One Nation Under Added Fats

Published on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, by nicholassday / Edit Post

Taking a short New York Times story on “The Overflowing American Dinner Plate” as his starting point, the Ethicurean’s Marc uses the same USDA data to create a pair of brilliant charts. The Times reported that the average American ate 1.8 pounds more per week in 2006 than in 1970. But rather than pounds, the Ethicurean’s charts look at calories—or more precisely, the “average calories produced daily per capita for over 200 basic foods” (adjusted for waste and processing).

The first chart shows that calorie intake from 1970 to 2004 increased more than 500 calories per day, a 24 percent hike (and as Marc notes, since it takes 51 minutes of running to burn that many calories, it isn’t surprising Americans have gotten plumper). The second follows the rise and fall of those calories in different food categories (dairy, vegetables, added fats, and so on). It’s one thing to know that fat, sugar, and refined carbohydrate consumption has jumped. It’s another, and altogether scarier, thing to see a steep spike in added fats and flour and cereal. Hold onto your insurance premiums, kids.

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  • It is incredibly illogical to interpret simple political rhetoric that is challenging Americans to conserve with such literal-minded dogmatism. If you were to extrapolate patriotic American rhetoric about rationing from WWII with the same idiotic fervor, you might conclude that FDR was pro-cannibalism...

  • Mr. Eaty, may I respectfully suggest that you learn the fine art of reading between the lines.

    Sen. Obama says we can't take the lead on Global Warming™ unless we cut back on how much we eat. Sen. Obama says we need to take the lead on Global Warming™.

    What exactly do you think the next logical step is? He has lumped in eating with driving SUVs. We all know about CAFE. It's reasonable to expect...+READ

    Mr. Eaty, may I respectfully suggest that you learn the fine art of reading between the lines.

    Sen. Obama says we can't take the lead on Global Warming™ unless we cut back on how much we eat. Sen. Obama says we need to take the lead on Global Warming™.

    What exactly do you think the next logical step is? He has lumped in eating with driving SUVs. We all know about CAFE. It's reasonable to expect the same to happen with our food.

    You gotta laugh when people describe Sen. Obama as the Anti-Christ, but he sure as heck is the Anti-Chow.-COLLAPSE

  • BTAT, someone who makes no distinction between "concerned about what other countries think about how much we eat" and "will tell us how much we can eat" (which using the word "can", when said about a politician, obviously suggests legislative force) should proudly claim the label of "partisan". The alternatives are much less pretty.

  • I'm not a partisan. I'm an independent. Being here on Chow, I'm quite suspicious of politicians who are concerned about other countries' approving of what we eat. I would expect that you are, too (unless you're a partisan).

  • On the actual topic of this article - I find it interesting that this also coincides with the growth of gourmet cooking in America. If you look at a cookbook from the sixties a lot of the food was either boiled or roasted (of course they also larded food, but I wonder how often that was done in practice). If you look at the amount of olive oil you use to sautee vegetables, grill roasts, and make...+READ

    On the actual topic of this article - I find it interesting that this also coincides with the growth of gourmet cooking in America. If you look at a cookbook from the sixties a lot of the food was either boiled or roasted (of course they also larded food, but I wonder how often that was done in practice). If you look at the amount of olive oil you use to sautee vegetables, grill roasts, and make that nice fresh salad it adds up to a lot of extra fat in a week.

    I'm sure fast food contributes too, but I think our whole culinary culture began changing in the 70s.-COLLAPSE

  • I believe actually Obama was saying that other countries were going to tell us what to eat if you must be literal:

    The quote is this:
    "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

    [sigh]

    It's so annoying when partisans post snarky comments when they can't even...+READ

    I believe actually Obama was saying that other countries were going to tell us what to eat if you must be literal:

    The quote is this:
    "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

    [sigh]

    It's so annoying when partisans post snarky comments when they can't even bother to read the whole sentence.-COLLAPSE

  • [sigh]

    It's always annoying to get snarky comments from people who don't bother to read the story.

  • BeenThereAteThat, I think you pasted the wrong URL into your comment. Either that or you live in a different universe than the rest of us.

  • Don't worry. When Obama gets elected, he says he'll tell us how much we can eat.

    http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-wpxs1Re-8vx2Zk5xnYygW1W67w

    He's here to save us.