It has been quite a while since I last posted because I have been traveling to France for my job. I made some more life time friends and learned a lot about the French culture. One of the things that I really appreciated and believe Americans need to consider is respecting their personal time and their time with their friends and family. They work less in France than we do because their jobs are to support their lives, not like here in America where we tend to make our job the main part of our lives (which is sometimes because we are supporting an out of control life style). They are not always rushing everywhere like we are. At restaurants they are not pressuring you out the door, dinner tends to take about 2 hours. It is just time to relax with friends and family where here we are trying to get 1000 things done before we go to bed.
Another thing I noticed is that their meals are higher in carbs and fat and they tend to smoke more than most Americans. Some of our scientists think it is because of the wine they drink. This is definitely true but one issue with the way we look at things here is that everything is one dimensional. We tend to look at the fix to our problems like they are from one source. For example it was all of the fat we ate that made us unhealthy, then it was that we ate too many carbs which made us fat. Now the scientists are saying the reason the French are so healthy is because of a chemical in the red wine called resveratrol. Here are the other reasons I observed that I believe are a part of why the French are so healthy: The wine, they are very low stress, they do not work themselves to death, they value time with family and friends, they eat real food (everything had a mommy and a daddy and was made when it was ordered), they eat in moderation, they walk more than we do, they do not drive as much as we do, and they are not trying to keep up with the Jonses.
Take a lesson from the French to live happier and longer lives.