So that explains why the French are not fat

Where is the Sopa de Tortilla? Bring me the Foie Gras! Have you heard? What you love is good for you.
I always knew that, at least in regards to food. Now the NYT has confirmed it. You can fress and eat what you love instead of tofu and wheatgrass and sprouts and spelt and you will stay healthy, or if not, at least you will be much happier.
It turns out that your body digests nutrients better if you like what you are eating, which makes total sense to me. When I eat a crappy meal: one, I don't feel sated and I tend to go on rampages looking for stuff that can satisfy me, and two, I get very cranky and my friends run away from me. But when you eat something yummy it brings a smile on your face, warmth in your heart, and in my case, almost a love for humanity. Almost.
This explains why the French eat butter, creme fraiche, all those fabulous stinky cheeses, foie gras, wine, eclairs, Berthillon glaces (YUM!) with abandon and they don't look like human balloons. Their sex lives seem better too, for some reason. It makes you almost love the French. Almost.
While here in the US we are made to believe that a protein bar that tastes like cigarette ash with peanut butter and has the consistency of wet concrete and looks like a flattened turd is a meal. Not even close.
It is appalling to me how many people buy frozen, processed, canned, vaccum packed, dehydrated, enriched, "food" before they buy a single leaf of something fresh and natural. Then everybody runs around like a headless chicken screaming about the obesity epidemic and the increase in diabetes and heart disease.
One of the most evil contrivances recently unleashed upon us by food marketers is the on-the-go meal. As the on-the-go soups. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANTS TO DRINK SOUP FROM A CUP WITH A LID LIKE A PATIENT IN A HOSPITAL, WHILE WALKING ON THE STREET OR IN THE CAR? SOUP!! Oh, very busy Americans. Okay.
There are also on-the-go cereal bars that are supposed to include the milk! BECAUSE MOM IS TOO FREAKING OVERWHELMED WITH BUSYNESS TO DUMP SOME CHEERIOS INTO A BOWL AND SPLASH SOME MILK OVER IT. The nerve!
Memo to people: Food is not fuel and you are not a car. You are not meant to eat on the subway, while on the phone, at your desk or while tottering on a balancing wire across the East River. Eating well is one of the most wonderful pleasures in life.
Try it. You may like it.