Policy Point Wednesday - What Are You Eating?

The blog Visual Economics offered us some terrific food-related eye-candy last week that I thought I'd share with you - along with a good explanation of why Americans are overweight.

Note that, although the kinds of foods we eat don't seem as out of whack as I'd thought they might be (I suppose we could be eating more high-fiber grains, vegetables, fish -  and I'm a bit surprised at the high proportion of dairy foods) the big picture shows that we're taking in 2,700 calories per day: about 700 -800 more than is recommended for men to maintain their current weight, and about 900-1000 more than women need to maintain their current weight (not considering other factors like exercise, etc.) 

I'll let the graphic speak for itself.

From Visual Economics: http://www.visualeconomics.com/food-consumption-in-america_2010-07-12/