
13:44is super important.
13:46Like, for example, with my extended family,
13:48when we meet for meals, like, we have so many courses,
13:51like, we eat from 12 to 6 p.m.
13:54So we're eating and talking for 6 hours.
13:56And obviously that's a special meal.
13:58We don't want that to happen every single day.
14:01If that was my everyday life, I would get fed up.
14:04Those meals, and also the ones that you see on my videos,
14:07I consider them special meals, it's not something I do every single day.
14:11Otherwise I would feel super unbalanced and really unhappy.
14:15And I do enjoy that the French culture focuses on that,
14:18instead of labelling certain foods as bad.
14:21Because no food is morally good or bad, it's just food.
14:24It's just a piece of cake.
14:26It's not gonna kill anyone.
14:28And I don't think people should be beating themselves up
14:31if they eat specific types of food.
14:33Food is really made to be enjoyed.
14:34And I do feel that as a whole,
14:37and obviously that's a big generalization
14:39because France is not a uniform country,
14:42France does that pretty well.
14:44And if you want to see what a special meal is for me,
14:46you should watch one of those videos next.
14:48I'll see you there.
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