Well, I was vacationing in Paris last week and discovered for myself just how true that is!
Being in the health, weight loss and fitness fields for nearly 20 years, I'm always curious as to how others achieve and maintain healthy, lean, fit bodies. Spending a few days in Paris, I learned so much from watching the women around me.
As we walked through the streets (and saw some incredible landmark sights along the way) I noticed how French women take the time, effort and energy towards their own self-care. Most of the women I saw were beautifully dressed from head to toe. Speaking of toes, almost every woman I saw wore heels. I'm not talking about low heels either. I'm talking about wearing killer stilettos just to go out to pick up a baguette or have a glass of wine with friends at a sidewalk café! I even saw one woman riding a bicycle wearing a skirt and heels!
Besides the heels, I noticed that most of these women were chicly dressed in the latest couture with hair, nails and makeup done. Boutiques were everywhere with the latest clothes, bags, scarves, shoes, makeup and perfume...and these boutiques were packed with glamorous shoppers! Hate to say it but it's a far cry from how many of us stick our hair in a pony tail, throw on some sweatpants and race out of the house for the day.
Dressing in a way that makes us feel better naturally leads us to want to take better care of ourselves. It sends an important signal to ourselves and others that we feel "we're worth it" and impacts the way we think, feel and carry ourselves. Have you ever noticed the difference in how you feel when you just throw something on as opposed to when you take the time to put yourself together? Yes, the sweats may be very comfortable but they certainly don't give us that same feeling as when we choose an outfit that looks and fits well.
What was also noticeable was that many of the women were thin. One reason could have been that so many of the women I saw were smoking. While we all know that smoking is bad for our health, and I'm not encouraging anyone to start smoking many people use smoking as a way to reduce stress, satisfy an oral need and help keep weight off. For those who don't smoke but feel stressed and need an oral fix, another quick, easy and available option many of us choose is to reach for food to satisfy the same needs. What's one of the greatest differences in these two self-soothing techniques? Simply where the damage from these two choices is seen. With smoking, the damage is internal with destruction to our lungs, etc. With overeating, while the damage is internal
