I kind of consider the 70s as a real meat and starches gorgefest. Sure, I was just a little, little kid during that decade, but I remember lots of steak, lots of refined sugars, lots of sweetened iced-tea and Kool-aid. Basically, lots and lots and lots of food.
But I'll be damned. Turns out, Americans eat nearly two pounds of fat-loaded food per week MORE than we did back in the pre-aerobics, pre-low-fat, pre-low-carb, pre-food/exercise obsessions era launched in the 80s.
Wait! There's more!
In 2006, we ate an extra half-pound of fat -- FAT! -- a week, which does not include the fat found in the extra quarter pound of meat we eat every week. Now, to be fair to the gluttons of this great land, we did decrease consumption of one food group: dairy. Mainly because we've basically stopped drinking milk (guilty!). Wait, not such a drastic drop since we've upped our intake of cheese (groaaaaan ... guilty there too!).
The bottom line, from the NY Times:
The numbers don't reveal how much grain went into bread versus cookies,
or how many chicken breasts became chicken nuggets. But the overall
increase in eating does suggest a link with the rise in Americans'
weight over the same period. According to the Centers for Disease
Control, 15 percent of adults age 20 to 74 were obese by 1980. By 2007,
that had more than doubled.
Come to think of it, those 70s steaks weren't all that big. And they were a tiny bit of a splurge. I mean, do we ever talk about stretching the ground beef these days? Or do we just head out to Costco for the crazy-huge family pack if we need a little more on the platter?
Photo: everydayweekender.com
