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Before 1900 the North American diet consisted mostly of nutritious foods grown in
local gardens and nearby farms, supplemented with a few staples from the general store. Their meat
came from barnyard animals and range-fed cattle. Our grandparents didn't have thousands of
beautifully packaged high calorie, highly promoted food products waiting for them at the supermarket.
High calorie fast-food
restaurants didn't beckon from every street corner.
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DIETARY TRENDS
(in % of total calories) |
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| The Standard American Diet (SAD) has been shifting,
resulting in a dramatic change in its composition. Today more calories come from sugar
(simple carbohydrates) than from starch (complex carbohydrates) and more than one third
of the calories come from fat. (U.S. 1860-2000) |
The backbone of their diet was kernels—nutritious kernels of wheat and other
grains growing in reassuring profusion. Families ate freshly cooked food and thick slices of
nutritious home-baked bread around their own tables. They enjoyed hot cereals, corn-bread, and
biscuits. They ate rice, pasta, and corn, along with beans, potatoes, vegetables, and fruit. These
nutritious high-fiber foods made up 53% of their daily calorie intake.
But times and tastes have changed dramatically. Nutritious food cereals like
oatmeal have been replaced by cold, presweetened flakes. Lunch now typically consists of a salad soaked
in oily dressing, a hamburger, and a soda. And a high calorie dinner often comes frozen in a cardboard box or from
the Colonel. Between meals there are sodas, chips, Ding Dongs, and doughnuts. Nutritious, high-fiber
foods now represent only 24 percent of our daily calories, while fat and sugar intake have increased
by 250%.
That's frightening! What can be done?
Education is the key. As people learn that refinement robs food of
most of its fiber and nutrients, and processing adds calories, subtracts nutrition, and contributes
scores of chemical additives, many are willing to make changes.
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Food "as grown" is nutritionally
balanced. Refinement, however, strips food of most of its fiber and nutrients.
Processing adds calories, subtracts nutrition, and contributes myriads of chemical
additives. |
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People are also realizing that meat and dairy products should be
used sparingly. While they carry nutrients, most are too high in fat, cholesterol, protein, and
calories, are loaded with hormones and pesticides, and contain virtually no fiber.
Today's people are increasingly giving up their preoccupation with
rich animal products and processed foods. Instead, they are eating more complex carbohydrates—whole
plant nutritious foods, usually rich in fiber. Since 1970 the consumption of meat, whole milk, and eggs has
decreased, and so has the number of heart attacks and strokes.
People know it, and science confirms it. The road to better health and longer life detours around
fast-food outlets, feedlot animals, and shops full of contrived and depleted foods. Instead, the
road leads us back to the gardens and farmlands of our country—to the fresh fruits and crisp
vegetables, and to the nutritious kernels of golden grain. |
