Is a Brit entitled to an opinion ...

Mamie Completely agree about Normandy. When ever I hear comments about French chic and how slim they are, I mentally pass before my eyes, the customers in my local LeClerc in Coutances and the customers in my local Sainsburies in the UK. Sorry, the Brits win every time.

And yet, and yet, where my apartment is in Dinard, Brittany, (known as the Cannes of the West), all the French women are super slim and very elegant! So I guess it varies from place to place.

Yes, but Dinard is fashionable and popular with smart Parisiens.

In deeply unfashionaabl Lower Normandy, everyone has a widely expressed contempt for 'Les Parisiens. They roll their eyes heavenwards, before relieving them of as much money as possible.

Josieann

And yet, and yet, where my apartment is in Dinard, Brittany, (known as the Cannes of the West), all the French women are super slim and very elegant! So I guess it varies from place to place.

I'm not going there again then!
Although I did visit there was I was young and slim ?

Where we lived, in the rural SW, there were plenty of overweight women. Those who were slim were mostly heavy smokers.

So if French women drink, smoke (and eat croissants) all the time, how come they have a higher life expectancy than many other countries?

It's the red wine, Josieann
It's full of antioxidants.

Ps Don't try this at home.

Yes, I've heard it breaks down the fats (all that French cheese and butter!).

M0nica

Yes, but Dinard is fashionable and popular with smart Parisiens.

In deeply unfashionaabl Lower Normandy, everyone has a widely expressed contempt for 'Les Parisiens. They roll their eyes heavenwards, before relieving them of as much money as possible.

Definitely.

My observation is that French people eat and drink in much smaller quantities. My friends will have one or two small glasses of wine but not more. They don't eat between meals and portions are also much smaller. In our rural village the main meal was at lunchtime, in the evening it was always la soupe. Our new village has a younger population and more commuters, but we have not been here long enough to observe eating habits!

They don't eat between meals and they are never usually seen walking along stuffing food on the go - that is a British thing.

But at what age do all those slim, svelte French women morph into the rotund, black clad, older French women we see as we drive through the villages in the countryside? Or were they always that shape, just unnoticed?

I've no idea how the transition happens. Most French children aren't fat, and their school meals are very healthy. So I think good eating habits start young. It can't be that the older French women don't get enough exercise because a lot of them still work hard physically.
Does the same happen in Italy and say Spain?

Josieann

^They don't eat between meals^ and they are never usually seen walking along stuffing food on the go - that is a British thing.

Same in Italy. And the myth of fat Italian mums is just that. Yes they eat pasta but not off a dinner size plate with half a pound of mince and tomatoes piled on top !!
When I loved there as a young woman the beaches were just 90% lovely slim women! (I was the 10% or so I thought then )

Lucca

Nor me normally but I just thought in this case I’d made a suggestion ? Oh well never mind

Apologies Lucca I had a very stressful day on Friday. Please don’t take my comment personally, if wasn’t intended to be.

Ah, but the Italians have the culture of 'la bella figura' to live up to.

tickingbird

Lucca

Nor me normally but I just thought in this case I’d made a suggestion ? Oh well never mind

Apologies Lucca I had a very stressful day on Friday. Please don’t take my comment personally, if wasn’t intended to be.

Me too, but that’s ok

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