As a registered dietitian with a background of more than 15 years as a chef and 25 years as a food and nutrition journalist, I’ve examined the obesity epidemic from just about every angle. Except one. I do not now, nor have I ever, had a weight concern. Of course, being middle-aged, I no longer can eat as much of anything I want and not gain an ounce. But, truthfully, even if I added 500 calories a day to my diet, it’d be a while before I acquired a weight problem. Not so for 160 million or so Americans—25 million under 18—who are overweight or obese.
That 500-calorie figure is not arbitrary: The average American daily intake is 500 calories more than in 1970. Worse, they’re not good calories; with grim irony, as caloric intake and obesity have risen, so too has malnourishment. Many Americans suffer deficiencies in vitamins D, K, E; certain B vitamins; and zinc, iron, iodine and omega-3 fatty acids. And, since 1970, the number of kids who walk to school fell from nearly half to about one in eight. Physical activity among all Americans is about a quarter of what it was.