It's a weighty issue - the issue of weight. It's constantly in the news - skinny celebs, "plus-sized" models, childhood obesity on the rise, and on a worldwide scale it seems to be mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fattest of them all?
We often hear that our Gallic neighbour, la France has a very low percentage of obese adults; a fact that seems at odds with their rich diet. This issue can be particularly galling for UK women - we often hold the mayo, ban carbs til Marbs and fart our way through cabbage soup diets but still we end up packing more bounce to the ounce than our French neighbours. Granted, these diets are often short term fixes for bikini sized problems when summer rolls around, so is it a matter of willpower? Perhaps the stereotypical French woman has the foresight and self-discipline to stick to the diet throughout the year, rather than having a mad panic come June when she tries on last year's bikini. Many of us have felt that familiar crawl of dread when the magazines start featuring "bikinis for all shapes" with photographs of models whose closest association to anything pear shaped is their sole sustenance for the week.
I'll start first with a seemingly unrelated issue - quality. In a time - and country - where fast and fatty food is the norm, quality is certain to take a back seat. Many British families believe that to concoct healthful food costs them valuable time and money, and for that the Great British Ready Meal has been created. In France, however, it seems the idea of having more time and more money is not a fair trade for inferior food. When I asked one of my French friends how this links with weight control, I was awarded a gloriously Gallic shrug and the simple explanation that if something doesn't taste good she won't eat it. She deserves better, as does her body.
Aha! I said, but what happens when something tastes divine? Surely, by the same token, one would want to eat more? Mais non, was the response, the better the taste, the less is needed. Unfortunately, with years of conditioning, many British adults have become accustomed to the taste of high salt, high fat, high convenience meals, therefore the taste factor is skewed somewhat - we've all seen the shows where a Hugh-Jamie-Gordon type has challenged the take away/ready meal industry and cringed when MSG fried rice won hands down over the posh sweet and sour.
As for us deserving better, that's another tricky one, as treating ourselves and treating our bodies well are two entirely different concepts. The idea of treating our bodies well conjures up images of sweating it out in the gym and eating cardboard - sorry - crispbread. Treating ourselves well is what makes us say yes to the banoffee pie and go-on-yes-with-ice-cream.
Many of us feel that the sort of tough love that forces us to the gym is what equates to self love; that denial and hard work are the only ingredients to a body that we're happy with. This form of punishment, as many of us have experienced, will often be punctuated by massive binges and blow outs, under the aforementioned guise of "treating ourselves". This appears completely at odds with the French philosophy of taking pleasure not just from food but from life; in a balanced and considered manner...four course meal one day, walk to work the next.
The French are famous for their pride - this can be seen in the fierce protection of their cuisine, their way of life, their sports teams (well, they can't be good at everything) and their language. This is also evidenced by their bans on vending machines and campaigns about obesity - they're aware that they need to keep working to retain their Miss Skinny Minnie Europe status. Fast food and convenience is more than nipping at their heels, but the view for many remains that the all you can eat offers and microwave meals may save money for a rainy day, but if the trade off is reducing your number of rainy days, it's not worth it.