What do real French women eat? 7 French women shared their menu for the day

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What do real French women eat? 7 French women shared their menu for the day

Looking around in a crowd in France - be it Paris or a small town - you are unlikely to see seriously obese women, even the average overweight people here are few. And you also don't see many people, both men and women, with the bulging muscles of a disciplined athlete, even just chiseled bodies.

Why? Because in France, moderation and pleasure are lifelong mantras, this is how they are raised, this is how they stay healthy and this is how they live in general.

Refusal of food and some of its types, a negative attitude towards food, consumption of factory-made food - all this is not the norm.

Most French women don't go to the gym to get a toned figure. They go there because they know how useful it is. They find a physical activity they can enjoy and know they'll feel great afterwards (and look better in skinny jeans).

But ask any ordinary French woman: how often does she go to exercise? Maximum 1-2 times a week. And very rarely in the morning before work, since most fitness centers in France are open from 9 am. So forget about training 5 days a week at 5 am.

Does training 1-2 times a week seem to be not enough? But French women are constantly moving, spending hours walking and climbing stairs. And this is every day!

A family walk on a weekend afternoon is a common occurrence, but they don't even consider it "exercise." It is also normal for them to walk their children to kindergarten/school and take them home, go shopping and then climb up to the 7th floor with heavy bags in their hands.

So, despite visiting the fitness center or playing tennis a couple of times a week, French women are constantly moving. And if you're lucky enough to live somewhere in the French Alps, fitness is second nature: hiking, biking, water sports, skiing and more are an integral part of any weekend getaway.

As with their active lifestyle and fitness, French women practice moderation in their eating too. No type of food is avoided (including fatty dairy products, alcohol, sweets and all types of bread); however, being careful in the quantity and frequency of such treats is how they manage to balance moderation, pleasure and health.

During lunch, a French woman may refuse bread, but on the weekend she will never miss a glass of champagne and lemon tart.

There are no deprivations or absolute rules in the life of a French woman. It's all about wise choices, quantities and opportunities, and eating right most of the time. French-style eating is very easy to maintain for a long time, or even a lifetime, because you can eat a little bit of everything, although the main emphasis is on healthy, natural food.

We can talk for a very long time about how French women stay slim. But nothing will give a clearer picture than a visual menu of real French women. Rebekah Plantier, a famous author living in France, asked her French friends to photograph everything they eat in a day to show their diet clearly.

There are no fancy or unusual ingredients here, just everything the average French woman eats in a typical day. Rebekah asked them to take pictures of everything, including drinks, snacks and dessert.

Instead of photos of French food, each of Plantier's friends summarized the nutrition and health recommendations that they themselves apply in everyday life. This will make it easier for us to understand their food choices, as well as their lifestyle and cultural undertones.

The French also included types of physical activity during the week and ways to recover from “overeating” on special occasions: on vacation, on weekends and holidays.

Katya's Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

Homemade buckwheat pancakes with almond butter, raisins and a cup of organic vegetable juice.

Dinner

Fish cooked with tomatoes, onions, ginger and pepper, basmati rice, fruit salad.

Snack at 5 p.m.

Apple, herbal tea.

Dinner at 20 o'clock

Homemade vegetable soup (carrots, potatoes, leeks, zucchini) and salad of endive, half an avocado, olives, pumpkin and flaxseeds.

Katya's advice on health, beauty and slimness

1. If she wants dessert after dinner, she eats a few pieces of dark chocolate (80%).

2. She doesn’t eat cheese every day; she usually chooses goat cheese.

3. Katie usually drinks up to 1.5 liters of herbal teas and water per day.

4. For fitness, she does Pilates once a week and at least two workouts on the weekends: hiking, biking, skiing, etc., depending on the season.

5. On weekdays she often eats in restaurants, so when preparing food at home, she uses as many vegetables as possible.

Menu for 2 weeks

The diet is based on frequent consumption of meat. It is prepared without salt. For most, this is unbearable, so nutritionists recommend flavoring food (even salads) with light sauces. They are prepared without salt, sugar and large amounts of butter. More details below.

Days 1 and 8

Breakfast : a cup of unsweetened black coffee.

Lunch : medium sized tomato + lettuce + 2 boiled eggs.

Dinner : a slice of boiled dietary meat (say, a quarter of a chicken breast, cooked without skin) + leaf salad.

Days 2 and 9

Z : a cup of black coffee + dietary grain bread.

A : a slice of boiled or steamed meat (say, veal, but not fatty).

U : low-fat boiled sausage (or diet ham) + lettuce.

Days 3 and 10

Z : coffee + bread.

A : stewed carrots (cook it with a spoon of vegetable oil) + 1 medium tomato + 1 citrus (medium orange or tangerine).

U : the same as last day (salad, ham), but this time with the addition of 2 boiled eggs.

Days 4 and 11

Z : coffee + bread (or diet cracker).

A : fresh carrot salad + slice of hard cheese + 1 boiled egg.

U : a glass of kefir + fruit salad.

Days 5 and 12

Z : grated carrots, seasoned with lemon juice (or a sauce based on it).

A : fresh tomato + steamed or boiled dietary fish.

U : boiled meat (to prevent this product from becoming boring, it makes sense to cook the rabbit on the fifth day).

Days 6 and 13

Z : glass of “empty” black coffee.

A : lettuce + chicken breast, cooked in water or a steamer (but it’s better not to buy other parts of the chicken, say, thighs - they are too fatty, even if cooked without skin).

U : boiled meat (this time cook turkey - also brisket).

Days 7 and 14

Z : tea without sugar.

A : a piece of boiled meat + fresh fruit dessert.

U : a piece of low-fat boiled sausage or ham.

What to prepare sauces for meat, fish, salads from

You shouldn’t buy sauces - industrial recipes contain a lot of sugar, salt and fat, so such a sauce is more likely to ruin your diet than brighten it up.

Suitable ingredients for “weight loss” sauces are: mustard, lemon juice, vinegar (apple, wine, balsamic), herbs, garlic, olive oil, low-fat sour cream or natural yogurt .

For meat and fish : unsweetened yogurt + garlic + fresh herbs (dill, parsley).

For salads : olive oil + 2-3 drops of balsamic + basil (fresh, or at least dried).

Dolphin Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

Mixed grain porridge with almond milk, almonds, walnuts, goji berries and fresh pear. Herb tea.

Dinner

Chicken with leeks, rice, cheese and bread.

Dinner

Pasta with green peas, onions and sweet peppers, beetroot and carrot salad with vinaigrette dressing.

Dolphin's advice on health, beauty and slimness

1. During the day, Dolphin drinks water and herbal teas.

2. On weekends he can drink up to 2 glasses of wine.

3. Avoids sugar and dairy products.

4. Eat plenty of lentils, chickpeas, quinoa and omega-3 foods.

5. If she drinks too much at parties, she drinks a lot of broth the whole next day.

6. During the week, she does Pilates and exercises to tone her legs and buttocks.

No snacking

The French woman listens to her hunger and will not let her stomach suffer without food. That is why she will most likely prefer a full meal at home, in a cafe or restaurant, to unhealthy and jerky snacks on the go. When meeting with friends, on the contrary, she would rather choose tea or a cup of espresso during a pleasant conversation, rather than overload her body with food if she is not hungry.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Vanina Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

Large bowl of fresh fruit, yogurt, tea.

Dinner

Salmon with red pepper, avocado and cucumber salad, cheese, 2 types of fruit.

Dinner

Sausage, green beans, potatoes, cheese, bread, fruit and applesauce.

Vanina's advice on health, beauty and slimness

1. Vanina tries to make herself a light dinner several times a week (less quantity, light composition and preparation) in order to balance out unhealthy or heavy meals in restaurants or at parties.

2. Her weekly activities include constant walking, Pilates, tap dancing and tennis. She ice skates every winter and plays golf several times a month.

Fully or partially limited products

A whole list of flour, sweet and high-calorie foods is prohibited, including:

• white wheat bread;
• all confectionery and sweets;
• products containing sucrose, fructose, lactose and other fast carbohydrates;
• sweet fruit drinks and juices;
• salt and various pickles;
• alcohol and various carbonated drinks, incl. carbonated mineral water.

Table of prohibited products

Catherine Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

A fairly typical French breakfast of brioche, honey, butter and coffee.

Dinner

Steak and green beans. Dessert: 1 spoon of chestnut cream with coffee.

Snack

Chocolate bun (brioche).

Dinner

This type of light dish is often served in France: some meat, capers, blue cheese, bread and fruit.

Katrin's advice on health, beauty and slimness

1. Eats until full, no more.

2. Never takes supplements (unless when visiting).

3. For dessert - either cheese or sweets, but never both.

4. Always includes carbohydrates in your meals.

5. Eats in moderation for breakfast, the main course for lunch, and light dinner.

6. Depending on the size and nutritional content of the lunch, you may skip the afternoon snack.

7. Every day: 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 glass of wine and bread.

8. Enjoy a croissant or chocolate bread on the weekends.

9. Always eat a lot of vegetables for lunch.

Motivation is in discomfort

In France it is simply inconvenient to have problems with excess weight. Seats in the Paris metro and elevators in buildings are noticeably narrow, most clothing stores only offer products for slim people, and French sizes are smaller than others. In addition, the French are straightforward and will not spare your feelings if you have noticeably gained weight.

In a country with such an attitude towards the figure, healthy products are also being promoted. For example, advertisements for fast food contain a warning that snacking between meals can lead to excess weight, or recommending exercise for at least half an hour a day. And the McDonald's France website readily reminds users to eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day.

Very tasty: what do famous athletes eat and why don’t they get fat?

Corinne's Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

Bread and butter and coffee.

Dinner

Salmon, salad, zucchini terrine (she makes it herself from zucchini, eggs, milk and spices) and fruit salad for dessert.

Dinner

Generous portion of risotto and vegetable soup.

Corinne's tips for health, beauty and slimness

1. No snacking between meals.

2. Exercise every day. The type of physical activity varies depending on how you feel.

3. A short nap during the day, if possible.

4. Regular body care.

5. Home-cooked meals for the whole family are key (Corinne is a fan of the Thermomix kitchen robot for simple, quick, healthy meals).

Completing the diet: returning to the “big food”, but so that the weight does not return

So, the body is accustomed to a protein-free, carbohydrate-free diet. And if on the very first day you celebrate your release with a cake (even a large sweet donut), the body will experience stress from the “off-scale” amount of sugar.

Therefore, in the first 2 weeks after finishing the diet, start your “freedom” with a hearty but healthy breakfast - oatmeal or buckwheat porridge, toast, kefir or yogurt. Still drink coffee and tea without sugar.

The lunch menu is still built around meat and vegetables. You can allow yourself boiled eggs (no more than 1 per day). Prepare the same products for dinner.

Allow yourself small snacks : a cup of sugar-free yogurt or a piece of hard cheese.

You should not change the correct water regime : the more clean, non-carbonated water you get into your body (even at the expense of tea and coffee), the better.

And lastly: once every 7 days you can arrange protein days for yourself (Pierre Dukan himself recommends them). That is, this means a complete return to the menu of any day of the French diet.

We remind you that the most proteins are found in:

• meat;
• fish;
• eggs;
• soybeans and other legumes;
• cottage cheese and hard cheese;
• buckwheat (but this grain is allowed only when leaving the diet - the French food system excludes breakfast cereals, as well as side dishes).

"Weekend" recipes

Chicken fillet in kefir

Lightly beat 100 g of chicken fillet (without skin), add salt, pepper and spices. But you can also use fresh herbs.

Dilute kefir with water (proportion one to one), pour over meat. Place in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.

Together with the kefir filling, place the fillet in a dry frying pan. Cook covered for 5 minutes on each side.

Beef with rice

Cut 150 g of meat into large cubes and lightly fry in a spoon of olive oil.

Pour boiling water, cover with a lid, simmer for half an hour over low heat.

Add washed rice (1/5 cup) here and continue to simmer until the cereal is ready.

Baked fish

According to this recipe, you can cook both dry fillets of sea fish, and river crucian carp or carp.

Season the prepared portion with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. You can use other spices (say, ground bay leaf, paprika, cardamom).

Bake in a sleeve or tightly wrapped in foil.

Sophie's Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

A campagne baguette (dark bread) with either jam or local honey, coffee, fruit (banana that day) and sometimes plain yoghurt.

Dinner

Chicken breast, rice, roasted vegetables and endive salad. Not pictured is the Greek yogurt for dessert.

Snack

Usually two fruits (that day it was a banana and an apple) or one fruit and a handful of nuts.

Dinner

A large bowl of vegetable soup, a piece of ham and bread.

Sophie's tips for health, beauty and slimness

1. A couple of glasses of wine only on the weekends.

2. Exercise daily - in any form. Sophie usually goes for a walk in the afternoon and plays tennis and swimming on the weekends.

3. Sweets or desserts a couple of times a week. She tries to do this less often.

4. Once a week, eat only vegetables in the form of salads and soups, giving the body a break from digesting meat, fish and eggs.

5. Favorite drink is water. On meat-fasting days, Sophie drinks up to three liters of water to help her body “cleanse” from the inside.

6. Every three months, Sophie goes for a massage/facial and takes a day off from her family (alone or with friends).

The secret diet of French women

I recently went on holiday to France. I adore this country not only for its stunning architecture and nature, but also for its incredibly delicious food. Apparently, the clairvoyant to whom I turned was not mistaken, and I really was a Frenchwoman in that life. And so it was always unclear to me: what is the secret of the French diet that French women have? What is this miracle diet? After all, there is more delicious food in France than anywhere else, but at the same time, French women manage to be so slender! Unclear…

I read books about French women in which they shared their secrets of being slim. And even at one time she wrote an article about the secret of slimness of French women. I went to Paris many times and watched them. I talked to people who live again in...Paris! And here lies my main mistake. I studied the residents of just one French city! Even if it’s a million-dollar figure, Paris is still not all of France!

This time I went to France by car. And not to Paris, but to the west coast, to the small resort town of Mimizan, located near Bordeaux. “Go to the West,” said knowledgeable friends living in Paris. “There are few tourists from other countries there, the place is truly French and mainly the French bourgeoisie vacation there. You'll just see what the French really are like, not just in Paris. You love everything French.” And I abandoned plans to fly to Nice and went to beautiful Mimizan.

My trip changed my view of French women. I understood a lot that didn’t reach me before. I share my discoveries:

Discovery about French women number 1: they are not skinny at all!

It caught my eye! It turns out that French women, like residents of other countries, are completely different. Yes, among them there are many small women who have thin bones and short stature, but even these bones often contain quite a few extra pounds. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and carefully listened to the conversations at the neighboring tables in the cafe and on the beach towels. Do they really speak French? Or are they just tourists from other countries? But no, I could hear snippets of French speech. These people, who were far from the size of Thumbelina, were French. French women about whom for some reason no one writes books. The most common ones: plump and not very plump, tall and medium height. There were no more or less slender among them than, for example, in Denmark or Holland. Perhaps even in Russia the percentage of slim people will be higher. I haven’t studied statistics, so these data are just my impressions of women in a particular country.

Yes, French women, unlike other European women, really take better care of themselves, and their wardrobe is more sophisticated than, for example, women in Germany or Norway. But, nevertheless, this has nothing to do with size.

I was surrounded by the most ordinary women.

Here is a woman - the mother of a French family. She sits decorously while waiting for dessert, drinking white wine. By eye, the clothing size is about 50 Russian. She is wearing a beautiful bright yellow dress and tasteful earrings and bracelet. Nearby are a husband and two teenage children. In between changes of dishes (and there were only 3 dishes, including dessert), the whole family, as is usual these days, sits, staring at their smartphones. Maman sometimes gets distracted from her own, and insists that others also follow her example. No luck... She returns to her glass, bread and butter and smartphone. I didn’t notice any peculiarities in her choice of dishes (it so happened that by chance two evenings in a row I got a table next to them, so I had a lot of opportunities to observe)

And here comes a very tall and very thin couple. Dressed elegantly in nautical style, both he and she are wearing straw hats. The woman is just over 50, and judging by the huge portion of ice cream in her hand, her figure has clearly never been in danger. Most likely, she belongs to those people who “don’t have enough food for their horse . Such people usually eat unknown things with impunity until they are 35-40 years old, and then often their body begins to groan under the burden of health problems. But habits remain habits, so it is extremely difficult for such people to get by with a scoop of ice cream.

I saw a great variety of completely different women! And the patterns were the same as everywhere else. Mothers with babies under 3 years old usually had slightly plump figures, young girls were mostly thin, and older women were different. And slim, and not very, and frankly very plump.

So the myth that French women are particularly thin is just a myth. Indeed, the further from Paris, the larger the size of the average woman.

Discovery about French women No. 2: they move a lot
Never on any beach in the world have I seen so many people walking along the edge of the sea. Despite the fact that the coast is sandy, walking along it is not at all easy. Your feet sink into quick sand, so the load when walking this way is many times greater than when you are just walking through the forest or city. But this did not stop the French! People of all ages and sizes tirelessly walked back and forth along the beach, walking for kilometers (the beach at Mimizan has no beginning or end, so you can spend hours wandering along it in any direction).

I remember when my mother and I vacationed in Sochi as a child, the majority of the people lay like little seals under the scorching sun. And in Denmark, although there are runners and strolling couples on the beaches, there are not nearly as many of them as on the French coast.

Discovery about French women #3: those who are really thin just... don't eat much!

On this trip I rented a room in a house. The hostess was a young French woman, 30 years old. We even became friends, although she spoke very little English and I don’t speak French. But there would be a desire! So, I had the opportunity not only to watch French women in a cafe, where we often allow ourselves more than at home (or less? so as not to seem too gluttonous... I remember when I worked in a Danish office and went to have lunch with everyone in the canteen, I was constantly perplexed: very obese men and women, unlike other people of average and even slender build, put less than modest portions on their plates, and at the same time, did not forget about vegetables! I looked at all this and thought: but from why did they gain weight?! It can’t be that they always eat THIS way. Yes, the reasons for excess weight do not always lie in the area of ​​“eating a lot of the wrong foods,” but... ALL of these people cannot suffer from problems with hormones and insulin ?!")

But let's return to the French women and their diet.

My new friend... ate almost nothing. When I arrived, she opened an almost virgin refrigerator in front of me, ALL the space in which, except for the top shelf and a couple of bottles on the door, was intended for me. (Needless to say, my happiness knew no bounds: I had just stocked up on French delicacies, vegetables and herbs, and was very worried whether all my provisions would fit into the owner’s refrigerator. It didn’t fit. Fortunately, in addition to the small refrigerator, it was still possible to put food to the pantry. And I happily took advantage of this opportunity.

My hostess was not only a very beautiful girl, but also slender. True, even she worked in the fitness center a couple of times a week to build up muscles in the upper part of her body (she was a typical pear in structure: a very thin top, rounded hips and full legs (I’ll make a reservation: full just for her build! Many would envy her legs!)

During the entire week that I lived with her, I saw her preparing and eating food three times. I wasn't home while she was cooking and eating? But then why do the shelves on her part of the refrigerator remain almost untouched?

I started asking her questions. It turned out that yes, she eats very little. She hates breakfast and makes do with a cup of coffee and a glass of water. Then he snacks on whatever he finds around 12 noon and then has dinner. (I would like to note that Mimizan is not such a hot place that we can attribute this girl’s lack of appetite to the climate.)

But at dinner I want to stop separately.

Discovery about French women #4: Not all of them eat healthy.

What did this slender French woman have for dinner? If you believe books about French women, it turns out that they are great and are sensitive to food. The books will tell you that French women eat a lot of vegetables and there is an unprecedented variety on their table. Like, we French women know a lot about delicacies, and prefer several small and tasty dishes for lunch. "Oh! We are such gourmets!”

In fact... For dinner, my French hostess prepared herself 2 dishes:

• Lettuce with canned vegetables (regular canned corn and beans). By the way, the salad was without olive oil. It was completely unfilled...
• Store-bought Gnocchi (a mixture of potatoes and flour) from a package of poisonous green color, cooked in cream with bacon (she even prepared this “diet” dish twice)…

OK. Maybe the person had no time. But I always say: show me your refrigerator and I will tell you about your health. What was on that mysterious shelf in the refrigerator?

There were: processed mini-cheeses (these are usually bought for children under 3 years old), an open, half-eaten cottage cheese (UNEATEN! Do you see what I’m getting at? Regular 125 ml cottage cheese - that is, designed for 1 adult serving), a handful of Cherry tomatoes, a pack of cubed bacon, mini-cream of regular fat, an open pack of lettuce leaves and a plate carefully covered with film...with an UNFOILED dinner from Gnocia with bacon and cream.) On the door was an UNFINISHED bottle of Cola (not Light!), and another spare mini- a pack of regular fat cream. Plus 4 mini jars with different jams. Unstarted. Oh yes, I forgot: one of the two vegetable drawers was filled to capacity with bottles of beer. All. There was nothing else in the refrigerator.

At first, I thought that my owner was simply saving space in the refrigerator for my arrival (as she knew, as she knew ), but after living with her for a week, I realized that she just eats like that. This is normal for her!

But perhaps she had other products? Outside the refrigerator?

Yes they were. I have to disappoint you (and along with you the authors of all these books about ideal French gourmet women ): outside the refrigerator I found several different packs of cookies (not organic, not raw food, but the most ordinary ones!), three packages of capsules for the coffee machine, refined sugar (if you remember, that is, such snow-white sugar in cubes), a started pack of white bread for the toaster (this was also later thrown out, since the bread had become moldy - so rarely did anyone eat it), chocolate bars and a pack of herbal tea. In the freezer I found a pack of Snickers ice cream (half eaten ). In the pantry, I didn’t see anything except wine. No fruits, no onions with garlic, no Provençal herbs and other supplies of ideal French girls from books.

So, the secret of French slimness is simple: we don’t eat anything and don’t gain weight!

It turned out that they are almost no different from everyone else. Including addictions.

Discovery about French women #5: They drink a lot of coffee.

Coffee, as I understand it, is an integral part of life for French women. The day begins with coffee and... ends with it. The waiters at the restaurant asked me 10 times after dinner: did they really understand me correctly and I won’t have coffee?! “HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPEN?!” - could be read in their glances. And indeed, everyone around us, without exception, finished their evening meal with coffee. And this is at 11 pm!

On the beach, I was touched by the people in the cafe who, after a couple of bottles of rosé for two, would always bring themselves back to their senses with a cup of coffee, or even two in a row. By the way, what distinguished slender wine lovers from ordinary ones was that they did not eat anything else besides wine. No nuts, no salad. French women of ordinary build, like everywhere else in the world, simply ate, and not just absorbed the wine.

Conclusions about the French diet?

It turns out that there is no secret diet for French women. In fact, they do not have any tricks that allow them to be slimmer than all the other inhabitants of the planet. And that’s why... there’s no special harmony in them! Both the secrets of French slimness and this slimness itself are just myths. French women are people just like the rest of us. Yes, perhaps they have some other eating habits and behavior, but this is so individual that it is hardly worth talking about the secrets of the French diet, which we, citizens of other less romantic countries, should unravel. Therefore, my dear readers, you and I have no choice but to return to awareness in nutrition and to working on ourselves and our habits. There is no other option!

Source: author's blog (dietitian, nutritionist and certified functional medicine therapist, Denmark)

Kristin's Day: menu and tips

Breakfast

Bread or crackers with butter, honey, as well as kiwi and tea.

Dinner

Baked cod, salad of various vegetables and a spoonful of rice.

Dinner

Vegetable soup, salad, lentil cutlets, steamed endive, yogurt.

Prioritize quality over quantity

In everyday life, you are unlikely to meet a French woman who does not want to choose the highest quality products for herself. If it’s a baguette, then freshly baked, vegetables and fruits must be ripe and juicy, butter must be natural.

In French cafes and restaurants, tourists from Russia may be surprised by the size of the portions: it is unusually small. This also has its advantage. When eating heavier and high-calorie food, such as happens in establishments, French girls are simply content with small portions and enjoy not the quantity, but the exquisite taste. This is not difficult for them, because in their culture it is so accepted.

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Rule No. 2: allow yourself indulgences

“By refusing a glass of wine dear to your heart at lunch or a croissant at breakfast, you will not be able to deceive yourself for a long time - the body will take revenge sooner or later.” The most correct way is to make concessions on weekends. You can compensate for this by walking half an hour longer on Monday or replacing pasta with salad for lunch. Remember balance!

They spend a strictly defined amount on food

“Madam, we have a fresh leg of lamb. Would you like it?" - “Oh, I would love to, but I only have money for ratatouille and some fish.” This kind of dialogue can often be heard in a restaurant surrounded by offices. It doesn’t matter that her income allows her to take out a full dining card at the best restaurant in the area. When leaving for a break, a French woman will not take her wallet, but will take a certain amount, usually not very large. If salads and hot dishes are more expensive, she will order an appetizer. The main thing is not to go beyond the allotted budget.

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Results and reviews of the French diet

Many consider the French diet to be a real lifesaver. It is designed so that, regardless of age, you can lose approximately 7-8 kg without much effort, and most importantly, the effect lasts for a long time.

Reviews about losing weight in 14 days:

• “... I lost 5.5 kg - this is definitely the best diet!”;
• “... I’ve been on the French diet more than once, and at most I’ve lost 7 kg”;
• “... In one week - minus 3.5 kg, the volume went well - I was able to fit into things that were small.”

The diet is relatively low in fat and limited in carbohydrate intake, with plenty of green salad. It takes a lot of willpower to endure without alcohol, salty, sweet, flour, fried and smoked foods. In addition, it seems strange to many that boiled sausage is present in the diet, but the main thing when choosing sausage products is to ensure that the composition does not contain dyes, genetically modified soybeans and trans fats.

Advantages and disadvantages

Like any other diet, this type of nutrition also has a number of advantages and disadvantages.

First, about the pros:

1. The high water content will cleanse the body of waste and toxins.
2. A varied menu allows you to saturate your body with delicious food without feeling hungry.
3. Some fast food products are allowed on this diet.
4. A large amount of vegetables that must be taken throughout the diet. Fiber saturates the body and promotes the burning of fatty tissue rather than muscle tissue.
5. If you follow all the rules, the kilograms will disappear quickly and forever.

The disadvantages include:

1. Before starting this diet, you should consult a specialist. The fact is that any diet that is unbalanced according to BJU can negatively affect the health of a person who has gastrointestinal diseases.
2. One of the main rules of the diet is to drink natural coffee. People suffering from hypertension should be careful about this point.
3. The diet limits fruit consumption, so it is best to include special supplements in your diet to restore vitamin levels.

The French diet for weight loss has many advantages. The protein diet was based on the study of the glycemic index.

They walk a lot

French women believe that you need to know all the streets of your hometown impeccably. Using ground transport is the lot of tourists or those who cannot walk from home to work due to illness. Many are ready to go out an hour and a half to two hours before the start of the working day to walk around their area and say hello to their neighbors. Many Parisians only go down to the metro when it rains. It is known that to keep fit, you need to take about 10 thousand steps a day. Well, French women certainly score that much!

It's easy to skip breakfast

In the morning, a French woman would rather spend time choosing a jacket to match her jeans than preparing a full breakfast. “All the charm of a new day will come to naught if you hang around the stove before work,” says Parisian Juliette Mercier . “My family always had a morning ritual. Dad put on his robe, opened the windows in the dining room and brewed great black coffee. He poured some cream on us schoolgirls and gave us cookies. There was never a cult of sharing breakfast in the family; it was much more important to get together and sip a hot drink. Since then, coffee and bread in the morning have been my habit, which I have been following for 20 years.”

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At work, the coffee ritual is repeated several times. Before lunch, French women regularly have 2-3 coffee breaks, and they never buy sandwiches or buns to go with it.

Choose seasonal fruits for snacks

“Colleagues, my aunt Amel sent nectarines from Spain. Who wants to try? Usually such a proposal is met with shouts of approval and a break in work for 15 minutes. Everyone drops what they’re doing and eats everything they had in a matter of minutes. The next day everyone will still eat apples from Provence and pears from the Loire. At the end of an impromptu break, someone will definitely ask: “Friends, does anyone have an aunt with vineyards in Bordeaux? It seems that the season of new wine will begin soon.”

Deep-fried blamange and veal brisket. Lunch from Alexandre Dumas

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