Often you hear that people in the U.S. are totally obsessed with diet plans. As soon as you open up your facebook account, or tune in the morning news, you always see some type of Ad or commercial about weight loss plans or diets. Most of the time, they are endorsed by some random Hollywood celebrity that happens to be in good shape, or promoted using some other smart technique.

It is pretty obvious that weight loss industries have basically built an empire. In America, for instance; we, the people, spend about 35 billion dollars on weight loss products. In addition, we spend another 79 billion on medication, hospitalization, and doctors to treat weight-related issues. That said, obesity continues to spread. Sadly, we’ve become the heaviest generation in our nation’s history.

Statistics say that we have some good reasons to be concerned about our weight-gain. Americans are picking up the pounds faster than ever, and weight-related health problems are taking center stage. Diseases like heart disease, diabetes and certain forms of cancer have all been because the obesity.

The unfortunate facts brought by obesity to our nation are a deception; these following stats will flatter you:

- 64 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. That’s up to 8 percent from overweight estimates obtained in a 1988 report.

- Among children and teens ages 6 -19, 15 percent or almost 9 million are overweight. That’s triple what the rate was in 1980.
- Nearly one-third of all adults are now classified as obese. At present, 31 percent of adults 20 years of age and over or nearly 59 million people have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater, compared with 23 percent in 1994.
Life nowadays, has gotten to the point were people spend most of the time seated. Computers, television, video games, cell phones, automobiles, etc. It seems like all the entertaining activities people do daily, require no physical effort. This is one of the big factors in our nation’s weight problems.

Those simple activities that were once a normal part of our daily routine not so long ago. Activities like climbing stairs instead of using escalators and elevators, pushing a lawn mower instead of riding around on a garden tractor, daily walks to school. Nobody really do these anymore.

Here are some examples of the food consumption today compared to the 70s:
- We are eating more grain products, but almost all of them are refined grains. Grain consumption has jumped 45 percent since the 1970s, from 138 pounds of grains per person per year to 200 pounds. Only 2 percent of the wheat flour is consumed as whole wheat.

- Our consumption of fruits and vegetables has increased, only because French fries and potato chips are now considered vegetables. Potato products count for almost a third of our product choices.

- We’re not drinking as much milk, but doubled cheese intake which passes meat as the number one source of saturated fat diets.

- We’ve cut back on red meat, but have built up for the loss by increasing our intake of chicken, that said, we’re eating 13 pounds more meat today than we did back in the 70s.

- We’re drinking three times more soft drinks than milk. When in the 70s, milk consumption was twice that of pop.

- We use 25 percent less butter, but use twice as much vegetable oil in our food and salads, so our total fat intake has increased by 32 percent.

- Sugar consumption has been another great factor of our obesity. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, people are consuming twice the needed amount of sugar daily, about 20 teaspoons on a 2000 calorie a day diet.

- In 1978, sugars constituted 11 percent of the average person’s calories. This percentage has come up to 16 percent for the average American adult and as
much as 20 percent for American teenagers.
Back in the day, when families used to gather around the table to discuss how everybody’s day went, that doesn’t exist anymore, instead, families call for Pizza or some Chinese food and eat it while watching a movie in the living room. We have gradually come to the conclusion that it’s OK to sacrifice healthy foods for the sake that larger serving portions mean better value.

Finally, I’m sure you’ve found these statistics quite flattering and mouth-opening, well here´s one more. Americans are consuming 300 more calories than they did two decades ago. When we should actually be consuming less since we sit around all day now.