can anyone tell me...

[pipee_pl]

why the french are so damn skinny when all they seem to eat is bread and wine???
i was in france this past week end, it is impossible to stay on atkins, the entire country is not low carb friendly, but i really got me thinking. why are french people so thin and healthy looking when it seems that the eat and extremely high carb diet.
any insight????

[bilowi]

Funny, we just had this discussion in my office the other day.
What about all the cheese and foie gras??? (Not sure if I spelled that right). I'm sure cheese and foie gras alone do not make a vacation in France.
Don't the French eat much smaller portions and buy their food fresh almost every day? Oh, and they walk a lot too don't they? I guess it depends on where in France you are too.

[cleochatra]

All I can figure is that they must have the total kick-butt metabolism, coupled with small apetites.

[jcapulet]

Originally Posted by pipee_pl

why the french are so damn skinny when all they seem to eat is bread and wine???
i was in france this past week end, it is impossible to stay on atkins, the entire country is not low carb friendly, but i really got me thinking. why are french people so thin and healthy looking when it seems that the eat and extremely high carb diet.
any insight????

I have some insights from the South Beach diet. Red wine slows digestion, as does fat. This includes dipping breads in olive oil, etc. Slowed digestion means carbs enter the bloodstream slower, leading to less insulin production and reduced appetite.s Anyway, that's what I understand from it. Not that all French people do the South Beach diet, but those are some insights from what I read about wine and fats.

[ttdriver]

I'm guessing they eat smaller portions .. unlike America where portions are "supersized"..........

Betty

[Miss Phode]

I guess it's the same reason that New Yorker's living in the city are also thin. They walk everywhere. When I was in NYC, the only fat people seemed to be tourists.

[G-Mom]

Exercise is key. Another situation where the folks are for the most part thin, but eat a high carb, high fat diet, are the Amish people. In order to thrive, they have to put in hours and hours of physical labor everyday, but they eat very rich, old-fashioned diets.

[2big4mysize]

actually the French as skinny is a myth! They just has a news report about this and 46$ of the french population is overweight. we only see the skinny french modles and the movie omage of the skinny french folk.

[G-Mom]

2big, if I could just edit your posts, the evil little perfectionist in me would be so happy.

[sadie147]

I also believe that they view food differently than we do, which i think is the premise for the book French Women don't get fat