Bonjour everyone,
So, tomorrow I'm off to London for two days to see some friends and to take advantage of the Euro/Pound exchange rate! I love that I can just catch a train and be in London in about two hours. SO convenient.
The main reason I'm hitting up the London stores for some shopping stems from the fact that there are not many heavy French women. Therefore, the body slimmers which have allowed my gourmand consuming body to look sleek and fit in suits and dresses (I hate seeing any lines) simply do not exist here. There are a few, but the ones that do exist do not have the complete fat sucking-in abilities that I love so much about my American ones. So, I plan to take full advantage of being in the homeland of Bridget Jones to find a proper body slimmer!
While there are not so many obese French women, this does not mean that French women are not weight conscious or constantly stuffing their faces with macarons, pain au chocolat, and cheese. There are many diet methods popular in France, and gyms are starting to sprout up more and more. The current diet trend in France is Methode Dukan. It's like the South Beach diet's big bad older brother. You spend five to seven days eating nothing but protein (fish, eggs, sandwich meats, chicken, etc.) and NOTHING else. No butter, no oil, no bread, no fruit, no veggies, no alcohol, NOTHING. The next five-seven days, you eat protein plus veggies. The you rinse, lather, repeat until you're down to the weight you want to be at. (There's a stabilization period afterwards) I did try it- eating nothing but protein is REALLY boring, and I did not lose the weight instantly like some of my friends. However, it did help me cut down on my portion size, and a few of my friends have been quite successful with said diet. I may give it another try, but as I will be having a lot of guests for the next three weeks, I think it's better to start afterwards... it's much less torture when you don't have to be tempted by what everyone else is eating...
Lapin a la Mode Tip du Jour:
Keeping with the summer theme, let's talk self-tanner. As much as I love the sun, I do not love the thought of skin cancer or freckles/age spots (I have also lived in FL, where many older sun worshippers now have spotted leather for skin). I can be quite incompetant with self tanner, so I need something idiot proofed. (Case in point, when I was working as a Beauty Advisor in college, we got in a new spray on self-tanner. I made the mistake of testing it on my arms, thinking that it would not be so strong. WRONG. It was more like a spray tan, and it turned me BROWN. I had to apply it everywhere to try to even myself out, and not only did I end up with some white streaks on my legs, but my arms got a second dose... people were calling me Bahama Mama for WEEKS) Anyway. My favorite self-tanner is Lancome's Flash Bronzer for Legs which I have never once screwed up. :-) It's got a shimmer to it, so you can see where you are applying it, and it builds over time, so it's not uber dramatic in the first application. I've also been a HUGE fan of Clarins self-tanning products as well, they are worth the money and again are pretty idiot proof.
Click of French Culture:
France has always had a huge film culture (Cannes film festival, anyone?), but what many Americans do not realize is that the French have a lot of great comedies. My personal favorite is Hors du Prix which is about a gold-digger and a bartender which will crack you up. Click here for the IMDB synopsis and click here for a trailer. It also stars Audrey Tatou, who starred in the classic Amelie. I guarantee you'll love it.
Well, that's a wrap for today! A bientot!
-Liz Anne
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