As a French woman, I often find it kind of funny when I see posts such as ‘the secrets of French women to…” & most of the time, these posts talk about berets, baguettes and weight. What, weight? Yes Ladies, most people picture us wearing berets with a baguette in our hand, and being really slim. Of course, you do not have to be slim at all, and this post is not going to be a “how to lose weight” one as it is not my cup of tea (at all). Instead, I want to share with you a piece of advice my mom taught me when I was still very young. This piece of advice will not make you lose weight but it will help you live a far healthier relationship with your body and with food (which is much more important than what the scale says of you).
My mother’s advice & French women’s ‘secret’
I am not going to have you wait any more time to get what you came for, so here is my little story. When I was younger, and I think a lot of French women have lived the same experience, I asked my mom how she possibly could eat so much (normally, though, but croissants and pains au chocolat included) and be so thin. What she answered blew my mind: “Honey, if you deprive yourself from eating, your body will take revenge.”
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How can your body take revenge over you? Obviously, this is an image, but the idea is biologically accurate: if you never eat when you are hungry (so if you deprive yourself), not only will you feel frustrated, but you will also stock everything you eat. Why? No complicated scientific concepts needed here so to put it simply, your body being unaware of when it will have access to food again (because you do not eat regularly), it will stock everything it can (and also the greases it does not need) in order to make sure not to lack nutrients later on.
Making peace with your body
Instead of counting calories, what if you just made peace with your body and with food? I know, (far) easier said than done in today’s society. We know for sure that a lot of people (not only women, it is important to mention it) have already suffered and still suffer from eating disorders.
However, when you keep in mind and repeat to yourself that if you do not eat when you are hungry, your body will “take revenge” over you, it puts things into perspective. It is not by frustrating yourself that you are ever going to become any slimmer, because your body will always want to protect itself.
Once more, and I insist on it, you do not HAVE to become slimmer and that post is not a guide on “how to be slimmer”. I simply want you to see that, on the contrary, the secret not to gain weight is absolutely not “eating less” but “making peace”. It is only by making peace with your body and nourishing it the way it deserves to be nourished that you will ever keep stable weight. You may not get slimmer, and that is fine because you do not have to, but you will feel better overall and your body will start feeling like a temple you need to preserve.
The English-speaking Frenchie 