法国人吃不胖的秘密

Mes amis let us take a moment and go francophile. But first let me preface this by acknowledging that there was in fact a time when my love affair with France hit a dark spot.

Mes amis (译注：法语“我的朋友”），让我们花点时间，来哈哈法国吧。不过在此之前，我要声明一下，曾经有一段时间，我的法兰西之恋中断过。

A longtime francophile — "Anna do you really have to always pronounce croissant with a French accent?" — I did what any person in love would do: I moved. But somewhere along the line France stopped being the romantic place it once had been. My newfound relationship with the place once seductive and alluring turned commonplace and in the midst of dealing with French bureaucracy I was no longer intrigued by the je ne sais quoi.

我爱了她那么久——“安娜，你非得用法国口音来说‘羊角面包’吗？” ——而和所有恋爱中的人一样，我想和所爱长相厮守，于是，我搬到了法国。但是某年某月的某一天，法国突然不再是我心目中那个浪漫的所在了。这个地方曾让我心驰向往、目眩神迷，但如今，我们的关系却变得平庸乏味。而在见识了这个国家的官僚主义后，她对我也失去了那种"妙不可言“的魔力。

But like any good relationship distance did it some good and now France and I are back to where we once were with me constantly craving a taste of French culture. Which brings me back to food.

不过也和所有的爱情一样，距离会产生美。现在我和法国又回到了最初的状况：我又开始对法国文化如饥似渴。因此也就有了今天的话题：法国饮食。

As a culture we have long been intrigued by the idea that French women don't get fat. But that concept stretches across an entire nation giving us the French paradox. How does one consume cream butter and ample amounts of cheese and still manage to be perfectly in shape? Our Anglo minds have a hard time grappling with this question but really it all comes down to how we think about food and in France it's all about having a respect for what's on the plate in front of you. A way of life instead of a lifestyle choice.

为什么法国女人吃不胖，我们对这个话题着迷已久。而后话题进一步扩大，成为了“法国悖论”。我们这些英国人冥思苦想，就是搞不懂为什么同样是吃奶油、黄油和奶酪，法国人却能保持好身材？但其实真相只有一个，就是我们对待食物的态度不同。对于餐桌上的东西，法国人都怀着一种崇高的敬意。对他们来说，吃不单是一种生活方式，吃就是生活。

Ultimately the French Paradox isn't a paradox at all it's just about a few simple values that we could easily start incorporating into our own lives no matter where we live.

归根结底，“法国悖论”根本不是悖论，相反，它只是一些简单的信条。无论我们身处何方，都可以很容易地把它们融入生活。