French Women Think They're Fat

French women don't get fat, that much we know. In fact, 5 percent of French women are actually underweight. But they're far more likely than women in other European countries to worry about that number on the scale.

In fact, a study out of France's National Institute of Demographics says women in countries like Belgium, Spain and Portugal are more likely to be overweight. But interestingly, those same women are more likely to perceive themselves as thin.

In short: You might be overweight by BMI standards, but it's comparing yourself to your girlfriends that makes you feel fat or thin. "If a French person who feels fat were to go to the United States, he probably wouldn't feel fat any more," study author Thibaut de Saint Pol told AFP in an interview. He thinks that French women are under enormous pressure by French men to be thin. Unlike other European countries, French men fall solidly in the "normal" (and not overweight) category, on average.

This is an interesting concept, I think. When Kirstie Alley was on Oprah last Thursday, the two argued about whether or not women compare themselves to each other. While Oprah believes that women should only compete with themselves, Alley rolled her eyes at the thought. "We're not blind; we look around. We see what we want," she said.

I think Alley has a point: I think women do measure themselves up against their peers. And if that's true, then American women must be terribly confused. A third of us are obese, yet Hollywood produces waif-like women who pose an impossible standard. I like Oprah's idea better. I'd love to live in a world where the only person we compete against is ourselves, where doing our best is good enough and where being healthy and fit -- not stick thin -- is the goal.

Something tells me I won't find that in France.

What do you think about these findings? Do you think that part of feeling "fat" is comparing yourself to peers -- bigger or smaller? And even though French women are thin, are they necessarily healthier?