To think if we eat and adopted some of the lifestyle of the europeans we would not be the fattest country in Europe.

[WonderWendy1]

I went on a med cruise two weeks ago we stopped in Portugal, Spain, South Of France and Italy.

I think of myself as a fairly fit size 12 (14 in some things). I would say i'm on the slimmer side in the Uk. I go to these european cities and the women (and men) are much slimmer then me and dh.

I was then in Paris for a few nights a week ago and I can only say my gosh nearly everywomen I saw had the legs of Taylor Swift.

Aibu to think we need to be doing what the europeans do to avoid becoming the American country of Europe.

At dd and ds school canteen some people have Pizza and burger at break (10am).

They have lunch which is healthier compared to the breaktime snack.

After school the chicken shop is always rammed.

We are in France (southern France) currently, and the fattest people/children on the beach today were French. I went shopping this morning for cereal, and 90% of their breakfast cereal has chocolate in it, and there were aisles of cakes and biscuits - on a par with ours, if not worse. Probably in Paris it would be different....they seem to be skinnier than here in the provinces!

I think you get overweight people everywhere - it's a question of self discipline and taking exercise and it's hard to make healthy choices when faced with aisles of junk food being marketed as "no added sugar/low fat/low calorie" etc. Most of those versions are packed full of chemicals and are worse for you.

I don't think the French are any less immune to putting on weight than any other nation - and in Western Europe, we are all getting heavier and lazier!

Just returned from France including Paris. There are bakeries on ever corner, French seem to eat lots of baguettes, pastries, cheese and wine. I was disappointed with the food, French seem to like burgers and pomme frites!

Oh yes and the French seem to love a fag

I have it in my head that French people tend to have smaller frames, finer boned.

Would anyone living over there agree?

I think the French do still seem to respect food and mealtimes more than we do, so whilst they might enjoy a pastries (or a burger) they will sit down and eat it at a table at a designated mealtime, rather than on the run, which (I find) often means you eat all day long.

I know that if I have 3 or 4 designated, planned meals a day and no snacks I lose weight easily but it goes straight back on as soon as I'm too busy to be that organised.

fabuLou, it's known as the French Paradox.

Their people remain slim and generally healthy, despite eating a lot of pastry, chocolate, bread, butter, cheese and saturated fats, not to mention wine etc...

www.healthassist.net/food/french/french-paradox.shtml

I think that the uk obesity rate is very worrying.

Anecdotally, I was recently at an Italian municipal swimming pool in a pretty deprived area, 99% italian clientele at a guess, and there were a number of very obese children.

I just went on hols in Scandinavia.

We did plenty of "light hikes, suitable for young children and the elderly"(according to tourist info), which were 2-3 hour hikes involving scrambling over rocks and very steep climbs

Not seen many newsagents or takeaway places, people just bring a cheese sandwich (dark brown bread), (junk-), food just isn't fetishised there as much I don't think.

Dowser it depends where you are - the southern French are shorter than in the north. My best friend who is tall and a bit "sturdy" feels much more at home in the north (Belgian border) than in the south.

There are plenty of overweight French adults, and in the adult population there is definitely a correlation between social class/ income and weight. But French kids and teens are still mostly skinny. It's not necessarily that they eat better - as others have said, the consumption of processed food is on the increase - but that they snack less and are given less choice.

I think it's nothing to do with junk food. They have lots of that - have you ever been in a French supermarket? Aisles full of biscuits and sweets - someone's buying them.

I think they just don't eat as much. Smaller plates of food, fewer carbs. You just wouldn't expect to be served such large portions as we do here.

Trust me, they do snack!

Yes the French do eat bread, cheese, pastries and drink wine but they do not constantly slurp fizzy drinks, juice, sports drinks etc.
The calorific content of these can be around that of a small meal.

They generally drink water, fizzy water, coffee, wine ,herbal teas(tisanes).

I think this is a bit of myth really. I've worked across Europe and I wouldn't say there is much disparity in terms of body size.

However, in my experience, there are far more eating disorders amongst the young in southern Europe than the UK. In one school I taught at, nearly every girl in my year ten class had anorexia. One had to be hospitalised over summer. It's the pressure of the summer beach lifestyle; they all wanted to look very slim in their bikinis because so much socialising took place on the beach and in the beach cafes.

Another thing I've notice. Since we've lived in France (moved here 17 years ago), "le fast food" has definitely arrived. But if you go into a MacDo at 6pm it will be empty; at 7.30pm it will be heaving. As a pp said, if a French family have a burger, it will be at their normal mealtime, rarely as a snack in between.

This is interesting:

www.bodyandsoul.com.au/nutrition/nutrition+tips/other+reasons+french+women+dont+get+fat,14077

I would happily eat in Italy for the rest of my life but I'd have to be very careful not to just eat pasta and pizza all the time :o

Yes lots of mcdo in France and saw kfc. The meals in restaurants as large as here!

At least We top something

I wonder has booze anything to do with it. Most of my friends drink too much and don't really think about it in terms of weight gain.

We were in Holland on holiday a few weeks ago and people were noticeably trim and healthy looking. Their obesity rate looks similar to France. The biggest difference I observed is that they are so well set up to encourage exercise as part of everyday life. They seem to have fantastic cycle lanes everywhere and many people make good use of them. I was embarrassed to be overtaken up a hill on bikes by a couple who must have been my parent's age.

Despite the love of chips and pancakes I think overall their attitude to food is healthier. We went to a theme park and was surprised that all the sandwiches came with a plentiful apply of varied salad and in interesting bread. Even the hamburgers looked far tastier and healthier than standard McDonalds fare.

Obviously that doesn't apply to children!

Thinking about the differences between the French and UK "typical diets" ... there are a lot of regional differences of course, far more than in the UK, but school food is much healthier than in the UK - usually salad starter, protein based main course and cheese or fruit afterwRds. Snacking in school hours is practically non-existent. The 4.30pm "gouter" is often processed food (biscuits etc) but that would be the only time of the day those foods were eaten. And the very idea of pizza at 10am or the chicken shop at 3.30pm would be a real culture shock to your typical French teenager.

I have recently been to Germany and did not see as many obese people and women seemed far slimmer on average in Italy

We do have a problem in this country high streets are full of places to snack we can not go for more than a few hours without eating often carbs which just makes us want to eat more

I am in the states at the moment so not feeling so overweight by I can see where we are heading there are so many children and young adults who are very overweight. I think my family feel I deprive ds of food as I think a lunch of pita, hummus, tomatoes, carrots and some cheese is fine for lunch apparently he needs to eat a big sandwich with a few fries at least

It's hard to implement in the UK, everywhere you go, everything you do with dc involves them being offered food at some point.