The Standard American Diet: One Size Does Not Fit All

The Standard American Diet: One Size Does Not Fit All

In the last twenty years, the obesity rate in America has reached an alarming, life threatening level with one-third of adults and seventeen percent of children falling into the obesity category (Ogden, 2012), and at the same time, three out of the top ten nonfiction Best-Sellers are about diet and nutrition (Winston-Salem Journal, 2013). It would seem that with a nation so inclined to be obsessed with health and nutrition, Americans would not be the leader in obesity rates. So, why is it the nation's girth continues to expand, even with government health authorities outlining recommendations for a balanced dietary guide, and supporting the farming industry with food subsidies; shouldn't these measures be designed to control the rate of obesity in this country? Instead, we find the standard American diet is unhealthy, unsustainable, and based in consumerism science, guided by a single set of government dietary recommendations, and a subsidized food industry, which has led the nation to an obesity epidemic; The obesity epidemic could be resolved if the government subsidized healthier foods and recognized that Americans are individuals with unique dietary needs that cannot be met with a one size fits all mentality.

In America today, the government recommends a single source for nutritional and dietary guidelines to be applied equally to all Americans without regard to ethnicity, cultural or social-economic status as a one-size fits all dietary plan. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) creates and issues the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years and is considered to be the cornerstone of information for the nutritional policies and education of the American population (USDA and HHS, 2011). The ninety-one pages of guidelines are recommended for all Americans over the age of 2, including the population at risk for chronic disease; but the actual documentation is developed for the use by healthcare professionals, nutritionists, educators, and policymakers (USDA and HHS, 2011, p. 2). The overall composition of the governmental dietary recommendations leaves the implied audience, the American people, out of the very guidelines that could lead them to a healthier lifestyle. While the dietary guidelines are very detailed and informational, they are not aimed to be user-friendly and tend to be a bit repetitive in the general theme of reduce caloric consumption, buy healthier foods, reduce sugar, salt, and fat intake and increase physical activity. These are all fine points, and would reduce the ever growing waistline in America; however, the information is lost in translation to the average consumer, as it is written at a scientific and academic level. The basic presentation of material does not apply to the general population and still leaves them mystified as to how to reduce the calories, or which sugars to avoid, how to read nutritional labels, and what food groups to add or reduce to create a balanced diet, thereby leaving a gapping void in dietary food education at the consumer level.

In chapter six, the USDA and HHS attempts to recognize that dietary eating habits can be influenced by socio-economic and ethic variables the recommendations outlined are "interventions should extend well beyond providing traditional education to individuals and families about healthy choices, and should help build skills, reshape the environment, and re-establish social norms to facilitate individuals' healthy choices" (USDA and HHS, 2011, p. 57). These recommendations imply the dietary guidelines should not be changed or modified to fit the individual, but the individual should change to meet the guidelines without regard to ethnicity or socio-economic status, proving the governments' one size fits all mentality and disregard of individual and unique dietary requirements. The chapter six summary goes one step further in outlining the governments ideology regarding the goals of the dietary guidelines; "improve the health of our Nation's current and future generations by facilitating and promoting healthy eating and physical activity choices ... require comprehensive and coor-dinated system-wide approaches across our Nation-- approaches that engage every level of society and reshape the environment" (USDA and HHS, 2011, p. 59). The governments 'denial or lack of acceptance of nutrigenomics is not limited to the USDA and HHS, it is also found in an article published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Genomics and Health (2012). The article begins by stating obesity is a serious health risk which contributes to the leading causes of death in America, such as diabetes and stroke and that genes can play a role in obesity, "variation in how people respond to the same environment suggests that genes do play a role in the development of obesity" (CDC, 2012). The first two paragraphs lead you to believe that the CDC is supportive of nutrigenomics, but, don't let the first two paragraphs be misleading, while acknowledging on one hand that genetics and environment contribute to the obesity factor, the true ideology comes into view in the statement of "Currently, genetic tests are not useful for guiding personal diet or physical activity plans" and "Families can't change their genes but they can change the family environment to encourage healthy eating habits and physical activity" (CDC, 2012). Once again, the government reiterates the theory that everyone needs to conform to one set of rules, without consideration to the science of nutrigenomics where individualism is emphasized and dietary requirements are customized according to personal genetic profiles.

The government currently subsidizes the American farmer to grow large amounts of wheat, corn, and soybeans which are all top contributors to polluting the food chain with unhealthy processed food sources, which have been linked to America's obesity epidemic. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 published by the 110th Congress 2D Session (2008), better known as the 2008 farm bill, establishes the agricultural regulations for subsidies given and identifies the commodity crops that will be subsidized as; "wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, long grain rice, medium grain rice, pulse crops, soybeans, and other oilseeds" (110th Congress, 2D Session, 2008, p. 22). In the beginning, the farm subsidy bill was to act as insurance for farmers who have lost crops due to weather or other acts of nature, balance the pricing structure of certain crops, and managing the production of overproduced crops; but over the years, it has turned into a program that subsidizes crops based on how many acres of the crop are planted by the