The Skinny on "la vie francaise"

By Carly Hoilman
     Hello again, dear readers!  To begin, just a little update for the Healthy Dose community on what I've been up to this summer: as many of you are aware, I spent just under two weeks in France, visiting my wonderful exchange family in Bordeaux and Paris.
     Needless to say, the trip was fantastic, and I returned with a renewed love for the French language.  Furthermore, I gained something else from this recent excursion that was just as important for me, and, perhaps, more important for my readers--a new outlook on healthy living, exercise, and food.
     What could have caused such an earth-shattering revelation, you might ask?  Let's just start by saying that, while in France, I indulged in cheese, bread, wine (the legal drinking age is 18 there, mind you), and chocolate, and returned from my petit voyage three pounds lighter.  Intrigued yet?
     Mireille Guiliano has a book out called French Women Don't Get Fat, which, if you couldn't guess from the title, outlines this simplistic and not-so-mysterious "French way".  Although this concept did not become apparent to me until after I returned from Paris and read Guiiliano's book, I found it to be the most precise description of French wellness ideals--which I had already, unknowingly, benefitted from.

Mireille Guiliano's French Women Don't Get Fat

     The gist of this French way is to incorporate exercise and healthy habits into one's daily routine while sacrificing the least pleasure possible.  For example, during the five days I spent in Paris, we walked just about everywhere.  I was able to cover all of the spots I wanted to visit, and Paris's lovely architecture and scenery hardly made walking a chore.
     Besides the concept of "moving like a French woman," as Guiliano calls it, the ritual of mealtime is just as essential.  In France, there are three meals a day--two of which (lunch and dinner) consist of three to five courses.  The key is portion size: eating small amounts, one-at-a-time.  You will never see a full plate at a French dinner table.  Instead, each course is enjoyed separately and slowly, between plenty of good conversation.
     Another thing that the French people do that many Americans have strayed away from for convenience's sake, etc., is the act of buying food in-season.  It is far more common for a family to have its own fruit and vegetable garden, but for those who don't there's the local food market that sells everything from local produce, to flowers, to fish.  Although your town might not have its own farmer's market, I encourage you to seek out local produce for a few reasons: it's fresh, you know where it's coming from, and, if you know where to look, it can be significantly cheaper than supermarket products.
     As some of you may know, I recently began school in Manhattan, and I've found it embarrassingly easy to practice my French rituals here--walking as much as possible (a.k.a. getting lost), hiking up and down subway stairs, buying fresh and local (and cheap!) produce in Union Square on market days, and EATING CHOCOLATE --because why deny myself one of life's delicious pleasures?  The problem we tend to have as Americans, according to Guiliano, is that we often associate "health" and "wellness" with "discipline" and "deprivation". Au contraire!
     I challenge my readers to check out this book and see just how easy healthy living can be --no matter where you live!

Paris, 2012