On Sun, 17 Mar 2002 08:00:37 -0600, Paleogal <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Yes, they don't eat a lot of starchy carbs.  They eat vegetables, fruit,
>nuts, meat and cheese and as Rachel stated in an earlier post, they have
>their biggest meal around two p.m.  The evening meal is quite lengthy, lots
>of conversation, nibbling and lighter fare.  They do enjoy their wine.
>Bread is eaten for breakfast and on the run.  They walk everywhere at a
fast
>pace.

I think recently the French diet has been becoming more like that in the
US/UK. Nigel Slater, a UK food writer, relates the story of how he was
staying with some French friends in Paris, and went out to get some
croissants for breakfast. When he returned, his hostess gave him a funny
look and said 'Croissants are for tourists. We eat cornflakes for
breakfast, like everyone else'.

Certainly when I was in France last year they seemed to eat a fair amount
of bread and potatoes. I'm not sure exactly when the studies were done
which showed that the French were so healthy, but I suspect that if they
were repeated now they wouldn't be so distinctive. Hence the rearguard
action being fought by the anti-McDonalds people and the Slow Food
movement.

Jo