Only a minority (about 1 in 4 Americans) say they are really proud of the way they look and take very good care of their body. And eating bad food may be one of the main culprits.
More than 1 in 2 Americans say it’s hard for them to avoid “bad foods”…. So let’s take it meal by meal:
- Breakfast: On average Americans appear to skip breakfast 2 days every week and eat out on a third day.
- Lunch: For 3 out of 7 days each week, Americans either skip this meal altogether or eat out.
- Dinner: Americans say they eat a home-cooked meal for 5 out of 7 days each week, but on average they eat restaurant food or pre-cooked food from a grocery or deli on the other 2 days.
Let me break this down for you…. out of the 21 meals we Americans can potentially consume each week, we skip 2, eat restaurant food or pre-cooked food from a grocery or deli 6 times and we eat home-cooked food for only 13 meals. That’s a ratio of eating home-cooked food of only 2:1.
Unfortunately, what is good for the restaurant business is not (in most cases) good for our health. We know that restaurant food is typically tougher on our waist line (and our pocketbook) than home-cooked food is. And, I suspect that in better economic times, these figures for eating out would be even higher.
The only perceived benefits I can imagine are saving time and (of course) eating delicious food. But is it worth it?
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