When Caroline Longmore, a French nutritionist, married a Brit and moved from Paris to London, she found herself “horrified” by the way people ate. “I realised that people here had not learnt about moderation,” she explains to me, in a charmingly thick accent. “The French are just so much better at looking after themselves, but I wonder if that’s because the state does more for us. They offer free full-time nursery education and it’s easier to access healthcare. It makes it easier to prioritise having fun and eating well.”
Now 78, and not having suffered from so much as a cold in decades, Longmore – a doctor and naturopath – is determined to help the people of the UK reset their systems and get healthy. Her key word is “balance”; here, she and other experts explain how to achieve this the Gallic way – and lose that all-important half-stone.
A tarte tatin is fine – but only if you give up something else
When Longmore goes to a restaurant, the first thing she does is check the dessert menu. If there is something on there that she wants, she won’t have any wine; if it all looks rather bland, then she will. “I would say the biggest difference between the French and British is that the French know they can have a bit of what they want, but not all of it,” she says. “You can have a glass of wine, but not a bottle. You can have a piece of cake, just not every day.”
If you want a glass of chablis… drink lots of water
“It is such an easy trick, but it makes a big difference,” says Clothilde Gaultier, a dietician in Paris, who suggests we drink a glass of water half an hour before we sit down at the table and two more during the meal. Drinking more water increases the number of calories you burn, reduces appetite and improves digestion and your complexion. Most importantly, it means that if you have wine with your meal, it won’t tax your liver as much.
Reset your blood sugar
“If you take out wheat, dairy, alcohol and sugar, you will always lose weight,” says Longmore. “But few people can do this long-term – and why would you want to? There would be so little pleasure.”
What most of us can do, however, is avoid these four horsemen of the diet apocalypse for five days. “Hormones fluctuate in women in particular – if you have a lot of cravings, you can reset them and rebalance your blood sugar by cutting out the things you crave completely for a short period [after a few days your body will stop wanting them] and by taking a chromium supplement,” explains Longmore.
Chromium shouldn’t be taken long-term, but in short bursts it can encourage the body to metabolise food faster. Unless you’re diabetic, 200 micrograms a day as part of a multivitamin should be sufficient – although the best approach is through a balanced diet. Whole wheat bread, broccoli, potatoes, meat and brewers yeast are all good sources.
Have a formule du jour, not a sad sandwich
Eating less doesn’t mean forgetting to eat – and it certainly doesn’t mean putting off lunch until you’re so hungry you wolf down the first chain-store offering you can find. “I was horrified when I first came to England and had clients who told me they’d have nothing until the middle of the afternoon and then would load up on carbs and Mars Bars,” says Longmore.
“Then they couldn’t understand why they felt so tired all the time. Nobody would do that in France, because it’s bad for the body not to have lunch – but also because it is no fun.”
She advises people to make a weekly meal plan each Sunday if they’re bringing food to the office, or to find a healthy restaurant nearby, and to always sit down at a table to eat, rather than mindlessly consuming calories in front of a computer. This makes it easier to ensure that every plate is half-filled with plant-based food, with the other half divided equally between protein and carbohydrates.
Make ‘balance’ your religion
Longmore’s other moderation suggestions include allowing yourself to drink on holiday (but only in the evening), always using a smaller plate, and compensating for what you have done the day before. If you had a big boozy Saturday night out, spend Sunday eating soups or salads; if you’ve been good all week, allow yourself a treat at the weekend.
“Be sensible,” she says. “Avocado is good, that’s true, but don’t have 10 a week. Unless you have cancer or diabetes, you can eat what you want in moderation and you will stay a healthy weight.”
Snacking is interdit
“We really don’t need to snack all the time,” says Helen McCarthy, the author of The Appetite Doctor. “We have not evolved to eat continuously. Some animals have to – but we’re not cows and if we graze all day we put on weight.”
As it turns out, French women were right all along. On the other side of the Channel, there has always been a distaste for new-fangled diets, and they have largely swerved the fad for intermittent fasting that has taken over here; instead they rarely snack, and eat reasonable portions.
“Getting hungry is key,” says McCarthy. “When we stop eating between meals and stop using our digestive system continually, other processes can start happening, including cell repair and gut cleaning.”
On the other hand, don’t starve yourself
“Another thing I noticed when I came to the UK was that people were far more likely to go on crash diets,” says Longmore. “But when you eat virtually nothing, you imbalance your body, your blood sugar crashes and you start making fat.”
If you’re hungry between meals, have an apple or a handful of nuts and add more protein to menus.
Intermittent fasting, she believes, works for certain body types, although she stresses the importance of breaking the fast with the right foods. “If you’re only eating during eight hours a day, make it a healthy eight hours, with lots of lean protein, vegetables and good fats like avocado and feta.”
Slow down
Parisian offices are deserted between 1pm and 2.30pm and restaurants are unlikely to get two seatings for dinner. French people take far longer over their meals than we do – a midweek lunch is a leisurely affair, while dinner is designed to fill an entire evening.
This sounds rather pleasant, and it helps your metabolism process food. A study in Japan showed that wolfing down food can increase your chances of developing cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, and makes you put on weight. “You outpace the appetite hormones that tell your body you’re getting full,” says Gaultier. She suggests pausing for at least 15 minutes between courses and putting down your knife and fork between mouthfuls.
Keep eating meat and fish
Vegetarians are famously unwelcome in France. “Too many British people think going on a diet means only vegetables, but this is not true and it won’t work in the long term,” says Longmore, who believes you need protein to fill you up – and to stop you buying chocolate at 4pm. “If you have a salad, add a boiled egg. If your supper has lots of greens, great – but include fish or chicken.”
Move every day – but don’t aim too high
Gyms and fitness classes are not the booming industry in France that they are here. To get fit the French way, the key is not to be too ambitious: Longmore sees clients who set their targets too high, fail to meet them and then give up. “Don’t try to run a marathon if you barely jog; instead walk briskly for 30 minutes a day. Do that five days a week and you will lose weight.”
Exercise, she adds, helps reduce stress. “Stress leads to poor choices and you buy a croissant to comfort yourself. Go for a bike ride instead.”
Add fermented food to your diet
“Fermented foods help your gut work properly,” says Longmore. Easy ingredients to incorporate include plain yoghurt, miso, sauerkraut and kombucha.
Un café, s’il vous plaît
Don’t forget all the calories in what you drink. Most of us are wedded to our caffeine hit, but giving up lattes doesn’t mean giving up coffee. Remember that three lattes or cappuccinos a day add about 2,730 calories a week. Be more European and have an espresso (or macchiato if you need milk) at 10am.
Don’t drink alone
“People are too reliant on alcohol here,” says Longmore. “I don’t drink every night of the week, and never alone.” Instead of starting the evening with an alcoholic drink, go for a walk or have a bath and then make yourself a fizzy water with ice and mint or lemon, so you still have a sense of ceremony. With time, a bottle of burgundy will stop being something you crave, and start becoming a treat.
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