I'm French, I live in Paris.

And that's the number one question I get asked, especially when I make food videos.

So let's get breakfast together while I tell you all my thoughts.

So one of the first reasons people always think about is the food quality.

And I have to tell you that I, just like a lot of French people, mostly eat fresh food.

There's so many little food shops around me and it's super easy to shop for fresh food every single day.

Like today, for example, I just bought my bread after my run and it just added five minutes to my day.

And most people do that because there's an abundance of tiny markets, both in Paris and in other cities.

Big and small, there's at least one market a week.

And it's super easy to buy fresh food.

Fresh food is literally all around us.

Like this bread that I'm about to eat, it was made fresh this morning.

And by the way, if you were expecting me to eat a croissant, you're very wrong because sugar is seen more as a treat in France and not something like you would eat every single day.

I'll tell you a bit more about our relationship to treats and sugar a bit later in the video.

But one thing is sure is French food is very filling.

Like I eat pretty much this every single day, which is two to four slices of bread with a ton of butter, a fruit and some tea or coffee.

And I'm not hungry until lunchtime.

And my personal opinion is because I eat a lot of good quality fats like butter, olive oil.

And this is not only super tasty, this butter is so delicious, but it also keeps me full for longer.

Also, I feel we eat a lot of fruits and veggies.

Like it was the basis for every meal growing up and dessert is always a fruit for me.

And fruits and veggies are super high quality and tasty in France.

And they're so easy to find.

Like right next to me, there's this super cute street with a lot of different fresh fruits and veggie stores.

And it's so easy to get delicious fresh fruits and veggies that are in season.

Also, every time I eat breakfast in a video, people tell me that I don't eat enough, that the portions are too small.

But that's just how it is in France.

Portions are pretty small compared to the rest of the world.

I used to live in New York City.

And when I first moved there, I was so excited at how much food they were giving us.

I was like, great, I can only buy food once and eat twice.

That's how big the portions were for me.

Obviously, now I'm used to it.

So I just eat everything they give me.

But portions are way smaller in France.

And another reason people always give when they talk about this, about why French people are so thin, is supposedly our active lifestyle.

Yes, of course, our cities are made for walking and biking.

There's a lot of public transport.

You can walk pretty much everywhere, especially in Paris or in any big city.

I would say that physical activity is more woven into our daily life.

But to be fully transparent with you, I don't think these are the main reasons why French people are so thin.

There's actually deeper reasons, both positive and negative, that I want to talk to you about.

And the first thing I need to tell you about while I make my lunch is cooking.

So actually in France, most of the people I know make most of their meals from scratch.

For example, growing up with my parents, we never ate takeout.

We actually didn't even have a microwave most of my life.

And the only time we ordered food delivery to my parents' house was when my American boyfriend Bobby did it.

So eating homemade food in France is really common.

And eating simple meals like this one is what we usually do.

So if you've watched my food videos in the past, you see me eating a ton of food with really cool restaurant meals.

And obviously that's not how I eat most of the time.

Most of the food I eat is actually super simple, very basic, with a lot of fruits and veggies.

And it's actually how I prefer it.

I couldn't eat at the restaurant every single day.

And I need to eat simple and good homemade food most of the time to be happy.

Also in France, dinner parties, like having your friends over for dinner, is super, super common.

Most people do that.

No matter what age they are, you always invite your friends over for dinner, for some food.

People bring homemade cooked food.

And eating overall is a more social experience.

So for lunch, I usually eat alone because I'm working.

But growing up, one thing I did with my parents was eating all of our meals together, seated at the dinner table, and everyone eating the same thing.

So we're talking breakfast and dinner, obviously, but also lunch anytime I was not at school.

And even now as an adult, if there's someone in my house, I will eat a meal with them.

And I will share the same thing.

We will find something that we both like and share a meal.

So I think like me, a lot of French people are conditioned to see eating as a social event.

Like it's not just something you do to fuel your body.

It's also a time you can relax, unwind, you know, share good conversations with people, catch up with your family.

And for that, you know, you really want to eat slow because there's three different courses.

So you want to pace yourself to finish at the same time as the others.

And you're not going to leave the dinner table unless everyone else is done.

So as you can see with what I'm showing you today, there's three main meals you eat when you're French.

And they're super structured.

Like they happen at very specific times.

Like breakfast is whenever you wake up.

I always eat lunch between 12.30 and 1.30 p.m.

And apparently 90% of French people do too, according to this study.

Like it's crazy how much people eat at the same exact time.

And then dinner, it's around 8 p.m. with your family or with your friends.

And I cannot stress that enough.

It is super weird for me to not eat at the official French meal times.

When I was first dating Bobby and I met his family, since they're American, they didn't have those exact standard meal times where people would eat at the same exact time.

Sometimes people would just eat when they felt they were hungry.

And I was so confused.

Like my internal clock was totally lost.

I didn't know if it was lunch or dinner.

Nothing made sense to me.

And I always asked Bobby like, which meal are we on right now?

And when Bobby came to my family, it was the opposite end of the spectrum.

My parents wanted to be nice.

They actually created a menu for the week with like breakfast, lunch and dinner with different dishes.

So yes, there's a lot of structure in France.

And you always know when your next meal is gonna be, which I find really relaxing.

And now I'm used to the U.S. way of eating.

So I just ask to eat at the times I'm hungry at, which are conditioned by my French education.

But it feels relaxing to know that every single day at 12.30, you're gonna have a nice meal.

I don't know.

Might just be my upbringing, but I love it.

And by the way, for lunch, I'm not only eating this massive salad with arugula, tomatoes, mushroom and chicken.

But if I'm still hungry after that, I still have half a loaf of bread waiting for me.

And a bunch of fruits that are always on display at my house.

And by the way, if you're traveling to France, you should absolutely make sure you check the restaurant's opening hours before you go anywhere.

Because a lot of restaurants will be closed outside of the main French eating hours.

And for that, you're gonna need to have data on your phone.

And I recommend you get an eSIM with Erelo.

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All right, so now let's talk about food education.

That's such a big thing in French culture.

It's a very important part of a kid's upbringing, and from a very young age, your parents have you try a bunch of different foods to educate you and have you try different things.

So when I was a kid, my first house was just next to a Rue Camadour cheese farm, so this very soft, delicious goat cheese.

I was maybe two years old.

I don't remember.

Obviously, I was tiny, but apparently, I was obsessed with this cheese.

So kids eat the same things as adults very, very quickly.

When I was a kid, I obviously liked kid stuff like fries or McDonald's, but I would be offended if I was at a meal, and there were adults around me, and I had a specific kid meal, like with like, I don't know, like pasta shells or like something that the adults were not eating.

I wanted to eat the adult meal, and I feel that's a pretty shared feeling among kids and adults that you just make the same thing for the whole table, and people, you know, like they can take more or less of the food, and you just make something that fits everyone.

Also in France, kids are also taught table manners, which are very important.

So being able to sit at a table for an hour, you know, it's a skill, especially when you're a kid and you want to run around eating in a way that's not dirty so that you can go at restaurants.

And this means that very quickly, you can be integrated in the structure that's very important of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, eating the same thing with everyone.

Also from a very young age, kids are taught basic cooking skills, like I don't know, making a salad, making pasta, that type of stuff.

As you can see, again, it feeds into the other points.

So we are all trained to like that type of homemade food shared with other people.

And here, we're getting a bit into the darker stuff, which is peer pressure.

I feel it's a big part of why French people are so thin, because keeping the group atmosphere is super important.

Like if you're seen as being weird, you will not be invited again to dinner.

Let me give you an example.

I know a person, and here, obviously, I changed details because I don't want them to be recognized, who has terrible table manners.

Like the few times I've eaten in front of them, it has made me nauseous.

It was so bad.

And here, I know I've been conditioned to feel that way, and feel that his manners are just not culturally appropriate because of my upbringing.

But that's not the only thing where you can have a lot of peer pressure in France.

Like for example, substitutions are not always accepted.

Like, you know, asking for something without onions, for example.

Overeating, it's not seen as good as well, and you could have a lot of peer pressure around that.

And also, in the workplace, and I've been personally victimized, I'm joking, obviously.

But if you don't eat with your colleagues, people will tell you off.

Like you have to share your meal with your colleagues.

And the only time I had a job in France, like a corporate job in France, and I ate at my desk, people actually told me that I needed to eat with them.

So that's what I did.

So as you can see, those unspoken rules are quite tightly enforced, sometimes unconsciously.

But the most harmful peer pressure I've felt in France is that it is okay in France to tell people if they've gained weight.

In the US, where my boyfriend Bobby is from, and where I've worked as well, it is not okay to tell people things about their bodies.

Like you cannot go to someone and be, oh, you've put on a few pounds.

People will not want to talk to you after that, and they will feel it's very inappropriate.

Well, in France, you can actually do that, and a lot of people will do it.