What is the average french diet

And it's about eating healthy most of the time. Eating French-style is completely sustainable in the long run because you eat a bit of everything, even though the emphasis is on whole foods that come from nature. It's all well and good to talk on and on about how French women stay slim.

But just like the photos of cafeteria food made the point on how children eat at lunchtime here, I've asked my French girlfriends to photograph everything they ate during the course of one day to provide a visual reference.

These are not fancy food items, simply what is eaten by an average French woman on an average day. I asked them to photograph everything including drinks, snacks, and desserts. Along with the photos, each friend summarized any food guidelines they apply to eating and well-being in general, in order for us to better understand their food choices as well as the lifestyle and cultural undertones.

They included exercise in a given week and how they recuperate from "overdoing" it on special occasions such as holidays, big weekends, and vacations. Homemade veggie soup carrot, potato, leek, zucchini and salad of endives, half avocado, olives, sprinkled with pumpkin and flax seeds.

Mixed cereal with almond milk, almonds, walnuts, goji berries, and fresh pear, along with herbal tea. This type of light meal is often served in France: a bit of charcuterie, capers, blue cheese, bread, and fruit.

Salmon, salad, terrine of zucchini she makes it herself with zucchini, eggs, milk, spices , and fruit salad for dessert. Baguette campagne dark bread with either jam or local honey, coffee, fruit this day, it was a banana and sometimes a plain yogurt, too.

Chicken breast, rice, roasted veggies, and endive salad. Not pictured is a bowl of Greek yogurt for dessert. Usually two pieces of fruit today it was banana and apple or one piece of fruit and small handful of nuts. Want your passion for wellness to change the world? Become A Functional Nutrition Coach! Enroll today to join our upcoming live office hours. Our FREE doctor-approved gut health guide. You are now subscribed Be on the lookout for a welcome email in your inbox!

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Explore Classes. Contributing writer By Rebeca Plantier. Contributing writer. She writes about about healthy living, travel, parenting and the French lifestyle—and her work has appeared on various sites, such as Huffington Post, Business Insider, Salon, EatLocalGrown, travel site Matador Network and many others. Last updated on February 19, No food is off limits for most French women. Facebook Twitter. Just as with exercise and fitness, French women practice moderation when it comes to food, too.

Cathy's Day. Homemade buckwheat crepe with almond butter, raisins, and a cup of organic vegetable juice. Fast food on this list is noticeably absent. They keep things simple. This report made clear that the French embrace a wide range of foods, and in reasonable quantities.

Write to Mandy Oaklander at mandy. By Mandy Oaklander. Get our Health Newsletter. Sign up to receive the latest health and science news, plus answers to wellness questions and expert tips. Please enter a valid email address. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now. There's not a lot of structure since it's more of an overall lifestyle than a diet, so it's hard to know if anything I did this week was truly how a French person would do it.

On my last day I treated myself in a very French way — with pastries. I stopped by a local French bakery and got some macarons and coffee.

This week I found out that the difficulty in an American following the French diet isn't just about what to eat, it's about how to eat it. Cutting out processed foods was easy enough. But eliminating working lunches and turning off the TV during dinner were fundamentally different than how my life normally plays out. And to be honest, I simply failed to incorporate them into my diet very well.

Also, as it turns out, my body just doesn't like to eat bread and cheese all the time, even if my mind does. It did remind me how nice it is to go for a casual walk outside, so I'll definitely keep that up as I head into summer. And every once in a while maybe I'll throw in a croissant for good measure.

World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Stephanie Ashe. For seven days I followed the diet and lifestyle of the French.

I avoided processed food, tried French recipes, exercised outside instead of at the gym, and tried to make mealtime a more social experience. I ended up not feeling well and fell back into my American habits. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Would doubling down on pastries and cheese keep me satiated and productive? Or would they make me bloated and give me brain fog? Keep reading to find out.

Before buying out all the baguettes at my local market, I figured it was a good idea to actually ask a French dietitian about what the French diet actually is. It is also an intuitive form of eating , where you listen to your body and its inner cues.

You not only feed your body but your mind. This means your plate will be filled with foods that are nutrient-rich and you also won't have to eat as much to feel full.

In order to truly eat the French way, she was several tips, which she shares next. Instead of buying a whole week's worth of groceries from a supermarket, most French people go to local markets a few times a week to pick up fresh food.

Dairy is also full of probiotics , which is good for the gut. These foods are full of brain- and heart-healthy omega-3s. French people aren't ones to be mindlessly eating a bag of chips while working on their laptop. She says it's a full-on sensory experience and the focus is on enjoying what's on the plate in front of you.

I wanted to know what French eating actually looked like on a day-to-day basis. For Vichot, the first meal of the day is heavy in carbs, sugar, and caffeine. Vichot has a piece of chocolate cake. Instead of eating over a computer at work, everyone goes out and typically eats a dish with protein , grains, and lots of vegetables.

This could be in the form of a chicken sandwich loaded with veggies, or fish, rice, and salad. She tells me dinner is similar, just a bigger portion. Oh, and Vichot has a piece of chocolate cake. Hanging up the phone, I smiled to myself.