Tuesday, April 14, 2009

When It Comes to Eating . . . Are You Average?



In our last post we talked about “mindful eating.” With that in mind, consider what the “Average American” eats. I was a little surprised myself. Maybe these stats will make us all a bit more mindful of what and how we eat.

The average American eats about 1,800 pounds of food per year, or about five pounds per day.

The average American eats:

  • 64 pounds of beef per year
  • 57 pounds of chicken per year (about 27 chickens)
  • 50 pounds of pork per year
  • 14 pounds of turkey per year
  • 236 eggs per year
  • 200 sandwiches per year
  • 60 hot dogs per year
  • Refined white sugar – 100 pounds
  • Fats & Oils – 55 pounds
  • Soda – 300 cans/bottles
  • Chewing Gum – 200 sticks
  • Ice Cream – 80 quarts
  • Candy – 18 pounds
  • Potato Chips – 5 pounds
  • Other Snack Chips – 2 pounds
  • Doughnuts – 63 Dozen
  • Cookies & Cakes – 70 Pounds

The average American eats fast food seventy-two times a year, drinks 9 and a half pounds of coffee per year and eats about 35,000 cookies in their lifetime.

Now, here’s the thing about "averages." My favorite example: “If you stand with one foot frozen in a block of ice and the other foot submerged in a bucket of boiling water, (although why you would, I don’t know) on average your feet are quite comfortable.”

How do you measure up as an Average American? See anything on the list you might want to change? It is “food for thought.”

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