Actually, French Women Do Get Fat
The Skinny: And So Do French Men And Children, As American-Style Habits Catch Up With France
NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2007
Los Angeles Times bids adieu to the so-called "French paradox" - the envy-inducing mystery that allows French people to enjoy "rivers of red wine, more than 300 varieties of cheese, patisseries full of buttery desserts, and still manage to maintain a low rate of heart disease and obesity."
It's over. The fat lady is singing. And she's French.
The paper reports that French people are suddenly getting fatter, as they are moving away from the concept of food as a luxury to be eaten in modest quantities. Already 42 percent of the French population is overweight or obese. Although that's still nowhere near America's 65 percent, it's growing fast. The rate of obesity among French young people has quadrupled in the last 25 years, rising almost as quickly as the rate in the U.S.
The French are looking more like Americans because they are living more like Americans. Goodbye shopping at outdoor markets. Hello processed foods. Goodbye two-hour lunches. Hello cramming a sandwich in your face at your desk as you scroll through e-mail. Goodbye savoring. Hello snacking.
Most shockingly, French women (and it is still mostly women) not only don't have time to cook anymore - they've forgotten how. At a recent Weight Watchers meeting, a bunch of ladies who battled an hour of grinding Paris traffic to make it there after work were unable to identify a measuring spoon.
The problem comes with all the typically American accessories, from bigger MRI machines in hospitals to accommodate obese patients to soaring profits for sellers of cellulite creams. And the biggest sector of the French fashion industry to grow since 2000? Not haute couture, but the plus size market.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/20/the_skinny/main3280714.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3280714
