Happy New Year! I hope January 1, 2017 finds you well and ready for a new year.
French people today will typically get together with only close friends and family. Having consumed crepes and Galette des Rois (“the Cake of Kings”) yesterday, tonight they will have a special dinner and might attend a ball, une soirée dansante (“a dancing night”).
Make a new year’s resolution to be more like the French, and focus on friends, family, eating well and enjoying life. Life expectancy in France as of 2012 is 82.57 years; in the U.S., it is 78.74 years. There is likely a myriad of reasons for this difference, and some might point to the French having socialized health care. But my time spent in France tells me there are probably other reasons for this difference. To begin with, French people eat far more fresh food than Americans, and take their time eating it. This is one reason why they eat less: the slower you eat, the less you consume. Having wine with dinner also helps, since it helps to satisfy the palate, also allowing you to eat less.
Wine, specifically red wine, has other health benefits as well: it releases flavonoids, which helps the brain to be more plastic, or in other words, makes the brain more capable of forming new memories and recover from injury. Sounds like a prescription for preventing Alzheimer’s Disease, doesn’t it? Dark chocolate, widely consumed in France, also provides this health benefit. Think quality, not quantity, should you decide to incorporate red wine and dark chocolate in your diet for health benefits. More is not necessarily better.
I will continue to write about how to incorporate the French way of life into your own life, as well as write about travelling to Paris. I am signing off for today to spend time with friends.
Those work emails can wait. Have a glass of wine. Eat some dark chocolate. Spend time with those you love today. Be more French.
Salut !
Fireworks on the Eiffel Tower by Yann Caradec, Flickr, CCBY 2.0.