Art of Travel: Why French Women Don't Get Fat

When I think about Paris, one of the first things that comes to mind are the chic women who call this city home. They have an air about them that is almost inexplicable. Impeccable style, impossibly thin, and looks that could kill… there are numerous books written which aim to answer the question: how do French women do it?

When I set out for Paris, one of topics on my list of things to investigate was the phenomenon of French women. I wanted to see first hand what it is that makes these women stand out from all the other women in this world and of course try to emulate, to the best of my ability, whatever it is that I discover. While I hope that over the course of the semester I will be able to investigate all aspects of the life of French women for now, I can answer one question: “How do they stay so thin?” And trust me, the answer is not exercising.

When walking down the street in Paris, you almost never come across anyone overweight, and if you do, you can be almost positive that they are from elsewhere. I have come up with three explanations as to how they manage to stay so svelte.

For one, Paris is enormous. I always think that New York is big but for some reason, Paris seems much larger. And since it is a walking city, just as New York is, you are constantly trekking across the city, a very good workout!

My second development when trying to answer this question lies in the Elevators. While Parisian buildings are not tall by any means, many of them do not have elevators. If they do have one, it’s not worth trying to squeeze yourself, plus any bags or friends into the lift with you. I think that most women, and men too for that matter, must take the stairs on a daily basis, unlike those of us in New York who will take the elevator to the second floor of our dorm building as long as no one is looking… (You know you’ve done this) As far as fitting in with this aspect of Parisian life, I am definitely doing a good job! I live on the 7^th floor (that’s the 8th in the states) and I have to take the stairs every single time.

My third and final note in regards to how French women maintain their graceful figures is the fast that they go on every week. Yes, I said it. A fast. While in the states we are used to stores having different hours on Sundays than they do during the rest of the week, it is almost unheard of for a store to just be closed. Well try having every single store on your block closed for an entire day. This is what happens in Paris on Sundays. While I am half kidding about the fast thing, if you don’t have a well-stocked fridge, forget it, it’s a baguette for you… if you are lucky enough to find that. Many stores also close on Mondays, but it’s not impossible to find things open like it is on Sundays. This is something I am really going to have to adapt to seeing that Sunday is usually my “catch-all” day.

So there you have it… how French women stay thin, in a nutshell.