HOW THE US HAS CHANGED THEIR EATING HABITS OVER THE YEARS

Note that while sometimes the percentage will remain the same, the caloric density is different. This can be attributed to losing nutrient-density in our food while caloric value fluctuates.

What Americans Are Eating Now

Let’s put some of those numbers into perspective. With a steady increase in calorie intake, 72.9 percent of the overall American population ranges from overweight to extremely obese. Last reports in 2008 ranked the U.S. as the 18th fattest country in the world.

Now the overall American diet breakdown looks like this:

Sugar/fat – 37 percent (1,342 calories a day)
Grains – 22 percent (799 calories a day)
Dairy/eggs – 14 percent (527 calories a day)
Meat – 13 percent (469 calories a day)
Produce 8 percent (279 calories a day)
Other 6 percent (225 calories a day)

Overall Calorie Intake – 3,641 calories a day

How To Fix Our Eating Habits

One way to address the appalling changes in the American diet is to understand just how many calories you should be taking in. While an often repeated standard is 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men, it is not actually that simple. For one thing, that rule is based on the idea that the woman is 126 lbs and 5’4” and the man is 154 lb and 5’10”, with both living moderate to active lifestyles.

As the average American has gotten steadily more sedentary, these high numbers need to be cut down and dealt with on a person to person basis. Some ways to combat the obesity crisis and eat better are:

Calculate intake – Don’t worry, you don’t have to use some crazy equation. There are many good calories calculators that can help you figure out how many calories you should be taking in daily, depending on your current weight, height, and activity level.

Change habits – Maybe you need a more drastic change and want to try intermittent fasting (IF). Part of the overeating issue is that we tend to eat when bored, snacking mindlessly. When practicing IF, you set up a period of time where you can eat as you normally would, but outside of that time you don’t eat anything.

Add produce – A clear trend since 1967 is that we are not eating enough produce. If over half the American diet is sugar/fats and grains with only 8 percent reserved for produce, we’re doing wrong. Start judging your meals: are they colorful, minimal processing, and mostly from natural sources? If that’s not the case, then re-evaluate what you’re eating.

We didn’t have everything right 50 years ago, but we can definitely improve our eating habits to at least match what the previous generation did do right.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin Jones is a health and fitness blogger and a regular contributor to a number of fitness websites. He writes for NordicTrack. During his free time, he likes to be very active and spend time with his wife and two children shredding the slopes of Park City, Utah or chasing down the Salt Lake City Korean food trucks. Connect with him online; LinkedIn– Twitter