Best Of 2016: 8 Reasons The French Are Slim – And How To Adopt Their Strategies
This healthy eating tip is courtesy of Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging: Your Online Guide to the Anti-Inflammatory Diet. Start your free trial today!
For years, scientists on both sides of the Atlantic have been trying to unravel the “French Paradox” – the finding that despite a high-fat diet, the French appear to have a lower rate of heart attacks (as well as a lower rate of obesity) than other Western countries, particularly the United States. One major reason: nutrition researchers now feel that sugar, flour and oxidized vegetable oil (such as soybean oil used in processed foods and for deep-frying), and not the natural saturated fats such as butter that the French enjoy, are the major drivers of obesity and heart disease in the U.S.
There may also be other reasons for this paradox. These eight tactics are the norm in the typical French diet – consider changing your approach toward eating by adopting these strategies and see if it makes a difference in your life:
- Eat smaller portions over a longer period of time when eating.
- Avoid snacking, and eat only at mealtimes.
- Eat a wide variety of food.
- Don’t skip meals.
- Enjoy your food and focus on dishes made from fresh, locally grown, quality ingredients.
- Stick to your internal cues. When you no longer feel hungry, stop eating.
- Eat less sugar. The French eat less than half as much added sugar as do Americans.
- Eat meals with family and friends so that eating becomes a pleasurable and often time-consuming experience as opposed to something to “fit into” a schedule or feel guilty about.
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