Americans Consuming More Calories

According to a UNC Chapel Hill research study, Americans were consuming 570 more calories each and every day in 2006 than they were in the late 1970s. From 1977 to 2006, Americans added a full meal or snack, on average, to their diet every day. This caloric increase has partly contributed to the obesity epidemic from which Americans are currently suffering.

The study, covered by Reuters Health Information, also showed that Americans are ingesting 220 additional calories every day from sodas and soft drinks sweetened by sugar from the 1960s. Eating throughout the day, also called grazing, can add hundreds of calories to our diets and cause an alarming increase in body weight that leads to obesity related diseases including diabetes and hypertension to name a couple.

No matter what solution a patient embarks upon, whether it be a lifestyle change, medical weight loss or weight loss surgery, diet and exercise habits must change in order for us to reverse the unhealthy trend over the past decades and while we can eat smaller meals more often it is important that those meals be healthy. After all, eating a greater number of unhealthy meals just adds unnecessary calories to our diet and will only increase our waistlines.

Read More at: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_113799.html