The Standard American Diet (SAD) is truly SAD

The Standard American Diet (SAD) has many features, however, none of which are healthy.  It’s a diet that is consistent with eating over 65% of total calories coming from carbohydrates, mostly in the form of added, refined sugars, and processed foods.  The diet also eats more than a quarter of the daily calories coming from animal-based foods, and a very small percentage coming from plant-based foods.

The issue isn’t so much of plant-based foods over animal-based foods, but the SAD diet focuses on eating the unhealthy choices of animal-based foods, and the less healthy choices of even the plant-based foods.  About half the plant-based foods tend to come from potatoes, mostly French fries, and the animal-based foods typically come from higher inflammatory red meats.

The SAD diet is the primary cause of obesity and Type II diabetes in this country.  It is a diet that is also associated with high inflammation and an increase risk of many other chronic diseases.  Somewhere along the way, we seemed to have lost interest in eating vegetables, and natural whole foods. The food industry boomed and brought us processed, refined, high sugar and Net Carbohydrate rich foods which lead us to eat a complete imbalance of our Macronutrients (Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats).

So what can we do?  First, we can start by focusing on eating whole foods, and learning to fall in love with vegetables and the occasional fruit.  Vegetables and fruits provide us with good carbohydrates. Healthy carbs are quite easy to come by, in fact, many of our healthy whole foods choices will supply us with adequate carbohydrates.  The area where we tend to struggle at times is getting in healthy fats and healthy proteins.  Even when we decide to eat healthy, it is easy to still be low in proteins and fats. 

A good rule of thumb is to always be aware that you are having enough servings of healthy fats, and healthy protein in your daily routine, and carbs will come without thought.  It is time to redefine the Standard American Diet from being a menu plan loaded with sugar, processed foods and high net carbs, to a NEW, healthy American Diet filled with whole foods, adequate protein and healthy fats, and lots of vegetables. 

It is your choice to be healthy……

Reach Nutrition