{"id":84307,"date":"2013-01-24T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-24T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=84307"},"modified":"2013-01-18T16:03:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T21:03:01","slug":"the-weight-loss-tip-that-keeps-foreigners-thin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/01\/the-weight-loss-tip-that-keeps-foreigners-thin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weight Loss Tip that Keeps Foreigners Thin"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Janis Jibrin, M.S., R.D., TheBestLife.com<\/a> lead nutritionist<\/em><\/p>\n

As a trim, chic couple passes me on the street, I hear snatches of their conversation\u2014in French. The other night at a restaurant, I heard Italian coming from a nearby table of three generations: healthy children, parents and grandparents. Living in Washington, D.C., with all the embassies and international organizations, I wind up hearing many different languages. When I recognize one, I do a quick\u2014and surreptitious\u2014assessment of the speaker\u2019s body weight. My amateur research findings, corroborated by legitimate studies, are that in most other countries, people are at healthier weights than Americans<\/a><\/strong>. For instance, our obesity rate is 3.5 times that of France\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve pumped my international friends\u2014all of whom are at a healthy body weight\u2014for their secrets. No matter where they come from, there is one strategy they all share: They respect the concept of mealtimes<\/a><\/strong>. They eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, with little to no snacking in between.<\/p>\n

My French friends tell me lunch is so sacred<\/a><\/strong> that French companies have a cafeteria providing free or very subsidized lunch. If they don\u2019t, employees get vouchers to eat at nearby restaurants. Lunches are nutritionally balanced: a hot meal of fish, chicken or meat plus vegetables (and a glass of wine and coffee!). In Paris and other big cities with short lunch breaks, a sandwich might have to suffice. But in smaller towns, people still go home for lunch, and come back to work two hours later. All over the country, families eat dinner together, and Sunday dinner with the entire family, grandparents included, is the norm.<\/p>\n

French traditions<\/a><\/strong> also spell out what should go on the plate\u2014the hot meal I described for lunch is also typical dinner fare. And those famed pastries and sweets are reserved for the Sunday family dinner, or other special occasions; everyday dessert is a piece of fruit. Similar traditions are still alive in many other countries.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, here in America, we\u2019ve lost our eating boundaries\u2014we eat virtually all day long. Family dinners have been replaced by every man for himself at the microwave. I\u2019m not out to bash America\u2014instead, I\u2019d like to encourage us to look at other cultures where 66 percent of the population is not overweight or obese and see which of their healthy habits we might be able to incorporate into our own lives. Seems like breakfast, lunch and dinner is a good place to start!<\/p>\n

Also Read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your Passport to Healthy Eating<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Weight-Loss Face Off: Three Squares Versus Grazing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Barack Obama’s 3,000 Calorie Inaugural Luncheon Menu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Janis Jibrin, M.S., R.D., TheBestLife.com lead nutritionist As a trim, chic couple passes me on the street, I hear snatches of their conversation\u2014in French. The other night at a restaurant, I heard Italian coming from a nearby table of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695],"tags":[533,328,346,3686,23,887,92],"class_list":["post-84307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","tag-bob-greene","tag-breakfast","tag-dinner","tag-france","tag-guest-blog","tag-lunch","tag-obesity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84307"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84317,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84307\/revisions\/84317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}