Paris (AFP)
"Bikini body" versus paunchy figure ... On social networks, the case is understood: confinement will result in extra pounds. An almost inevitable consequence, experts confirm, but also a golden opportunity to go to the stove.
"I do not know if we will grow out of this experience, but we will have grown," warns nutritionist Béatrice de Reynal, for whom we must act without further delay ... by eating less.
"We will all go there, even if we try to converse," added Julian Mercier, culinary advisor in sport and health. "Me first, I am more likely to turn to chocolate than an apple. This is what could play us a bad trick."
Sedentary lifestyle, physical activity reduced to almost nothing, proximity to the refrigerator and its temptations form an explosive cocktail for the line ... and unprecedented over such a long period.
"We already had fears of a shortage (with consumers making stocks) during the Gulf War or periods when people stayed at home - after the attacks - but they went to work. There, we have a part of the population who does not work and does not move ", underlines Pascale Hébel, director of the consumption pole at Crédoc (Research center for the study and observation of living conditions).
- To eat less -
The question of being overweight is first of all mathematical: in the absence of almost any physical activity, an adult spends 200 to 400 calories less every day, suggests dietitian Jennifer Aubert. Hence the need to reduce the portions and keep moving.
The period also generates a lot of stress (fear of death and illness, economic anxieties ...), food serves as a refuge. And "by spending so much time at home, it's easy to eat more than you should," said the British Nutrition Foundation.
Living conditions - isolation as well as family confinement - also affect how we eat. "For those who have children to avoid worries, we will make spaghetti bolognese that everyone likes rather than fighting to make them eat spinach," says, for example, Julian Mercier.
Another parameter: the fact that not everyone cooks, stresses Pascale Hébel, and the absence of ovens in certain poor households.
Hence a tendency already observed to fall back on ready-made dishes such as canned ravioli, which have flown away, once the containment is in place and after the initial rush on pasta and rice.
What recommendations do experts give to avoid tipping the scales too much? Structure your day and meal times to avoid eating at all hours, having physical activity and cooking as much as possible by yourself, they say in unison.
- Home made -
The context can also be good, says Jennifer Aubert. "No outings, so it's fewer gaps and also more time to play sports at home". As a result, almost all patients lose weight since confinement, she says.
For chef Cyril Lignac, who hosts during the confinement a very popular program "Tous en cuisine" on M6, confinement is also an opportunity to "eat healthy and balanced".
"Between all the shootings where I eat cakes, restaurants where I taste dishes, the preparation of my pastries, I enjoy cooking at home and eating light, without too much sugar", he confides to the 'AFP.
"I understand that we have an ease at home: we watch TV, we read books, we like to snack, me first of all. But I quite like the principle that we make homemade ( ...) This period is an opportunity to teach children and teens how to cook simple things. "
A call that some parents have heard, devaluing the shelves of eggs and flour and displaying their pastry prowess on the canvas, with hashtags like #homemadefood or #cestmoiquilaifait.
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