19 December, 2006 | Leave a Comment
This is probably a common problem for people who move to Paris, the culinary capital of the Western world. But the thing is, my clothes are too big. I’m shrinking. Today when I was packing up for the move, I found my bathroom scale conveniently hidden away in a dark corner. I stepped on it and gasped when I saw that I have lost weight since I last weighed myself a few months ago. I noticed that my clothes were getting a bit too big for me, but I assumed it was some sort of delusion brought on by the trace amounts of crack that I’m sure are in Nutella.
Y’all, I have been on an eating binge since arriving in Paris last September, so I do not know how this has happened. I am not supposed to be eating dairy products, but I didn’t let that stop me from eating croissants, pastries, tarts, you name it. Every day I indulge in a treat like this. There is a crepe stand at the end of my street! AT THE END OF MY STREET! On every block in this city there are patisseries filled with the kinds of desserts you could only find in high-end bakeries in the US and the UK. A few days a week I meet a classmate for lunch at the most yummiest sandwich shop ever, across the street from our class. We order ciabatta sandwiches and pear tart or an eclair. The food in this place is so good it could kill you. The other day another classmate joined us. She ordered a panini sandwich and once she started eating it, she drifted off into some weird zone where she just kept chanting this is so good. We couldn’t even talk to her until she was done. A middle-aged British couple were sitting at a table nearby. They had ordered about 5 desserts and were taking bites of each of them one-by-one. They had a glazed look in their eyes, a look I know too well. I soooo wanted to take a photo of them. I could have set off the flash right in front of their eyes and they probably wouldn’t have even noticed. It was hysterical. And did I mention this place isn’t even a proper café, just a little viennoiserie with a few scattered tables? By Paris standards, there’s nothing remarkable about it at all.
Welcome to life in France. If you were in the US you’d be eating at Subway and you know it. As for savory foods, I have never eaten so many French fries in my life. French fries might be Belgian in origin, but they are aptly named. I swear to you that French people eat more French fries than Americans. And then don’t get me started on all the white bread I am eating. White bread! Clearly, no one in France has ever heard of the glycemic index. If you’re American or British you’ve had it drilled into your head that there are few things in this world as purely evil and detrimental to your health as white bread. Not so in baguetteville.
So given the temptations in this place, I’m not sure how I have managed to shed pounds. And my classmates have not been so lucky — they’re complaining that they’ve gained a lot. Here’s what I’ve come up with in trying to figure out this mystery:
- In order for me to lose weight, my overall caloric intake must be lower than it was before. So I guess while I do indulge in pain au chocolat, etc., I must not be eating as much in total. I only eat two meals a day, usually, and don’t snack (a hard habit to break!). The French aren’t big snackers. There are relatively few convenience stores here, for example. If you want to buy a bottle of water, you usually have to go into a patisserie, sandwich shop, etc.
- I don’t drink alcohol, which might be a big part of it. Most of the people I know here who have gained weight have been indulging in wine a lot. And alcohol is a simple sugar that converts to glucose very rapidly.
- Aside from pastries and bread and French fries, I don’t really indulge in French food. I can’t. I don’t eat any form of red meat (beef, lamb, pork) and I though I have slipped up on my no-dairy eating, I do not eat cheese. Given these parameters, there isn’t much for me to choose from in a place that serves traditional French food. When I eat out, aside from buying sandwiches, I eat Chinese, Japanese or Italian food (which are much healthier here than the versions of these foods sold in the US and UK).
- I get more exercise. Before Daylight Savings Time ended, I walked more than five miles a day. So clearly, that has a big effect. But since DST ended, I’ve been a slug and take the métro more often. Hmmmm. I notice that I climb stairs here much much more. Unlike in London, there are very few escalators in the métro. Also, I climb 12 flights of stairs at school each day. It’s much more common for buildings here not to have lifts. I currently live in a 3rd floor (4th to Americans) walk-up.
- I sometimes become ill. I’m not supposed to eat dairy and every few weeks it catches up with me. I go for several days when I can’t eat much at all. It’s common for this to happen to anyone who is not used to the richness of French cuisine, but it’s even worse in my case. Right now I am just coming out of a non-eating period. From Friday until today, I have eaten in total: two bowls of oatmeal, four scrambled eggs, one Chinese take-away and a baguette sandwich. I know this isn’t healthy, believe me. But sometimes I just can’t eat.
- And lastly, since I’ve been here, I’ve been enjoying food and not worrying about it. Today is the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve tried to figure out what I’ve been doing. I think the importance of this cannot be underestimated.
I still don’t understand how I have managed to lose weight. Just staying even would be a major accomplishment. I feel like I eat a lot of very fattening foods. I feel like I have been on a binge. I do not feel deprived in any way — just the opposite. This is of course a cliché of French culture — that people here eat all this rich and fattening food yet don’t gain weight. And unlike many people here, I do not make coffee and cigarettes a part of my diet. (For the record, I see plenty of non-skinny people here.) I can’t imagine eating this way in any other city and losing weight? It doesn’t entirely make sense to me. But I’ll just go with it.
Anglofille said @ 6:52 pm | food | 6 Comments
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do you know how many people hate you right now?
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Oh dear, I never considered that possibility! If it makes you feel better, for two years before I arrived in Paris, I was on a very-strict no-dairy diet. I ate *nothing* tasty — ever! So I think that’s why I’ve been on an eating frenzy here. I hope this makes me less detestable?
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only slightly so… i can’t do dairy either, but never lost any weight from it!! i’m still trying to run off these extra empanadas around my waist…
perhaps I should try the Paris Diet!
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Lucky; I gained a lot of weight! I don’t know how I’m going to lose it.l
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I’m sure it is the walking! Good for you. I have gained so much since I moved to London so I need to do the big life change thing–
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I could never do a post like this, too many people dislike me enough already… something about Paris-envy? But I’m with you on this– I was already thin when I moved to France but managed somehow to become even thinner! I don’t know how this happened. I think it is probably, as you say, the crack in the Nutella. Or whatever they put in the milk to store it outside of the fridge.
