{"id":251,"date":"2008-12-04T20:47:17","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T20:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=251"},"modified":"2008-12-04T20:47:17","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T20:47:17","slug":"food-combining-dont-the-french-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/food-combining-dont-the-french-get-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Combining–Don’t the French Get It?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eating a Salad Nicoise for lunch today I was struck by an odd thing: <\/span>This classic French salad features both tuna and potatoes\u2014a protein and a carb. <\/span>Don\u2019t the French know about food combining\u2014the eating approach that says proteins and carbs are never to be seen together on the same plate? <\/span>Oh and by the way, my Nicoise, came with a hard-boiled egg, too!<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure this isn\u2019t the only nutritional faux pas the French have committed. <\/span>Surely you\u2019ve read about all the fat in their diets. <\/span>And all that wine they drink. <\/span>And the desserts\u2014ooh lah lah. <\/span>Calories, calories and more calories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite these flagrant violations of the Laws of Good Nutrition, the fact remains that the French don\u2019t have an obesity problem. <\/span>So what gives?<\/span><\/p>\n

A couple things come to mind: <\/span>First, this salad (and French food in general) is made with real food: <\/span>lettuce, olives, tomatoes, egg, tuna and potatoes. <\/span>No factory formed foods to add cheap bulk, no chemical preservatives to keep the potatoes white, no artificial flavorings sprinkled over the top to titillate our taste buds\u2014just foods straight from the earth. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What also comes to mind is the book, French Women Don\u2019t Get Fat<\/em> by Mireille Guiliano. <\/span>Although Ms. Guiliano is a high-powered businesswoman in the wine industry, she has taken it on herself to share the simple secrets followed by French women to maintain a healthy weight. <\/span>Striking about the secrets is how down to earth and practical they are. <\/span>There\u2019s no fancy weighing of food portions, no calculating grams of protein, no body fat assessments, no obsession over vitamin counts, no reading food labels, and so on. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s simply eating\u2014really high quality food (that is automatically rich in all the nutrients we need) eaten in small amounts (which automatically regulates calories) and that is enjoyed supremely (the coup de grace that allows French women to eat practically anything.)<\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt this kind of talk sounds like heresy to American women (and men) who are steeped in nutrion-ese. <\/span>How can we possibly just eat<\/em>? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I joke about how ours is probably the first and only culture over the history of humans and the face of the earth that has to re-learn how to just eat: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n