It’s been a problem ever since the dawn of time. Well not really. Since the dawn of fast-food at least. But there is cause for a celebration, as soon we may face a future with no more fat Americans, the numbers are in. There will still probably be cases of obesity for a long time, and they won’t just disappear, but the fact of the matter is – we’ve changed.
This has been a stereotype when talking about Americans for quite some time. Everyone in the world knows that the nation has a problem with obesity. And it’s a big one, don’t mind the pun. Still, about one third of the people of the U.S. are obese, no matter how promising the recent data is. And a lot of these individuals are also morbidly obese.
The numbers have fallen drastically. According to records being kept by the government, which began to monitor calorie intake of citizens no less than forty years ago, we’ve been eating less and less in a steady decline since the year 2003, when calorie consumption was the highest we’ve ever had. This statistic is based on the adult population of the U.S.
As for children, there problem is no longer that dire. Studies will show you that obesity often develops while the individual is still young, and once it sets in, it’s extremely hard to get rid of it. So it may come as a nice piece of news that child calorie consumption has fallen by 9% in the last twelve years.
Also, we’ve been drinking considerably less soda. 25% less, to be precise, since the 90s. And consequently, fresh obesity cases are becoming less and less prevalent.
Suffice to say we’ve still got a long way to go. One third of our nation still is at risk of diabetes, of heart problems, and of cancer due to obesity. We still haven’t gotten it in our heads that we have to eat more fruit and vegetables. So eat your veggies people!
But the good news is that according two three distinct sources monitoring calorie consumption, our habits are changing. Children are beginning to realize that soda is bad. The consumption of sugar sweetened drinks has dropped considerably. Between 2004 and 2012, there are, on average, 79 less calories from sugar soda.
A lot of people are starting to realize that they need to lose weight. This realization is being helped by the Affordable Care Act passed by the Obama administration in 2010 which requires restaurants to display calorie intake per item on their menu.
Americans have good prospects, and although we’re still having problems, we’re clearly beating the right path towards a healthy life.
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StevesWeightLoss.com says
We’re definitely on the right path, that’s for sure. We now see the results of decades of eating these foods and living this way. Losing weight is freaking hard as can be, especially with so much information out there on the right way or wrong way to lose fat. Foods we can’t eat, exercises we gotta do, it’s enough to drive somebody crazy.
It ain’t just about eating less and moving more or counting calories and weighing all your food. Sure, that stuff works for a little bit but it only gets you so far and then once you stop that diet you just gain it all back (and usually extra weight!). We lost right around 115 pounds (between the 2 of us) in just under 3 months (we tried different diets and reviewed them on our website https://StevesWeightLoss.com ) and it’s all about a life change. Starving yourself, doing cardio till you drop and popping diet pills don’t work and it never will.