Food in America
From the time they are old enough to watch a television set or even to visit the grocery store with mom or dad, kids are inundated with advertising for character-shaped, marshmallow-fortified, frosting-crusted cereals and other fat- and sugar-filled junk foods. The food-processing industry spends billions each year on targeting its advertising toward children and teens. Few of those commercials are for fruits and vegetables.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has cited the increased consumption of processed foods heavy in the three S's — saturated fat, sodium, and sugar — as one of the factors behind growing obesity and weight-related health conditions worldwide. In its draft guideline, “WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health,” the organization has encouraged both government and the food industry to take steps toward reducing salt, fat, and sugar in processed food.
Has packaged food really gotten that much more fattening in the past few years?
A weight problem is almost always attributable to more than just a single factor. However, a study published in the
Stretching the Food Chain Beyond Recognition
“Creative” kid food concepts have become all the rage, like green ketchup and neon shades of yogurt. But when your child eats these products, he is also getting added chemicals and colorings with his meals. Preservatives, sugar, and fat added during processing can leave even wholesome-sounding foods like fruit juice or muffins barren of nutrients. As a general rule, the further food gets from its original and organic state, and the longer it takes to get from the source to you, the fewer nutrients you (and your child) will get out of it. The best idea is to make whole foods — like fresh veggies, fruits, and whole-grain breads — a primary part of your child's diet.
Misleading Labels
As you start planning a more nutritious lifestyle for your child and your family, you start down the road to being an informed consumer. Become a label reader, and be on the lookout for red-flag ingredients like hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils (which signal trans fats, as described in Chapter 6). Look past the advertising slogans that claim foods are low-fat, reduced-calorie, and “light” (or “lite”), and analyze the nutrition facts label. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the way these and other food-related statements may be used, but the FDA's definition of “light,” for instance, may be different from yours. To meet FDA guidelines, the food is simply required to contain 50 percent or less of the specific nutrient (such as calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol), depending on the claim, as compared to a “reference food value.” While a light cheesecake may be light in comparison to the “real deal,” it can still contain substantial amounts of fat and calories.
Bigger Is Better Mentality
Americans are bargain-hunters at heart — hence the American love affair with all-you-can-eat buffets, huge restaurant portions, buy-one-get-one-free pizza deals, and the bottomless beverage. Although these “values” might help you save your pocket change, they cost you plenty more in terms of your good health. All that extra food means American adults and children alike are eating way too many calories. Since we're also less physically active, weight gain is the inevitable result. The added saturated fat in many of the most popular “value-added size” foods, like French fries and movie popcorn, is also clogging arteries and promoting heart disease.
The food-service industry seems to be waking up to the health crisis, at least for now. In 2004, McDonald 's announced plans to drop super-sized fries from their menu after considerable bad press about the chain's possible role in America's obesity epidemic. Consumers are becoming more nutrition-savvy and are considering the fiber, fat, and carbohydrate content in many meals before buying. As a result, some chains have added heart-healthy and low-carb options to their menus. More importantly, some are offering their patrons nutritional analyses of menu items so parents can see exactly what their kids are eating.
Of course, unhealthy practices of food manufacturers and restaurants are only one part of the problem. Kids and their parents need to recognize why they make the food choices they do. Kids also have to figure out what triggers overeating behaviors before they can institute long-lasting nutritional lifestyle changes.
In 1999, Americans consumed 22 million tons of sugar and other sweeteners (such as maple syrup, corn syrup, and honey), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's 158 pounds per person, or 227,520 calories from sweets a year. Along with all that sugar, U.S. consumers also ate an average of 68.5 pounds of fats and oils in food products.
