How are French people not (a) obese (b) continually drunk I seriously do not understand???

— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) October 24, 2018

When you consume higher-quality food, as the French do, you don’t need nearly as much of it to feel full. As for alcohol, if it’s imbibed with food as the French tend to means you don’t get drunk nearly as quickly, and it evens out its absorption.

Also, the French in general don’t have the guilt/shame complex with food, and thus the idea of “guilty pleasures” or “I’m being so bad” for eating a slice of cake does not exist. Thus, over-consumption and the binge/purge dichotomy is not so much an issue as there is no religious connotation to food.

The French also get far more exercise on average than Americans due to less extreme car dependence, and being overweight is seen as not honoring your body — thus there is less obesity and other eating disorders in addition to all the other factors that contribute to a better food culture. There is also no FA/fat celebration culture in France, and such a thing would be seen as utterly comically ridiculous.

There are other reasons, but those are the main ones culturally and environmentally.