The French drink wine, eat pastries and foot-long baguettes and do little exercise. So why do they stay slim while the rest of us put on weight? Dietician Susie Burrell offers her explanation of the "French paradox".
"After much observation I have come to a few of my own conclusions about French eating habits," Burrell says, "which may partly explain why they live much longer without heart disease than many of us — even though they smoke like chimneys and drink like fish."
How the French eat
- French people are never seen eating while they are doing something else. They sit at the table at meal times and eat proper meals.
- French people are never seen clutching a plastic coffee cup as if their life depends on it throughout the morning — it is a short black or nothing.
- French people cook with unprocessed, fresh food, which they buy fresh on most days of the week.
- French people eat the crust of the bread, not the soft middle.
- French people eat a lot of fish.
- French people do not talk a whole lot about diets or exercise.
- French people eat their main meal during the day.
- French people regularly include a plain salad with their meal.
- French people eat reasonable plain food — not often mixing with Indian, Asian and Italian cuisines.
- French people eat good food that they enjoy, when they want to and do not waste any time or energy thinking about what they should not be eating, which is perhaps why they do not overeat.
Susie Burrell is one of Australia's leading dieticians. Her unique training in both nutritional science and psychology help thousands of adults, children and athletes reach their health and nutrition goals without diets or deprivation.
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