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Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Why can’t the French get fat?

There’s an obsession among researchers, scientists and doctors as to why the French eat all they want and never gain weight. Some think that it has to do with the food they eat. Let me enlighten everyone on the French ways. They do not eat all that they want. And it has nothing to do with the food they eat or the fact that they walk everywhere. Don’t get me wrong; those are all very helpful when one wants to lose weight but there are only a handful of people in the world with quick metabolisms who can eat like a horse and never gain an ounce. And the chance of being that person is as high as being hit by a meteoroid.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s get to the nitty-gritty. Not all French people are thin. There are many fat French but they’re not as fat as say people in America. With that said, Paris does have the largest skinny population because Parisian abhor being fat. I lived in Paris as a student. When I left my Los Angeles home, I was a size 6 but after living in Paris and enjoying their wonderful cheese, wine, pastries and chocolate, I returned to LA a year later as size 10. My mother asked me what happened? I said, I guess I like French food a bit too much.

Now, here’s the secret as to why so many Parisians are skinny. It’s because they don’t eat much. Many have a cup of coffee for breakfast, salad for lunch – and no I don’t mean the kind of salads where one piles up eggs, nuts, beans, and o-so-thick dressings – but rather the kind of salad that’s made up of a bowl of lettuce and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Then for dinner, they have about 3oz of meat, a tiny potato, 12 pieces of string beans, and a 6 oz glass of wine. Many don’t snack and skip dessert – they only have it on special occasions such as birthdays. Okay, so may be I exaggerated a bit but the skinny Parisians don’t eat much.

Of course the ones who aren’t rail thin eat more and walk everywhere, so they don’t look as large as some of us sedentary Americans who work longer hours and only get two measly weeks of vacation time. But I will guarantee you this, if you eat all that you want in Paris, Germany or on the moon, you will gain weight. So, here it is in a nutshell – forget about all the studies and take it from someone who has lived the French life. Eat too much and be fat, eat too little and be a stick. There’s no easy way around it. Moderation in food and exercise is the only key to stay at a healthy weight. I hope this article will help solve the French mystery.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Vote with knowledge

Okay, so I was going to keep my mouth shut and not discuss my political views on this blog. But you know, I’m really tired of all the lies and corruption that’s going on. It is understandable that you may agree more with one candidate over another. But wouldn’t you want to make a decision by having all the information available to you? Because in case you didn’t know, you haven’t heard every candidate’s point of view.

Corporate media is making your decision for you. They give air time to mainstream candidates and exclude the rest. This type of reporting manipulates your votes by ignoring candidates who represent what people want. Americans voted for peace and yet America is still at war and will remain so indefinitely. Americans voted for jobs, a steady market and economic growth and yet our economy has never been worse off.

Ron Paul, a Republican candidate who believes in the constitution and who has been snubbed by the media, said during an interview in
Seattle that we need major changes to get out of our deep debt. Federal Reserves' interest reduction will not help our economy and tax rebates may work temporarily but will fail long term. Pumping money into the economy by printing more money or borrowing is what got us into trouble the first time around.

We need to cut back spending, reduce taxes and let the market run its course without Federal Reserve artificially reducing the interest rates. We can cut spending by changing our foreign policy and stop policing the world. We can save more than a trillion dollar by bringing our troops home from
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and other countries and secure our borders. Currently the war in Iraq is costing $275 million per day. We need limited government. We need to open dialog with all countries, negotiate and do business with them. We need to keep jobs at home instead of sending them outside.

If you want to hear more about what Ron Paul has to say, listen to his most recent interview in Seattle. What surprised me most was that the interview took place at Fox Seattle which is nothing like the big bad wolf FOX Los Angeles. I know it’s shocking; please try not to fall off your chairs.