One-third of American diet is junk food and soft drinks: we're malnourished and obese at the same time

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An alarming new study published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis reveals that Americans are getting nearly one-third of their calories from junk foods: soft drinks, sweets, desserts, alcoholic beverages, and salty snacks. It explains why obesity is rampant, diabetes is epidemic, and chronic disease is skyrocketing: we are a nation of people who are simultaneously overfed and malnourished. In other words, we're getting plenty of calories, but very little nutrition.

Shockingly, the average American gets over seven percent of their calories from soft drinks alone -- a situation that most certainly accelerates both obesity and diabetes. As with soft drinks, the other junk foods consumed by Americans are so-called "empty calorie" foods, meaning they're devoid of nutritional value. And yet people keep turning to these foods with alarming frequency because they taste good.

The upshot of all this is something I've been saying for years: our national food supply is the #1 source of chronic disease in the United States. Furthermore, losing weight and preventing disease isn't only about eating less, it's about making different choices in your foods. With the right foods and beverages, you can virtually eat as much as you want. Those foods are, of course, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, quinoa, and similar items -- all in their unprocessed, unrefined form. Because once you start refining and processing foods, you end up with empty calories again.

With this new study, we have yet more evidence of the link between food choice and personal health. The American public is slowly coming to realize that foods are, indeed, linked to disease, and an increasing number of doctors are starting to see the light, too. Heck, even the medical schools might actually start teaching nutrition -- something that should have been the foundation of a medical education but which has been routinely ignored for decades by organized medicine.

This study also reveals the obvious solutions to the national obesity epidemic: ban all junk food advertising. Ban junk food vending machines. Run public education campaigns to teach people how to choose healthy foods and beverages. Require labels on all junk food products to warn consumers about obesity and diabetes. The solutions are simple to see, but politically very difficult to enforce due to food politics and the greed of junk food companies. There's a lot of profit in making people sick, and then there's even more profit in treating them with prescription drugs and surgeries.

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