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Too Many Calories: Reasons for Weight Gain

Remember the days before super size fries and 64 ounce Big Gulps? When coffee was coffee and “grande and “venti” had no meaning in the English language? Those were the days when going out to eat was a treat and bags of chips still came full of air and little else. As Americans are well aware, those days are long gone and today’s attitudes of more is better may be causing our health to suffer.

This is nothing new to most of us. Today, you cannot turn on the TV or radio without someone telling you that America is facing a obesity epidemic, but the reasoning behind it has been unclear. There are more gyms available to work out in, more nutritious foods filling grocery store isles, and more frozen yogurts in the ice cream section, so what is the problem?

The reports published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1971 and 2000, average energy consumption from calories increased, average calories from carbohydrates increased and average percentage of calories from total fat and saturated fat decreased.

The reports are called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the results will hopefully shed some light on the reasons for the tremendous weight gain in the United States in recent years.

Both men and women consumed a significantly higher amount of carbohydrates and calories from carbohydrates in 2000 than they did twenty years previous. The USDA suggested that factors contributing to the increase in energy intake in the United States included consumption of food away from home, increased consumption of salty snacks, soft drinks, and pizza, as well as increased portion sizes.

To make matters worse, it was also reported that the prevalence of leisure-time physical activity has decreased significantly from 1988 to 2002 with a sharp decrease after 1996. Overall, the prevalence of no leisure-time physical activity peaked in 1989 at 32 percent was stable until 1996, after which it declined an average of 1 percent per year to 25 percent in 2002- the lowest average amount of physical activity in 15 years.

In all, this report shows that despite larger portions and easier access to television and internet, Americans need to make an everyday effort to cut back on food portions, pay closer attention to the foods chosen, and get up and exercise!

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reporter. The Center for Disease Control