Why Don’t French Kids Get Fat?

If you cook fresh on a regular basis and always offer veggies, then kids will eat them. They might not like all of them (most kids can't stand spinach when they are young because they can't digest them right, for example), but they will love a variety. I have 3 siblings and all of us love veggies. We also always had a vegetable patch so that surely helped.

According to Wikipedia: "Estimates show that 16% of French five-to-11-year-olds are obese. Obesity in that age is set to increase to more than 20% by 2010. These percentages are approximately the same as the United Kingdom for the two-to-15 year olds." So maybe French children get fat too.

I think it also has to do with the fact that French kids are so much more active than American children. I am currently living in France and the kids do gouter (which includes chocolate butter croissants and white bread baguette with nutella- not the healthiest "snack") but it's true you rarely see overweight children in France.

my daughter (3yrs) loves her veggies we eat raw cauliflower as snacks ...and she enjoys blanched broccoli, Parsnip fries, yam chips, baked onions, aand just about every thing you can think of ....one of my tricks is i "steal" them from her plate ...and i guess if mommy likes them then so does she

I am not French, but this is my way to get my daughters to eat their food. I totally agree, you have to keep going, even if they at first do not like things. Wishing you all the best with your daughter, Jillian.

Loved this so much!! Kids are actually really amazing with there willingness to try new foods, and I've seen in the classroom many times, even shocking their parents at the fact that they will eat foods at snacks and parties- fruits and veggies they won't touch at home. I love letting them help plan out class parties, you would be amazed all the great ideas they come up with.