Eat duck but even better eat the fat of the duck and drink a glass of red wine for a healthier lifestyle ? What ? Am I crazy you could ask. Well, I am not and I will tell you why.
It’s actually a beautiful tale. Somewhere in the beautiful France, more precisely where the Three Musketeers were sharing a bottle of wine in the Gascony Region , situated in the south west, people eat duck and goose fat like cereals and they are proud of their national product Foie Gras. Ah and next to their meal they share a glass of French red wine to be even more satisfied about their delicious food. Why they do that (sounds insane) and why should you care about what others are doing ? Maybe because the same people who eat more fat than anyplace else live longer and their rate to die from a heart attack is 80 to 100 000 compared to 315 in US or 145 in other places in France.
I hope I captured your attention because it’s more. Fact is they know a secret and are happy to share it with the rest of us. It’s called the French Paradox but actually it’s not so much a paradox if you can explain it with science and this is what doctors in the region try to do.
To cut the long story, duck and goose fat has a good balance between the principle fat types, has a more appropriate combination for human body, meaning is compatible and easy to process. It’s like olive oil, really. It’s not that we can’t eat fat or that vegetal fat is healthier than animal one. It’s all about the composition of that fat meaning its quality. And here comes the duck. In Gascony, duck is eaten completely and used wisely to prepare the best recipes which won’t hurt your heart.
Ok, for such a discovery many doctors started polemics, being hard to admit that is really a connection between eating this kind of fat instead of other makes you healthier. But the local doctors know that this fat doesn’t increase cholesterol like all other fat and they suspect is even something more than that. Who knows, maybe it’s the way they’re cooking the ducks and gooses or because they combine the food with red wine. There are surely some interesting facts to consider and try like an option. Labeling Foie Gras like health food would be for sure a revolutionary and amazing success.
Really the whole craziness about this fat lately is under many disputes because it’s hard to see the exact magic formula. And I’m asking myself why they don’t associate this kind of “fatty” lifestyle with their wine drinking since it’s obvious that the French prefers wine more than other nation and people from Gascony are no exception. They study the effects on the heart from the fat perspective, but I would go on both together. That’s why I combined this article. But I come back to wine later.
Now about this duck fat it’s important to know that Gascony region is known like being truly environment friendly with a long agricultural history, with rights for animals and using natural methods to raise their birds. And this is maybe one of the most important aspect if you ask me. When we humans will understand that pumping food with hormones and other artificial chemicals will just make us weak, ill and mentally down ? I hardly wait to finish my article about general health and especially about overweight to share all the infos I got. These Gascon farmers have also lawyers specialized in animal rights who militate against force-feeding to fatten the livers for just a bigger quantity of bad quality Foie Gras.
But what for others is something weird or hard to believe for a normal Gascon farmer is the obvious. This farmer will just say simply:
"The people in my family live to be 90 years old," he said. "We cook everything in duck fat. We have foie gras on Sunday. Everybody knows this is the long-life diet."
Other locals were equally surprised that such common knowledge could be a marketing tool. "Scientists say we should be dead by 40 because we eat duck and liver and salt and wine," said Bernard Verduzan, 87, as he laid out his fattened livers at the foie gras market in Eauze in southwest France recently. "And then they say it is big news when they read the obituaries in the newspaper and see how long we live." Straightening his shoulders and puffing out his chest, he said, "I am still young."
Robert Jacquerez, 95, who dines daily at the Hotel de France in Auch, contends that the key is balance. "Always have a salad with your cassoulet, bread with your foie gras," he said. "Always drink as much mineral water as wine." His eyes dropped to the menu of the hotel, where Andre Daguin, the chef and owner, is renowned for creating entire meals of foie gras and has earned two Michelin stars for his rich regional fare. Instead of describing the various preparations, the menu simply states, "The fat of birds may be good for health." Quotes from The New York Times
So the simple people mention the wine ? And we’re talking about the red wine which by the way it’s included in the famous “Mediterranean diet”. But who are the most famous nation for its red wine and also for its consume ? You’ve got it ! France including “our ” Gascony part. And it’s says that Cabernet is the best. But don’t worry because specialists from France affirm that red wine is healthy all over the world if it’s produced same old way with oak barrel and all that.I’ve promised myself to try reducing the length of my articles but please stay a little bit more to finish.
So about the red wine many of us heard that's why I won’t develop. But here is the thing, both duck or goose fat and red wine (1 glass not more/day) seem to have positive effect on heart diseases. So would be really interesting for this 2 to be studied together to see if the Paradox of Gascony is not really related to both together. The fact we have so far is that people here use them both, a lot. And it’s also a fact that everything tried kept naturally will give invaluable benefits for anything regarding your physical and mental health together.
Cheers.
Other sources here and here
No comments:
Post a Comment