total added sugars to the American diet. (If we simply removed these sodas from our food supply, Americans would be a lot better off. More about this in Chapter 3.)
Water and coffee and tea provide fluid for hydration with no calories, unless, of course, one loads them with sugar.
More cheese and meat. We eat close to four times as much cheese today as we did a half century ago, up from about 7.5 pounds per person per year to almost 30 pounds. This is almost entirely the result of eating more packaged and prepared foods containing cheese and cheese products, such as pizza, bagel spreads, burritos, nachos, and fast-food sandwiches. The average American also eats almost 200 pounds of meat, poultry, and fish each year—an increase of 50 pounds per person from a half-century ago. While our consumption of beef, pork, and lamb has remained stable over the past couple of decades, we’re eating a lot more chicken. We should be eating more fish.
More fruits and vegetables. In the good news department, per capita fruit and vegetable availability is up 19 percent since the 1970s. But we still don’t eat enough of these healthy foods. The average fruit and vegetable consumption for women is just under two servings of vegetables and one serving of fruit per day, about half the recommended amounts. Also, we tend not to seek variety. Much of the rise in consumption of fruits is limited to apples, bananas, and grapes—and a good share of it is in the form of highly processed snacks. The rise in vegetable consumption is primarily limited to tomatoes, onions, and leafy lettuces. Potatoes still dominate our vegetable intake and orange juice, our fruit consumption. Although I count a good old-fashioned baked potato as a vegetable, the majority of potatoes we eat these days come in the form of fries or chips or as part of a processed meal. And unfortunately, some 80 percent of total tomato consumption comes from processed tomato products such as sauces, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and ketchup.
WHAT HAS CHANGED IN THE WAY WE EAT?
Almost as dramatic as these changes in what we eat are changes in the way we eat. Fifty years ago, most of us ate family meals sitting down at a table, with no TV in sight. Now we eat on the run, at fast-food counters, in our cars, at our desks, and in front of our computers or the television. For many Americans, it’s a rare occasion to eat at the dinner table with family and friends. As mentioned earlier, the percentage of families who eat a meal together each night across the country has dropped by 20 percent over the past three decades. Studies show that families who do not dine together do not eat as healthily, consuming more fried foods and soda than families who share meals.
Our new way of eating includes:
Bigger portions. Over the past few decades, portion sizes have ballooned, with the largest increases in hamburgers, French fries, soda, and baked goods. A hamburger is now 112 percent bigger than it used to be. Bagels are three times larger; muffins, four times. Portions of food and beverages served in restaurants and fast-food places are often at least twice as large as the standard serving size defined by U.S. Dietary Guidelines. The average serving of steak is 224 percent larger than established standards, and a chocolate cookie, 700 percent larger. The original Burger King meal of burger, fries, and soft drink contained about 600 calories. Today’s supersize portion of the same meal holds more than 1,500 calories. A standard soda fountain drink used to be 7 ounces; now it’s 12 to 42 ounces. At movie theaters and other soda fountain venues, cups have expanded to 32 or even 64 ounces. The bigger the container, the more soda we’re likely to drink. This is also true of food: the bigger the plate or bowl, the more we eat. And unfortunately, the size of our dinnerware has grown in the last few decades, with the average plate two inches larger in diameter than it used to be.
Eating on the run. With our jam-packed schedules, too many of us forgo leisurely, mindful meals at a table in favor of eating haphazardly while we’re on the go, in our cars or at our desks as we finish that project or make that important phone call. A 2005 survey found that 20 percent of restaurant meals were purchased at drive-through or curbside venues, up from 14 percent in 1998. (I’m on a personal mission to get companies to do away with drive-throughs—as you can see, I haven’t been very successful.) A 2006 survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance found that almost half of young Americans and a third of baby boomers say they eat full meals in the car and an even larger number of snacks there.
“Screen time,” especially television-viewing. Some two-thirds of Americans have the television on during dinner. Studies show that food intake increases when we watch TV because distraction impairs the brain’s ability to perceive and monitor the amount of food we’re consuming. In one study, subjects asked to eat macaroni and cheese while they watched TV lost all track of how much pasta they were consuming and ate more than those who were focusing only on their food. Moreover, whenever we watch TV, we are showered with food-related advertisements, which affect our appetites and our intake. Especially vulnerable are children and adolescents. Research shows that more than half of TV ads viewed by young people promote snacks and sweets, fast foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages. These ads have been found to encourage children to request high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages.
More foods away from home. From 1970 to 2008, the share of an average household budget’s disposable income spent on foods eaten away from home rose 26 percent, while expenditures for foods eaten at home dropped 42 percent. Even more dramatic is the jump in our daily caloric intake from foods eaten outside the home. In 1977, it was about 18 percent; over the next couple of decades, it expanded to 77 percent. We also devote less time to food preparation these days. We used to spend 90 minutes a day preparing food; now it’s closer to 50 minutes. We used to eat out at restaurants and fast-food places only about twice a week; today, it’s more like once a day. This is partly because more women are working outside the home and have busier lives, with longer commutes. Also, many families have dual incomes, so there’s more money to spend eating out. To meet demand, the number of commercial eateries has increased 89 percent, while the number of cheap, convenient fast-food restaurants has risen by 147 percent. In many places in this country, there are 24-hour fast-food eateries on nearly every corner.
Unfortunately, when we eat at restaurants or fast-food places, we tend to consume more calories because portions are larger and there are few healthy foods. A typical restaurant meal has about 1,000 to 2,000 calories. Also, what we eat is generally a lot less healthy than what we serve at home. Recent research from the USDA found that when we eat meals outside the home, we boost our daily intake of calories, fats, alcohol, sodium, and added sugars, and we reduce our vegetable consumption. A 2005 survey found that women’s top three most popular foods ordered in restaurants or for take-out were French fries, hamburgers, and pizza, often loaded with excess added fat, salt, and calories.
The changes in our diet noted above have resulted in part from dramatic shifts in our food supply.
Shifts in the Food Environment Since the 1970s
HOW HAS OUR FOOD SUPPLY CHANGED?
Food is cheaper. Americans use less of their incomes for food than do people in any other developed country in the world—just 11 percent, compared with 22 percent in Europe. The American food system has surrounded us with food choices based largely on convenience and cost. Fifty years ago, our selection was limited to what was produced by small local farms. Now most of our food comes from supermarkets supplied by large agribusinesses in other states or countries. A typical American farm, for instance, once raised a flock of a hundred or so free-ranging chickens; now a commercial broiler growing house raises some 20,000 chickens. Policies at the national level have driven this change. Modern industrial agriculture, subsidized by taxes, has forced
