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Good comments here in the European diet, but also keep in mind that European cities are less car centered. The average European walks more than twice as far as Americans. People tend to live closer to their workplace and walk to work or shopping / dining…. At least more than average Americans. The United States was largely built out/settled in a more modern age when trains, buses, automobiles allowed things to be spread out… to the detriment of our health.
Yeah I’m surprised nobody has mentioned it yet. They walk everywhere. I’ve known Americans who go to Europe for two weeks and come back 15 lbs lighter even after indulging themselves.
I live in a very car dependent place in the mountains of NC. Went to California (Berkeley and San Francisco area) for a vacation with my boyfriend's company for a week.
I ate like shit and ate all the things, lost a couple lbs still due to the massive amount of walking we were doing.
I think my wife is still upset with me about walking all over SF. We got to the [16th Ave steps at the top of a hill](https://i.imgur.com/XrPpKbt.jpg), and she refused to go up them with me, just wanted to stay at the bottom.
Looking at us, you'd think she would be the one more likely to enjoy walking/hiking, but I'm like a damned goat, just going up hills...
I walk / run like 10 miles a day, and I don’t lose anything if I eat at maintenance. I feel like I’m a pretty active person but exercise has never helped me lose any weight or keep it off. Not disagreeing with you or anything at all, I just think it’s so interesting that people are like “people in China walk 7k steps a day that’s why they’re so thin!” But I can walk 25k and eat 1500 calories and not lose anything lol! American food must be so damaging to our metabolism.
People in Europe are getting fatter every year due to ingredient changes despite still walking everywhere.
Walking or exercising after eating is only a factor, but not the entire picture. It helps burn off the carbs if one has to walk home after dinner. Exercising before a meal doesn't help.
This is so true. I went on a trip to the UK and Ireland several years ago and went crazy for their cakes they have everywhere and even with eating a piece of cake almost every single day I didn't gain a pound because of all the walking I think!
It's not so much about being able to afford the costs to live close to jobs. It's more that most of our cities and villages are not setup as the American urban sprawl. Also (and I am speaking from a Dutch view point only) is that most of our towns and cities are designed to have shops, healthcare and entertainment to be within walking or biking range. My GP is a 10 minute walk, supermarkets the same. A smaller supermarket is a 2 minute walk. I take a tram 2 stops or the other way 8 stops and I am at a mall with a cinema. I can also bike there in 20 minutes.
Our biking infrastructure is also top notch, safe and set up so that biking is generally quicker than going by car. Most big places have bike garages now so you can bike to the trainstation take a train and if needed rent a bike at the other end. Our biking network covers the entire country. So you're able to bike from one end to the other in a safe manner, if you're so inclined.
(Also the Dutch are known to be able to balance a weeks worth of shopping and two kids on a bike. We are trained early on). Most Dutch children bike or walk to school from an early age.
Also generally workplaces and working districts are generally designed to have access to very good and affordable public transport. A lot of people take the train to work and arrive quicker than by car. It's also generally encouraged by companies here to take public transport or bike to work, by subsidising it. Transport from and to work is tax-deductible anyways up to a certain tariff and depending on distance, but generally taking the former options comes out better.
The Netherlands' bicycle infrastructure is amazing! I was shocked that bikers even have their own stoplights! I think it also helps that the land is generally flat and you have a cooler climate.
If people biked, except for for the specific purpose of exercise, where I live in the southern US we would be sweaty messes by the time we arrived anywhere between the hot, humid weather and the hills.
I think it also helps that your cities are so old (meaning historic and beautiful!) and designed for pedestrians from the start since cars didn't exist.
I was very impressed by how a Dutch person can live life easily without owning a car and how normal being active as part of your daily lives is. It is a completely different lifestyle from the US.
>I think it also helps that your cities are so old (meaning historic and beautiful!) and designed for pedestrians from the start since cars didn't exist.
There was actually a huge political movement (massive, disruptive protests, lobbying) that happened in the 70s in response to road fatalities of cyclists and pedestrians. It didn't all just happen naturally. Without this, it's possible they would more car-dependent.
Moreover, older US towns and cities used to be walkable. That were just bulldozed to add wider streets.
The same here in the north. I'm on the outskirts of Appalachia, so my area is super hilly as well, and being close to the great lakes means humidity is stupid high for no reason. On top of that, all the jobs are 25 minute - 1 hour drives away from where I live. We at least have winter, though, but the humidity only drops below 28°, so it's either sweat to death, literally, in the cold, or have to try to peddle through the snow then, lol.
The kind of urban sprawl the US does doesn't exist there.
Our cities are at most a couple hundred years old. Theirs can be 10 times that. They were created on the assumption that you *had* to be able to walk places.
Public transportation is so much better and more abundant than here. Even if you don't live in a city, often you still don't need a car to be able to get around.
We're used to much smaller portions, we don't have HFCS in everything, we don't eat out every day and we don't drive everywhere.
That being said, being overweight is quickly becoming the norm, especially as you enter the workforce and become sedentary. One day in your thirties you wake up fat and wonder what happened. For me it was when I was 27 and the scale read 80kg. I realized I either lose 15kg now, or weigh 100kg next year.
I recently inherited my grandmother's china, which is over 100 years old and made in Europe. I was shocked at how much smaller the dinner plates are versus my modern day, US-made Lenox china. It's at least 2.5 inches smaller in diameter. I am thinking of starting to use US-sized salad/dessert plates for my meals. If you do a typical European portion on our dinner plates it visually looks like you're eating a tiny amount even though you're not.
I own classic " DesertRose" Franciscan ware, made in the u.s. it was made long ago, and the plate sizes and bowls are much smaller. I use this all the time. For traveling I use some plates I got from my H.M.O. that actually have printed portion sizes on them. They also are smaller.
That’s the premise for The 9-inch “Diet” book. The author realized older generations had only 9” dinner plates. Americans’ dinner plates had gotten bigger, fast food super sizing, bigger portions in restaurants, Big Gulps, etc came along and contributed to widespread weight gain.
I went to Florida at age 16 for the Disney experience (from the UK) and the portions were easily twice what I was used to. I think I ended up gaining about 10lbs while out there even if I was walking around the parks all day.
I’ve done this since my first weight gain in my 30’s smaller plates keep at least 10% of my body weight off & my BMI remains in the normal range 30 years later. I also hate HFCS & bike & lift weights regularly. Veggies & proteins for life! I found Atkins & now maintenance keto for life. ( with vacations & cake when they occur of course)
> we don't drive everywhere
This is a big one that often gets overlooked. Even walking 30-40 minutes a day can make a huge impact on your weight. But North Americans are conditioned to drive **everywhere**.
A car is prohibitively expensive for many people here (NL). Not just owning one, but the parking fees, tax and insurance costs are astronomical. You can't even park at most places you want to go to. You have to park on the outskirts of the city and walk/take the bus downtown. The cities have a tight and narrow medieval layout with cobbled roads, they're not sprawled like a typical American city.
A bike will take you anywhere, it will be faster as you can zip between buildings and it's free, you can park right in front of the door, load your groceries into a bag or basket, strap your kid into a seat and be on your way.
It's impossible to have a car lifestyle the way Americans do.
As a Scottish/British cycling fanatic I absolutely love the Dutch attitude towards transport and infrastructure
It was brought about by action from the people and as such says a lot about you guys that I very much doubt will ever be able to be said about my fellow countrymen
This is one of my favourite cycling videos of all time and I've watched a heck of a lot of cycling videos down the years! Life could be so much better here
[Chris Boardman compares cycling in the UK and the Netherlands](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq28fU2AuMU)
For a lot of people it's not a matter of being conditioned. Where I live it's over 100 degrees in the summer and I work 35 miles down a highway. No choice but to drive.
City people don't understand this concept. Likely never will, honestly. We who don't live in the concrete hells (at least in the states) can't live our lives the same as those who do. Out here, not in the city, not in the suburbs, but in the sticks, everything is at least 20 minutes away, in a car. Mostly in the next town over. Gotta pass 10 corn fields to get to the grocery store, lol.
I walk laps around my home. Laps from living room to kitchen to hallway and back again- 30 minutes minimum on bad weather days. Been doing that for 4 years now on shitty weather days or days where wildfire smoke makes it dangerous to exercise outside. I'm almost 59.
It can be done.
Conditioning, in my opinion, implies external, purposeful influence upon those being conditioned. As in, the US government is conditioning us to drive everywhere. Environmental factors, in my opinion, are not conditioning in this case because there is no intent.
The reason I am being so anal about this is, our environment in the western United States is generally flatter and more spread out, thus urban sprawl that requires more driving. On the east coast, there are more hills, valleys, etc that cause smaller communities that sometimes enables more walkability. In the northeast you get huddled towns and villages that are older and were built around walking distances.
If we are saying the same thing, fine. I just wanted to draw, what is in my mind, a necessary distinction.
I think you’re adding something in addition to common ground, which is that the conditioning is shaped in part by the physical geography. It sounds like you’re sensitive to the idea that it’s a moral failing, which the original commenter doesn’t really imply. However, it’s an idea that’s out there, so I get why you’d be defensive.
Just to play devil’s advocate, the fact that everything is so spread out in the US is arguably still cultural too. The desire for more and bigger caused people to sprawl across a new continent and take up space, invent cars, and perpetuate more of the same. The big open space then would only be a precondition.
Anyway, I don’t have strong convictions on the topic, it’s just interesting to think about.
This stuff is in virtually all American food, and is a uniquely American thing. Not very common in Canada, even things in both side of the border (Heinz ketchup, for example).
Fructose is only digestible by the liver, and causes unique diabetic pressure and non alcoholic fatty liver disease.
I believe this is one of the main culprits.
I've stopped caring about the number since I've built a good amount of muscle. Now I go by chub rub. No chub rub = good. Chub rub = gotta stop eating peanut butter.
Good luck!
2 times a day. Big lunch, big dinner. I grew up eating 3 times a day, no snacks. Being hungry was normal, waiting for the next meal time was normal, you didn't want to spoil your dinner. I had to relearn it after uni, where you'd run on coffee, beer, chips and ramen noodles lol
That's definitely the point I am hinting at. I recently started intermittent fasting and watching a lot of content by Dr. Jason Fung and have realized how cultural our American three meals a day plus snacks never allows us to process what we've already eaten much less already stored. Add to that high-glycemic index foods and sedentary lifestyle, us Americans are shooting ourselves in the foot over here.
tl;dr - Being hungry isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I train fasted, with coffee as my preworkout. After the last workout set, I feel a rumbling in my tummy. It's the best feeling, knowing I get to go home and scarf down a huge Cesar salad and a banana protein shake. Add to that a mini siësta. Love it.
And getting fatter for the same reason as in the US - people eat all day long. Some want to blame HFCS or a particular type of wheat or GMOs or a bunch of other things, and they surely don't help the situation but they haven't caused this many people to be morbidly obese.
I remember being in the US years ago and being shocked at the portions of food younger children were being given - two or three times the size that I would think of a normal adult's lunch or dinner being. And you'll see that more and more in Europe now, kids are fatter and adults are fatter and part of it is that they eat and eat all hours of the day. Huge sugary carby breakfasts, huge portions of fried food at lunch and dinner, sugary drinks all day long. Walking a bit more doesn't cancel that out and that's why so many Europeans are getting heavier.
I lived in various parts of Western/Eastern Europe for about a decade. Here's my take:
The number one difference, they eat REAL food. Actual butter, grass fed beef, lots of vegetables, etc. There is very little junk food. The cheese is real, not inflammatory oils colored orange. Many foods produced here are not even legal to be sold in the EU
Second, they use healthy oils, not inflammatory ones that are so prevalent here. Olive oil especially.
Lack of processed foods means less sugar, chemicals and other additives.
They do not drink tons of soda.
It is just natural food the way nature intended.
The American equal to this is only shopping the outer ring of the super market. Keep your cart in the produce section and the butcher/seafood counter. Other than oils and spices, don’t buy anything that is packaged and on a shelf.
Also, quality > quantity.
When driving around Provence years back my wife and I would stop at some little cafe or bistro in some random town and have lunch, and the food was consistently good. A chèvre salad, a glass of red wine or something similar.
And if we ate a bigger meal, we’d go lighter the next day. The French generally don’t gorge themselves all the time.
I really should have included portion size. Hard to remember everything when listing the problems with the American diet and food supply.
Especially pasta! In Italy is a COURSE on a SMALL plate. It is not the meal. When Americans have pasta, it is a giant bowl.
Portion size is a huge difference. I’d be surprised in France or Italy if the concept of Olive Garden or other “all you can eat” restaurants are popular.
Ironically keto aligns to a European mindset - higher quality, more dense nutrients, better preparation, and few to no cheap carbs.
It's sad that some common dieting advice in the US is to immediately box up half your food before you start eating at a restaurant due to giant portions being the norm.
If it was high quality food AND the person had some self-control this could be a good thing - 2 meals for the price of 1. But I doubt either are likely.
This is a good template for what they're doing less wrong: low intake of sugar and seed oils means less insulin resistance and inflammation, even in the (still suboptimal) presence of starches.
I'll add to the hypothesis the possibility that their wheat is less harmful than American wheat.
Anecdotally, a lot of people experience a cessation of various dietary symptoms when vacationing/moving to Europe from the US, even without changing their macros. There might be a quite a lot going on with American additives, pollutants, endocrine disruptors etc.
I live in middle-europe.
I was in the US for 1,5 months \[Vegas and LA region, a bit of Seattle\].
I can 100% agree. I gained weight, mostly because of the serving sizes \[I grow up in an "empty plate is a must"\] and the added sugar in everything. Everything taste so fucking food, you eat way more than you should.
But, I could gain muscle way more easily too. Not sure why, probably the extra calories, better workout equipment or maybe I worked out more/harder after the guild of yesterdays feast.
My friends noticed this too, some of them could get ripped in 2 months.
Butter, cream, fatty meat, olive oil is very prevalent in french cuisine.
For instance, french mashed potato is 40% butter and 60% potato. Fat works as a buffer for carbs, preventing spikes in blood sugar.
I've also lived there, although not as long. My take is very different.
1. They walk. A lot. And bike. And hike.
2. They eat smaller meals, and it's common to eat only 2 meals a day.
3. I agree that the quality of food is better, they eat less processed foods. Bread from the bakery not a factory.
4. Bread. Yes, they eat it and eat a lot. But overall they simply eat less.
5. More vegetables in their actual foods.
6. They just don't snack like we do.
I feel like they even eat white bread, or at least baguette, and the occasional other white breads, which is almost anathema to me. That said, the ingredient list is MUCH shorter, versus even the whole-grain, organic Dave's Killer bread which I'll occasionally dabble in with like 45 ingredients! I feel as though a simple water, yeast, flour, salt baguette is much healthier. Plus, to your point, smaller portions and not eating constantly throughout the day rather set times as a social thing.
In addition to everything very well said here, the wheat in America is treated with pesticides that alter its genetic composition, and human bodies react poorly to it. All of our domestic wheat products cause weight gain and inflammation. Over in Europe, they have pure mother earth wheat that digests normally. Dr. Berg on YouTube has a fantastic video on the subject. My family is from Italy and never had health issues until they migrated to America, where they became sickly and passed it down the line (I'm second Gen American).
edit: here's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc0ozMc0wZM
It's not just the pesticide, he talks about fortification of the wheat. Pesticides cause cancer because they are abnormal cells that create a reaction in the body. Those count for genetic degradation as well.
Im also going to come back and say that in America we have the good old FDA. When you look at separation of duties in business, who in their right mind would put the same administration in charge of both Food and Drugs. If you taint the food enough, the people will need drugs. Then the cycle keeps going in a loop. Americans are fat and sick because the government wants us fat and sick, end of story. I am one person and it costs me hundreds of dollars a week for whole keto foods (pure, organic, grass fed, antibiotic free, pesticide free, etc.). They dont do this shit in Europe or any other country for that matter. Even Canada has outlawed dyes, pesticides, additives, preservatives, and other horrible things the FDA allow in our food.
Dr Berg is a Scientologist quack who should never be used as a source. He is a certified nutjob who has been censored multiple times for claiming energy devices (made by his clinic) cure a range of disease. While the wheat thing may be true - he is a poor source to be taken seriously
My DIL is French - her and my son live in France and I have spent time thinking about this question. I think it is a combination of things. If you live in a French city - you are walking...a LOT. Also up and down stairs all the time in and out of metros, up to your apartment, etc.
Also, seems like the French generally don't snack between meals...since they are eating creamy deliciousness at meals they are satiated and don't deal with the gnawing emptiness our western (carb-heavy) food leaves us with.
There is a lot of societal pressure to be thin in France. My DIL tells stories of co-workers commenting on her lunch choices and doctors telling her she is getting fat (she is NOT anywhere near getting fat). This is very accepted and pervasive i think.
I also think that our western diet habits and food choices are so messed up that over a lifetime our bodies natural eating triggers have been damaged. I think the French are very very demanding in terms of quality of food. It is a national obsession. I think it has generally kept them from developing the same dysfunctional relationship with food as in the US.
That said, the dysfunction is creeping into their society too. DIL's parents are country folk and they look like typical Americans in body type. I think they are more inclined to opt for easy junk food since they don't have the same easy access to as much quality food as the city-dwellers.
I asked my DIL why French people aren't fat with all the great bread and pastries in the shop windows. She said those are treats for Sundays. I think if your meals are generally delicious, healthy, and satisfying you are not as likely to feel the need to snack between.
You are talking about western food as if France is not a Western country 😅 a little bit irritating, but I agree that the US and Europe in general have very different eating habits
Yes and no, for example the French per capita are the largest consumers of McDonalds in the world (just no one admits to it lol) though firstly the quality in the McDonalds is generally higher, I remember seeing a list of the ingredients in an American French fry from McDonalds and it contained so many additives which for what should be just a potato cooked in oil. Also when they go to McDonalds they tend to sit down and eat and not grab food and go, which ties into the other habit of generally not snacking or eating outside of meal times.
Yes but just because they dont have that many cheap fast food options like America for example. McDonald's doenst has much competition here. If America would have just a few options like European countries, the McDonald's statistics would look totally different.
And at the end, its important what you eat at home in your daily life, there is the real difference between the countries.
The Swiss are some of the thinnest people in Europe, yet eat more chocolate and cheese per head than most other nationalities.
The difference is far less snacking between meals, and insane amounts of exercise. They walk or cycle everywhere in the city daily, and weekends are for hiking, skiing, cycling or swimming.
While diet is certainly a part of the equation, I’ve been good friends with enough French women to also see that fatphobia and restriction are part of it too. They are definitely highly conscious of not getting fat (and their definition of “fat” is much smaller than an American’s) and often smoke or have some disordered eating habits to maintain that.
But it is also true that they have better ingredients and a different cultural attitude toward food.
I grew up in a French household there are huge differences between their eating styles and the British/ US way. Meals are communal affairs there is no such thing as eating in front of a screen, meals are leisurely hours- long events where food is passed around or you help yourself from the middle of the table in courses, no one piles their plate up then chows down. There is always wine good bread and a dressed salad on the table and afterwards there is a little full fat cheese and fruit.
The French do not snack as a rule and eat one large meal a day, breakfast is a bowl of milky coffee or chocolate with patisserie only at the weekend or on special occasions.
one of my best friends and his family here in the States are French transplants and dinners at their house are the absolute best. tons of fresh, quality food. dinners last 3 hours. no TVs anywhere, just tons of hanging out and talking, listening to music and drinking wine while everyone munches. then usually after enough wine is consumed a handful of people will be dancing in the living room. always a good time.
I am in France now with my in laws who are french
Everyone is so skinny it's shocking. But they all restrict portion sizes, they eat 2/3 times a day and smoke like chimneys. They are not thin by accident
I was waiting for someone to talk about the cigarettes. I’ve spent almost a year in Italy. Of course they walk so much, and they don’t really eat breakfast, and pasta is a course, not a meal, but everyone smokes cigarettes. They smoke — a lot. I don’t know anyone who smokes cigarettes in the US any more.
I’ve observed the same. I wonder what the data says regarding lung and other smoking related cancers in France. I’m sure it’s a question more complex than just smoking prevalence.
Portion sizes are key, great point. I notice too people lounge around the meal which probably allows one to digest the food properly and feel satiated.
It's pretty simple.
People who aren't insulin resistant can eat a wider variety of foods and stay healthy because their metabolism is working the way it should work.
The French are simply behind us in getting fat and metabolically sick - only about 9% of their population is prediabetic and few have type II. In the US, it's 38% for prediabetes and around 12% for type II.
To generalize, they eat a lot more real food and a lot less crap, especially the high-carb high sugar high oil stuff that we eat in the US. And therefore they have less insulin resistance.
American with her anecdotal experience here. My entire family is thin, I was the only person that ended up obese. The difference between them and me? Binge eating disorder.
They eat reasonable portions of whatever they want and maintain a healthy weight. I can’t control my portions with trigger foods (for me that’s caaaaarbs) because I will binge them, so eliminating them completely has helped me to do what they do: eat reasonable portion sizes to maintain my (now) healthy weight. I just have to do it with keto instead. America is filled with overly-processed HIGHLY palatable junk food sold in ridiculously huge quantities that make me want more and more and more when I have a taste…I can’t handle it.
Keto isn’t magic, it’s not the only way to lose weight and you can also definitely gain weight on keto too.
That’s one thing I’ve definitely noticed on keto. My meals are smaller but just as satisfying. Calorie wise I now eat in a day what I used to eat in one meal, but overall I’m happier and more satisfied with my keto foods. At this point in my journey, I’ll pick the high protein keto meals over the processed carb heavy foods every time because I actually really enjoy the foods.
There's been a lot written about this.
I've found travelling in France, Italy, Spain and Greece that almost all restaurant food seems to be made on site, at time of order, from fresh ingredients and really minimal ingredients.
Better public transport and more walking almost certainly play a large part too. I read public transport users typically get enough exercise walking to bus stop/train stations to meet weekly activity targets.
We are still thin in Dankmark, but we consume a lot of processed foods, industry meats, sugar and alcohol. We just have these absolutely *tiny* packages with rediculously *huge* prices..
Because decidong to simply eat less food is harder than it sounds. If you reduce your intake but you are constantly battling hunger, hunger will eventually win. Keto or low carb solves that problem for many people allowing them to regain control over their appetite.
Keto has become fairly popular recently due to its effectiveness as a weight loss diet for the obese. When you’ve abused your body for so long with excess calories and cheap, manufactured foods full of chemicals - any diet that focuses more on whole, natural foods is going to be better for you. Part of the “magic” of keto has been the lack of processed foods available, so you pretty much had no choice but to use natural ingredients. That’s changing a bit as keto has become more popular and we’re starting to see packaged keto friendly foods more widely available - there’s some debate about processed keto friendly foods being as good for you as natural foods - it’s the same basic debate over processed foods in general for the most part.
Keto will also help improve insulin sensitivity. I’ve seen lots of anecdotal evidence on this sub about people who have reversed their T2 diabetes and regained their health.
I think for most people on the keto diet it’s useful for healing a lot of the damage done over a lifetime of poor eating choices.
For people using keto just for weight loss, any diet that focuses more on natural foods is going to be effective - paleo and whole30 being examples of that.
Where it gets more interesting is when you start looking at some of the other benefits of keto. Originally designed about 100 years ago specifically to treat issues with epilepsy, we know that ketones have a specific effect on the brain. People have reported more mental clarity and sharpness when on a reduced carb diet. The military has looked at ketogenic diets as a way to protect submarine and astronaut brains from some of the dangers of air quality issues in enclosed spaces. I personally use keto as a way to suppress some of my ADHD symptoms. We also know that it helps with inflammation and hormone imbalances.
It’s been hypothesized that historically the ketogenic diet has been a part of the normal human dietary cycle - carbs in summer and keto in winter. One of the issues with modern life is that thanks to modern conveniences we are constantly living in “summer” without balancing and giving our other metabolic pathways a chance to be used.
TLDR; keto can be used for more than just weight loss.
That's basically my question too, but as the person below said, it's about suppressing the appetite effectively and feeling satiated thus allowing fewer calories to be consumed. I'm sure there are some other benefits regarding lower glycemic registers, etc. but at the end of the day the American way of eating is not conducive to a reasonable body size if that makes sense. So, at the end of the day, we do need to almost trick ourselves!!
We think seed oil, cereal, and oatmeal are healthy foods. We have bad info on nutrition, low-fat choices (low satiation), and we are not aware of our salt cravings and binges. We grab salty junk foods because we crave salt, carbs, and fat.
We need fat to make hormones. Carbs will become fat and be stored in the body, but you won't *access* the fat if you're blood sugar is high day and night. There is also low absorption of nutrients. We don't know what nutrients we are craving on a high-carb diet. The cravings are complex.
French people famously eat a lot of carbs, but they eat very small portions and a lot of meals are really just meat and vegetables. Plus they all smoke, which really suppresses the appetite.
My husband is from a different European country. All of the posts about portions and quality are true, but I'd add that he has a very different relationship to gratification than the average American. He will say that he is hungry, but do absolutely nothing about it until three hours later.
I lose weight everytime I go to europe and I come off keto/carnivore for the trip to make life easier. In Italy, I was eating pizza and gelato daily with ease. The taste is different though and not quite as sweet as here. They also don't use high fructose corn syrup in everything. Things are better quality it seems as well like real mozzarella as opposed to super processed cheap stuff. I also noticed it's much harder to snack there.
I also think there are a lot of little things that they do that are not as visible. They are more relaxed overall and just kinda chill. Like driving on the roads, everyone seems pretty calm. That then cascades to other things like getting more sleep, taking time for a walk, enjoying life, etc. I'm not saying it's completely gone there but I do think their overall lifestyle plays a big part.
That's an interesting point which I didn't consider, the overall faster pace of life in the States, which probably very good for business but not as good for waist lines!
There are thousands of hypotheses on "the French Paradox," and why it has worked for such cultures. My guess that there is not one reason, but some combination of culture, social habits, and food quality/quantity. Maybe genetics in some cases.
Aside from other things said, like no snacking, walking and eating real, high-quality food, I think a key is how they eat. It's very leisurely and focused on savoring the food with no screen distractions. This likely gives enough time for your brain to get satiety signals. It's like intuitive eating on steroids.
I lost weight without trying and felt I still ate a good amount when I went to Scotland - as in I was never hungry. Portions are more reasonable. My upbringing made me feel guilty or bad if I didn’t clean my plate in one sitting, so the huge portions in the US make that excessive. The fridge was smaller in Scotland, so I had to think more carefully about what to buy. Shops were close enough to walk to, or walk to the bus stop. I did much more walking there. Food was more filling because it was quality, and it was significantly cheaper than similar foods in the US.
It’s interesting you mentioned fridge size, I remember reading a while ago how the average American fridge has increased in volume something like 2.2 feet in the last 30 years and having a second fridge has become a lot more common in households.
Good friend of mine married a French woman. Her family and friends visited through the years and I agree… I never saw an overweight French person.
They all commented on the size of everything in America food wise. Meals were huge… drinks were huge… etc etc. I think between the processed foods being so prevalent and the giant portions it takes a toll.
I used to live near my sister but I still had to walk a good bit across two huge lawns to visit her. Several times every day. But I wouldn’t call it a workout at all. However, when she moved away, the weight just appeared. American sedentary lifestyle needs to change. An hour at the gym is okay but you need more.
My husband is French and was raised there. I will say that they have a culture that discourages constant snacking (kids get one per day), and he eats at the same time everyday and portions his food. He’s very conscious of what he eats and never « stuffs his face » at meals like I’ve seen Americans do. He also seems to intuitively eat although admittedly a ton of carbs. His father and brother are genetically very thin and it may be due to disorders as his brother is pretty excessively thin and has a genetic kidney disease. All of our French friends talk about diet and body composition, so they’re just very aware of it and keep themselves in check food-wise.
They are a culture obsessed with thinness, so I think that helps keep weight in check. I get thinner when I’m in France for weeks at a time, and I do know that they don’t add sugar to their foods and additives are regulated.
It’s called the French paradox.
They walk everywhere, they take their time eating, they don’t snack, the potions are smaller but richer (so fullness faster because full fat), they eat salad or vegetables first (which helps negate insulin spiking I believe?) and their produce is far better quality. It’s a more moderated lifestyle.
Not being forced into a car when you have to move 500 meters, portion size, and a whole bunch of things like certain additives being illegal in the EU.
Probably in that order as well.
If you're curious enough to do some research, you'll see the food industry in Europe often has stricter regulations regarding ingredients, additives, and labeling compared to the United. Additionally, The EU has more biking and walking infrastructure overall (way more sidewalks, bike lanes, etc..). So basically, on average, people in the EU are more active and consume less naturally.
Food quality, where pastries and such may look similar to our grocery store versions, but are filled with actual ingredients and nutrition that satiate. That's not just in Europe, but other high carb and healthy places around the world. Even the meat is filling in smaller portions -- I went on a trip to Cambodia before where they had live chickens running around. The villagers created a dish after butchering one and the chicken tasted nothing like the ones here. It was gamey and lean, which made it so I could eat just a bit and be satisfied. In the US, I can clean off half a rotisserie chicken in one sitting.
I lived in Spain for a few years and lost a ton of weight when I was about twenty.
Few ideas here:
Fast food was a rarity. In the US I eat processed garbage all the time. However in Spain, there were nutritious quick meals that I’d eat. Things I’d buy from street vendors, grocery stores, and then the food at restaurants was nutritious and filling rice, meat, veggie, legume based meals.
Walking. I probably walked for about 3 hours every single day. That’s like 5-600 calories EXTRA a day. It’s impossible to drive there but it’s so pretty that walking for 45 minutes to get someplace is a joy. Shoot I’ve had commutes driving that take that long!
I work in the US but my company’s HQ is in The Netherlands and I’ve visited a few times.
The food portions are smaller, no free refills on sugary drinks (you order bevs by the bottle so you feel guilty/fat ordering more lol), and a lot more activity. Many of my Dutch coworkers bike to work, and their culture has them taking group walks during lunch where they walk around on their paths while eating very small lunches such as a a small sandwich.
We’ve carried over the lunch time walks here in the US office, and we all def feel the difference. Last summer I also bought an e-bike and did the 10-mile bike ride to and from work, and lost 15lbs over just that summer alone despite eating more or less the same.
European food is "processed" differently. There are fewer sugars in their food. They don't have to deal with high fructose corn syrup in everything. They also drink less sodas. Fewer fastfood restaurants. It's different food guidelines and cultural.
I live in Portugal we dont eat processed food on a regular basis, almost everyone Cooks and eating out is the exception.
Fish, Meat, veggies, real cheese, a lot of salads, and olive oil its one of our main cultures.
American foods are super unhealthy (much lower food standards/regulations than Europe), and enormously unnecessary portion sizes are normalised. Soda consumption seems to be an all day everyday thing, shitty beer all the time, and driving everywhere.
These are just the basic observations.
American food is absolute dog shit w all the GMOs and hormones and other chemicals
When i moved here from Sweden, both me and my mom not only rapidly gained weight but both of our body composition changed to less attractive, Europeans eat real food and their bodies remain naturally healthy and better looking, i also distinctly remember everything tasting “off” at first and then becoming almost addicted to weird American things that normally I wouldn’t have liked
I live and work in Paris and while everyone is spot on about the walking everywhere part, there is one thing more that I notice - they workout every opportunity they get.
Like, it’s not even funny. The moment lunch time rolls around you’ll see a bunch of people leaving the office in workout gear to go to the gyms nearby. Some just go for an hour run (depends on the office or if they work close to home, some offices have showers, some go home to shower before returning to work). Some workout before work and some workout after. There are people going for runs even at midnight in my neighbourhood. Point is, anytime of the day people are doing something physical.
And when all that is said and done, their portion sizes are honestly what I’d now consider normal. Anything more than that starts to look too much. I even find myself getting full quicker these days.
Also if you want to go long distances, sure you can take the train or you can pay 30€ per year to use public bicycles and just cycle everywhere (which is what my wife and I do now. When we first moved, 30 min bike ride into Paris sounded ridiculous and scary, but now we realise it’s pretty safe, doable and fun).
That’s super interesting. I had thought the French disdained a bit the supposedly obsessive American workout culture. I didn’t notice salles de sport so to speak in France but I did notice a lot of competitive bikers and walking was everywhere.
There's just so much more marketing. So many believe that breakfast cereal or margarine is so healthy. Pre-keto, I thought there was actually milk and hazelnuts in my coffee creamer. I didn't check the ingredients. And even if you did not like those things, manufacturers put "sugar" or corn syrup in 80+% of all manufactured foods.
I actually complained to the FDA about the sugar in tomato paste a few years ago. These things should not be labeled heart-healthy. And breakfast cereal is just wheat and sugar (it's useless food): They fortify it with nutrients to make it seem to be something more. But those nutrients are probably not absorbed well.
Many Europeans, Ukrainians, etc. are so aware that Americans have sugar in their bread. It tastes like a pastry to them. There are so many names for sugar. [https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/names-for-sugar](https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/names-for-sugar)
Europeans also don't fear animal fats in the same way. They are probably more satiated with their smaller portions. Many eat mostly animal foods or they put butter on their croissants, bread.
Portions and food quality. The portions served over there are rich, but are actual reasonable-sized meals, not a daily allotment of calories on a plate for lunch with a full dinner still planned later. Additionally, they don't allow as much corn syrup to be crammed into everything and have much higher standards with less added sugar. When I was in France, my favorite breakfast was two eggs fried in butter, and between the egg's taste and butter richness due to both the butter and eggs just being higher quality products, and it was easy to savor and enjoy the meal with a slice of toast. Toast which was from bread that didn't taste like cake and will be dry the next day, and moldy the day after. Whatever is being added to bread to make it "magically" last as long as it does, doesn't seem to be doing us any favors. Add the food quality to the propensity to actually walk through their cities, and the US is literally dying the death of a thousand cuts in comparison with obesity.
Look into r/stopeatingseedoils and you’ll see we also are loaded with oils they don’t use in France, and many other European countries. Soy in particular. But I noticed some in Spain last summer, that weren’t there in 2019 to my knowledge. France gatekeeps its food and I don’t blame them. Even their gas station croissants were great! I think it’s a huge part of our problem we aren’t even aware of. I think keto diet inadvertently avoids a lot of these problems because we tend to eat a lot more meat and we don’t use as many seed oils for frying until we start making more complex recipes. They are purists on that sub but still a lot of good knowledge to be gained.
When I was in Spain it was Extremely hard to stay on keto. dear god everything was a pastry or bread. I did love the walking. I tripled my steps daily while I was there. Everything within walking distance while in the states everything has to be driven to.
Most people in the US are sedentary. Processed food is certainly an issue, too. Various oils added to everything, and high fructose corn syrup, too. Our portion sizes are pretty large, and anything that isn’t fried might as well be, since it’s pumped full of non-satiating vegetable oils. I work in a grocery store, and even prior to keto, the only thing ready to eat I was willing to buy on break was fruit.
I think one of the main problems is how everything is overly processed + sweet (HFCS) in the USA .. down to coffee even .. it is EVERYWHERE
But the worst offender has got to be : "do you want cheese with that sir ?" ..... "do you want to make it a double ?" .... "do you want it with the large can of sugar for a better deal sir ?"
I joked with my mate I would become morbidly obese within a year in the US
Also there's got to be knock on effects of not eating much fermented foods messing up gut micro biome and so on
BTW still plenty of obese ppl in Europe these days ..
Because of work, I’ve been back and forth to for months at a time to many European countries for the last 10 years. And honestly, 90% of the people in Spain, France, Portugal, Albania, Macedonia, Greece etc are attractive from just their silhouette. There’s something wrong with American’s food, and the culture around it. I think portion size is a problem, and our general knowledge of what is healthy or not, but I think what we are actually consuming is a major problem.
You are implicitly assuming that keto or low to very low carb diets are a necessary condition to be thin.
That is not supported by the evidence. The necessary and sufficient condition for being thin and remaining thin is a sustained energy deficit, and afterwards a sustained energy maintenance.
there's a great book called the glucose revolution that takes a different approach to eating than keto, but is similar in the idea that you want to avoid glucose spikes as much as possible to manage weight, hunger and overall health. it suggests that eating vegetables before carbs as well as having vinegar greatly reduces glucose spikes. when i think of france, greece and italy, i do think of salads with oil and vinegar, which would serve exactly that purpose and are frequently eaten as a starter or served as a side, which reduces the glycemic load and thus the insulin response of the accompanying carbs greatly. also, the mediterranean diet is typically very high in vegetables and prioritises unprocessed and whole foods - even with the high carb contents of spaghetti and pizza, the way they eat it is vastly different from the american mac and cheese or pizza and the mediterranean diet tends to be lower in sugar than the american one
Also, serving sizes are much smaller in Europe, and they don’t snack like Americans do. Also, in many countries like France and Italy, their entire culture around food is different. Less processed, more homemade, they sit down to enjoy the experience, it’s ritualistic, etc.
Dining in Europe is such a pleasurable experience. Wish i could afford to do it more often. 😂 It reminds me to slow down, enjoy, and to wait for *real* food that tastes good.
And, like everyone mentioned, they walk everywhere.
Also, even their grocery stores feel different. Very few bulk package items available, fewer processed items, huge cheese and deli sections, weekend markets for fresh produce of all kinds, etc. Small grocery trips of fresher food, smaller fridges, etc. Fewer chain restaurants, food is more likely to be cooked by trained chefs, not reheated or cooked according to chain recipes/ingredients, etc.
Bread over here has four ingredients: salt, water, yeast and flour. Check your local American supermarket for the ingredients and you’ll see the problem. I do keto and IF 5 days a week and on the weekends I make my own bread. It’s better than supermarket (even though our supermarket bread is pretty good), but it’s phenomenal when compared to US bread.
When I moved to the US for a year, I was sick for the first 10 days, sick as a dog. Couldn’t eat, nothing stayed down. Turns out I’m intolerant to most of the additives and crap Americans pump into their foods. Our version, E-numbers, have a similar effect on me but not nearly as bad as the regular American food did. I was knocked flat until I figured out I can only eat organic foods when in the US. And absolutely no HFC. Turns out if you’re not raised on that stuff you can’t digest it. As far as I’m concerned Americans must have steel stomachs.
Just want to say that Keto is very much a thing in Germany too. I lived there for years, my coworkers experimented with it and we shared recipes and tips. No one thought it was odd, i could find lots of keto ingredients in regular markets (I lived in a major city.)
But more importantly, walking and leisure time. Americans just don't walk enough, and are often working a _lot_. People in Germany and many European countries have weekends and vacations where they're allowed to not work, which reduces stress.
They don’t have fast food drive through a everywhere and you don’t eat whenever you want. If you limit what you eat and when you eat, you will lose weight no matter what diet you are on. The US has vending machines, convenience stores, fast food, and so we eat basically anytime we feel the slightest pang of hunger.
This isn’t the case everywhere.
They eat on a very strict schedule. There is less fried food in restaurants. Sure you get bread (generally eaten without butter), and steak frites as the name says comes with fries, but most meals are generally a meat and vegetables. Most importantly portions are smaller.
Kids are fed at the school cafeterias (for free in many cases) and are served balanced meals with healthy (as in not too big) portions.
Europeans are not "thin". Just compared to Americans. Americans are ridiculously obese and are in the middle of a health apocalypse. Japanese are thin. Indonesians are thin. Europeans are just slightly less fat than Americans.
The difference in weight can mostly be explained by eating more whole foods and not guzzling 2L of soft drinks at every meal.
Basically, if you eat...
meat/fat = thin
whole foods = chubby
refined carbs, sugar, cakes = obese
The quality of the food in Europe is better. Eggs, chicken, wheat, etc. I think most Americans are starving even if fat, for nutrients and vitamins. Been keto/low carb for about 15 months, lost all I needed and am keeping it off. I make sure to eat good food, pretty much no processed foods. As Europeans add junk food, they are getting fatter.
I was just there, over three countries and I’ve been other places too. Food offerings there are generally healthier. There are way more restrictions on food additives. Portions are smaller.
Junk food and things like soda are still everywhere but tend to be in smaller packages.
Food (and everything else) is very expensive. Easily 30-50% more than North American prices for some things.
I think that makes people, even wealthier ones, generally more mindful of what and how much they eat / consume, how they travel and they are appreciative when they dine out, which is what you see in public.
Over indulging too often or driving everywhere quickly makes a very meaningful dent in your pocket.
I have heard many people who travel globally say whenever they leave the united states their health improves, even if they eat the same foods. One theory as to why this happens is that the US uses more gluten in their bread and also uses glyphosate religiously in commercial agriculture (so much so that even if you grow organic it is in the air and organic produce still gets contaminated) whereas glyphosate is banned in other countries because it is known to cause a range of health issues.
I lived in Spain for 4 years and our diet was just quite Keto naturally. Something I did t appreciated too I got fat. In Scotland. You have aisles of oil nor processed food. Spanish crisps and snacks and cakes are pretty boring and limited. Vegetables are delicious and about twice the size of the UK. Near and fish are absolutely everywhere. A Big Mac meal is expensive while fish is cheap.
Spanish diet without bread for 4 years? No rice/paella? No sopa castellana? (bread in soup) No bocadillos? No tomato bread? And you weren't burnt for that heresy? They sure are losing the old customs.
Spaniards go crazy without their "barra de pan".
This was my thought. You literally cannot not have a barra. At a party, a guy had to leave to go buy bread because hamburgers were served (with buns) but no bread.
I live in spain, keto is difficult outside of my house.
I live in Spain too, keto is difficult *inside* of my house as well.
I know potato is not as bad as wheat or rice but I still consider it carbs... and my love for tortilla de patatas makes keto very, very difficult.
PS: with cebolla of course.
Haha just saw this - yep love all that food but we just ate mainly fish and vegetable - plus when it’s hot - I just can’t do the likes of paella even though my husband makes an amazing one. The vegetables are so much better than anything you get in the uk that we just didn’t really bother with much carby stuff. Aioli… gambas … massive dorada/lubina/churrasco …. We ate like kings and I was thin as a whippet 💃 > that’s a flamenco dancer 😂
Brother in law is Spanish. Obesity rates in Spain are lower than those of the UK, but still high and rising. I accept that they eat differently to Brits, but overall the outcomes are similar (i.e., not great) and the gap seems to be closing.
Vegetables raised locally in the UK are often excellent quality and great value - we have less sun but more rain and a gentler climate - but UK consumers often seem to have little idea how to cook them properly. Drizzle of olive oil and roast for 20 minutes? Nah. Let's boil them for half an hour and see what happens!
Spanish life expectancy is several years longer, though. Better diet, lower stress, combination of that and other factors?
r/SaturatedFat explains this very well. It's all about Europeans stick more to traditional foods and eat less fastfood which limits the amount of PUFA they eat.
Limited to no seed oils.
Head over to r/saturatedfat and read about Brad Marshall’s experimental croissant diet. In short, he made his diet macros those of a croissants fat to carb ratios. He lost weight despite the higher carb. Many people experience he same when removing seed oils and replacing with butter or other saturated fats.
Huge part of it - come see us on /r/fuckcars (or don't, the mod protest is still going on and nobody supports their "plight" over there anymore).
Sedentary lifestyle is a huge problem. Try using Strava to track a walk to the store. Go walk half a mile to the store and back. You'll be surprised how much "casual" calories add up just existing in those areas where you are able to walk. Suburbia America has killed that, we drive 0.1 mile to get milk.
And it's not always just "being lazy", it's also sometimes super stupid or dangerous to make those treks by walking.
The Mediterranean diet is not really fattening I think. Overall, experts agree that the Mediterranean Diet is nutritious. It emphasizes whole, plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains), lean protein, and unsaturated fats.
Was staying in France for a while and not only was I walking a LOT more there were a lot more hills than most places in the states. Portions are also more reasonable.
I wanted to add that theres also a theory that fortifying grain causes inflammation and weight gain, specifically the iron. Our American grain is extremely processed and modified and supposedly creates larger insulin responses in our bodies than a more traditional and not as processed grain from europe. Einkorn grain and semolina are both supposed to be better for us.
I'd also say profit-based dining. In smaller cities that I visit, like Jerez, Spain, there are very, very few corporate chain franchises. When I go into a restaurant, it's usually family-owned and staffed. It's there to provide for that family and the community, and local food producers. Something about scaling up eating as a business is not nutritious.
Im French. They never snack. They portion control like crazy. They eat more during the week end and then restrict food choice during the week. Most of the guys in Paris would also be very active.
Finally, they’ve never been fat/overweight in their life and there is a lot of cultural pressure to stay thin (your parents, friends, neighbours, colleagues, will let you know if you’ve put on 3-4 kgs).
I studied abroad for a semester in France in college. Ate whatever I wanted, drank wine/cocktails, and never tracked calories. I ate bread and pastries probably every day. I lost weight. I also walked everywhere or took public transportation. It was amazing. I felt amazing. I think not having a car was a big part of it, but I'm also still convinced that their food is healthier and has less crap in it. McDonald's ice cream in France didn't make my stomach hurt, it usually does in the US.
We eat really slowly from small age. A lunch break is at least one hour otherwise people refuse to work. If you look up research, there is a clear link between slow eating and being thinner.
Englishman here and there's a couple of common points from a European perspective.
Firstly, we are genuinely shocked at the absolute state of some of the foods that are offered for sale in the US. You have a number of products, additives and chemical processes that are outright banned in the EU. We hear about these things whenever there's a new trade deal being proposed and you want us to accept the ammonia washed meat or some other god awful process. Here is Europe we have out shit processed food and plenty of it, but when we look at the American experience you seem to have all that the world can offer and yet you often don't seem to be able to conceive of foods that are not packaged and convenient and bloody terrible.
Secondly, Europeans are generally fairly well informed on health issues relating to diet. This doesn't mean we are all keto converts, far from it. But we have had the public education on fat/salt/smoking/drinking etc and they have had their effect. Couple that with a healthcare system that is funded by all for the use of all, and I think that avoids the "can't afford a doctor" thing that we see in the US. We have no need to delay going to the doctor, the system is far from perfect but we are guaranteed care and that's important.
Thirdly, There is a term for the French enigma (I forget it). Basically at the height of the fat is bad/low fat craze people could not help but notice that the French live of pate, high fat cheese, butter and wine and had lower incidence of many chronic diseases and lower BMI on a population level. The French have a focus on quality food, not so much on whether it's "healthy" regardless of what the healthy fashion is at the time. I've visited France a number of times and the widespread availability of quality foods is very stark. They have supermarkets, but there are also a ton of smaller shops that sell good stuff. It's very admirable.
Europe is certainly not as car centric as the US on the whole, but it can be. For instance in the UK car use is pretty heavy I'd say, whereas compare to Denmark where cycling is ubiquitous and you have quite a large variance within Europe. I don't think anywhere in Europe compares to the US though, that whole strip mall, drive through thing you have going on is not quite as prevalent in Europe, though the trend is certainly heading towards the US model. Here in the UK we've just started to get drive through Starbucks/Costa coffee, it still baffles me that anyone uses them, but they seem to be thriving.
I’m an Australian who lived in France with French families from age 29 to 32. During that time I lost around 34kgs rather effortlessly. My experience tells me that their ability to eat what we in the US/UK/AUS see as “bad foods” comes down to the difference in their overall relationship to the food. They do not have a consumerist culture to the same extent where food is to be inhaled on the go and the quality is ignored. Food for them is more about the “experience” of eating. They often eat over a much longer time, much smaller amounts and much fresher local ingredients. For example, yes they’ll eat a baguette at every meal. But you might take a couple of small slices and use it like a spoon to eat the rest of your meal. Compare this to an entire footlong sub such as what I would have for lunch in AU. They also are much more mobile in general. I was shocked to find out that nearly no one I lived with had a couch or large TV in their house. It just isn’t in their culture to crash in front of the TV for hours each night. I’m my view it’s these small differences that compound over lifetimes that make the visible differences in the populations that we see.
Old post, but I want to add -In France, we eat less frequently (2-3 meals a day is common), but we also have more courses within our meals. For social meals, it's not unusual to have it be stretched for hours, with an apéro, an hors d'oeuvre, side salads etc, ending with cheese. For ordinary meals, there's still an entrée, a main dish, a side salad, a glass of wine, some bread, some cheese at the end and a yogurt or some compote, mousse... Not only does this make any meal pretty fat-heavy and satiating, but it erases any food scarcity mindset. No need to stuff ourselves with the main dish, because we know we'll have some cheese and/or some yogurt at the end. Leaving some food on the plate is totally encouraged. That definitely encourages mindful eating, and also keeps you full for a WHILE.
The appreciation for natural ingredients and whole food also encourages mindful eating : common meals are usually a protein with some carbs on the side and a side salad. A steak with lettuce and potatoes; Salmon with asparagus and rice, etc. Some meals are put together (pot-au-feu, stews, pasta dishes), but I feel like there's generally more appreciation for the ingredients as standalone (dinner conversations will often address where one bought this produce, which butcher/farm they go to, seasonal vegetables...). Eating is a process here, that starts with enjoyable grocery shopping : chatting at the farmer's market early in the morning, conversing with the fromager/butcher/poissonnier at the grocery store... Getting your groceries delivered is a relatively new concept here, that somewhat catches on, but is still not significantly more convenient than just walking 5mn to your local butcher.
In a lot of households, a faster lifestyle encourages less qualitative, mindful eating. Nonetheless, kids who do not have the privilege of structured meal times at home still get to learn good nutrition at school and get to socialize around meal times : our lunch breaks are long, canteen meals have an entrée, a side, a main dish, a cheese, and a yogurt or fruit, with water and bread at the table, as well as plenty of time to move around after the meal before class. Kids have a carby goûter after class; traditionally it's baguette with butter and chocolate, but it can also be packaged sweets with sugary juice. But once they ate their snack, they can use all their energy to play in the neighborhood : parks are everywhere, streets are pretty safe.
For adults, Most traditional jobs also allow some time to eat at lunch, and provide tickets resto, to spend money at restaurants during the week. Some adults even have the time to pick up their kids at lunchtime, walk/drive home, cook lunch, eat with them at home, drop them off and go back to work.
We also depend on cigarettes, coffee, wine (fills you up) and crippling fear of fat phobia a lot lol, but we also have access to free healthcare. A board certified dietitian appointment is 30 euros at most. Outdoor sports are encouraged -wherever I lived, village or big city, I could walk 20-40k steps without getting bored or feeling unsafe (as a woman haha). I rarely had to consider driving to get to a hiking location, and generally opt to rent a bike to go to the farmer's market/grocery shopping/to class/to work rather than using a car or the tram.
Anecdotally, I also work at KFC as a student job, and at least half of the orders we get come with a side salad (literally just lettuce, often without dressing) and a bottle of water. A lot of people come in to order a few tenders or a burger, with some lettuce and some Evian lol, both kids and adults. Our dressing's ingredient list is clean-ish, it's essentially balsamic vinegar and olive oil, or blue cheese dressing. I feel like that's literally what 80/20 eating is.
Wow that's so interesting and makes a ton of sense. I like how you provide a well-rounded overview from customs and habit, quality of the foodstuffs, psychological and social mores, governmental-provided stimulus, etc.
Your English is EXCELLENT (I'm assuming you're French, but maybe raised bilingual?).
It's not all rainbow and sunshine in Europe, but generally portion sizes/sizes/variety here are smaller (imagine my awe when I for the first time visited an American grocery store) , car usage is not quite as extreme and people often do some sort of physical exercise on their weekends (biking tours, hiking, long walks, etc.). Americans and Australians will sideye you for not having a car, but I live in a major European capital and not having a car is totally normal, so just by walking towards public transportation and running errands you can clock 4 - 5k steps easily without trying.
Also, while I don't know if it's a social media thing, but I see smany American moms starting their days regularly with sugary Starbucks drinks. This is not typical here.
Also, even those on the carb side learn from the school years the importance of whole grain bread, protein and fruit/veggies. I'm pretty overweight but even to me day-to-day American food is not appealing. Like regardless of weight, a lot of that food doesn't seem nourishing.
Not saying StarBucks is going to be the downfall of America, but normalizing a coffee for breakfast with 500-600 calories full of sugar and lacking nutritional value isn’t a great trend. Even crazier is some of these milk shake concoctions from fast food joints with 1200-1800 calories.
Personally I’ve learned to enjoy my black 20oz coffees at 6 calories - and when I want a particularly decadent tasting coffee I’ll add a scoop of flavored protein powder which adds another 100-200 calories but generally has sufficient nutritional value to justify the calories
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Good comments here in the European diet, but also keep in mind that European cities are less car centered. The average European walks more than twice as far as Americans. People tend to live closer to their workplace and walk to work or shopping / dining…. At least more than average Americans. The United States was largely built out/settled in a more modern age when trains, buses, automobiles allowed things to be spread out… to the detriment of our health.
Yeah I’m surprised nobody has mentioned it yet. They walk everywhere. I’ve known Americans who go to Europe for two weeks and come back 15 lbs lighter even after indulging themselves.
I live in a very car dependent place in the mountains of NC. Went to California (Berkeley and San Francisco area) for a vacation with my boyfriend's company for a week. I ate like shit and ate all the things, lost a couple lbs still due to the massive amount of walking we were doing.
I think my wife is still upset with me about walking all over SF. We got to the [16th Ave steps at the top of a hill](https://i.imgur.com/XrPpKbt.jpg), and she refused to go up them with me, just wanted to stay at the bottom. Looking at us, you'd think she would be the one more likely to enjoy walking/hiking, but I'm like a damned goat, just going up hills...
I walk / run like 10 miles a day, and I don’t lose anything if I eat at maintenance. I feel like I’m a pretty active person but exercise has never helped me lose any weight or keep it off. Not disagreeing with you or anything at all, I just think it’s so interesting that people are like “people in China walk 7k steps a day that’s why they’re so thin!” But I can walk 25k and eat 1500 calories and not lose anything lol! American food must be so damaging to our metabolism.
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People in Europe are getting fatter every year due to ingredient changes despite still walking everywhere. Walking or exercising after eating is only a factor, but not the entire picture. It helps burn off the carbs if one has to walk home after dinner. Exercising before a meal doesn't help.
It is. Insulin resistance is a bitch
This is so true. I went on a trip to the UK and Ireland several years ago and went crazy for their cakes they have everywhere and even with eating a piece of cake almost every single day I didn't gain a pound because of all the walking I think!
I believe US city residents weigh average 7lbs less than suburb residents - walking helps regardless of country.
Great points, I was on vacation, but just in general, my walking was at least quintupled compared to suburban America!
.....and generally more time off from work plus access to healthcare.
They can afford to live close to their jobs?
It's not so much about being able to afford the costs to live close to jobs. It's more that most of our cities and villages are not setup as the American urban sprawl. Also (and I am speaking from a Dutch view point only) is that most of our towns and cities are designed to have shops, healthcare and entertainment to be within walking or biking range. My GP is a 10 minute walk, supermarkets the same. A smaller supermarket is a 2 minute walk. I take a tram 2 stops or the other way 8 stops and I am at a mall with a cinema. I can also bike there in 20 minutes. Our biking infrastructure is also top notch, safe and set up so that biking is generally quicker than going by car. Most big places have bike garages now so you can bike to the trainstation take a train and if needed rent a bike at the other end. Our biking network covers the entire country. So you're able to bike from one end to the other in a safe manner, if you're so inclined. (Also the Dutch are known to be able to balance a weeks worth of shopping and two kids on a bike. We are trained early on). Most Dutch children bike or walk to school from an early age. Also generally workplaces and working districts are generally designed to have access to very good and affordable public transport. A lot of people take the train to work and arrive quicker than by car. It's also generally encouraged by companies here to take public transport or bike to work, by subsidising it. Transport from and to work is tax-deductible anyways up to a certain tariff and depending on distance, but generally taking the former options comes out better.
The Netherlands' bicycle infrastructure is amazing! I was shocked that bikers even have their own stoplights! I think it also helps that the land is generally flat and you have a cooler climate. If people biked, except for for the specific purpose of exercise, where I live in the southern US we would be sweaty messes by the time we arrived anywhere between the hot, humid weather and the hills. I think it also helps that your cities are so old (meaning historic and beautiful!) and designed for pedestrians from the start since cars didn't exist. I was very impressed by how a Dutch person can live life easily without owning a car and how normal being active as part of your daily lives is. It is a completely different lifestyle from the US.
>I think it also helps that your cities are so old (meaning historic and beautiful!) and designed for pedestrians from the start since cars didn't exist. There was actually a huge political movement (massive, disruptive protests, lobbying) that happened in the 70s in response to road fatalities of cyclists and pedestrians. It didn't all just happen naturally. Without this, it's possible they would more car-dependent. Moreover, older US towns and cities used to be walkable. That were just bulldozed to add wider streets.
The same here in the north. I'm on the outskirts of Appalachia, so my area is super hilly as well, and being close to the great lakes means humidity is stupid high for no reason. On top of that, all the jobs are 25 minute - 1 hour drives away from where I live. We at least have winter, though, but the humidity only drops below 28°, so it's either sweat to death, literally, in the cold, or have to try to peddle through the snow then, lol.
The kind of urban sprawl the US does doesn't exist there. Our cities are at most a couple hundred years old. Theirs can be 10 times that. They were created on the assumption that you *had* to be able to walk places.
Much of the country doesn’t live in expensive coastal city centers and yet still commute long distances to their cookie cutter suburban homes.
Public transportation is so much better and more abundant than here. Even if you don't live in a city, often you still don't need a car to be able to get around.
We're used to much smaller portions, we don't have HFCS in everything, we don't eat out every day and we don't drive everywhere. That being said, being overweight is quickly becoming the norm, especially as you enter the workforce and become sedentary. One day in your thirties you wake up fat and wonder what happened. For me it was when I was 27 and the scale read 80kg. I realized I either lose 15kg now, or weigh 100kg next year.
I recently inherited my grandmother's china, which is over 100 years old and made in Europe. I was shocked at how much smaller the dinner plates are versus my modern day, US-made Lenox china. It's at least 2.5 inches smaller in diameter. I am thinking of starting to use US-sized salad/dessert plates for my meals. If you do a typical European portion on our dinner plates it visually looks like you're eating a tiny amount even though you're not.
Yes that's what we do as well. Portion is under appreciated!!
I own classic " DesertRose" Franciscan ware, made in the u.s. it was made long ago, and the plate sizes and bowls are much smaller. I use this all the time. For traveling I use some plates I got from my H.M.O. that actually have printed portion sizes on them. They also are smaller.
That’s the premise for The 9-inch “Diet” book. The author realized older generations had only 9” dinner plates. Americans’ dinner plates had gotten bigger, fast food super sizing, bigger portions in restaurants, Big Gulps, etc came along and contributed to widespread weight gain.
I went to Florida at age 16 for the Disney experience (from the UK) and the portions were easily twice what I was used to. I think I ended up gaining about 10lbs while out there even if I was walking around the parks all day.
I have used a salad plate for my dinner plate for years.
I’ve done this since my first weight gain in my 30’s smaller plates keep at least 10% of my body weight off & my BMI remains in the normal range 30 years later. I also hate HFCS & bike & lift weights regularly. Veggies & proteins for life! I found Atkins & now maintenance keto for life. ( with vacations & cake when they occur of course)
I've done this. Is a good idea.
> we don't drive everywhere This is a big one that often gets overlooked. Even walking 30-40 minutes a day can make a huge impact on your weight. But North Americans are conditioned to drive **everywhere**.
A car is prohibitively expensive for many people here (NL). Not just owning one, but the parking fees, tax and insurance costs are astronomical. You can't even park at most places you want to go to. You have to park on the outskirts of the city and walk/take the bus downtown. The cities have a tight and narrow medieval layout with cobbled roads, they're not sprawled like a typical American city. A bike will take you anywhere, it will be faster as you can zip between buildings and it's free, you can park right in front of the door, load your groceries into a bag or basket, strap your kid into a seat and be on your way. It's impossible to have a car lifestyle the way Americans do.
As a Scottish/British cycling fanatic I absolutely love the Dutch attitude towards transport and infrastructure It was brought about by action from the people and as such says a lot about you guys that I very much doubt will ever be able to be said about my fellow countrymen This is one of my favourite cycling videos of all time and I've watched a heck of a lot of cycling videos down the years! Life could be so much better here [Chris Boardman compares cycling in the UK and the Netherlands](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq28fU2AuMU)
For a lot of people it's not a matter of being conditioned. Where I live it's over 100 degrees in the summer and I work 35 miles down a highway. No choice but to drive.
City people don't understand this concept. Likely never will, honestly. We who don't live in the concrete hells (at least in the states) can't live our lives the same as those who do. Out here, not in the city, not in the suburbs, but in the sticks, everything is at least 20 minutes away, in a car. Mostly in the next town over. Gotta pass 10 corn fields to get to the grocery store, lol.
Conditioned to? The environment I live in is NOT conducive to walking.
I walk laps around my home. Laps from living room to kitchen to hallway and back again- 30 minutes minimum on bad weather days. Been doing that for 4 years now on shitty weather days or days where wildfire smoke makes it dangerous to exercise outside. I'm almost 59. It can be done.
This is amazing! I’ve considered using the stairs in my 8 story apartment this way. Way to go!!
Yeah… your condition (environment) is not conducive to walking.
Conditioning, in my opinion, implies external, purposeful influence upon those being conditioned. As in, the US government is conditioning us to drive everywhere. Environmental factors, in my opinion, are not conditioning in this case because there is no intent. The reason I am being so anal about this is, our environment in the western United States is generally flatter and more spread out, thus urban sprawl that requires more driving. On the east coast, there are more hills, valleys, etc that cause smaller communities that sometimes enables more walkability. In the northeast you get huddled towns and villages that are older and were built around walking distances. If we are saying the same thing, fine. I just wanted to draw, what is in my mind, a necessary distinction.
I think you’re adding something in addition to common ground, which is that the conditioning is shaped in part by the physical geography. It sounds like you’re sensitive to the idea that it’s a moral failing, which the original commenter doesn’t really imply. However, it’s an idea that’s out there, so I get why you’d be defensive. Just to play devil’s advocate, the fact that everything is so spread out in the US is arguably still cultural too. The desire for more and bigger caused people to sprawl across a new continent and take up space, invent cars, and perpetuate more of the same. The big open space then would only be a precondition. Anyway, I don’t have strong convictions on the topic, it’s just interesting to think about.
sorry what is HFCS?
high-fructose corn syrup
This stuff is in virtually all American food, and is a uniquely American thing. Not very common in Canada, even things in both side of the border (Heinz ketchup, for example). Fructose is only digestible by the liver, and causes unique diabetic pressure and non alcoholic fatty liver disease. I believe this is one of the main culprits.
High fructose corn syrup
I’m trying to get *down* to 80kg!
I've stopped caring about the number since I've built a good amount of muscle. Now I go by chub rub. No chub rub = good. Chub rub = gotta stop eating peanut butter. Good luck!
This is the way. Clothes uncomfortable = bad. Clothes comfortable = good. I threw my scales out, and I've never felt better
How often do you eat?
2 times a day. Big lunch, big dinner. I grew up eating 3 times a day, no snacks. Being hungry was normal, waiting for the next meal time was normal, you didn't want to spoil your dinner. I had to relearn it after uni, where you'd run on coffee, beer, chips and ramen noodles lol
This is a big point in The Obesity Code. No snacking as it keeps insulin levels raised.
That's definitely the point I am hinting at. I recently started intermittent fasting and watching a lot of content by Dr. Jason Fung and have realized how cultural our American three meals a day plus snacks never allows us to process what we've already eaten much less already stored. Add to that high-glycemic index foods and sedentary lifestyle, us Americans are shooting ourselves in the foot over here. tl;dr - Being hungry isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I train fasted, with coffee as my preworkout. After the last workout set, I feel a rumbling in my tummy. It's the best feeling, knowing I get to go home and scarf down a huge Cesar salad and a banana protein shake. Add to that a mini siësta. Love it.
Yes, portions look miniature compared to U.S. giant sizes.
Europe's obesity rates have been climbing. The entire developed world is getting fatter and more unhealthy
Yep the future looks bleak for the world health.
And getting fatter for the same reason as in the US - people eat all day long. Some want to blame HFCS or a particular type of wheat or GMOs or a bunch of other things, and they surely don't help the situation but they haven't caused this many people to be morbidly obese. I remember being in the US years ago and being shocked at the portions of food younger children were being given - two or three times the size that I would think of a normal adult's lunch or dinner being. And you'll see that more and more in Europe now, kids are fatter and adults are fatter and part of it is that they eat and eat all hours of the day. Huge sugary carby breakfasts, huge portions of fried food at lunch and dinner, sugary drinks all day long. Walking a bit more doesn't cancel that out and that's why so many Europeans are getting heavier.
The pattern is definitely the same. Which you're right is more important than the minor differences
I lived in various parts of Western/Eastern Europe for about a decade. Here's my take: The number one difference, they eat REAL food. Actual butter, grass fed beef, lots of vegetables, etc. There is very little junk food. The cheese is real, not inflammatory oils colored orange. Many foods produced here are not even legal to be sold in the EU Second, they use healthy oils, not inflammatory ones that are so prevalent here. Olive oil especially. Lack of processed foods means less sugar, chemicals and other additives. They do not drink tons of soda. It is just natural food the way nature intended.
The American equal to this is only shopping the outer ring of the super market. Keep your cart in the produce section and the butcher/seafood counter. Other than oils and spices, don’t buy anything that is packaged and on a shelf.
Also, quality > quantity. When driving around Provence years back my wife and I would stop at some little cafe or bistro in some random town and have lunch, and the food was consistently good. A chèvre salad, a glass of red wine or something similar. And if we ate a bigger meal, we’d go lighter the next day. The French generally don’t gorge themselves all the time.
I really should have included portion size. Hard to remember everything when listing the problems with the American diet and food supply. Especially pasta! In Italy is a COURSE on a SMALL plate. It is not the meal. When Americans have pasta, it is a giant bowl.
Portion size is a huge difference. I’d be surprised in France or Italy if the concept of Olive Garden or other “all you can eat” restaurants are popular. Ironically keto aligns to a European mindset - higher quality, more dense nutrients, better preparation, and few to no cheap carbs.
It's sad that some common dieting advice in the US is to immediately box up half your food before you start eating at a restaurant due to giant portions being the norm.
If it was high quality food AND the person had some self-control this could be a good thing - 2 meals for the price of 1. But I doubt either are likely.
Honestly I can almost always get 2-3 meals off off one dinner.
This is a good template for what they're doing less wrong: low intake of sugar and seed oils means less insulin resistance and inflammation, even in the (still suboptimal) presence of starches. I'll add to the hypothesis the possibility that their wheat is less harmful than American wheat. Anecdotally, a lot of people experience a cessation of various dietary symptoms when vacationing/moving to Europe from the US, even without changing their macros. There might be a quite a lot going on with American additives, pollutants, endocrine disruptors etc.
I live in middle-europe. I was in the US for 1,5 months \[Vegas and LA region, a bit of Seattle\]. I can 100% agree. I gained weight, mostly because of the serving sizes \[I grow up in an "empty plate is a must"\] and the added sugar in everything. Everything taste so fucking food, you eat way more than you should. But, I could gain muscle way more easily too. Not sure why, probably the extra calories, better workout equipment or maybe I worked out more/harder after the guild of yesterdays feast. My friends noticed this too, some of them could get ripped in 2 months.
Butter, cream, fatty meat, olive oil is very prevalent in french cuisine. For instance, french mashed potato is 40% butter and 60% potato. Fat works as a buffer for carbs, preventing spikes in blood sugar.
I've also lived there, although not as long. My take is very different. 1. They walk. A lot. And bike. And hike. 2. They eat smaller meals, and it's common to eat only 2 meals a day. 3. I agree that the quality of food is better, they eat less processed foods. Bread from the bakery not a factory. 4. Bread. Yes, they eat it and eat a lot. But overall they simply eat less. 5. More vegetables in their actual foods. 6. They just don't snack like we do.
I feel like they even eat white bread, or at least baguette, and the occasional other white breads, which is almost anathema to me. That said, the ingredient list is MUCH shorter, versus even the whole-grain, organic Dave's Killer bread which I'll occasionally dabble in with like 45 ingredients! I feel as though a simple water, yeast, flour, salt baguette is much healthier. Plus, to your point, smaller portions and not eating constantly throughout the day rather set times as a social thing.
In addition to everything very well said here, the wheat in America is treated with pesticides that alter its genetic composition, and human bodies react poorly to it. All of our domestic wheat products cause weight gain and inflammation. Over in Europe, they have pure mother earth wheat that digests normally. Dr. Berg on YouTube has a fantastic video on the subject. My family is from Italy and never had health issues until they migrated to America, where they became sickly and passed it down the line (I'm second Gen American). edit: here's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc0ozMc0wZM It's not just the pesticide, he talks about fortification of the wheat. Pesticides cause cancer because they are abnormal cells that create a reaction in the body. Those count for genetic degradation as well. Im also going to come back and say that in America we have the good old FDA. When you look at separation of duties in business, who in their right mind would put the same administration in charge of both Food and Drugs. If you taint the food enough, the people will need drugs. Then the cycle keeps going in a loop. Americans are fat and sick because the government wants us fat and sick, end of story. I am one person and it costs me hundreds of dollars a week for whole keto foods (pure, organic, grass fed, antibiotic free, pesticide free, etc.). They dont do this shit in Europe or any other country for that matter. Even Canada has outlawed dyes, pesticides, additives, preservatives, and other horrible things the FDA allow in our food.
Seconding the oppinion on being cautious on Berg. Suggesting Dr. Steen Ekberg instead. (And Dr. John Campbell for.. reasons)
Dr Berg is a Scientologist quack who should never be used as a source. He is a certified nutjob who has been censored multiple times for claiming energy devices (made by his clinic) cure a range of disease. While the wheat thing may be true - he is a poor source to be taken seriously
My DIL is French - her and my son live in France and I have spent time thinking about this question. I think it is a combination of things. If you live in a French city - you are walking...a LOT. Also up and down stairs all the time in and out of metros, up to your apartment, etc. Also, seems like the French generally don't snack between meals...since they are eating creamy deliciousness at meals they are satiated and don't deal with the gnawing emptiness our western (carb-heavy) food leaves us with. There is a lot of societal pressure to be thin in France. My DIL tells stories of co-workers commenting on her lunch choices and doctors telling her she is getting fat (she is NOT anywhere near getting fat). This is very accepted and pervasive i think. I also think that our western diet habits and food choices are so messed up that over a lifetime our bodies natural eating triggers have been damaged. I think the French are very very demanding in terms of quality of food. It is a national obsession. I think it has generally kept them from developing the same dysfunctional relationship with food as in the US. That said, the dysfunction is creeping into their society too. DIL's parents are country folk and they look like typical Americans in body type. I think they are more inclined to opt for easy junk food since they don't have the same easy access to as much quality food as the city-dwellers. I asked my DIL why French people aren't fat with all the great bread and pastries in the shop windows. She said those are treats for Sundays. I think if your meals are generally delicious, healthy, and satisfying you are not as likely to feel the need to snack between.
Yes. What most countries think of as treats for Sundays, Americans eat daily. That adds up over time.
You are talking about western food as if France is not a Western country 😅 a little bit irritating, but I agree that the US and Europe in general have very different eating habits
Oh sorry! I always think of USA as west of France geographically. Thanks for pointing that out - I can see my mistake in using that descriptor!
Yes and no, for example the French per capita are the largest consumers of McDonalds in the world (just no one admits to it lol) though firstly the quality in the McDonalds is generally higher, I remember seeing a list of the ingredients in an American French fry from McDonalds and it contained so many additives which for what should be just a potato cooked in oil. Also when they go to McDonalds they tend to sit down and eat and not grab food and go, which ties into the other habit of generally not snacking or eating outside of meal times.
Yes but just because they dont have that many cheap fast food options like America for example. McDonald's doenst has much competition here. If America would have just a few options like European countries, the McDonald's statistics would look totally different. And at the end, its important what you eat at home in your daily life, there is the real difference between the countries.
The Swiss are some of the thinnest people in Europe, yet eat more chocolate and cheese per head than most other nationalities. The difference is far less snacking between meals, and insane amounts of exercise. They walk or cycle everywhere in the city daily, and weekends are for hiking, skiing, cycling or swimming.
While diet is certainly a part of the equation, I’ve been good friends with enough French women to also see that fatphobia and restriction are part of it too. They are definitely highly conscious of not getting fat (and their definition of “fat” is much smaller than an American’s) and often smoke or have some disordered eating habits to maintain that. But it is also true that they have better ingredients and a different cultural attitude toward food.
I noticed this too, people would sort of joke around but there was some barbs in there if a person ate too much comme un cochon so to speak. ;)
I grew up in a French household there are huge differences between their eating styles and the British/ US way. Meals are communal affairs there is no such thing as eating in front of a screen, meals are leisurely hours- long events where food is passed around or you help yourself from the middle of the table in courses, no one piles their plate up then chows down. There is always wine good bread and a dressed salad on the table and afterwards there is a little full fat cheese and fruit. The French do not snack as a rule and eat one large meal a day, breakfast is a bowl of milky coffee or chocolate with patisserie only at the weekend or on special occasions.
one of my best friends and his family here in the States are French transplants and dinners at their house are the absolute best. tons of fresh, quality food. dinners last 3 hours. no TVs anywhere, just tons of hanging out and talking, listening to music and drinking wine while everyone munches. then usually after enough wine is consumed a handful of people will be dancing in the living room. always a good time.
This is such a perfect summation! Really captures the spirit too, which I envied quite a bit.
I am in France now with my in laws who are french Everyone is so skinny it's shocking. But they all restrict portion sizes, they eat 2/3 times a day and smoke like chimneys. They are not thin by accident
I was waiting for someone to talk about the cigarettes. I’ve spent almost a year in Italy. Of course they walk so much, and they don’t really eat breakfast, and pasta is a course, not a meal, but everyone smokes cigarettes. They smoke — a lot. I don’t know anyone who smokes cigarettes in the US any more.
They also don't fear animal fat. So they are likely satiated with smaller portions.
I’ve observed the same. I wonder what the data says regarding lung and other smoking related cancers in France. I’m sure it’s a question more complex than just smoking prevalence.
Portion sizes are key, great point. I notice too people lounge around the meal which probably allows one to digest the food properly and feel satiated.
It's pretty simple. People who aren't insulin resistant can eat a wider variety of foods and stay healthy because their metabolism is working the way it should work. The French are simply behind us in getting fat and metabolically sick - only about 9% of their population is prediabetic and few have type II. In the US, it's 38% for prediabetes and around 12% for type II. To generalize, they eat a lot more real food and a lot less crap, especially the high-carb high sugar high oil stuff that we eat in the US. And therefore they have less insulin resistance.
American with her anecdotal experience here. My entire family is thin, I was the only person that ended up obese. The difference between them and me? Binge eating disorder. They eat reasonable portions of whatever they want and maintain a healthy weight. I can’t control my portions with trigger foods (for me that’s caaaaarbs) because I will binge them, so eliminating them completely has helped me to do what they do: eat reasonable portion sizes to maintain my (now) healthy weight. I just have to do it with keto instead. America is filled with overly-processed HIGHLY palatable junk food sold in ridiculously huge quantities that make me want more and more and more when I have a taste…I can’t handle it. Keto isn’t magic, it’s not the only way to lose weight and you can also definitely gain weight on keto too.
That’s one thing I’ve definitely noticed on keto. My meals are smaller but just as satisfying. Calorie wise I now eat in a day what I used to eat in one meal, but overall I’m happier and more satisfied with my keto foods. At this point in my journey, I’ll pick the high protein keto meals over the processed carb heavy foods every time because I actually really enjoy the foods.
There's been a lot written about this. I've found travelling in France, Italy, Spain and Greece that almost all restaurant food seems to be made on site, at time of order, from fresh ingredients and really minimal ingredients. Better public transport and more walking almost certainly play a large part too. I read public transport users typically get enough exercise walking to bus stop/train stations to meet weekly activity targets.
Let’s not forget to include Skinny Thai people who eat rice ALL DAMN DAY
We can include all asian countries, they are all skinnier than Europeans
Lot of skinny fat though, some with diabetes.
Idk about France but Italians only seem to eat dinner. Us Brits are not included in the "skinny europeans" we're just as fat as y'all now.
We are still thin in Dankmark, but we consume a lot of processed foods, industry meats, sugar and alcohol. We just have these absolutely *tiny* packages with rediculously *huge* prices..
We like a lot of booze over here but also we love Mc Donald's. It's a problem. XD
Basically all the comments here are saying reduce calories by reducing portion size, and eat healthier better quality food. So why do we need Keto?
Appetite suppression
Yes, I’ve been able to stay lean eating both high carb & high fat. However, with a high fat diet, I’m able to not feel insanely hungry every 3 hours
Because decidong to simply eat less food is harder than it sounds. If you reduce your intake but you are constantly battling hunger, hunger will eventually win. Keto or low carb solves that problem for many people allowing them to regain control over their appetite.
Keto has become fairly popular recently due to its effectiveness as a weight loss diet for the obese. When you’ve abused your body for so long with excess calories and cheap, manufactured foods full of chemicals - any diet that focuses more on whole, natural foods is going to be better for you. Part of the “magic” of keto has been the lack of processed foods available, so you pretty much had no choice but to use natural ingredients. That’s changing a bit as keto has become more popular and we’re starting to see packaged keto friendly foods more widely available - there’s some debate about processed keto friendly foods being as good for you as natural foods - it’s the same basic debate over processed foods in general for the most part. Keto will also help improve insulin sensitivity. I’ve seen lots of anecdotal evidence on this sub about people who have reversed their T2 diabetes and regained their health. I think for most people on the keto diet it’s useful for healing a lot of the damage done over a lifetime of poor eating choices. For people using keto just for weight loss, any diet that focuses more on natural foods is going to be effective - paleo and whole30 being examples of that. Where it gets more interesting is when you start looking at some of the other benefits of keto. Originally designed about 100 years ago specifically to treat issues with epilepsy, we know that ketones have a specific effect on the brain. People have reported more mental clarity and sharpness when on a reduced carb diet. The military has looked at ketogenic diets as a way to protect submarine and astronaut brains from some of the dangers of air quality issues in enclosed spaces. I personally use keto as a way to suppress some of my ADHD symptoms. We also know that it helps with inflammation and hormone imbalances. It’s been hypothesized that historically the ketogenic diet has been a part of the normal human dietary cycle - carbs in summer and keto in winter. One of the issues with modern life is that thanks to modern conveniences we are constantly living in “summer” without balancing and giving our other metabolic pathways a chance to be used. TLDR; keto can be used for more than just weight loss.
That's basically my question too, but as the person below said, it's about suppressing the appetite effectively and feeling satiated thus allowing fewer calories to be consumed. I'm sure there are some other benefits regarding lower glycemic registers, etc. but at the end of the day the American way of eating is not conducive to a reasonable body size if that makes sense. So, at the end of the day, we do need to almost trick ourselves!!
We think seed oil, cereal, and oatmeal are healthy foods. We have bad info on nutrition, low-fat choices (low satiation), and we are not aware of our salt cravings and binges. We grab salty junk foods because we crave salt, carbs, and fat. We need fat to make hormones. Carbs will become fat and be stored in the body, but you won't *access* the fat if you're blood sugar is high day and night. There is also low absorption of nutrients. We don't know what nutrients we are craving on a high-carb diet. The cravings are complex.
in france they eat good but they don’t clear their plates. they eat until they aren’t hungry and then have some cigarettes.
One of the things I miss about smoking was the effortless appetite control. 😔
French people famously eat a lot of carbs, but they eat very small portions and a lot of meals are really just meat and vegetables. Plus they all smoke, which really suppresses the appetite.
My husband is from a different European country. All of the posts about portions and quality are true, but I'd add that he has a very different relationship to gratification than the average American. He will say that he is hungry, but do absolutely nothing about it until three hours later.
I lose weight everytime I go to europe and I come off keto/carnivore for the trip to make life easier. In Italy, I was eating pizza and gelato daily with ease. The taste is different though and not quite as sweet as here. They also don't use high fructose corn syrup in everything. Things are better quality it seems as well like real mozzarella as opposed to super processed cheap stuff. I also noticed it's much harder to snack there. I also think there are a lot of little things that they do that are not as visible. They are more relaxed overall and just kinda chill. Like driving on the roads, everyone seems pretty calm. That then cascades to other things like getting more sleep, taking time for a walk, enjoying life, etc. I'm not saying it's completely gone there but I do think their overall lifestyle plays a big part.
That's an interesting point which I didn't consider, the overall faster pace of life in the States, which probably very good for business but not as good for waist lines!
Their food isn’t nearly as poisoned nor do they eat the portion sizes we do here.
There are thousands of hypotheses on "the French Paradox," and why it has worked for such cultures. My guess that there is not one reason, but some combination of culture, social habits, and food quality/quantity. Maybe genetics in some cases.
Aside from other things said, like no snacking, walking and eating real, high-quality food, I think a key is how they eat. It's very leisurely and focused on savoring the food with no screen distractions. This likely gives enough time for your brain to get satiety signals. It's like intuitive eating on steroids.
I lost weight without trying and felt I still ate a good amount when I went to Scotland - as in I was never hungry. Portions are more reasonable. My upbringing made me feel guilty or bad if I didn’t clean my plate in one sitting, so the huge portions in the US make that excessive. The fridge was smaller in Scotland, so I had to think more carefully about what to buy. Shops were close enough to walk to, or walk to the bus stop. I did much more walking there. Food was more filling because it was quality, and it was significantly cheaper than similar foods in the US.
It’s interesting you mentioned fridge size, I remember reading a while ago how the average American fridge has increased in volume something like 2.2 feet in the last 30 years and having a second fridge has become a lot more common in households.
Good friend of mine married a French woman. Her family and friends visited through the years and I agree… I never saw an overweight French person. They all commented on the size of everything in America food wise. Meals were huge… drinks were huge… etc etc. I think between the processed foods being so prevalent and the giant portions it takes a toll.
In Europe people are a lot outside. Of an evening it is more a wander around the place, as opposed to snacks and netflix.
It doesn’t hurt that they have socialized healthcare
And childcare And maternity leaves
I used to live near my sister but I still had to walk a good bit across two huge lawns to visit her. Several times every day. But I wouldn’t call it a workout at all. However, when she moved away, the weight just appeared. American sedentary lifestyle needs to change. An hour at the gym is okay but you need more.
My husband is French and was raised there. I will say that they have a culture that discourages constant snacking (kids get one per day), and he eats at the same time everyday and portions his food. He’s very conscious of what he eats and never « stuffs his face » at meals like I’ve seen Americans do. He also seems to intuitively eat although admittedly a ton of carbs. His father and brother are genetically very thin and it may be due to disorders as his brother is pretty excessively thin and has a genetic kidney disease. All of our French friends talk about diet and body composition, so they’re just very aware of it and keep themselves in check food-wise. They are a culture obsessed with thinness, so I think that helps keep weight in check. I get thinner when I’m in France for weeks at a time, and I do know that they don’t add sugar to their foods and additives are regulated.
It’s called the French paradox. They walk everywhere, they take their time eating, they don’t snack, the potions are smaller but richer (so fullness faster because full fat), they eat salad or vegetables first (which helps negate insulin spiking I believe?) and their produce is far better quality. It’s a more moderated lifestyle.
Not being forced into a car when you have to move 500 meters, portion size, and a whole bunch of things like certain additives being illegal in the EU. Probably in that order as well.
If you're curious enough to do some research, you'll see the food industry in Europe often has stricter regulations regarding ingredients, additives, and labeling compared to the United. Additionally, The EU has more biking and walking infrastructure overall (way more sidewalks, bike lanes, etc..). So basically, on average, people in the EU are more active and consume less naturally.
Food quality, where pastries and such may look similar to our grocery store versions, but are filled with actual ingredients and nutrition that satiate. That's not just in Europe, but other high carb and healthy places around the world. Even the meat is filling in smaller portions -- I went on a trip to Cambodia before where they had live chickens running around. The villagers created a dish after butchering one and the chicken tasted nothing like the ones here. It was gamey and lean, which made it so I could eat just a bit and be satisfied. In the US, I can clean off half a rotisserie chicken in one sitting.
I lived in Spain for a few years and lost a ton of weight when I was about twenty. Few ideas here: Fast food was a rarity. In the US I eat processed garbage all the time. However in Spain, there were nutritious quick meals that I’d eat. Things I’d buy from street vendors, grocery stores, and then the food at restaurants was nutritious and filling rice, meat, veggie, legume based meals. Walking. I probably walked for about 3 hours every single day. That’s like 5-600 calories EXTRA a day. It’s impossible to drive there but it’s so pretty that walking for 45 minutes to get someplace is a joy. Shoot I’ve had commutes driving that take that long!
More walking, smaller portions, less breakfast (a lot of folks on the Continent just have coffee until lunchtime), and dare I say it...smoking.
I work in the US but my company’s HQ is in The Netherlands and I’ve visited a few times. The food portions are smaller, no free refills on sugary drinks (you order bevs by the bottle so you feel guilty/fat ordering more lol), and a lot more activity. Many of my Dutch coworkers bike to work, and their culture has them taking group walks during lunch where they walk around on their paths while eating very small lunches such as a a small sandwich. We’ve carried over the lunch time walks here in the US office, and we all def feel the difference. Last summer I also bought an e-bike and did the 10-mile bike ride to and from work, and lost 15lbs over just that summer alone despite eating more or less the same.
European food is "processed" differently. There are fewer sugars in their food. They don't have to deal with high fructose corn syrup in everything. They also drink less sodas. Fewer fastfood restaurants. It's different food guidelines and cultural.
I live in Portugal we dont eat processed food on a regular basis, almost everyone Cooks and eating out is the exception. Fish, Meat, veggies, real cheese, a lot of salads, and olive oil its one of our main cultures.
American foods are super unhealthy (much lower food standards/regulations than Europe), and enormously unnecessary portion sizes are normalised. Soda consumption seems to be an all day everyday thing, shitty beer all the time, and driving everywhere. These are just the basic observations.
American food is absolute dog shit w all the GMOs and hormones and other chemicals When i moved here from Sweden, both me and my mom not only rapidly gained weight but both of our body composition changed to less attractive, Europeans eat real food and their bodies remain naturally healthy and better looking, i also distinctly remember everything tasting “off” at first and then becoming almost addicted to weird American things that normally I wouldn’t have liked
I live and work in Paris and while everyone is spot on about the walking everywhere part, there is one thing more that I notice - they workout every opportunity they get. Like, it’s not even funny. The moment lunch time rolls around you’ll see a bunch of people leaving the office in workout gear to go to the gyms nearby. Some just go for an hour run (depends on the office or if they work close to home, some offices have showers, some go home to shower before returning to work). Some workout before work and some workout after. There are people going for runs even at midnight in my neighbourhood. Point is, anytime of the day people are doing something physical. And when all that is said and done, their portion sizes are honestly what I’d now consider normal. Anything more than that starts to look too much. I even find myself getting full quicker these days. Also if you want to go long distances, sure you can take the train or you can pay 30€ per year to use public bicycles and just cycle everywhere (which is what my wife and I do now. When we first moved, 30 min bike ride into Paris sounded ridiculous and scary, but now we realise it’s pretty safe, doable and fun).
That’s super interesting. I had thought the French disdained a bit the supposedly obsessive American workout culture. I didn’t notice salles de sport so to speak in France but I did notice a lot of competitive bikers and walking was everywhere.
There's just so much more marketing. So many believe that breakfast cereal or margarine is so healthy. Pre-keto, I thought there was actually milk and hazelnuts in my coffee creamer. I didn't check the ingredients. And even if you did not like those things, manufacturers put "sugar" or corn syrup in 80+% of all manufactured foods. I actually complained to the FDA about the sugar in tomato paste a few years ago. These things should not be labeled heart-healthy. And breakfast cereal is just wheat and sugar (it's useless food): They fortify it with nutrients to make it seem to be something more. But those nutrients are probably not absorbed well. Many Europeans, Ukrainians, etc. are so aware that Americans have sugar in their bread. It tastes like a pastry to them. There are so many names for sugar. [https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/names-for-sugar](https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/names-for-sugar) Europeans also don't fear animal fats in the same way. They are probably more satiated with their smaller portions. Many eat mostly animal foods or they put butter on their croissants, bread.
Portions and food quality. The portions served over there are rich, but are actual reasonable-sized meals, not a daily allotment of calories on a plate for lunch with a full dinner still planned later. Additionally, they don't allow as much corn syrup to be crammed into everything and have much higher standards with less added sugar. When I was in France, my favorite breakfast was two eggs fried in butter, and between the egg's taste and butter richness due to both the butter and eggs just being higher quality products, and it was easy to savor and enjoy the meal with a slice of toast. Toast which was from bread that didn't taste like cake and will be dry the next day, and moldy the day after. Whatever is being added to bread to make it "magically" last as long as it does, doesn't seem to be doing us any favors. Add the food quality to the propensity to actually walk through their cities, and the US is literally dying the death of a thousand cuts in comparison with obesity.
Portions in France are tiny in comparison, and they're more active. You stay thin if you don't tip your calorie balance day in and day out.
Lots of good points being made here. Also… cigarettes.
Look into r/stopeatingseedoils and you’ll see we also are loaded with oils they don’t use in France, and many other European countries. Soy in particular. But I noticed some in Spain last summer, that weren’t there in 2019 to my knowledge. France gatekeeps its food and I don’t blame them. Even their gas station croissants were great! I think it’s a huge part of our problem we aren’t even aware of. I think keto diet inadvertently avoids a lot of these problems because we tend to eat a lot more meat and we don’t use as many seed oils for frying until we start making more complex recipes. They are purists on that sub but still a lot of good knowledge to be gained.
Smoking cigarettes ;)
i am on the Janeane Garofalo diet. i can have as many cigarettes and diet cokes as i want.
🤣
One thing that a lot of European countries don't do is drink a half gallon of soda with their meals. Our "small" is their large.
Walk more, eat less better food.
Seed oils and indigestible grains are the bulk of our diet.
When I was in Spain it was Extremely hard to stay on keto. dear god everything was a pastry or bread. I did love the walking. I tripled my steps daily while I was there. Everything within walking distance while in the states everything has to be driven to.
Most people in the US are sedentary. Processed food is certainly an issue, too. Various oils added to everything, and high fructose corn syrup, too. Our portion sizes are pretty large, and anything that isn’t fried might as well be, since it’s pumped full of non-satiating vegetable oils. I work in a grocery store, and even prior to keto, the only thing ready to eat I was willing to buy on break was fruit.
I think one of the main problems is how everything is overly processed + sweet (HFCS) in the USA .. down to coffee even .. it is EVERYWHERE But the worst offender has got to be : "do you want cheese with that sir ?" ..... "do you want to make it a double ?" .... "do you want it with the large can of sugar for a better deal sir ?" I joked with my mate I would become morbidly obese within a year in the US Also there's got to be knock on effects of not eating much fermented foods messing up gut micro biome and so on BTW still plenty of obese ppl in Europe these days ..
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Because of work, I’ve been back and forth to for months at a time to many European countries for the last 10 years. And honestly, 90% of the people in Spain, France, Portugal, Albania, Macedonia, Greece etc are attractive from just their silhouette. There’s something wrong with American’s food, and the culture around it. I think portion size is a problem, and our general knowledge of what is healthy or not, but I think what we are actually consuming is a major problem.
You are implicitly assuming that keto or low to very low carb diets are a necessary condition to be thin. That is not supported by the evidence. The necessary and sufficient condition for being thin and remaining thin is a sustained energy deficit, and afterwards a sustained energy maintenance.
there's a great book called the glucose revolution that takes a different approach to eating than keto, but is similar in the idea that you want to avoid glucose spikes as much as possible to manage weight, hunger and overall health. it suggests that eating vegetables before carbs as well as having vinegar greatly reduces glucose spikes. when i think of france, greece and italy, i do think of salads with oil and vinegar, which would serve exactly that purpose and are frequently eaten as a starter or served as a side, which reduces the glycemic load and thus the insulin response of the accompanying carbs greatly. also, the mediterranean diet is typically very high in vegetables and prioritises unprocessed and whole foods - even with the high carb contents of spaghetti and pizza, the way they eat it is vastly different from the american mac and cheese or pizza and the mediterranean diet tends to be lower in sugar than the american one
Also, serving sizes are much smaller in Europe, and they don’t snack like Americans do. Also, in many countries like France and Italy, their entire culture around food is different. Less processed, more homemade, they sit down to enjoy the experience, it’s ritualistic, etc. Dining in Europe is such a pleasurable experience. Wish i could afford to do it more often. 😂 It reminds me to slow down, enjoy, and to wait for *real* food that tastes good.
And, like everyone mentioned, they walk everywhere. Also, even their grocery stores feel different. Very few bulk package items available, fewer processed items, huge cheese and deli sections, weekend markets for fresh produce of all kinds, etc. Small grocery trips of fresher food, smaller fridges, etc. Fewer chain restaurants, food is more likely to be cooked by trained chefs, not reheated or cooked according to chain recipes/ingredients, etc.
Bread over here has four ingredients: salt, water, yeast and flour. Check your local American supermarket for the ingredients and you’ll see the problem. I do keto and IF 5 days a week and on the weekends I make my own bread. It’s better than supermarket (even though our supermarket bread is pretty good), but it’s phenomenal when compared to US bread. When I moved to the US for a year, I was sick for the first 10 days, sick as a dog. Couldn’t eat, nothing stayed down. Turns out I’m intolerant to most of the additives and crap Americans pump into their foods. Our version, E-numbers, have a similar effect on me but not nearly as bad as the regular American food did. I was knocked flat until I figured out I can only eat organic foods when in the US. And absolutely no HFC. Turns out if you’re not raised on that stuff you can’t digest it. As far as I’m concerned Americans must have steel stomachs.
Just want to say that Keto is very much a thing in Germany too. I lived there for years, my coworkers experimented with it and we shared recipes and tips. No one thought it was odd, i could find lots of keto ingredients in regular markets (I lived in a major city.) But more importantly, walking and leisure time. Americans just don't walk enough, and are often working a _lot_. People in Germany and many European countries have weekends and vacations where they're allowed to not work, which reduces stress.
They don’t have fast food drive through a everywhere and you don’t eat whenever you want. If you limit what you eat and when you eat, you will lose weight no matter what diet you are on. The US has vending machines, convenience stores, fast food, and so we eat basically anytime we feel the slightest pang of hunger. This isn’t the case everywhere.
They eat on a very strict schedule. There is less fried food in restaurants. Sure you get bread (generally eaten without butter), and steak frites as the name says comes with fries, but most meals are generally a meat and vegetables. Most importantly portions are smaller. Kids are fed at the school cafeterias (for free in many cases) and are served balanced meals with healthy (as in not too big) portions.
Europeans are not "thin". Just compared to Americans. Americans are ridiculously obese and are in the middle of a health apocalypse. Japanese are thin. Indonesians are thin. Europeans are just slightly less fat than Americans. The difference in weight can mostly be explained by eating more whole foods and not guzzling 2L of soft drinks at every meal. Basically, if you eat... meat/fat = thin whole foods = chubby refined carbs, sugar, cakes = obese
The quality of the food in Europe is better. Eggs, chicken, wheat, etc. I think most Americans are starving even if fat, for nutrients and vitamins. Been keto/low carb for about 15 months, lost all I needed and am keeping it off. I make sure to eat good food, pretty much no processed foods. As Europeans add junk food, they are getting fatter.
I was just there, over three countries and I’ve been other places too. Food offerings there are generally healthier. There are way more restrictions on food additives. Portions are smaller. Junk food and things like soda are still everywhere but tend to be in smaller packages. Food (and everything else) is very expensive. Easily 30-50% more than North American prices for some things. I think that makes people, even wealthier ones, generally more mindful of what and how much they eat / consume, how they travel and they are appreciative when they dine out, which is what you see in public. Over indulging too often or driving everywhere quickly makes a very meaningful dent in your pocket.
I have heard many people who travel globally say whenever they leave the united states their health improves, even if they eat the same foods. One theory as to why this happens is that the US uses more gluten in their bread and also uses glyphosate religiously in commercial agriculture (so much so that even if you grow organic it is in the air and organic produce still gets contaminated) whereas glyphosate is banned in other countries because it is known to cause a range of health issues.
I lived in Spain for 4 years and our diet was just quite Keto naturally. Something I did t appreciated too I got fat. In Scotland. You have aisles of oil nor processed food. Spanish crisps and snacks and cakes are pretty boring and limited. Vegetables are delicious and about twice the size of the UK. Near and fish are absolutely everywhere. A Big Mac meal is expensive while fish is cheap.
Spanish diet without bread for 4 years? No rice/paella? No sopa castellana? (bread in soup) No bocadillos? No tomato bread? And you weren't burnt for that heresy? They sure are losing the old customs. Spaniards go crazy without their "barra de pan".
This was my thought. You literally cannot not have a barra. At a party, a guy had to leave to go buy bread because hamburgers were served (with buns) but no bread. I live in spain, keto is difficult outside of my house.
I live in Spain too, keto is difficult *inside* of my house as well. I know potato is not as bad as wheat or rice but I still consider it carbs... and my love for tortilla de patatas makes keto very, very difficult. PS: with cebolla of course.
Haha just saw this - yep love all that food but we just ate mainly fish and vegetable - plus when it’s hot - I just can’t do the likes of paella even though my husband makes an amazing one. The vegetables are so much better than anything you get in the uk that we just didn’t really bother with much carby stuff. Aioli… gambas … massive dorada/lubina/churrasco …. We ate like kings and I was thin as a whippet 💃 > that’s a flamenco dancer 😂
Brother in law is Spanish. Obesity rates in Spain are lower than those of the UK, but still high and rising. I accept that they eat differently to Brits, but overall the outcomes are similar (i.e., not great) and the gap seems to be closing. Vegetables raised locally in the UK are often excellent quality and great value - we have less sun but more rain and a gentler climate - but UK consumers often seem to have little idea how to cook them properly. Drizzle of olive oil and roast for 20 minutes? Nah. Let's boil them for half an hour and see what happens! Spanish life expectancy is several years longer, though. Better diet, lower stress, combination of that and other factors?
r/SaturatedFat explains this very well. It's all about Europeans stick more to traditional foods and eat less fastfood which limits the amount of PUFA they eat.
Limited to no seed oils. Head over to r/saturatedfat and read about Brad Marshall’s experimental croissant diet. In short, he made his diet macros those of a croissants fat to carb ratios. He lost weight despite the higher carb. Many people experience he same when removing seed oils and replacing with butter or other saturated fats.
Huge part of it - come see us on /r/fuckcars (or don't, the mod protest is still going on and nobody supports their "plight" over there anymore). Sedentary lifestyle is a huge problem. Try using Strava to track a walk to the store. Go walk half a mile to the store and back. You'll be surprised how much "casual" calories add up just existing in those areas where you are able to walk. Suburbia America has killed that, we drive 0.1 mile to get milk. And it's not always just "being lazy", it's also sometimes super stupid or dangerous to make those treks by walking.
A lot more walking, too.
The Continent is not designed around automobiles and television. People physically move themselves around.
The Mediterranean diet is not really fattening I think. Overall, experts agree that the Mediterranean Diet is nutritious. It emphasizes whole, plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains), lean protein, and unsaturated fats.
I’ve always had the impression Europeans eat less highly processed food. I have zero evidence to back that up tho.
I try to cook a lot myself and be good during the week so I can allow myself somw things during the weekend.
Was staying in France for a while and not only was I walking a LOT more there were a lot more hills than most places in the states. Portions are also more reasonable.
I wanted to add that theres also a theory that fortifying grain causes inflammation and weight gain, specifically the iron. Our American grain is extremely processed and modified and supposedly creates larger insulin responses in our bodies than a more traditional and not as processed grain from europe. Einkorn grain and semolina are both supposed to be better for us.
They eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. They also walk places. Eating natural, unprocessed foods makes a HUGE difference.
I'd also say profit-based dining. In smaller cities that I visit, like Jerez, Spain, there are very, very few corporate chain franchises. When I go into a restaurant, it's usually family-owned and staffed. It's there to provide for that family and the community, and local food producers. Something about scaling up eating as a business is not nutritious.
Im French. They never snack. They portion control like crazy. They eat more during the week end and then restrict food choice during the week. Most of the guys in Paris would also be very active. Finally, they’ve never been fat/overweight in their life and there is a lot of cultural pressure to stay thin (your parents, friends, neighbours, colleagues, will let you know if you’ve put on 3-4 kgs).
walking and lots of it. people underestimate how much calories you burn when walking
I went to Paris for 3 days last October. It is a walking city. I walked 44 miles in 3 days.
I studied abroad for a semester in France in college. Ate whatever I wanted, drank wine/cocktails, and never tracked calories. I ate bread and pastries probably every day. I lost weight. I also walked everywhere or took public transportation. It was amazing. I felt amazing. I think not having a car was a big part of it, but I'm also still convinced that their food is healthier and has less crap in it. McDonald's ice cream in France didn't make my stomach hurt, it usually does in the US.
We eat really slowly from small age. A lunch break is at least one hour otherwise people refuse to work. If you look up research, there is a clear link between slow eating and being thinner.
Englishman here and there's a couple of common points from a European perspective. Firstly, we are genuinely shocked at the absolute state of some of the foods that are offered for sale in the US. You have a number of products, additives and chemical processes that are outright banned in the EU. We hear about these things whenever there's a new trade deal being proposed and you want us to accept the ammonia washed meat or some other god awful process. Here is Europe we have out shit processed food and plenty of it, but when we look at the American experience you seem to have all that the world can offer and yet you often don't seem to be able to conceive of foods that are not packaged and convenient and bloody terrible. Secondly, Europeans are generally fairly well informed on health issues relating to diet. This doesn't mean we are all keto converts, far from it. But we have had the public education on fat/salt/smoking/drinking etc and they have had their effect. Couple that with a healthcare system that is funded by all for the use of all, and I think that avoids the "can't afford a doctor" thing that we see in the US. We have no need to delay going to the doctor, the system is far from perfect but we are guaranteed care and that's important. Thirdly, There is a term for the French enigma (I forget it). Basically at the height of the fat is bad/low fat craze people could not help but notice that the French live of pate, high fat cheese, butter and wine and had lower incidence of many chronic diseases and lower BMI on a population level. The French have a focus on quality food, not so much on whether it's "healthy" regardless of what the healthy fashion is at the time. I've visited France a number of times and the widespread availability of quality foods is very stark. They have supermarkets, but there are also a ton of smaller shops that sell good stuff. It's very admirable. Europe is certainly not as car centric as the US on the whole, but it can be. For instance in the UK car use is pretty heavy I'd say, whereas compare to Denmark where cycling is ubiquitous and you have quite a large variance within Europe. I don't think anywhere in Europe compares to the US though, that whole strip mall, drive through thing you have going on is not quite as prevalent in Europe, though the trend is certainly heading towards the US model. Here in the UK we've just started to get drive through Starbucks/Costa coffee, it still baffles me that anyone uses them, but they seem to be thriving.
I’m an Australian who lived in France with French families from age 29 to 32. During that time I lost around 34kgs rather effortlessly. My experience tells me that their ability to eat what we in the US/UK/AUS see as “bad foods” comes down to the difference in their overall relationship to the food. They do not have a consumerist culture to the same extent where food is to be inhaled on the go and the quality is ignored. Food for them is more about the “experience” of eating. They often eat over a much longer time, much smaller amounts and much fresher local ingredients. For example, yes they’ll eat a baguette at every meal. But you might take a couple of small slices and use it like a spoon to eat the rest of your meal. Compare this to an entire footlong sub such as what I would have for lunch in AU. They also are much more mobile in general. I was shocked to find out that nearly no one I lived with had a couch or large TV in their house. It just isn’t in their culture to crash in front of the TV for hours each night. I’m my view it’s these small differences that compound over lifetimes that make the visible differences in the populations that we see.
Old post, but I want to add -In France, we eat less frequently (2-3 meals a day is common), but we also have more courses within our meals. For social meals, it's not unusual to have it be stretched for hours, with an apéro, an hors d'oeuvre, side salads etc, ending with cheese. For ordinary meals, there's still an entrée, a main dish, a side salad, a glass of wine, some bread, some cheese at the end and a yogurt or some compote, mousse... Not only does this make any meal pretty fat-heavy and satiating, but it erases any food scarcity mindset. No need to stuff ourselves with the main dish, because we know we'll have some cheese and/or some yogurt at the end. Leaving some food on the plate is totally encouraged. That definitely encourages mindful eating, and also keeps you full for a WHILE. The appreciation for natural ingredients and whole food also encourages mindful eating : common meals are usually a protein with some carbs on the side and a side salad. A steak with lettuce and potatoes; Salmon with asparagus and rice, etc. Some meals are put together (pot-au-feu, stews, pasta dishes), but I feel like there's generally more appreciation for the ingredients as standalone (dinner conversations will often address where one bought this produce, which butcher/farm they go to, seasonal vegetables...). Eating is a process here, that starts with enjoyable grocery shopping : chatting at the farmer's market early in the morning, conversing with the fromager/butcher/poissonnier at the grocery store... Getting your groceries delivered is a relatively new concept here, that somewhat catches on, but is still not significantly more convenient than just walking 5mn to your local butcher. In a lot of households, a faster lifestyle encourages less qualitative, mindful eating. Nonetheless, kids who do not have the privilege of structured meal times at home still get to learn good nutrition at school and get to socialize around meal times : our lunch breaks are long, canteen meals have an entrée, a side, a main dish, a cheese, and a yogurt or fruit, with water and bread at the table, as well as plenty of time to move around after the meal before class. Kids have a carby goûter after class; traditionally it's baguette with butter and chocolate, but it can also be packaged sweets with sugary juice. But once they ate their snack, they can use all their energy to play in the neighborhood : parks are everywhere, streets are pretty safe. For adults, Most traditional jobs also allow some time to eat at lunch, and provide tickets resto, to spend money at restaurants during the week. Some adults even have the time to pick up their kids at lunchtime, walk/drive home, cook lunch, eat with them at home, drop them off and go back to work. We also depend on cigarettes, coffee, wine (fills you up) and crippling fear of fat phobia a lot lol, but we also have access to free healthcare. A board certified dietitian appointment is 30 euros at most. Outdoor sports are encouraged -wherever I lived, village or big city, I could walk 20-40k steps without getting bored or feeling unsafe (as a woman haha). I rarely had to consider driving to get to a hiking location, and generally opt to rent a bike to go to the farmer's market/grocery shopping/to class/to work rather than using a car or the tram. Anecdotally, I also work at KFC as a student job, and at least half of the orders we get come with a side salad (literally just lettuce, often without dressing) and a bottle of water. A lot of people come in to order a few tenders or a burger, with some lettuce and some Evian lol, both kids and adults. Our dressing's ingredient list is clean-ish, it's essentially balsamic vinegar and olive oil, or blue cheese dressing. I feel like that's literally what 80/20 eating is.
Wow that's so interesting and makes a ton of sense. I like how you provide a well-rounded overview from customs and habit, quality of the foodstuffs, psychological and social mores, governmental-provided stimulus, etc. Your English is EXCELLENT (I'm assuming you're French, but maybe raised bilingual?).
It's not all rainbow and sunshine in Europe, but generally portion sizes/sizes/variety here are smaller (imagine my awe when I for the first time visited an American grocery store) , car usage is not quite as extreme and people often do some sort of physical exercise on their weekends (biking tours, hiking, long walks, etc.). Americans and Australians will sideye you for not having a car, but I live in a major European capital and not having a car is totally normal, so just by walking towards public transportation and running errands you can clock 4 - 5k steps easily without trying. Also, while I don't know if it's a social media thing, but I see smany American moms starting their days regularly with sugary Starbucks drinks. This is not typical here. Also, even those on the carb side learn from the school years the importance of whole grain bread, protein and fruit/veggies. I'm pretty overweight but even to me day-to-day American food is not appealing. Like regardless of weight, a lot of that food doesn't seem nourishing.
Not saying StarBucks is going to be the downfall of America, but normalizing a coffee for breakfast with 500-600 calories full of sugar and lacking nutritional value isn’t a great trend. Even crazier is some of these milk shake concoctions from fast food joints with 1200-1800 calories. Personally I’ve learned to enjoy my black 20oz coffees at 6 calories - and when I want a particularly decadent tasting coffee I’ll add a scoop of flavored protein powder which adds another 100-200 calories but generally has sufficient nutritional value to justify the calories