We went to Paris at the weekend to watch Chris Froome take the Yellow Jersey in Le Tour de France.
A couple of planning mix ups meant that we
didn't actually see that happen as we had to leave Paris before the mens race started :)
We got to see the women's race and had an amazing weekend, so it really wasn't a problem.
One thing I did notice though was the lack of properly obese people. There were plenty of 'normal' people with a few extra pounds around their waists but not many that would class as severely obese.
We discussed possible reasons why as we wondered around.
It's a Capital city, life is rushed, people are always on the go - so is London yet there is a much higher proportion of severely obese there.
The metro mainly has stairs rather than elevators so people are getting more activity by proxy - it's a possibility but a few steps here and there really don't make that much difference.
Compared to London there were hardly any chain fast food stores - there are lots of boulangeries,
cafes and even kebab shops but not that many places like McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks etc.
Those are all probably contributing factors but the main thing and the concept of the
French Paradox agrees with me is that they eat FOOD.
If you get a burger in a cafe, like the one pictured below, the waiter will ask you how you want it cooked. For a burger to be cooked anyway other than well done, the meat has to be really good quality as in a piece
of steak put through the mincer.
They don't eat crap bread with 40 ingredients in. French bread goes off by the afternoon if you buy it in the morning.
The portion sizes are normal, the focus is on quality not quantity.
They basically ENJOY food. They focus on the meal and the experience of the meal.
They have awesome desserts, just don't eat them at every meal or have massive portions.
Again it's the quality that is important.
We're not surprised, this is something we've been advocating for years now. It's ok to have a treat if you mainly eat good quality nutritious foods.
Give it a go.
Darren 'Doesn't need ketchup with every meal, although every waiter brought us some because we're English' Checkley
