A History of Eating

Just some fun facts. The government occasionally keeps track of what people are eating and we also use how much restaurants serve as a guide now as well. The last official data from the government was from 2005.
In 1909 the average American consumed 3500 calories a day but most of it was vegetables and carbohydrates and the jobs involved more labor than anything else. By the 1970's people were consuming around 2300 calories a day. The latest data says Americans now consume 2800 calories a day. The 500 calorie increase is mostly due to sugar and fat consumption. Our consumption of sugar has gone down by 28% since 1970 but our consumption of corn sweeteners has gone up by 490%!!!
So what does all of this really mean? In the sedentary world we live in, we have to eat less than or equal to what our body burns(our Basil Metabolic Rate)just by being awake. The average sedentary female BMR is around 1900 calories a day. If we consume 2800 calories a day and only burn 1900 a day that means we are gaining .3 pounds a week. It's not much so it can easily sneak up on us weeks at a time.
Just remember 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories so burning 500 extra calories a day ( or a work out equivalent to an hour of hard dragonboating) will help burn off one pound a week. Keep up the good work all.