Americans eat far too many calories. For example, a habit that raises the risk of many types of medical conditions. These include obesity, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and other preventable health problems. Let’s take a look as to why Americans eat far too many calories.
The first phase to maintaining a healthy diet is to know your caloric intake. You will minimize the potential of diseases that come from unhealthy eating. You don’t have to go by the daily recommendation that is just a guideline to follow.
The thing to remember is that the number of calories you consume is just as important to ones that you choose to eat.
The Cause of Americans Eating Far Too Many Calories
What causes us to eat too many calories instead of what we should be consuming? Americans are getting these calories from the wrong types of foods. The average American is loading up on sweets and fatty convenience foods rather than getting most calories from whole foods. Sugar is the number one reason why people are overweight. When it comes to sugar, sweet drinks like soda and snacks like cakes and pies are the biggest offenders in the typical American diet. We store the sugar in our bodies as fat. This results in not burning enough sugar. The issue with fat is that Americans are getting too much of it from low-quality and processed animal foods like hot dogs, sausages and fatty cuts of pork and chicken.
How to cut calories
When you pay attention to the type of food you consume you help your chances of reducing your calories. Start with cutting out these foods and drinks- sweet drinks, snacks, and processed animal foods. Drink water and plain tea instead of soda. Snack on fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Get your protein from leaner cuts of unprocessed meat and poultry, along with fish, dairy, eggs, and beans. .
Drink water and plain tea instead of soda. Snack on fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Get your protein from leaner cuts of unprocessed meat and poultry, along with fish, dairy, eggs, and beans.
Keep it simple, make more of your snacks and meals at home. Changes in eating habits are more likely to stick when they’re simple, convenient and practical. Eating a quick meal like steamed vegetables with lean protein will keep you in the recommended calorie intake. Additionally, simple snacks like cottage cheese with chopped fresh fruit will accomplish the same result. .
Find a Better Way to Eat
If you cut back on eating foods which are high in sugar and fat you will be winning the battle of eating too many calories. That is the first step. The portion sizes that you eat should be about the size of your fist when it is closed. Americans are eating far too many calories because their portion sizes are much larger than the recommended portion.
Packaged foods typically are made up of more than just one serving. Be sure to read the what the label says on the package so you will know if it contains more than one serving. Use this guide to ensure that you are getting the correct portion amount. One serving of a protein like meat, chicken or fish is usually about the size of a deck of playing cards. Your fist is used to determine a single serving for things like fruits and vegetables. When you have starchy foods like potatoes, rice or corn, then you would consider a serving about the size of a computer mouse.