Conference rocks::weight_control

31.0. "American Food Habits" by FURILO::BOWKER (Joe Bowker -- KB1GP) Thu May 07 1987 16:00

         
            SUMMARY: This is from the May 11, 1987 copy of 
         INSIGHT Magazine written by Robb Deigh and entered here 
         without permission.
         
            Americans are watching what they eat, but it is not 
         always a pretty sight.
              
            Nutritionists have warned for years that high-fat,
         calorie-laden foods such as fried chicken or gobs of 
         buttered mashed potatoes with gravy are unhealthy. So 
         millions of people switched to leaner foods, such as 
         broiled fish and steamed vegetables. Now, at the height 
         of a trend toward healthier diets, experts say gastro-
         nomic schizophrenia has set in: People are eating it 
         all, the good with the bad. They are having their cake 
         and eating it too, and going back for seconds and 
         thirds.
         
            "A lot of health messages that we're trying to pro-
         mote are getting out there and people are responding." 
         says Sandy Moreale, a registered dietitian at the 
         American Dietetic Association in Chicago. "But at the 
         same time, Americans are going through a good-bad 
         syndrome where they hear the health messages but they 
         respond in a haphazard way."
         
            The exercise craze, she says, has compounded the 
         phenomenon in that some people now suffer from a "work 
         out-pig out" syndrome. "They go to their health club 
         and do their hour of exercise that will entitle them to 
         little treats along the way."
         
            It is not just that Americans are eating more -- 
         they are, increasing steadily in the past few years to 
         a record level in 1985 -- but, says a recent 
         Agriculture Department report, U.S. consumption is "an 
         almost incongruous mixture of high- and low-fat foods 
         as well as fresh and processed items."
         
            The Good: Americans are eating more fish than ever 
         before, says the study, with consumption reaching 14.5 
         pounds per person in 1985, the latest year for which 
         figures are available. Poultry reached a high of 69.3 
         pounds per person in 1985 and this year, for the first 
         time, is expected to be more popular than red meat.
         
            The Bad: With these lean meats, Americans are a 
         record 67.2 pounds of fats and oils per person, cont-
         inuing a 20-year increase the report says is due mostly 
         to wider use of oils for frying and salad dressings.
         
            The Good: Consumption of fresh fruit was up to 88.2 
         pounds, with citrus losing in popularity and non-citrus 
         gaining. Vegetables gained in 1985, with Americans 
         consuming on the average of 81.4 pounds per person. 
         Potatoes, in a class by themselves, rose to 125.3 
         pounds. Use of refined sugar fell from 100 pounds per 
         person in 1970 to 63.4 pounds in 1985. Fluid milk was 
         in greater favor in 1984-85 after a 13 year decline, 
         reaching 245.1 pounds; whole milk made up 49 percent of 
         all fluid milk and cream consumed.
         
            The Bad: While consumers may have tried  to cut 
         dairy fat in their milk, they did not banish it from 
         their diets. Cream sales rose to an annual 7.3 pounds 
         per person.
         
            The Good (or is it Bad?): Americans are thirstier 
         than ever, drinking 140.3 gallons of beverages per 
         person in 1985, nearly 15 percent more than in 1970. 
         During the same period, juice consumption increased by 
         59 percent to 7.3 gallons in 1985 but apparently not as 
         a substitute for soft drinks, which rose by an astound-
         ing 92 percent to 45.6 gallons. Coffee was down 22.5 
         percent, to 25.9 gallons in 1985. Americans drank an 
         average of 40.8 gallons of alcoholic beverages, which 
         was actually less than in any of the previous five 
         years. Beer was down to 3.8 gallons, due to the pop-
         ularity of wine coolers, says the report.
         
            "People eat what they want to eat, regardless of 
         what they say," says Mildred S. Seelig of the American 
         College of Nutrition in White Plains, N.Y. Although 
         people now are much more conscious of diet, she says, 
         the incongruity in choice of foods comes in part from 
         misinformation. "There is a great deal of confusion. 
         Doctors are still not giving as much information or are 
         not as informed as they might be." Morreale says that 
         food product manufacturers also help dictate the types 
         of food we eat, responding with such items as "light" 
         beer or mile and soft drinks with added calcium.
         
            And even many of those who eat leaner foods at home 
         stray from their diet when they go out, according to 
         Anne Papa of the National Restaurant Association, who 
         says that 40 cents of every food dollar is spent in 
         restaurants. She says 60 percent of Americans modify 
         their diets at home according to federal nutritional 
         standards, but only 40 percent do so when dining out.
         
            A 1986 Gallup Poll conducted for the association 
         found that American food consumers fall into four 
         groups: traditional eaters (37 percent), who favor red 
         meat, fried foods and non-diet drinks; weight-conscious 
         eaters (28 percent), who prefer low-calorie dressings 
         entrees and drinks, sugar substitutes and raw veget-
         ables; health conscious eaters (19 percent), who modify 
         their diets for nutritional reasons and eat broiled 
         meats, whole grain bread, skinless poultry, fresh fruit 
         and no salt.
         
            The fourth group comprises the uncommitted. They are 
         "the kind of people who don't really think about what 
         they eat," says Papa, Their diet is similar to the 
         health conscious eater's: "They frequent fast-food 
         restaurants, but they hit the salad bar."
         
            "There is no such thing as good foods or bad foods," 
         says Morreale. "It is a matter of watching portion 
         sizes and frequency. Every food has some contribution 
         to make."
         
            That's food news for what might be a fifth group of 
         eaters. They go to restaurants and order broiled fish, 
         steamed vegetables and fresh fruit -- then go home and 
         finish last night's pizza and the better half of a 
         gallon of triple-fudge walnut ice cream.