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So I had a fairly awesome weekend, and I hope you all had similar experiences. I helped coached a few new people through my free coaching service (click here if you just realized that I am actually trying to help people with no underlying motives whatsoever), worked one of my social jobs and made some easy income, got in some great reading on a variety of topics, and even managed to solidify some plans for my inevitable escape out of the Midwest and into the warming embrace of the west coast.
But enough about what I had going on, it’s time to get into the meat of today’s posting. I once again found myself burying my face in a variety of nutrition and personal fitness forums (not an uncommon occurrence) and came across a chart that I found to be completely fascinating and offered a simple info graphic as to why American’s are not only one of the most unhealthy nations in the world, but also one of the biggest.
So what does this chart exactly show?
It dictates the amount of calories and their course for the diets in the typical residents of a selection of major countries across the world. What is amazing is the utter raw amount of calories that a typical American is eating in a given day. Over 3700 calories are consumed by the average American in a typical day, which unless you are training for a triathlon 365 days a year, is a number that no human being ever needs in order to live a healthy and long life. It’s no wonder that over 66% of the country is overweight.
And while I may not agree with how BMI and generalized dieting plays a major role in determining health and nutrition levels of a individual or a group of people, there is no denying that America is getting larger and larger and is on a one way track to Twinkie Heaven.
But come on, is anyone really surprised by this data? Look at what you or *cough* “your friend” likes to eat in a given day. You wake up and have a cup of coffee, a donut and maybe an apple. Then you head to work and lead a fairly sedentary lifestyle of plugging away memos and occasionally getting up to go see what everyone thought of last night’s Lost episode. At lunch you go out and get Arby’s and decide to get 3 roast beef melts and top it off with some curly fries. Before you can feel guilty, you calm your dietary objections with a diet coke. At some point before lunch or after it, you need to reach for some sort of snack in order to get through your day and head to the vending machine. A bag of chips and a mountain dew serve you well at 3pm. At dinner a large serving of pasta with meatballs and a small salad that is covered in salad dressing (you need your veggies). If you are lucky you crawl to bed at a reasonable hour without hitting the fridge, but often times you grab the container of Ben and Jerry’s and go for a cup or four.
This diet will yield well over 3000 calories in a day, nearly all of which are coming from shitty sources and a overall complete lack of nutritional needs being covered. Now I know that this example probably doesn’t describe you, but how far am I really off? The calories in a mocha frapabullshit start at 300 for a small. That salad you spring for at Buffalo Wild Wings during your office lunch still has almost 1000 calories. And you replacing of all pop with diet drinks is going to ultimately lead to the exact same weight gains. America needs to listen to their bodies more closely, and take major steps to improving their day to day health.
Do you have to be a food Nazi and highly regulate everything you eat? Of course not, just use the 80/20 rule and make sure that 80% of the time you are doing the right thing and only 20% of it is you reaching for the crap that most people are stuffing in their faces everyday.
Not to get on a soapbox and go into self help guru mode, but I know firsthand that when I changed my diet from eating an entire Little Caesar’s Pizza in a day as my meal to fruits, vegetables, and some supplemental whole grains, I had more energy and vitality than any guy at the gym who was twice my size and stuffing his mouth with white pasta after his workouts.
So next time you are walking into PF Changs and you begin to salivate over the kung pao chicken with white rice, think about how you can look and feel about 1000x better if you simply reach for some grilled meats and veggies that won’t push you into the statistical red zone of this chart.
Here’s to not being a fat, lazy, sob
Gabriel
