This article outlines the influence of weight, socioeconomic characteristics and the country of residence on how official nutritional recommendations are understandood and implemented. While in France, the ideal of thinness and the respect for food rules are balanced with the promotion of food pleasure; in England the sense of guilt and the importance of pragmatism shape a more individualistic relationship with the nutritional standards. In Germany finally, the ecological and ethical values tend to promote more demanding behaviors than strict obedience to nutritional injunctions. Thus, the meaning of « eating properly » is framed by national cultures. These results are based on an analysis of 86 semi-structured interviews and 319 answers to a questionnaire in France, in Germany and in England with “overweight” and “obese” women, calculated from the Body-mass index.