a note on equilibre.

Just as soon as April hit, so too did a storm of health-centric articles, turning the newstands of Paris from a mess of colorful covers to an attack on the kilos amassed from winter hibernation. My beloved monthly mailbox magazines changed from fun and frivoulous fashion spreads, taken over by a health obsession. There was nowhere to turn without seeing the words, "MAIGRIR," "EQUILIBRE," and "MINCIR" in big block letters. { Despite being printed in spring-y, pretty pastel colors, the block letters were telling me I was doing something very wrong. }

The 'equilibre' attitude even seeped into my everday life through conversations with the French women in my life. All of a sudden I started to notice hearing the phrase "faire attention" in while preparing or more often, during weekly meals.

 What exactly is a diet equilibre, anyway ?

A search of my favorite glossy magazine, Glamour Paris, results in  a whopping 37 results for the term "equilibre." Enjoy. 

And if you haven't read it already, French Women Don't Get Fat is a must-read.  Just as interesting are Mierelle's  blog-posts on the importance of maintaining equilibrum.

Finally, it's all good and well and repsonsibilty to practice moderation, but I won't pretend that I didn't play Ben Howards' Keep Your Head Up on repeat to write this piece. One can only be so strong.