can anyone tell me...

[sallyseachange]

Re: can anyone tell me...

Smaller portions and exercise. Sally could possibly confirm this, but according to Italian cookbooks I've read, in Italy, pasta is a part of the meal, rather than the whole meal itself. Also the portion size is smaller than the American portion.

Absolutely Megs! Pasta in Italy is the first course. Usually 80/100 grams is a portion size (2.8/3.5 oz.).

Interesting quote from Colpo's article Robbie!

[Desertthorn]

Re: can anyone tell me...

LOL, I find my posts looking more like 2bigs every day.

2big, if I could just edit your posts, the evil little perfectionist in me would be so happy.

[Chris]

Re: can anyone tell me...

actually the French as skinny is a myth! They just has a news report about this and 46$ of the french population is overweight. we only see the skinny french modles and the movie omage of the skinny french folk.

That may be what the statistics say, but if you ever walk down the street in Paris, you wouldn't believe it.

It's true, of course, that you see more overweight in the provinces; but if you see an obese person in Paris, it's most likely to be an American tourist!

I lived, without a car, in Washington, DC for twenty years and had to walk everywhere I went. I was still overweight for much of that time (except when I lost on Weight Watchers).

One thing I will say is that the French, as in the other Mediterranean countries, eat quite slowly and also don't feel that they have to be a member of the clean plate club. Both lunch and dinner tend to be social events, where you linger over your food. That slow eating helps them realize when they're sated. We eat so quickly, that our bodies don't have time to tell us when they've had enough.

Between meal snacking is also much rarer over there. Morever, the snacks that are available are sold in much smaller sizes than here.