The Average American

Today I re-tweeted an interesting article from “Self” that asked the question “Is being average unhealthy? Kind of. But you can do something about it.”

By definition, most of us have to fall into the average category. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t be average. They wrote that the average office worker spends 10 hours of day sitting. The average American diet exceeds the recommended intake of fats and sugars. Amazingly, in 2013, the average American consumes 78 pounds of added sugar and fast food makes up 15.3% of the average Americans adult daily caloric intake.

When you look at these frightening statistics, it is clear that to just be above average should not be difficult. All it takes is a consistent plan do better than the statistics in all categories.

Clearly, if we have an office job sitting is going to be a mandatory part of our day. What we can control, however, is how much we move. Every 30 minutes we should get up and move around and stretch our arms in the air touch our toes do some deep knee bands or gentle neck stretches.

With regards to how much sugar we consume, this is close to 10 times what our ancestors of hundreds of years ago would consume it. Because of the fat storage effect of the high insulin levels which occur with excessive sugar compensation, the obesity rates have greatly increased. There are many sugar free options to choose from. You don’t have to be hungry if you substitute sugar with healthy food, but not aspartame. I guarantee it, you’ll feel much better.

With regards to fast food, it checks all the boxes of foods that you should not eat. They’re typically high in fat, high in sodium and added sugars. The refined, processed grains remove the healthy fiber and minimize the complex nature of nutritious foods. Aim to be far below the average of 15% and you’ll have much greater than average health!