New WeightWatchers study: pleasure at the service of a balanced diet

At the beginning of the year, WeightWatchers joined forces with the OpinionWay polling institute to conduct a survey of a representative sample of more than 1,000 adult French people around the theme: “Food, pleasure and weight loss”.

French people not very clear with their diet: if more than two thirds of respondents admit to wanting to lose weight permanently, 93% of them still believe in preconceived ideas about the diet to be favored to achieve this. A major obstacle to the dietary rebalancing necessary to achieve their goals.

1 in 2 French people are obsessed with the numbers on their scales

Many people think they have to deprive themselves of butter, oil, snacks, chocolate or starchy foods. 43% of young people think it is better to eat vegetarian. And nearly 80% of respondents think they have to cut back on the size of their plate. In addition, 1 in 5 French people still refuse invitations to dinner for fear of gaining weight and 71% of them believe that having fun while eating is not essential in the context of a weight loss objective.

Valérie Damidot, journalist and WeightWatchers ambassador, testifies: “ I thought for a long time that we had to stop everything to eat only fennel “. Prejudices that have a hard tooth while ” the pleasure dimension is essential to a healthy relationship with food “, underlines Éléonore Carré, consulting director at OpinionWay. As proof, among people who say they take pleasure in their diet, the vast majority (70%) of those who have tried a food rebalancing found it effective.

Demystify the ideal plate

Invited to respond to this study, Delphine Théard, PhD in biology specializing in nutrition, Senior International Program Manager, listed the most common errors.

Skipping a meal promotes weight loss. Fake !
” What is important is the amount of food we eat during the day. Having a regular diet helps control blood sugar and avoid having uncontrollable urges “. As for breakfast, everyone has to do according to their habits and desires.

Should the collation be removed? No.
” We often confuse snacking with nibbling. But the snack is a chosen moment like the 11 a.m. banana or the snack”. Moments that are all the more important as they prevent excesses if the meals that follow come late.

Are there any foods to avoid? No.
” There is no prohibition. When we deprive ourselves, we only think about that. If you crave chocolate, try to find a very good one and avoid finishing the wafer”.

Eating starches in the evening makes you fat. No.
” Starches do not make you fat, they are essential because it is our energy reservoir. In addition, they are made up of glucose, the only food for our brains”.

Should oil and butter be banned? No.
” Lipids constitute the cell envelope: beautiful skin, functioning neurons…”. But you have to choose the right ones, consume perhaps less of them and favor foods rich in omega 3 and 6 such as fatty fish, rapeseed, flaxseed or olive oil.

Clearly, there is no question of starving yourself when you want to rebalance your diet! ” With WeightWatchers, we learn to eat better, to have fun and to fix our weight. It’s for the whole year and the whole life », rejoices Valérie Damidot before joining the other guests around a healthy and gourmet lunch. Moroccan-style cauliflower velouté, lentil soup, vegetarian poke bowl to die for, the recipes cooked by the talented Merouan Bounekraf delighted the assembly. And everyone left with a new resolution: reproduce them at home!