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canadianvino

POSTED: Tue, 05/05/2009 - 10:52pm

questions about french life

I am curious 1)Do the french have a food guide and if so how many servings of the food groups does it call for. 2)If the french are so proud of there lifestyle and cuisine why is it the streets smell of urine?

danyaleeva

POSTED: Mon, 07/20/2009 - 9:34pm Equilibrium I believe in Mireille's French Woman's Manifesto: "French women choose their own indulgences and compensations...[and a woman is] the keeper of her own equilibrium." This is goes beyond food, but food is a good place to start. I've been making minor changes for months now and when I pause to see how it feels, it feels like these things/changes are just my way of life. I'm ready to implement more changes, and will be in the fall.

Kelly11

POSTED: Tue, 09/28/2010 - 7:24pm General Question about French Life I was just wondering what does a french woman do during cocktail hour? Does she have a drink? Will she drink with no food? We have several functions coming up that will start wtih a cocktail hour prior to the event. It would not be stylish to order an ice tea...what do we suppose Mireille would do?

vickie2

POSTED: Wed, 09/29/2010 - 1:04am Hello Newbeginner I think all of the ladies here have given great advice! I agree that Mireielle would likely have a glass of champagne with a few nibbles. I also think she would then compensate by having a little less at dinner. I think it's important to feel good when you attend these events - wear something that you feel you look great in and enjoy the evening.

Vintage1944

POSTED: Tue, 09/28/2010 - 9:04pm Hi Newbeginner Will they be serving nibbles?If not have your "en cas"with you and have it before you go.A glass of wine,with a little food on board,should be o.k.Or if you like spirits and they are on offer,(I know not French but it is about enjoyment)mix with a lot of soda water or juice.Or who cares what others think,have a glass of juice or soda with lots of ice.Nobody will even know.I always find it amusing and instructional to not drink alcohol when everyone else is.The things you see and hear!!LOL.Most of all relax and enjoy.Jean

Kelly11

POSTED: Tue, 09/28/2010 - 9:49pm Thanks I hve detoured so far off I am trying to totally jump in fully. It might sound slightly nutty but I am trying something new....acting "as if" I have to develop an entirely new relationship with myself and food. Being a banker in this tough economic times I find myself working and studying and taking over way too much. There is so much doom and gloom around me I feel like I no longer know how to even smile. How does one get to thier 40s and not even know what their pleasures are? I am trying to fully embrace the lifestyle so the details are helpful to me. I find myself asking what would Mireille do in this instance especially when it comes to eating and emotions. Like after a 12 hour day ..after a few bites of ice cream over the sink I caught myself ( what would Mireille think? She would be horrified ...and realized I should have had some hot tea as I needed to be comforted. Sometimes I dont know what Mireille would do...so I am hoping this website will help!

snorklee

POSTED: Wed, 09/29/2010 - 12:03am Hi Newbeginner I second what Jeanne says... French women don't care what others think, so if you'd like iced tea, then you should do what you like. I think that at a cocktail party, Mireille might have a glass of champagne, and three bites of something yummy. Enough to enjoy the party, but not enough to overindulge. Mostly, I think she would recommend dressing up, having fun, enjoying the company and relishing a night out. Fun doesn't cost anything and it has no calories. Enjoy! :)

Vintage1944

POSTED: Tue, 09/28/2010 - 10:29pm Whoa! You are in a truly stressful job.Nothing aboout acting "as if "is nutty.It is about making a cognitive shift to change your thinking,to change your feelings and thus your life.A creative solution,I admire.Mireille,would also say "No dead ends,only detours" and welcome you back.We will all be happy to help.And frankly,it is helpful to read what you are doing.Keep on.OXO Jean

jas

POSTED: Wed, 12/23/2009 - 10:48am choosing my own.. Even though I am new to this, I am finding that choosing my own indulgences feels so very right. It is like I am finally getting to exist...what I like, what I need...I'm discovering tastes in a way I never experienced before...it is all so much fun. I just hope it really does lead to significant weight loss. Jas

St.TropezChic

POSTED: Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:55am Equilibrium Slowly but surely is definitely the way to go. I take such pleasure basing my life on what feels right to me, not on the way it looks in the eyes of the world. Lorraine

Vintage1944

POSTED: Tue, 07/21/2009 - 2:56pm Equilibrium That is something to strive for.I have spent way too much time trying to "fit"into the expectations of others.Good for both of you and i am so pleased to learn from you.Jean

frenchy

POSTED: Mon, 07/27/2009 - 3:20pm All or nothing I have noticed that the US has an all or nothing mentality about it. I will either eat all the ice-cream or none at all. How did this come about? It is such a shame that so many have a hard time finding the happy medium that we have all found. It is so true that life is too short to do battle with something like food. I say battle poverty and hunger. Battle for equality and the environment. But don't do battle with your breakfast, lunch, and dinners.

curucu

POSTED: Mon, 07/27/2009 - 4:30pm I agree Frenchy... ...I think it might have something to do with our Puritan history...always looking to martyr oneself over everything. My fiancee pointed this out to me (he's from the Dominican Republic.) Pleasure = Evil. You can't have that mindframe if you're going to have a healthy relationship with food. I think it is the root of our problems here. Add to that the "Clean Plate Club" and "there are starving children in Africa", guilting us into eating still more. If we've fallen off the punishing diets we go on, well, we've really done it now, might as well fall off all the way...I deserve to be fat because I ate (whatever)...martyrdom. Shedding our past as a society is the key to reversing our obesity as a whole...least I think... :)

Vintage1944

POSTED: Mon, 07/27/2009 - 8:31pm Curucu Absolutely ,bang on !!! I do so agree.Nutso way to live isn't it ?Jean

curucu

POSTED: Tue, 07/28/2009 - 7:11am It is crazy! The weirdest part is, none of us realized it. Looks so silly now, doesn't it?

frenchy

POSTED: Tue, 07/28/2009 - 8:14am Disturbing thought What bothers me the most is when I go back to work I will once again take a peek at what the cafeteria is feeding the children for breakfast and lunch. I researched the differences between French and American school lunches and could have cried when I saw what we do to our children...and they call this a balanced meal!? Here is where the crisis also lies and it should be considered a crime as to what school cafeterias are doing. It goes back to the differences in thinking between the two cultures about children. Deborah Madison wrote a great article that I found on the internet. She actually went to France to get the research. She is a fantastic cookbook author for anyone unfamiliar with her.

Elizabeth G

POSTED: Wed, 11/11/2009 - 8:59pm Disturbing in the workplace as well I'm hopping around responding to old posts at random, but I'm playing catch-up as a new member. Pardon me if my etiquette is not quite up to par. At my workplace, there is a vast wall of vending machines filled mostly with junk. A number of employees asked for healthier snacks; although the replacements were not fresh or "real" food (pretzels, trail mix, salted nuts, Wheat Thins and Sun Chips), I suppose they seemed better. (I never take cash to work in order to prevent even walking by those machines and hearing the siren call of peanut M&M's on a stressful, PMS-filled day.) People were in an uproar! "Where are the Hostess cakes? Where are the king-size Snickers?" Quite sad... I work with a disturbingly large number of morbidly obese people; I really worry for their health. So young, so unhealthy!

curucu

POSTED: Tue, 07/28/2009 - 9:26am Tell me about it... ...I nearly fainted when my nephew told me they have Pizza Hut and Chick-Fil-A for lunch every day. (WHAT?) We used to think a candy bar and soda was a problem! I'd like to read that article, I'm going to google Deborah Madison today.

Vintage1944

POSTED: Tue, 07/28/2009 - 7:45pm Deborah and Curucu It is disturbing what passes for nutrition in any cafeteria.But I shudder when I think of kids being allowed to think these things are "good".A hospital I worked at in the U.S. had a MacDonald's in it.I was shocked.There were people I worked with who had 3 meals a day there.And the cafeteria food wasn't much better.In the place where I work now,the caf. is gross and I hate myself when I eat the food.There is also a Tim Horton's(like Dunkin'Donuts)in the Heart Institute here.But I will say the small caf.there has a great choice of healthy,real foods.I will look up Deborah madison too.Jean

frenchy

POSTED: Fri, 08/28/2009 - 4:19pm My hospital the hospital I stay in when required is Seventh Day Adventist and the cafeteria is completely vegetarian or was. I just found out that they have begun serving meat one or two days a week. I loved eating there and sometimes during the summers would make the place my eat-out stop. I was fed vegetarian every meal whilst there this go round.

Pamela7k

POSTED: Mon, 10/12/2009 - 2:52pm Seventh Day Adventist Vegetarianism is part of the Seventh Day Adventist beliefs. I am surprised they started serving meat, they must have had outside pressure.

Marilyn

POSTED: Mon, 07/27/2009 - 5:04pm Guilt trip Perhaps it has something to do with the 'if you don't eat my food you don't love me' that we subconsciously imbibed as children. Our mothers cooked special meals and we felt obliged to eat it all instead of just enough. That and being rewarded for good behaviour with food. Adopting the FWDGF way of eating has no guilt, no obligation just enjoyment of good food and listening to our bodies. Hopefully our children will not have the hang ups re food that we had.

curucu

POSTED: Tue, 07/28/2009 - 7:07am I think so Marilyn! And as such, we can't figure out how to just enjoy food as nourishment. Hopefully, this group can spread the word and at least help the children in our lives develop healthy attitudes toward food.

danyaleeva

POSTED: Sun, 07/19/2009 - 12:55am Bad Words I refuse to listen to any healthy talk (bad words) about food. I just want to eat and enjoy healthy, simple foods. Spices make all the difference in the world. They'll take you from Greece to India in a matter of meals. I went to school to train as a chef and pastry artist and interned at a wedding cake shop. I worked eight hour shifts in a commercial kitchen for two years to become a caterer/wedding planner who specialized in wedding cakes. After two years my heart changed. Professional cooking was not like 'Like Water for Chocolate.' I did not feel like I was in a french pastry or bread shop. It was not illustrious or romantic. It was commercial. Now I lost my love of cooking. Eventually I'll want it back, but for now I don't mind. So I only eat simple menus and seasonally. No elaborate meals with a million ingredients. I like it this way, and so does my body.

St.TropezChic

POSTED: Sun, 07/19/2009 - 10:55am Bonjour, danyaleeva! I really like your approach of 'staying out of harm's way' by shopping only where you know the food is in sync with your eating philosophy, and also not allowing yourself to be distracted by 'diet hype'. I understand about commercialization detracting from your experience working in the culinary industry. Actually, in any field, where the romance and/or the passion is removed, what is left? In college, I volunteered for a few weeks in a family-owned bakery in a village in Michoacán, México. It was most memorable, and loads of fun and hard work. The owner would give me a little bag of mexican baked goods to take home each day. The influences from the french occupation are prevalent in the some of the food, most markedly, the pastries. I did read 'Como agua para chocolate' (orig. spanish version) some years ago, and still mean to try the chicken with rose petal sauce! Lorraine

Vintage1944

POSTED: Mon, 07/20/2009 - 9:21am Good Mornig to you both Just reread your enteries.You truly are amazing women. I do think the idea of shopping to suit your philosophy is right.And to not listen to all the crazy negatives that are thrown at us about food.We need and must enJOY.Emphasis on joy.Food is not our enemy,although it has been turned into that by science and media.This is a worthwhile goal.Let's keep bringing the message to whomever we can,whenever we can.Jean

St.TropezChic

POSTED: Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:25am Jean YOU are the amazing one! And I learn something new from the people on this board, everyday. Lorraine

Vintage1944

POSTED: Sun, 07/19/2009 - 12:26pm WOW!! Lorraine and Danyaleeva;You never cease to impress me.I have to get ready for work but I will be back to talk with you more on this issue.Have a divine day ladies.Jean

danyaleeva

POSTED: Sun, 07/19/2009 - 12:44am Boston Every area of Boston (and its suburbs) now boasts weekly farmers markets. It's been that way for the past two years. And it was a long time coming. Most of our supermarkets are set up like real food matters more. You shop all the outer aisles, and avoid the center where the processed foods are. I don't even bother to go down those aisles. A friend and I went on excursions to farmers markets and book stores weekly. Limiting what areas you shop in permanently changes the way you eat.

johanne

POSTED: Sat, 06/13/2009 - 2:59pm answers about world living I am not quite sure of the nature of these questions--perhaps that is the reason no one has dared providing someype of an answer. Well, I'll take these inquieries for what they seem to be: genuine questions that necessitate frank answers. I am a citizen of the world. I have traveled a bit more than I expected to and one thing is for sure: everyone is PROUD of their national culture and heritage- to a certian healthy level, anyway. 1) I have not accountered a French Food Pyramid. It may simply be due to the moderation consumption of their meals. 2) If someone, anyone can show me a street (in the world) or any city that does not smell either of urine or of some sort of unpleasant odor...I would have found paradise, I think. A bientot!

canadianvino

POSTED: Thu, 08/27/2009 - 4:36pm my question I appreciate your reply to my question regarding a food pyramid and Paris streets. I have been trying for some time to reply but I had technical difficulty with the site. I admit I am not a well travelled person so I only have Canada and a little of the states to compare. I was curous when a teenaged girl who had returned from her student trip to Paris had much to say about the smell. I hope to go to Paris September 2010 so I will find out for myself. Has anyone stayed at the Pension les Marroniers? breakfast and dinner is included with the price of the room.

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