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Little Known Facts About Changes In Our Diet
To say that Americans are
obsessed with dieting is an understatement! Pick up
any magazine, tune-in or turn-on any source of advertising
and you're bombarded with the latest diet schemes and
food fads. More often than not, they are endorsed by
some familiar Hollywood celebrity, or promoted using
some other cleaver technique.
It's no mystery that the weight-loss
industry has built a thriving empire. In America, for
example, we spend about 35 billion dollars every year
on an assortment of weight loss products and plans.
In addition, we spend another 79 billion dollars for
medication, hospitalization, and doctors to treat obesity-related
problems. Even with this, the obesity epidemic continues
to spread. Sadly, we have become the heaviest generation
in our Nation's history.
The National Center for Health Statistics
reports that we have some very good reasons to be concerned
about our weight-gain. Americans, for example are packing-on
the pounds faster than ever before and weight-related
medical problems are taking center stage. Diseases like
heart disease, diabetes and yes...even certain forms
of cancer have all been linked to obesity.
Here are a few of the surprising statistics
about our weight:
- A whopping 64 percent of U.S. adults
are either overweight or obese. That's up approximately
8 percent from overweight estimates obtained in a 1988
report.
- The percent of children who are overweight
is also continuing to increase. Among children and teens
ages 6-19, 15 percent or almost 9 million are overweight.
That's triple what the rate was in 1980!
- Nearly one-third of all adults are
now classified as obese. At present, 31 percent of adults
20 years of age and over or nearly 59 million people
have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater, compared
with 23 percent in 1994.
(The BMI is a number that shows body
weight adjusted for height. For adults, a BMI of 18.5
- 24.9 is considered normal. A BMI of 25.0 - 29.9 is
overweight and 30.0 or above, is considered obese.)
Modern life both at home and at work
has come to revolve around moving from one "seated"
position to another: whether it's television, computers,
remote controls, or automobiles, we seem to be broadening
the scope of our inactive endeavors.
At times, life seems to have gotten
almost too easy! For entertainment, we can now just
sit-down, dial-up our favorite TV program or DVD movie
and enjoy hours of uninterrupted entertainment...
And all those simple calorie burning
activities that were once a normal part of our daily
routine not so long ago? Long gone! You know the ones
I'm talking about...activities like climbing stairs
instead of using escalators and elevators. Or, pushing
a lawn mower instead of riding around on a garden tractor.
And what about that daily walk to school? Now, our kids
complain when the school bus happens to be a few minutes
late getting to the bus stop!
Along with the convenience of our affluent
lifestyle and reduction in energy expenditure, have
come changes in our diet. We are now consuming more
calorie rich and nutrient deficient foods than ever
before.
Here are a few examples of what we were
eating in the 1970's compared to our diet today (information
is taken from a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture
survey):
- We are currently eating more grain
products, but almost all of them are refined grains
(white bread, etc.). Grain consumption has jumped 45
percent since the 1970s, from 138 pounds of grains per
person per year to 200 pounds! Only 2 percent of the
wheat flour is consumed as whole wheat.
- Our consumption of fruits and vegetables
has increased, but only because the U.S.D.A. includes
French fries and potato chips as a vegetable. Potato
products account for almost a third of our "produce"
choices.
- We're drinking less milk, but we've
more than doubled our cheese intake. Cheese now outranks
meat as the number one source of saturated fat in our
diets.
- We've cut back on red meat, but have
more than made up for the loss by increasing our intake
of chicken (battered and fried), so that overall, we're
eating 13 pounds more meat today than we did back in
the 1970s.
- We're drinking three times more carbonated
soft drinks than milk, compared to the 1970's, when
milk consumption was twice that of pop.
- We use 25 percent less butter, but
pour twice as much vegetable oil on our food and salads,
so our total added fat intake has increased 32 percent.
- Sugar consumption has been another
cause of our expanding waistlines. Sugar intake is simply
off the charts. According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, people are consuming roughly twice the
amount of sugar they need each day, about 20 teaspoons
on a 2000 calorie/day diet. The added sugar is found
mostly in junk foods, such as pop, cake, and cookies.
- In 1978, the government found that
sugars constituted only 11 percent of the average person's
calories. Now, this number has ballooned to 16 percent
for the average American adult and as much as 20 percent
for American teenagers.
The days of the wholesome family dinners
so near and dear to our hearts, where we all sat around
the kitchen table to discuss events of the day, are
now a part of our sentimental past. They have been replaced
by our cravings for take-out and fast-food. We have
gradually come to accept that it's "OK" to
sacrifice healthy foods for the sake of convenience
and that larger serving portions mean better value.
And, since I have been throwing-out
statistics, here's one more: Americans are consuming
about 300 more calories each day than we did twenty
years ago. We should actually be eating less because
of our decreased activity level, but instead are doing
the opposite!
Decide TODAY that healthy eating and
exercise habits will become a permanent part of your
life!
Begin to explore your values and thoughts
and other areas of your life where change may be required,
and then take action. Begin slowly, but deliberately
to make improvements in the areas you identify. And
remember, it has taken a very long time to develop your
habits, and it will take some time to undo them…so
be patient!
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