Day One in Paris
As exhausted as I was landing in Paris at 7:30 a.m., I was also exhilarated! I was seeing my daughter for the first time in over 5 months and in France for the first time.
Our first day was full! We went to the flat where my daughter has been living with her host parents Ghislan and Samir and their baby Nathaniel. After appropriate greetings, Nicole and I were off for a long walk in her neighborhood on the outside of the center of Paris.
We walked for about an hour and a half. Our first mission was to find fresh bread and cheese for our walk… We did and we found a beautiful open air market with amazing and beautiful fresh fruit, veggies, cheese, poultry, fish and flowers.
After finding our fresh out of the oven, still warm bread, we continued our walk through a beautiful green pathway. (see video below). After our walk we went back home to a freshly prepared lunch of Moroccan cous cous and vegetables and a little wine of course 
!
After lunch, we took the metro into the center where we saw the Place de Bastille, Louvre, Jardins d Tuileries (Tuilerie Garden) & Place de la Concorde. In Tuilerie Gardens, there were two large duck ponds where we proceded to take a long nap in the sun before heading back to the flat for a Pique Nique (picnic) by the lake, lovingly prepared by Nicoles’s host family…
After a long day and an episode of Friends online, I passed out for 10 hours of sleep. Now it’s past midnight on day two and I am still awake… Enjoy the short video that gives a quick run-down of day one’s events… A vientot…
French Women Don’t Get Fat! Chapters 3 & 4~Recasting
Chapter 3 finds Mireille in a three-month “re-casting” mode… She is resetting her individual equilibrium, with the help and guidance of Dr. Miracle. Yes, the beginning is three months of resetting new/old (French style) habits. Dr. Miracle fully understands that quick fixes will not yield long-term results.
Before beginning this process, it’s important to consider a couple of really important questions…
- Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” So often, our reasons are fear and self-loathing based, or what others or media says we should look like… What is your why?
Mireille states in chapter three, “To embrace recasting, you have to be ready to embrace pleasure and individual happiness as your goals… It may be easy for a wife, mother and full-time worker to neglect pleasure; perhaps a part of you even thinks it’s selfish. But you must understand there is nothing noble in failing to discover and cultivate your pleasures. (It will make you not only fat, but grouchy.)” Read more
Go Ahead, Enjoy That Glass of Wine & the Health Benefits Too!
Whenever I talk to my daughter who is currently studying in Paris, she can’t stop talking about all of the amazing food she’s eating, not to mention the fantastic wine that goes with it. The question that keeps popping into my mind is how is she not gaining so much weight? All she does is eat bread and cheese! What is that French secret???
As it turns out, I’m not the only one asking. For years now, nutritionists and researchers have been trying to figure out what they call the French Paradox: how can people who are infamous for smoking and eating foods with high fat content not only stay fit, but also have such low rates of cancer and heart disease?
Recent studies have found that the food the French eat may not be the key to their bonne santé: it may be what they’re drinking with dinner.
Red wine is not only delicious, but it also packed with powerful antioxidants and a compound called resveratrol. In wine, it comes from the skin and seeds of grapes. Researchers have found that resveratrol combats both the effects of aging and other diseases on a cellular level.
The most exciting research being done shows that resveratrol helps protect your cells from those nasty free radicals, lower your blood pressure, boost your heart health, inhibit the spread of cancer, and even prevent Alzheimer’s.
As great as this all is, the biggest problem seems to be finding a sufficient source of this super-compound. While red wine is a great source, it has been found that you’d need several bottles of wine per day just to achieve the full effect, and of course, all things are good in moderation.
Along with red wine, grapes, cranberries, blueberries, and peanuts are all sources of resveratrol. Working these raw foods into your diet is key to getting resveratrol, as well as a lot of other excellent vitamins. Another thing to keep in mind when you’re doing your grocery shopping is to go for natural foods that are packed with antioxidants, which protect cells from free radicals, and are great tools for fighting the effects of aging. Some of my favorite antioxidant foods include broccoli, beans, artichokes, and strawberries.
Try to add as many of these foods into your diet, and remember, do as the French do, and sip on a glass of red wine with dinner, you know, for health purposes. 
