Are you eating less fast food? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says “Yes”.

In a busy, modern world the convenience of fast food as a source of cheap calories is hard to deny. We love our take out, pizza, burgers and just anything else that can be fried and fit through the driver’s window of our car. According to a 2013 CDC study (.pdf) by Cheryl D. Fryar and R. Bethene Ervin, Americans are getting just over ten percent of our calories from fast food. That sounds like a lot but we used to be worse. As recently as 2005 we were getting almost 13% of our calories from fast food. In the last decade we’ve shaved three points from our national daily caloric fast food chow down we call the America Diet. Three points! Certainly a step in the right direction for the American waistline, the health of our environment and us.

The CDC study isn’t all wine and roses. It shows a clear connection between obesity, income and the percentage of calories that come from fast food. Americans who are classified as obese had the highest percentage of calories from fast food. In the 20-39 year old age group obese Americans are getting a whopping 18% of their calories from fast food. The study shows that the poorer you are the higher the percentage of your calories will come from fast food. For a person working two jobs to survive stopping by the drive through on the way home for some cheap calories probably seems like a good compromise in a hectic life, even if it’s not a great deal.

Is there a connection between fewer calories from fast food and the foodie culture in America? The CDC report doesn’t make this leap but I can. The report goes back ten years to 2003 when the foodie culture in this country, driven largely by Gourmet Magazine, the Food Network shows and Martha Stewart, began to emerge and evangelize fresh food backed with a DIY approach to cooking and nutrition. In the last five to seven years it’s become cool to seek out a Real Food lifestyle.  Being a foodie is an easy, accessible way of embracing health, fresh food and living well.

Think about your diet in the last 10 years and ask yourself; are you eating more or less fast food? Let us know on the Fresh By Northwest Facebook page.