This American Life

As our technologies and subsequently our way of life change at exponentially faster rates, our bodies are struggling to keep pace. Our increasingly complicated and busy lifestyles are also contributing to our expanding waistlines. As we become more productive in the workplace and enjoy more efficiency and luxury, our health is suffering.

In families with two parents working all day, there's often little time for buying and cooking nutritionally balanced, thoughtfully prepared foods. Our overbooked schedules make it easier to opt for cheaper, quicker snacks and fast food. Nutrition itself seems to be a faltering priority in modern American culture, with home economics and basic cooking classes being dropped from many public schools.

New York University researcher Lisa Young worries that our culture's obsession with maximizing portions is also maximizing our waistlines.

At the same time that our diet is getting worse, our lives are becoming more sedentary. We spend more hours conducting business at our desks, in our cars and on our computers. In an effort to get more done faster, we drive rather than walk and take elevators instead of stairs. In many ways, we have successfully engineered physical activity out of our lives.

With more to do and buy, Americans prioritize their time and dollars. When it comes to food, we often sacrifice nutrition for speed and economy. In general, the cheaper the ingredients — such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils — the less healthy and more likely to contribute to obesity they are.

	When it comes to food, we often sacrifice nutrition for speed and economy.

HFCS (a mixture of fructose and glucose) is metabolized differently than regular sugar (sucrose). A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that animals given large amounts of fructose were more susceptible to glucose and insulin imbalances, had an elevated amount of dangerous fat in the blood and higher blood pressure. Peter Havel, an endocrinologist at the University of California Davis, believes that fructose "fools" our weight-regulating hormones, which would normally trigger the feeling of fullness.

Trans fats such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils have been shown to lead to obesity-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Manufacturers use these trans fats because they have a benefit in the marketplace — a longer shelf life. Over the past few decades profitability has been a priority for our food ingredients. The good news is that this may be changing. Spurred by law suits filed against Nabisco (the makers of Oreos) and McDonalds, manufacturers such as Frito-Lay have initiated campaigns to offer many chip brands with zero grams of trans fat.

Reading nutrition labels can reveal important information about the food and the portions you are eating. Learn how to read the labels here.

A series of studies by Dr. Simone French at the University of Minnesota underscores the enormous power of price on our food choices. In these experiments, the prices of various high- and low-fat snacks were changed in public vending machines. By dropping the price of a low-fat snack by as little as a nickel, sales of that item increased.

Getting more for our money extends to our obsession with super-sized portions — from big gulp drinks to king-size candy bars. New York University's Lisa Young is concerned that these portions are adding significant pounds and contributing to the number of obese Americans. The bagel, a breakfast staple, has doubled in size over the past 20 years. Burger King sandwiches have grown approximately 46 percent since 1954. The average size of a Coca-Cola has grown from 6.5 fluid ounces in 1916 to 21 fluid ounces in 2002.

With such oversized portions becoming the norm, it's no surprise that Americans are getting fatter. In general, portions served to consumers are 2 to 8 times larger than serving sizes recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (makers of the nutrition label). Take pasta, for example: the USDA recommends one-half cup as a serving, but restaurants serve an average of three cups.
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