The Things We Eat

According to an NPR story even though Americans are exercising more, more Americans than ever are obese.

Americans are again one of the most obese countries in the world. This strikes close to home for me, as I have have been overweight since the age of six. A quick survey of my father's fridge, freezer and pantry leads to one very obvious problem. Even though my dad has a mostly healthy diet since his stroke several years ago I found only ONE fresh vegetable anywhere: the broccoli I bought. There is more fresh fruit than I would expect, apples, oranges and bananas. There is also a tomato and an onion and some garlic. He has lost about ten pounds in the years since his stroke, and that's after quitting drinking. So what's the problem?

If you aren't eating vegetables, you are filling your stomach with something less than spectacular. Pita chips and hummus is my weakness. My dad enjoys tortilla chips. In order to lessen the effect of random acts of food I have moved to a five meals a day plan.

Of course, I still don't eat enough vegetables.

It seems to me that one of the main causes of obesity is the average portion size of an American meal.

Solution: (1) Five meals a day, smaller meals at each mealtime. (2) Three to five servings of vegetables per day.

Obstacle: Fewer local growers than ever before. Americans are supermarket fanatics. Our fridges are generally bigger than our European counterparts. The ideal situation would be having a corner store, like in Italy.

My solution: If I don't have fresh vegetables in the fridge I will walk to Albertsons to get some. This way I get fresh vegetables and exercise too.