American Eating Patterns

Today in our society we are faced with the ongoing issue of obesity, especially child obesity. In an attempt to solve this issue, the government has funded nutritional studies in order to provide healthy eating plans that would help Americans make healthier decisions regarding their food. As a result of extensive research, the USDA Food Patterns, DASH diet eating plan, and Mediterranean eating pattern have been discovered.

We’ll begin with the USDA Food Patterns. This food pattern suggests the amount of foods needed from different food groups; amounts are based on calorie levels, the average being 2,000 calories per day. This food pattern was developed to help individuals follow the recommended dietary guidelines on a daily basis. This includes

All of these eating plans contain the foods that contain necessary nutrients required for a healthy lifestyle, although the amounts for these foods vary according to the diet plan. The USDA and the DASH eating plans both have an amount for fats and sugars that should be consumed in the diet, whereas the Mediterranean diet has no recommended daily intake for sweets or meats. The Mediterranean eating pattern consists mainly of natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and olive oil. A key difference between these diets is that the Mediterranean diet has olive oil as a food that should be consumed daily, in every meal. As stated above, the Mediterranean diet contains very small amounts of red meat, they mainly consume fish and poultry. The reason that the Mediterranean diet contains almost no sweets, is because fruits are eaten as sweets, especially tomatoes and olives. Both the USDA and DASH describe foods in terms of daily intake, the Mediterranean on the other hand, describes them in terms of; daily, weekly, and monthly. The USDA and DASH eating patterns are more of a balanced pattern that has a little bit of everything; including sweets and added sugars, something that the Mediterranean diet does not. The similarity between these three eating patterns is that they all include a high grain intake, which helps the individuals’ fiber levels. These three eating patterns/diets are

Claims such as “this diet will help you lose 3 pounds per week” or “this diet will accelerate fat loss and turn it all into muscle”. Most of these diets can’t even be backed up by an in depth study or experiment, and often times side effects are unknown. Even though these diets don’t have proof that they work or how they work, these products are based on personal testimonies, rather than medical studies. Personal testimonies are not a reliable or credible support for a product. Most, if not all fad diets, are only temporary and have been proven to be very unhealthy. These products/products may produce fascinating results in a short period of time, but this will have a negative effect on the human body in the long run. The way that companies advertise these fad diets and products, is by hiring fit people to give their testimony in a commercial, making the product very eye catching and attractive; who doesn’t want to have the perfect six pack and perfect legs. We never see advertisement with overweight individuals. These advertisements work so well that we most likely know at least