As someone living in France, there's something which doesn't get enough attention.
Everyone in France (okay, almost everyone) "does sport". It's drilled into kids that they need to have some sort of physical activity, and it's one of the things people getting to know each other ask one another - what sort of sport do you take a part in. There are "hype" sports like wall climbing, quite popular in some of the big cities; there are more communal (football/basketball/etc.) ones; there's swimming etc etc. But it's normal and expected that you do something.
IMO this is more important contributor than the cuisine, which although quite "natural", includes lots of meat, cheese, sauces (not American style sauce with sugar + corn syrup + a bunch of chemicals, more like blue cheese-based sauces) etc. which aren't the most calorie light foods.
Everyone in France (okay, almost everyone) "does sport". It's drilled into kids that they need to have some sort of physical activity, and it's one of the things people getting to know each other ask one another - what sort of sport do you take a part in. There are "hype" sports like wall climbing, quite popular in some of the big cities; there are more communal (football/basketball/etc.) ones; there's swimming etc etc. But it's normal and expected that you do something.
IMO this is more important contributor than the cuisine, which although quite "natural", includes lots of meat, cheese, sauces (not American style sauce with sugar + corn syrup + a bunch of chemicals, more like blue cheese-based sauces) etc. which aren't the most calorie light foods.