French food and lifestyle

After having spent a year living in France, I was amazed by their relaxed lifestyle.  I was living in the south of the country and I must say that I can't wait to return. The sunny weather, open air fresh fruit and veg markets and cafe culture. Bliss in my eyes anyways! 

The French love their food, as do I, and the french paradox has always baffled me!  Take for example, the area around Toulouse where I was based.  Duck fat was commonly used instead of butter or oil in this region.  Strangely, they seemed to have one of the highest life expectancies for regions in France!  On further investigation, I noticed they had quite a high level red wine consumption. It seems that the red wine must be good for them in one form or another.  By contrast, up north of the country,  butter is more commonly used and they have a much lower rate of red wine consumption.  Beers and ciders seem to be more common there!  And as a result they seem to have a lower life expectancy!  

Of course, a lot more factors come into play when taking all this into consideration......I just thought it was an interesting coincidence!