How bad is the American diet?
Let me draw your attention to the numbers:
- Ultra processed foods make up 57% of Americans’ calorie intake
- Whole foods make up only 27.4% of calories, largely due to eating less meat and dairy
- Poor diet contributed to 22% of all deaths in America
Things weren’t always this way. Even a generation ago, American households were cooking their own dinners, consuming whole, real foods, and most importantly, dying less to chronic disease. As of 1930, just 7.5% of Americans had any form of chronic disease. Today, that number has risen to almost one in two people.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the correlation between the standard American diet (SAD) and a shorter lifespan. And unless we do something to fix the problem now, we’ll be jeopardizing our health for generations to come.
The evolution of the American diet
The SAD diet is the result of two major factors: innovation, and food corporations.
The average American’s access to food used to be contingent on what could be grown, bartered, or foraged. In 1943, more than 40% of all American produce was grown in a backyard. These were all whole, real foods — things that came from the ground or were raised on the ground with little if any processing.
The 1950s saw huge improvements in access to different foods. Oranges, refrigerators, and better sanitation guidelines made new ingredients available to the public, which opened a world of culinary possibilities to the average American family.
Unfortunately, it also invited the creation of ultra processed foods.
Processed foods have always been around in some capacity — even processed olive oil can be traced back to 4,000 BC — but this new wave of innovation enabled American food companies to up the ante. It was now possible to create food quickly, cheaply, and with almost no nutritional value, which would keep customers coming back again and again.
Wonder Bread, Yoo-Hoos, and Velveeta cheese hit shelves in the 1920s, followed by an explosion of fast food stores in the 1950s.
Today, ultra processed foods make up 73% of the total American food supply. Worse, they cost 52% less than their less processed alternatives, which is probably why 60% of Americans include them in their diets.
And because the human body runs on nutrients rather than calories, we’re fatter, sicker, and more metabolically unwell than any other period in history.
How ultra processed foods affect your metabolic health
The lie of ‘a calorie’s just a calorie’ holds a lot of water these days, primarily thanks to massive food corporations with a lot to lose if we stopped believing it.
Think of the human body like a vehicle. You need fuel in order to get from one place to the other (i.e., whole real foods). But when you start to fill your tank with the wrong fuel, like putting gasoline in a diesel engine (i.e., ultra processed foods), you’re going to slowly eat away at the ‘engine’ of your health — your heart.
Science has pinpointed numerous ways ultra processed foods are bad for our metabolic health. For example:
- A 10% increase in eating ultra processed foods leads to a higher risk of breast cancer
- Processed foods increase insulin resistance and decrease insulin sensitivity, which leads to weight gain and a greater risk of diabetes
- The increased intake of ultra processed foods leads to higher rates of heart disease, including heart attacks
Let me be very clear: there are no nutritive, physical, or health-related benefits to eating the standard American diet. All it does is make big corporations bigger and your lifespan shorter.
And you have a lot more to lose than a few dollars.
3 ways to save your metabolic health from the SAD diet
If you’re a subscriber of the standard American diet and looking for a way out, there is hope. Your metabolic health is repairable and regenerative, provided you switch up your diet and start focusing on new healthy alternatives.
There are three steps you can take right now to see a measurable difference in your metabolic health:
- Eat whole, real foods. As mentioned earlier, this means consuming foods that come from the ground or are raised on the ground. Think fruits, vegetables, and lots of animal protein. The less processed these are, the better.
- Kick ultra processed foods to the curb. This doesn’t mean you have to go cold turkey right away and can never indulge in the foods you love. But if you’re serious about restoring your metabolic health and avoiding the fallout after years of the SAD diet, it’s important to wean off as much as you can.
- Hydrate. Many people find hydration a useful tool to reduce hunger, and those starting a low carbohydrate diet may feel the need to drink more fluid as their body adapts to the change.
Taking control of your diet is the first step in reclaiming your metabolic health. If you’re ready to lose weight, prevent chronic disease, and feel your best every day, I recommend my metabolic health coaching, where you’ll have your very own metabolic health coach and unlimited group coaching. Check it out here.
