An Unhealthy Past

A recent New York Times report brought some interesting information to my mind. People talk about how horrible Americans’ diets have become and the dangers of convenience food, but they seem to ignore the fact that our diets weren’t all that great to begin with. The article states:

"'The meals we romanticize in the past somehow leave out the reality of what people were eating,” he said. “The average meal had whole milk and ended with pie.... The typical meal had plenty of fat and calories.'"

The America of the past wasn’t some super healthy place where vegetables were eaten with every meal and kids never gained any weight eating tater tots in their school cafeteria, I mean McDonald’s had to start somewhere, right?

That was something I had never thought about before, every day I eat pizza, fast food or some other equally unhealthy food, I experience pangs of guilt. But when was McDonald’s founded? The first restaurant opened in 1955 and only got bigger from there. Americans have been unhealthy eaters for quite a while, probably since we discovered the deep fryer and its ability to make any food more delicious.

The report blamed America’s sedentary lifestyle for its poor health. A 20-minute walk might burn 100 calories, but there are 3,500 calories in a pound.