Forums: March 2010 Kickstart Forum Archive: French diet vs. vegan one
Created on: 03/16/10 08:13 PM Views: 1972 Replies: 7
healthynell Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 31	French diet vs. vegan one Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 8:13 PM I saw a book that talked about the "paradox" of the success of the typical French diet in which they don't eat processed food, eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, but they also eat full fat dairy products like cheese and don't skimp on their consumption of oil. They also drink wine with lunch and dinner. They claim that the French have a very low percentage of their population having problems with obesity and the other diseases associated with it. What gives? Why are they able to eat so "successfully" in ways that are diametrically opposed to what's being advocated here? (I'm not saying I'm ready to jump ship or anything...just wanting a little analysis here if any of the PCRM folks wouldn't mind providing it here.)
	Edited 03/16/10 8:14 PM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom
Susan Levin Joined: 12/26/09 Posts: 1191	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 8:35 PM I don't know too much about health stats in France. But one well-documented theory for this paradox is that there is no paradox. I think this summary of an article from the British Medical Journal sums it up pretty well: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0999/is_7196_318/ai_54979325/. Most notably, as stated in this summary, the French do not document heart disease in the same manner as other Western countries, resulting in an under representation of heart disease by about 20 percent. Susan Levin, MS, RD PCRM Director of Nutrition Education
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healthynell Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 31	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 9:50 PM Thank you, Susan. I was just very curious. It's always eye-catching to see reports of people who appear to be losing weight, not having to "be careful" about what they eat and being able to do all this while eating "full fat" dairy products and then here are the "fat Americans" "working at" weight loss and unsuccessfully at that in most cases. So I was just curious what the PCRM take on all of this was. Thanks for that link.
	Edited 03/17/10 8:00 AM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom
Susan Levin Joined: 12/26/09 Posts: 1191	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 10:04 PM That's what is so great about eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet!! You can eat without thinking about it. You eat naturally healthful, filling foods until you are satisfied. There's no doubt that we are saturated with processed, packaged "foods" in America probably more than anywhere else in the world. We are dying from excess of these high-fat, high-sugar foods. Literally. Unfortunately, we have successfully exported this way of eating. Susan Levin, MS, RD PCRM Director of Nutrition Education
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healthynell Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 31	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 8:05 AM There are probably other aspects of their lifestyle that contribute to somewhat better outcomes with their health than the standard American diet. The fact that they eat slowly, generally build in leisure to their lives better than we do and also build in regular exercise by walking everywhere a lot more than we do are surely all contributing factors to better health. But eating full-fat animal products must be a red herring in the short term.
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DianeJ Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 134	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 9:29 AM I have read some stuff on this as well. Yes, they eat slowly, they tend to eat much less (smaller portions, uh Hello!!!),they walk,walk,walk, and eat very little processed foods. The Europeans tend to shop frequently, some daily, for fresh food, not food in boxes that keep indefinitely. And the red wine probably offers some benefit. They simply do not,generally, eat the way most Americans eat.(From boxes, and fast food windows) With that being said, think how healthy they would be if they followed a great plant-based diet!
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essie Joined: 02/26/10 Posts: 163	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 11:25 AM I think it's worth remembering that a few of of France's big exports are cheese, other gourmet foods, and of course wine. The French government (much like the US and Australian governments, etc.) spends a lot of cash promoting these products all over the world. Casting the typical French diet as luxurious yet healthy is part of the PR image they purposely create. Sometimes PR includes funding studies designed to prove certain things...or just publicizing the (rare) independent studies that show the results that support whatever financial interest a group has. I read the book "French Women Don't Get Fat" when it came out a few years ago--and it's actually a calorie-restriction diet with exercise. Some of her tips included pretending to sip wine while not actually drinking any, always wearing walking shoes, having very small portions of rich foods, etc. Common tips re: "moderation." There was no French secret, per se.
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cyclingmarge Joined: 03/01/10 Location: Seattle Posts: 31	RE: French diet vs. vegan one Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 12:13 PM sadly enough young people in France are becoming more like us everyday. Outside of the USA, France is the largest market for McDonald's
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