Americans Eat Healthy: Just Ask Them! According to Live Science, a survey by Consumer Reports shows that 90 percent of Americans think their diet is healthy. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.
So what is there? For one thing, certain foods can appear healthier than they are. It has become very common for products with little or no regulation to be marketed as “natural” or “superfood”. Those are marketing terms and they work. In the UK, more than 60 percent of consumers say they bought a “superfood” because it was marketed that way, TheGaurdian.com says.
Still, many more Americans eat foods like kale, almonds, and quinoa. And you know they are nibbling avocados! So why don’t we lose weight when our diet is “healthy”?
What does “healthy” mean anyway?
First of all, the definition is constantly changing. In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began redefining how it regulates the word “healthy” on food packaging. According to FoodDive.com, the change began after a company struggled when the FDA said its “healthy” bars had too much fat. The fat came from nuts in the bar, not oils or other sources of fat, the company argued. And the FDA ultimately agreed.
The answer helps explain what “healthy” food means to most Americans today: “real” food that is rich in nutrients that fight disease. This includes foods like Almondsthat help fight off belly fat, says the Journal of Nutrition. According to the US National Library of Medicine, other nuts, such as: Cashew nuts, are laden with the types of monounsaturated fats that fueled the “healthy” bar debate mentioned above. The popular one avocado provides potassium that your body needs for heart function, explains Harvard Health. These nutritious ingredients are growing in popularity as more and more people try to eat healthily.
“Healthy” foods and weight loss
Just because a food is high in nutrients doesn’t mean you can eat it with devotion if your goal is to lose pounds. Even a calorie from a “good”, “healthy” food is a calorie that your body has to burn or store. Half a cup of avocado might be high in the polyunsaturated fats that your body needs. However, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), it also has 192 calories – a pretty large percentage of many people’s daily diet. And if you mindlessly nibble on almonds, the calories add up even faster. One cup of these nuts has 828 calories, says the USDA. Adding 800 extra calories to your diet can mean the difference between reaching your weight loss goal and gaining pounds – even if it’s 800 calories of “healthy” food.
Lose weight with the right portion sizes
With so much confusion about serving size, successful weight loss plans are like Food system even more important for a healthy diet. Our plans focus on what healthy foods are and how much to eat to lose weight. Many Nutrisystem diet meals and snacks contain fiber, which helps aid digestion and weight loss, while also helping you feel full longer, says Healthline. Many of our foods also contain proteins that help build and maintain muscles and increase the feeling of satiety. All of these foods are served in diet-friendly servings that will help you hit the calories your weight loss goals require.
If you’re not eating pre-portioned foods, portion control can be a little trickier. A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that Americans only estimate portion sizes correctly about half of the time. The study participants estimated the portion sizes for snacks, muesli, fruit and vegetables to be larger than they actually are. The portion sizes of bread and cold cuts were estimated to be smaller than they are.
The food system Food guide tells you exactly how much of a “healthy” food to eat – like almonds, avocados, cashews, and more. With the easy-to-follow PowerFuel and SmartCarb guidelines, you can plan these foods into your daily diet and eat the right servings even after you’ve reached your goal weight.
The food guide also includes your list of perhaps the “healthiest” foods of all –non-starchy vegetables. In a study of more than 130,000 people published in The Lancet, scientists found that eating three or four servings of vegetables a day resulted in the lowest premature deaths. In the Nutrisystem program, non-starchy vegetables are “unlimited” due to their low number of calories. That means they’re not just “healthy” – they’re healthy in larger servings that you can enjoy as much as you want. So you can eat healthily, stay satisfied AND lose weight!
