{"id":142,"date":"2013-05-12T15:58:21","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T15:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/wordpress\/?p=142"},"modified":"2013-05-12T15:58:21","modified_gmt":"2013-05-12T15:58:21","slug":"frenchwomen-dont-talk-about-diets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Frenchwomen don’t talk about diets"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most exasperating – and admirable – things I have discovered about Frenchwomen is that they are slim – and don’t talk about diets. \u00a0Yes, if you asked me to list a few of the things I appreciate about Frenchwomen, way up at the top I’d put “They don’t stand around helping themselves to foie gras or petits fours<\/em> while saying, “Oh, this is ruining my diet.”<\/p>\n

I kid you not – in the forty years I’ve lived in France I’ve never heard such a thing. \u00a0So what does that mean? \u00a0To me, it’s very French. It means “I’m living the moment, so why spoil the pleasure I’m having now with a guilt trip?” \u00a0It means “This food is good” and “I’m not into denial (certainly not while I’m eating) and I know that I’m not going to indulge every day.”<\/p>\n

And they won’t. \u00a0 \u00a0You can be 100 percent sure that the day after the foie gras or petits fours<\/em> those lithe ladies will be sipping bouillon, but they would never say that. \u00a0Now, take a closer look. \u00a0Even while treating herself, the Frenchwoman may not eat all that much of the foie gras, but she’ll have a nice taste, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n

Writes Mireille Guiliano in her bestselling book\u00a0French Women Don’t Get Fat : <\/em>“Frenchwomen simply do not suffer the terror of kilos that afflicts so many of their sisters in other developed countries. \u00a0All the chatter about diets I hear at cocktail parties in America would make any Frenchwoman cringe.” \u00a0So what do Frenchwomen talk about while gathered round a tantalizing buffet? \u00a0She replies: \u00a0“..what we enjoy: feelings, family, hobbies, philosophy, politics, culture, and yes, food, especially food (but never diets).”<\/p>\n

This may sound too good to be true (maybe she’s making it up?) but I can assure you, dear reader, that it’s true and that it starts young. \u00a0Today I was talking to my 3-year-old French granddaughter on the phone. \u00a0She recounted in detail her “go\u00fbter” which is a scheduled afternoon snack all French children have. \u00a0She was thrilled to tell me she was eating chocolate but, she qualified, pas beaucoup<\/em>. \u00a0Why? I asked. \u00a0Solemnly she informed me that it wouldn’t be good to eat too much<\/em> of the chocolate. \u00a0OK, she’s only 3 but she’s already got the concept of les petits plaisirs <\/em>that Frenchwomen (and men) carry with them throughout their lives. \u00a0Moderation!<\/p>\n

Attention!<\/em> \u00a0The fact that Frenchwomen don’t talk about diets doesn’t mean they don’t go on diets. \u00a0Don’t think that because they enjoy themselves at a dinner party or cocktail party sans<\/em> guilt, they’ve dropped the ball. \u00a0They watch their weight like a mother watches her child on the playground-constantly. If they see they’ve gained a few grams or a pound or two, they do whatever they need to get it off-vite<\/em>. But they keep all that to themselves so as not to spoil their or anyone else’s pleasure at a party or any occasion where there’s good food and drink. So refreshing – so adult!<\/p>\n

That’s what I love so much about France, the French, and Frenchwomen. They put food in its proper place: one joy among many others. \u00a0On this score as on many others, vive la joie de vivre<\/em>.<\/p>\n

***This article is adapted and excerpted from “Having It All: The Pleasure of Being a Frenchwoman” in my latest book,\u00a0Joie de Vivre: Secrets of Wining, Dining, and Romancing Like the French<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most exasperating – and admirable – things I have discovered about Frenchwomen is that they are slim – and don’t talk about diets. \u00a0Yes, if you asked me to list a few of the things I appreciate about Frenchwomen, way up at the top I’d put “They don’t stand around helping themselves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":783,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/783"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harrietweltyrochefort.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}