Dînez avec nous: The French Diet Plan

Image from Scottsdale College

I hate the word diet. I'm still cringing from just using it in the title--but it was the only way to get your attention.

Do me a favor. Close your eyes and muse on this for the next thirty seconds:

Sticky Merlot jam hidden in the center of warm flaky croissants just freshly baked with golden knobs of butter.
Crispy baguettes smeared with pungent Camembert cheese.
A fancy slice of Opéra, an exquisite almond spongecake soaked in coffee syrup, layered in between aerated masses of butter cream frosting, and a thick coating of dark chocolate ganache glued on the surface. It's comparable to satin.

You think you could eat these things and keep healthy?
Of course you can. The French do it all the time. There's a term, "French Paradox", that was created back in 1987 by a French scientist Dr. Serge Renaud, who discovered that the French had the lowest cases of heart disease and still ate a diet high in saturated fat.

Before I go on, let's agree on something here. There is more than enough information in the world that tells you what you should or shouldn't eat to lose weight. But, you and I know that not all advice is not good. In fact, anyone can call their self a nutritionist but it doesn't mean that they have a college degree in human nutrition.

You don't need another best selling diet book that gives you a list of "secrets", which claims to be a magic bullet solution to all of your weight loss miseries. You don't need to hear about the latest craze about a new diet pill that sheds 10 pounds off of you in one week and also claims to be safe.

You need the truth. What are you really suppose to eat? Which foods do the best job in nourishing YOU? Once you have figured this out--you shouldn't need to depend on a diet book, a plastic container full of pills, or even flavorless food your canine wouldn't go near to lose weight.

With that said, you can always look to healthy people and learn from them. Be a sponge and always be the student that learns. With food, and everything else in life.

So check this out. I mentioned that the French have one of the lowest cases in heart disease yet also the highest intake in saturated fat.

17% of people in France are obese, and 34% American people are obese.

What can we learn from the French?
Here are three simple truths to a French person's diet:

1.) Eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
44% of the French do this. Only 24% of American do this.

Why do this?

Fruits and vegetables are packed with fiber that sweeps the debris from your colon, vitamins and minerals your organs, tissues, and blood need to thrive, but the best part about fruits and vegetables is that they keep you full a hell of a lot longer.

2.) Have less than 1 sweetened beverage per day.
70% of the French do this. Only 37% of American do this.

Eat too much sugar than your body can digest then some will be stored in your muscles for later use, but if you've gone overboard, then it will be stored as fat.

For those of you that cut out sugary drinks, you've probably noticed the rapid loss in your belly fat. This type of fat burns faster (maybe the last 5 or 10 pounds are difficult) but it also builds just as quick.

3.) Walk 30 minutes per day.
65% of the French do this 7 days a week. Only 50% of American do this 5 days of the week.

Walking is the easiest exercise to do. If it's difficult to commit to a half hour everyday then start walking while you talk on your cell phone, park further away than you normally would at work, or break it up into three 10 minute sessions a day. Do what you have to do to make it happen.

Have belief. Believe in yourself, and I know you will be right where you want to be.

Priyanka

Source:

Lynda, Powell, Kazlauskaite Rasa, Sima Carolyn, and Appelhans Bradley. "Lifestyle in France and the United States: An American Perspective." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 110.6 (2010): 845-47.