What is the Standard American Diet?
The phrase “Standard American Diet” is just like it sounds, the stereotypical diet of an American.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
- 32% of our calories come from animal foods
- 57% from processed plant foods
- 11% of what was left is whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
So, on a health scale of one to ten, the American diet would score about one out of ten. There’s a reason why we call it S.A.D. The Standard American Diet induces standard American diseases that produce standard American deaths.
Health Consequences
The Standard American Diet (SAD) is generally characterized by high intakes of highly processed foods, added sugars, and unhealthy fats, coupled with minimal consumption of fruits and vegetables. With such composition, SAD has profound health implications that are not simply weight gain but also include chronic diseases, problems with mental health, and generally poor well-being.
It has been observed that by sticking to just four simple healthy lifestyle factors, you can dramatically reduce your chronic disease risk by
- Not smoking
- Not being obese
- Getting a daily half hour of exercise
- Eating healthier by consuming more fruits, veggies, and whole grains
Those four factors alone accounted for an estimated 78 percent of chronic disease risk. If we eliminated all four, we may be able to wipe out more than 90 percent of our risk of developing diabetes, more than 80 percent of our heart attack risk, half our risk of stroke, and cut our overall cancer risk by more than a third.
Obesity
One of the most obvious signs of the Standard American Diet is obesity. High caloric intake, encouraged by processed foods and sugar-laden beverages, has been proven to contribute greatly to weight gain. This in turn leads individuals to often fall back on fast food and prepackaged meals rather than choosing healthier alternatives. This generally results in excess consumption of calories with very little nutrition.
Obesity can be addressed by considering the dietary patterns in our society. For as long as the Standard American Diet dictates eating behavior, obesity is likely to be high. With each salty snack and sweetened drink, people with obesity not only gain calories but also prefer more of such food. Education on making better choices related to food, portion sizes, and the addition of whole foods to diets should be established. If one is not aware of SAD, then eating wrong may become a vicious circle that cannot easily be easily remedied. This may set a person up for a number of metabolic conditions that will lead to other complicating health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
Heart Disease
Among the leading causes of human deaths, heart disease ranks number one, and the American diet forms a large part of that percentage. SAD is high in sodium, unhealthy fats, and sugar, and its consumption strongly contributes to risk factors for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity.
The Standard American Diet contains low levels of essential heart-healthy nutrients like the omega-3 fats, fiber, and antioxidants that are typically found in whole foods. A partial cause for those extremely low levels is the general public doesn’t know what foods cause certain negative health conditions and diseases. Knowing the positive relationship between a structured, whole food diet plan and their chance of developing cardiovascular disease enables people to take some helpful steps toward reducing their risk of developing heart conditions.
Diabetes
With the rise in diabetes, it becomes clear that the American Standard Diet (SAD) is highly related. Everything from over-sweetened drinks to processed snacks can cause insulin resistance, which is a serious key issue leading towards type 2 diabetes. Overwhelming the body with sugar causes weakening of the insulin potency and leads to a raised blood glucose level that can eventually cause diabetes.
Additionally, most carbohydrates in SAD are refined, and lack natural fibers which are crucial for controlling blood sugar levels. These refined carbohydrates give you instant blood sugar highs quickly followed by sharp declines, which increases your sugar cravings. This results in unhealthy eating habits and creates a higher risk of developing diabetes. By shifting from a high level of processed foods to a more modest list of whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables, many can prevent and even reverse type 2 diabetes.
Digestive Disorders
It is now widely recognized that the S.A.D. causes a general decline in health, and inside the digestive tract, it can be extremely detrimental. The S.A.D.’s lack of whole foods, and consequently dietary fiber, causes constipation and an unbalanced gut microbiome. An unbalanced gut leads to chronic gut inflammation, which can increase your risk of developing certain diseases. Conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, and diverticular diseases are associated with a lack of healthy fiber in the gut.
The sugar content in the foods, alongside the high level of unhealthy fat, creates a greater problem for your gut microbiome. The combination of high sugar and unhealthy fat is associated with issues ranging from obesity and autoimmune conditions to serious mental health disorders. Therefore, it’s essential that dietary patterns include more fiber-rich foods to enhance digestion and physiological health.
Diet Affects Mental Health
Emerging research is examining the relationship between diet and mental health. The Standard American Diet has begun to attract criticism with regard to its presumed role in contributing to mental health problems.
The brain itself requires various nutrients to function properly, such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B6 and B12, and antioxidants. These nutrients are all conspicuously absent in a highly processed diet. Over the long term, the SAD can lead to inflammation in the body and is associated with a variety of mental health disorders. Inflammation can change the balance between neurotransmitters in the brain and make depression and anxiety symptoms worsen.
Furthermore, a high-sugar diet creates fluctuating blood sugar levels, which can affect mood and energy levels. The “crash” following sugar highs can cause irritability and fatigue and typically induces a cycle of emotional eating and poor dietary choices. A more well-rounded diet filled with whole foods is likely to hit emotional points and enhance moods and cognitive abilities.
Change the Narrative
The best way to change the Standard American Diet is education. The lack of knowledge Americans have about what foods will help or harm your body is astounding. The more that people understand food labels, portion sizes, and nutritional information related to different foods, the better their decisions are likely to be. Spreading the word about whole food plant-based diets, which are, scientifically, the only diets to prevent and reverse chronic diseases, like heart disease and type 2 diabetes, is a must. Plant-based diets concentrate on food produced in an environment free of animals. They include fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, oils, grains, legumes, and beans. Start to break the norm by learning more about a whole food diet and which diets will work for you and your lifestyle. If you are having trouble getting started or knowing what diet will be best, nutritionists and dietitians are a fantastic resource. They can give guidelines on how to achieve balance in your diet while prioritizing your health.
Taking the First Step
Making a change in your diet can feel overwhelming and scary, but if you gradually incorporate more and more whole foods into your diet, it can feel less like a large change. By slowly swapping processed foods with whole foods, you will start to feel more energetic, happier, and healthier.
Having more ownership over the food you eat can empower you to make more conscious choices about your meals. Meal planning and preparation can keep an individual away from last-minute convenience food grabs because they are hungry. Trying whole grains, healthy lean proteins, and fresh vegetables makes for exciting dishes and transforms healthy eating into fun and something that lasts. Farmers’ markets can also inspire eating with the seasons while keeping produce more local and enriching diets.
Leading a Healthier Lifestyle
Little by little, negative implications of the Standard American Diet are emerging, such as obesity, increased heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, it is in our power to change. People can improve their health and wellness over time by recognizing the negative effects of this pattern of eating and making informed choices about food.
Changing to a healthy lifestyle requires a good deal of commitment and awareness. Make achievable goals, seek support from health professionals, and educate yourself about nutrition to help yourself along this health journey. Time will bring about changes, by means of increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, by reducing processed food consumption, or by trying new ways of cooking. Each good choice leads to a healthy future.
By understanding the consequences of what we put in our bodies, we can take proactive measures to change eating patterns and improve our health. This is the time to adopt a healthy lifestyle that embraces healthy foods, protects mental health, and sustains the environment. You deserve better health and the journey toward a brighter and healthier future starts now.
References:
DiNicolantonio, J. J., O’Keefe, J. H., & Lucan, S. C. (2021). The harmful effects of diet-related inflammation on health. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 68, 41–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2020.10.007
Farnetani, F., & Girolomoni, G. (2022). Understanding the role of the standard American diet in the burden of disease: A clinical overview. Clinical Nutrition, 41(2), 467–475.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2021.10.011
Freedman, R., & Gonzales, S. (2022). Nutrient depletion in the standard American diet: A systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 80(5), 659–669.
https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuab092
Katz, D. L., & Meller, S. (2020). Can we say what diet is best for health? Revisiting the research on diet quality. Annual Review of Public Health, 41, 127–140.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094247
Leveraging technology to move more and sit less – ScienceDirect
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