![]() ![]() As a country, we’re far from that daily goal. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, points out that 90% of Americans do not consume the recommended daily servings of vegetables, yet more than 50% of the U.S. In order to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle, it’s recommended that 85% of our daily food intake consist of non-processed, nutrient-dense items like fresh or frozen produce, whole grains, lean proteins, dairy and legumes. Although the pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders forced most people to slow down and change their daily routine, our diets didn’t improve. If anything, our reliance on unhealthy foods got worse. Despite learning that conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart disease increased risks associated with COVID-19, sugary, fatty, highly processed foods saw a 30% increase in purchase and consumption in the United States in 2020. The processed, grab-and-go American diet that so many of us relied on in our on-the-go, pre-COVID lifestyle left many of us falling far below the recommended daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, as a trusted source of information, employers should look to educate the members of their workforce on these guidelines and empower them to make lifestyle changes that result in improved health outcomes. After all, healthy employees are a crucial part of a thriving business. While these guidelines are written with health professionals and policymakers in mind, it’s more important than ever for individuals to learn more about the health risks adults are facing as a result of how we’re consuming food, what constitutes a healthy diet and why these things matter. Department of Agriculture, and it’s fitting that a new set of guidelines would be released in a year where our worst lifestyle habits emerged and the true impact of chronic disease were made clear. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. ![]() The need for change is urgent.Įvery five years, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are revised by the U.S. adult population has at least one chronic disease and 40% have two or more. What’s worse is that these chronic conditions, which are largely preventable through a healthy lifestyle, are leaving us more susceptible to poor health outcomes and – most recently – complications, hospitalizations and death related to COVID-19. ![]() The average American diet is flawed. The United States, along with many other modern countries across the globe, are experiencing a paradox of individuals who are overfed yet undernourished. We rely heavily on processed, packaged, quick and easy, non-nutritious food to quell our appetites, and it’s having an obvious negative impact on our overall health and wellbeing. ![]()
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