A Good Diet Is The Secret
I said before about stopping the way you eat and change. You’ve hear about the French and that the French have a diet that would put weight on any American, but their thin. The men and women of all ages in France are mostly thin. When we first looked at their diet we thought that the red wine they drank was the answer. These people eat out as much as we do, they didn’t even know what “low cal” meant until just recently. So how do they do it? Well first they walk more. City people don’t use cars that much, They walk everywhere. Also bike riding is more popular, gasoline has always been expensive in Europe and the people have learned to conserve. Conserving on food is something that France has done since World War II when food was scarce. So today their meal portions are smaller than ours and combine this with the increased amount of walking the French do and it’s much easier for them to control their weight.
Now how does that help you? Well there are studies going on today that are discovering that our meal portions maybe double of what we need. So how much food do you need? First of all I think we all know that Americans eat too much and that we are a nation of overweight people. Studies have also been done in the far east. Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to see why those people have much less Cancer than North Americans. They found that the people there are very healthy. They don’t have the weight problems we do and their more physically fit. So are we the only country that is habitually overindulging? Well no, Canadians and the English along with other cold countries have similar weight problems and are just starting to change with this new generation of young people.
So what’s the answer? Besides the quantity of food consumed also the quality of the food makes a difference. In France, for instance, yes they eat smaller meals but they also eat better then we do. In fact most of Western Europe eats better than we do. And I don’t mean more. I mean a better quality of food. Food is made with fresh ingredients and made from scratch everyday because refrigeration is still a concept much different from the U.S. in most parts of rural Europe. By new I mean in the last twenty years. After World War II Europe was pretty much in ruins and yes the big cities did rebuild pretty quick. By the early 50′s tourism was once again a major industry. But the rural parts of Europe took much longer to recover. So farming communities didn’t have electricity for many years.
Europe is really only a couple generations away from the Big War that put Europe into ruins. It’s this new generation today that don’t remember the War or the recovery. So what does this have to do with you?
Today young people in particular, are changing the way we live, work,eat and drink. This generation under 30, will change the way we live not only in this country but around the world. Older generations have made too many mistakes in their lives. They put money first and ignored the way they live their lives. Our divorce rate is much too high along with the obesity rate. We put our children second and put making money and living our own lives first. I’m glad to see that the new parents today, the under 30 group of new parents have a different outlook on life. Family is what’s important. Taking care of yourself and your family is that’s really important. Which means you have to set a good example. If you don’t want your kids to smoke than don’t you smoke, if your want your kids to eat healthy than you eat healthy. If you don’t want them to drink alcohol than don’t drink alcohol. At least in front of your children.
What ever you hope your children to be, I think you have to set the example and live the life you want for them. I think that’s what we are seeing today in the young parents of this generation. Maybe it’s not to late for us to learn how to live the rest of our lives.
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