I imagine this is the classic Hacker News "everyone reads the title but not the article" effect, but the question posed here isn't why is France's obesity rate low. It's lower than global leaders like Egypt and the US but that's true in a lot of places. However, in those places, including places like India and China being cited in other comments, as well as places like Japan with historically very low rates, they've still increased, often very drastically, since 1990. It's only in Germany, where obesity rates have been pretty flat since around 2008, and France, which actually has a lower obesity rate today than in 1990, that this increase hasn't happened.
The answer can't just be "well, their cuisine is X, Y, Z" or "they shame fat people more." Those things were also true in 1990. Something during these 30 years had to have actually changed to counteract an otherwise globally consistent trend seen across all cuisines and cultures. I don't feel remotely qualified or informed enough to judge the reality of it, but the article has hypotheses. Specifically, German food culture has changed, with younger generations favoring less calorie dense foods than traditional German food, and in France, government campaigns to get people to eat less and move more seem to have actually worked in spite of failing just about everywhere else they've been tried.
And, for what it's worth, I have plenty of personal experience with fat shaming culture. I served in the active duty US Army in my 20s, and there is tremendous pressure to stay lean and fit. It's a literal job requirement. The military is the only employer I'm aware of that legally can and will fire you for being fat even when you have a non-public facing office job. You'll be brutally mocked by peers, often with the encouragement of command, no one will have any respect for you, and your chances of advancing are nil. Nonetheless, even in the active duty military, all data I can find indicate that rates of overweight and obesity have at least doubled during this same period. This, in spite of being forced to exercise and having all the healthy food in the world available at a low price. A whole lot of people simply choose fast food and beer anyway, even with every economic incentive pointing in the other direction.
The answer can't just be "well, their cuisine is X, Y, Z" or "they shame fat people more." Those things were also true in 1990. Something during these 30 years had to have actually changed to counteract an otherwise globally consistent trend seen across all cuisines and cultures. I don't feel remotely qualified or informed enough to judge the reality of it, but the article has hypotheses. Specifically, German food culture has changed, with younger generations favoring less calorie dense foods than traditional German food, and in France, government campaigns to get people to eat less and move more seem to have actually worked in spite of failing just about everywhere else they've been tried.
And, for what it's worth, I have plenty of personal experience with fat shaming culture. I served in the active duty US Army in my 20s, and there is tremendous pressure to stay lean and fit. It's a literal job requirement. The military is the only employer I'm aware of that legally can and will fire you for being fat even when you have a non-public facing office job. You'll be brutally mocked by peers, often with the encouragement of command, no one will have any respect for you, and your chances of advancing are nil. Nonetheless, even in the active duty military, all data I can find indicate that rates of overweight and obesity have at least doubled during this same period. This, in spite of being forced to exercise and having all the healthy food in the world available at a low price. A whole lot of people simply choose fast food and beer anyway, even with every economic incentive pointing in the other direction.