TIPS FOR 4-H AND YOUTH
American Eating Trends: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
BY: NORMA FLANAGAN

Americans are still confused when it comes to choosing healthy foods. A recent article in the journal, Food Technology, shows that while two-thirds of us think we are eating healthier than we did in the past, we still are making poor choices.

The good news is that we are eating at home more with our families. Unfortunately, fewer meals are being made from scratch, and more are coming from the freezer either pre-made or requiring little preparation. That means we have less control over what we are consuming, especially in the area of fat and sodium.

We are also eating more meat and potatoes. Since the 1950s, our intake of meat, chicken, or fish per year has increased by 57 pounds per person. Fortunately, due to improved breeding, we are getting a smaller proportion of our overall fat intake from our protein foods, but we are still getting too much.

While consumers say that the quality of the produce at the grocery store is one of the main reasons we choose a particular store, our intake of vegetables and fruits has not kept pace. We are eating more fresh vegetables due to pre-cut raw vegetables and salad greens, but our biggest increase in vegetable consumption is french fries and other frozen potatoes (up 63%).

A long with those fried foods, of course, comes a large intake of fat. We claim that "low fat" on the label strongly influences our food choices, yet our consumption of fats and oils have increased nearly 45 pounds since the 1950s. We are choosing more healthy vegetable oils and fewer animal fats, but we are still getting more fat than our bodies need.

While most people claim they could never eat 6-11 servings of grain products per day, the USDA reports that most Americans get that many servings or more. The reason we are consuming so many servings is that our typical portion size is much bigger than the portion size used by USDA on the Food Guide Pyramid.

There are some good signs. Bottled water will soon outstrip soft drinks in overall sales and children are consuming more dairy products. Unfortunately, much of the increase in dairy foods have been flavored and whole milks (which can be high in fat and sugar) and cheese. Cheese consumption alone has increased 287% since the 1950s.

Americans seem to have a never ending desire for the new and different. Ethnic foods of all kinds are becoming more popular. They are especially attractive if they are frozen, in a heat-and-serve form or can be eaten by hand or with a minimum of utensils. Also becoming more popular are vegetarian and organic foods.

Obviously American cuisine is rapidly changing. While we may like to say that health concerns influence our choices, clearly variety in taste and convenience in preparation influences us more.