>Home>Anti-Aging Nutrition>Diet>Eating French

French Dietary Habits

Savor Your Food and Save Calories

Recently Marie Claire magazine began a series of articles on a diet they call the "Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Diet" or simply "eating French".

Doesn’t that sound scrumptious?

After noting that one out of three Americans are obese while only one out of ten French women are, the editors devised a simple experiment. They challenged two women – one living in France and the other in the U.S. – to exchange diets for two weeks.

Would you believe? – the U.S. woman eating French lost four pounds while the French woman eating “frozen diet dinners, baked potato chips, SnackWell's cookies and other low-fat, ‘lite,’ reduced-carb and sugar-free foodlike products” gained five!

A large part of eating French centers on savoring food. Eat slowly. Don’t use your fork like a shovel; put it down frequently between bites while you savor.

Cut your food into small pieces. Give your taste buds the opportunity to appreciate each bite and your stomach time to register when it is full.

It takes twenty minutes for the last bite of food you should eat to get to your stomach and send the “I’m full” signal to your brain.

Don’t multi-task. Keep the focus on your food.

Mother may have said, “Don’t play with your food”, but on that she was wrong.

Ed Dunkelblau, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning, in Illinois, says “when we play we focus more on what we are doing”.

This pushes worries aside and helps us avoid mindless (uncontrolled) eating.

Make your meal as enjoyable as you can. Take time to enjoy it and you’ll feel much more satisfied.

Another key to eating French is portion control.

So calories still count! Sorry.

Marie Claire points out that typical U.S. portion sizes far outweigh the French.

For example, a French croissant weighs one ounce, while the U.S. version weighs twice that.

A ham and cheese deli sandwich in France weighs 5 ounces. The U.S. one weighs in at a whopping 20 ounces!

Consider that when you are slowly eating flavorful fresh food, a smaller amount can be very satisfying.

When you have a craving for a certain food, instead of grabbing a low calorie substitute that doesn’t alleviate the craving, have a small amount of what you crave and enjoy it.

Finally, when eating French, you are limited to three meals a day. No snacks!

This allows you to anticipate each meal and savor it in advance.

Your appetite and taste buds will be better prepared to appreciate each meal. The time not spent snacking can be put to sitting longer at the table and enjoying the dining experience.

Go Shopping Right Now!

Click on any of these links to find and order some of these French delights right now. Bon Appetit!

Try Dan's Chocolates for hand-made gourmet truffles featuring fresh cream, fruits, and nuts for the most discerning chocolate connoisseur. Each petite truffle has a thin, delicate shell surrounding an interior of creamy chocolate or ganache.

If you’d like live lobster and other gourmet foods, Click Here To Save Up To 15% With Lobster Gram Web-Only Specials!

For fresh and smoked salmon from the Pacific Northwest, visit SeaBear.

Late Breaking News

Researchers now say that coffee contains some of the most powerful antioxidants available.

Remember – everything in moderation.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.

 

| Top | Diet | Antiaging Nutrtion | Home |