(Cross-posted at my blog.)
I picked up the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano at the library last week. I had heard so much about this book, I thought I probably knew most of the ideas it contained. I was partly right: French women eat more slowly, savoring every bite; they walk more often; they balance out their indulgences with the next couple of day’s eating in mind; they eat smaller portions of many things instead of large portions of a couple of things.
What I hadn’t already heard from the book but which struck me for various reasons was the overall philosophy of life and finding joy in the little things. According to the author, French women don’t control portion size just for the purpose of staying slim. They do so because when you take appropriate (real) pleasure in a small bit of fine chocolate, for example, you don’t want more. To eat to excess is to ruin the true experience of eating with pleasure. I imagine anyone can think of times when they have eaten too much of a good thing (Thanksgiving perhaps?) and made themselves miserable.
Another interesting thing I found in the book was how the French think of exercise. To work out for the sake of working out is rarely done. For example, in walking for exercise, it is not exercise that is on the mind so much as going out to for a stroll. When you are “working out” you focus on raising your heartrate, breaking a sweat, and/or getting done so you can get home to watch that tv show you love. It is something that many of us dread and avoid as much as possible. To take a stroll is to take pleasure in the scenery or people around you as you walk, smelling the smells, exploring new areas, breathing fresh air. It is something to look forward to. That one is burning calories through exercise is somewhat incidental. It also helps that the French don’t watch much television and don’t have the channels and programs to choose from that we are “blessed” with here in America.
For the French, meals are an important ritual. Care is taken with presentation both at home and in restaurants. Atmosphere is a focus; mindfulness is key. To eat in front of the television or while reading? Non! Each sense is employed to the act of eating, so less goes farther towards satiating the hunger, all of which is not physical. If on Thursday you are already thinking about what you will be preparing for Saturday’s breakfast (and beginning to prepare it if necessary), and you are looking forward to it, are not you less likely to gobble it down on your way out the door, barely tasting it? I know in my own experience that when I take care in planning a menu for guests and give my best to preparing even simple fare, part of me is already satisfied in those preparations and I am content with much less. The same is also true when preparing food for Nick. It is not the same experience for me when I open a bag of ready-made salad as it is when I tear, chop, and slice the food myself.
Another concept that is of interest to me is quality over quantity. As in, better to have one very nice tomato than a pound of tasteless tomatoes. Or one divine square of dark chocolate than a whole bar of (nasty) Hershey’s. This is so contrary to how I often think, especially when it comes to restaurants. Take my recent dinner out at the Chinese buffet. Some part of me wanted to eat as much as I could to make it worth the money. And how often do we base an opinion on how good a restaurant is by how much food they give us? Am I as happy with a small dish of great pasta as I am with a bowl overflowing with mediocre pasta? Often, not. It is contrary to my frugal get-the-most-for-my-money philosophy, but applying some part of this thinking to my food intake and preparations could be powerful. (Or even to the clothes closet. Am I really getting the most for my money if I buy three so-so jackets versus one well-made, timeless one?)
And finally, there is the question of what are we saving “steps” and taking shortcuts for? Are we running the dryer instead of hanging the clothes on the line to save energy and time for something truly worthwhile or so we can have more time to sit on our bums at the computer? Are we outsourcing our ironing so we can have more time to garden, or to sit in front of the tele? There is a cost to be paid for avoiding moving our bodies as much as we can. We are fat, unhealthy, stressed out people. Is it really worth it? Something for me to think about. (I don’t pay someone else to iron, btw. Not on your life.)
Some of the mindless things that so many of us avoid, things like kneading our own bread or scrubbing the floor by hand, offer an opportunity to not only move our bodies but to think our thoughts. How many stresses can be worked out, how many conversations with God can be had in those daily chores and acts of living? We seem to avoid the natural physical work of living only to then to have to carve out time for “working out”, which is mostly artificial. We have a vacuum cleaner on each floor of the house so as to avoid going up and down the stairs, then we join a gym and pay money to use a stairmaster. We drive to our friend’s house that is two miles away or take the elevator up to the fourth floor in the office building but then get on a treadmill to work out. It really is silly, it seems to me.
So, those are the thoughts I have had while and since reading French Women Don’t Get Fat. If you’ve read it, I would love to hear yours.
Actually, I put my clothes in the dryer because if I had to rely on the weather to make them dry here, they would NEVER get dry!
Seriously, I love all those points. And my husband and I are trying to encorporate more of them into our daily lives. But it is hard when we live in a culture that is so opposite! That’s why we need friends who want to walk in this way with us. And you guys are part of our support system to do just that.
I wholeheartedly agree with the one small bit of exquisite chocolate over a huge bar of bad chocolate. It’s really true! Now, if I could encorporate that thinking into more areas of my life… one step at a time.
Comment by Anita — October 17, 2006 @ 10:06 pm
I had a friend who was trying to lose weight. She went to France on vacation to visit her husband’s family. She said she totally expected to gain weight while she was gone because the food was sooooo good and they ate all day long. What she found though was that she actually lost ten pounds in the time she was there (which if I recall was about 2 weeks).
I agree that our lifestyles need to change overall. Now, in no way do I desire to do everything manually lol. Changes need to be made though. Recently I’ve been trying to go for quality over quantity and it does turn a piece of fruit into a delicacy! Eventually I’d hope to have a yard again and I’d like to have a garden…not sure when that will be.
When I wore a pedometer every day I would find excuses to walk - maybe I need to get another one (got in the pool with it on by accident and ruined it). You know, we decided one day to walk to the park instead of drive to it (hubby’s idea). It ended up being about twice as far as we thought it was and we were exhausted by the time we got there lol - we should do that more often though….but go prepared next time….like with water!
Comment by Blair — October 18, 2006 @ 10:13 am
Speaking of fruit, Blair. Something else the author said (I think, either her or someone else I read) was that Americans don’t eat as much fruit, in her opinion, because they have a heightened sense of sweet. Cakes, juices, donuts, etc. raise the bar on sweetness. If we were less white-sugar dependent, a poached pear or a fresh peach would be like heaven to us. Even our chocolate is overly sweet.
I also read somewhere (maybe Lanie’s Letters for those who know about her) that she did her “workout” by manual cleaning and racing herself. So, like she would scrub the kitchen floor by hand with some jazzy music on and see how fast she could go. By the time she was done, she was sweaty and breathing hard, her floor was super-clean, and she could get on with her day. Free workout =) Interesting, n’est pas?
Comment by lady laura — October 18, 2006 @ 10:29 am
Now see… I had no idea apples could taste so great until I started this. I look forward to my daily apple - and even a granny smith tastes sweet now.
And for my chocolate treat - before I found my Tiger bars on the other side of town I bought a bag of Dove dark chocolate squares… WAY TOO SWEET. I ate one and was like “Blurgh!”. So I hunted down my Tiger!!
And I get to have some today. Cue happy dance!
Comment by blestwithsons — October 18, 2006 @ 11:50 am
Ahhhh see, yet another benefit to the old “clean something, you’ll feel better. Told ya.
Comment by Blest's Mom — October 18, 2006 @ 12:23 pm
Oh I can totally see that Laura with the sugar and such! As for manual labor, I could do more for sure.
Oh hello Blest’s mom
“clean something, you’ll feel better”, does this work on kids? tee hee.
Comment by Blair — October 18, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
Yes Blair, it makes the kids feel better ……..and burns mucho calories especially if you have to run them down to get them in the tub. Like your writing.
Comment by Blest's Mom — October 18, 2006 @ 6:17 pm
I often wish that I lived in a city like Paris or London where I wouldn’t have to get into my car except to leave the city. I’d so much rather walk to the subway and go shopping that way. But… I live in Suburban America. I guess the least I can do is park way out at the end of the parking lot. Still wish I could get rid of that car somehow. Sigh.
Comment by Anita — October 19, 2006 @ 5:46 am