Are Americans eating healthier?

[rijman]

My major chain grocery store seems to be carrying more organic foods and vegan options. My local restaurants seem to be offering more vegetarian and vegan options. I live in San Diego, CA.

Is there a growing trend in the U.S. toward eating vegetarian, vegan or McDougall type diets?

Regards,

David

[Lety]

I have been noticing changes like this too.

I am going to a school breakfast function in a couple of weeks and was pleasantly surprised to see on the RSVP card a box for vegetarian meals. I called and asked if they would have any vegan options available and they called back the next day with a "yes". I have a feeling that I would not have seen this 7 yrs ago when I became vegan.

I was very happy!

I'm very optimistic despite how bad some things get.

[ivy]

I recently went along to the VA hospital with my SO. I stopped at the hospital cafeteria and was shocked when I looked at the menu board. Many of the selections has a big "V" posted next to them and there was a note that V indicated "vegan". I didn't try any of it...I was just picking up some snacks for the baby I had with me that day.

[Soils4Peace]

Americans are eating the same amount of animals and more plants, more in total (1961 to 2003). For Canadians the trend is the same but they eat a little less. http://faostat.fao.org/site/345/default.aspx

[Rob]

I've looked around but have been unable to find recent survey data (within past 5 years) that provides data on number of vegetarians, vegans and the frequency with which people have vegetarian or vegan meals.

[JeffN]

Here are some statistics for you. Sadly, I do not think it is getting better, but worse. We are heavier than ever and the rates of Americans overweight and/or obese keep increasing.

As you can see, the real numbers of the amounts of "vegans" and "vegetarians" has changed little (Harris Polling says there is a 3% margin of error in these polls so you need to see a change greater than 3% for it to be meaningful).

The only thing that has made it appear that there are more "vegetarians" (which as we know does not always mean healthy) is that they have broadened the definitions of what vegetarian means and added in new categories that did not exist in the 70's.

According to a Zogby Poll in 2000 done for the VRG

Health Conscious (2 to 3 Veg Meals/Wk)
35-50%

Vegetarian Inclined (> 4 Veg Meals/Wk)
20-25%

Vegetarian (“Semi-Vegetarian”)
5-9% (20% College Students)

True Vegetarian (No Flesh)
~2.5%

Vegan (No Animal Products)
~1.5%

The Vegetarian Resource Group ran a national poll conducted by Harris Interactive® in 2006 called "The Dietary Habits of Adults 18 and Older in the United States in 2006" which found basically the same numbers...

Never eat meat, poultry, fish/seafood (vegetarian)
2.3%

Never eat meat, poultry, fish/seafood, dairy products/eggs (vegan, except for possibly honey)
1.4%


From the food industry (I don't have the reference handy)

In Restaurants

20-25% Choose Meatless Meals 4x/week
60% Order Vegetarian In Restaurant Frequently
80% Sit Down Restaurants Offer Veg Meals
70% With Check Size < $8
91% With Check Size > $25

In Food Stores (Grocery, Health)
USA Market For Vegetarian Foods
1996 = 310 Million
2002 1.5 Billion
2006 2.8 Billion

When we look at healthy promoting behaviors, according to many large scale studies, only about 3% of Americans engage in the 5 healthy lifestyle behaviors said to be the most important (see Triage Your Health thread in my forum).

In Health
Jeff

[HealthFreak]

I know the definition of organic is not well regulated but according to the movie Food Inc, Walmart is getting in on the organic food market because they see an opportunity to make money. We vote with our dollars and more people are voting to buy organic food.

[Purdy]

Here are some statistics for you. Sadly, I do not think it is getting better, but worse.

When we look at healthy promoting behaviors, according to many large scale studies, only about 3% of Americans engage in the 5 healthy lifestyle behaviors said to be the most important (see Triage Your Health thread in my forum).
f

Clearly nearly all the "significant" progress that is going to be made in the American diet is going to have to come not from getting more people to become strict vegetarians or vegans.
At most over the next 20 years, that category might double to 6%...

On the other hand if we give acceptance and encouragement to perhaps 1 in 3 of the other 96%, then we could get that 32%...about 1 in 3.... to cut their 21 meals of sad food down to 14 or 10, substituting healthy meals for formerly poor choices.

That is where nearly ALL the progress will be made (if it is made).
Vegetarians and vegans must stop speaking in terms of 100% for those folks. If you have friends who eat poorly, suggest them changing 2 to 4 meals a week, and even in those meals, perhaps only cutting down, rather than eliminating all animal products.

If 2 SAD people cut their animal product intake by half, that is the same as 1 SAD person becoming fully vegan.

Now which is more likely to happen.... That 32% of folks going half way, or 16% going fully vegan?

In my mind, most folks would hardly miss the second 3 ounces of their 6 ounce steak if the reduction in portion size was done over 5 years.
Ending up in a reduction of half of the "bad" food.
That kind of reduction would be a revolution, yet too many dismiss it as only continuing to eat the "bad" meat.

Meats, dairy, sodas, oils, cut by half. Veggies and exercise doubled.
Accomplish that in a nation over 10 years and you have veritable revolution in health.

[JeffN]

Meats, dairy, sodas, oils, cut by half. Veggies and exercise doubled. Accomplish that in a nation over 10 years and you have veritable revolution in health.

I agree. Vegan/vegetarian does not automatically equate to health or even healthier.

My comments in regard to vegetarians/vegans were in response to the original question.

In "Health"
Jeff

[ruupyet]

I am not seeing it at all. What I see are people that THINK they are eating healthier. Diet soda for regular soda, small fries from McDonald's instead of super sized fries, using loads of "heart healthy" olive oil, low carbs and ridiculously high protein, eating "health food bars" (glorified candy bars) for lunch.............and the list goes on.

I am even more shocked at the way teens are eating. I thought this new generation would be so much more health conscious and I don't see that will my DD's friends. Most have chips and soda for lunch at school each day. If they are really hungry, they go for the cheese and pepperoni pizza. My DD has multiple vegetarian friends. Their diet is honestly worse than the ones that eat meat.

[Purdy]

I am even more shocked at the way teens are eating. I thought this new generation would be so much more health conscious and I don't see that will my DD's friends. Most have chips and soda for lunch at school each day. If they are really hungry, they go for the cheese and pepperoni pizza. My DD has multiple vegetarian friends. Their diet is honestly worse than the ones that eat meat.

Have to agree. One of my best friends has a daughter about age 13 or 14.
She won't eat meat, but she eats so much cheese it makes me cringe and I am hardly a purest.
Its cheese, cheese, cheese.......but no meat. Not huge on veggies either.
I'd guess the average girl her age who eats meat might be on a healthier diet, but as she ages, she might be able to cut back on the cheese while not adding in meat.

Its funny, but people see a 1/4 pound chunk of cheese and view it as healthy, whereas if you gave them a 1/4 pound stick of butter they think it was gross. The reality is that lots of the cheese is not all that much better than a equal amount of butter or margarine.
Read the labels.

BTW, I think its illegal for teens to not eat chips. At least here in California I think its in the law. Kind of like needing your shots prior to attending school.

How does that advertisement go....

"Chips, cell phone,.... don't bother me, I'm texting"

[landog]

Clearly nearly all the "significant" progress that is going to be made in the American diet is going to have to come not from getting more people to become strict vegetarians or vegans.
At most over the next 20 years, that category might double to 6%...

Well, that is not at all clear to me. You just never know. The message on healthy diets just might get out there through all the contradictory information.

On the other hand if we give acceptance and encouragement to perhaps 1 in 3 of the other 96%, then we could get that 32%...about 1 in 3.... to cut their 21 meals of sad food down to 14 or 10, substituting healthy meals for formerly poor choices.

What would the result be? Would people still get cardiovascular disease and then assume that diet is not the solution?

About five years ago my doctor wanted me to start taking statins. I wanted to try "diet and exercise" first. I followed her "low fat" diet and started exercising daily.

When I was re-checked my cholesterol was higher. The conclusion? My cholesterol was not diet-related. On statins, I went!

What was true is that I needed to follow an Esselstyn or McDougall diet - but, I didn't learn of that until years later.

Will the little change in diet that you say should be the goal have much of an effect on health? It just may not. Then, the result would be that people would discount that a change in diet is helpful.

A big change is necessary I'd agree that it is not popular, but it is needed.

That is where nearly ALL the progress will be made (if it is made).
Vegetarians and vegans must stop speaking in terms of 100% for those folks. If you have friends who eat poorly, suggest them changing 2 to 4 meals a week, and even in those meals, perhaps only cutting down, rather than eliminating all animal products.

If 2 SAD people cut their animal product intake by half, that is the same as 1 SAD person becoming fully vegan.

I don't think so. It may be two people making an effort and not getting the results they expected vs. one person making more of an effort and truly regaining their health.

Be well,
-dog

[Rob]

My sense is that in the past few years there has been a real increase in awareness of the need for more of our diet to come from plant foods. I believe that this awareness is translating into more people occasionally eating vegetarian or vegan meals. I also believe there has been some increase in the number of people following a vegan diet from the ranks of vegetarians. Why?

Not any single measure - just what I'm observing. For example, I'm seeing more mention of vegetarian, vegan or plant-based meals in the press. The September 2009 issue of 'Real Simple' magazine has a 6-page spread with vegetarian and vegan meals, for example. I've recently dined at a couple vegan restaurants in smaller cities in the Midwest and have been surprised at the number of people in these restaurants. This would have been hard to imagine 10 years ago. There are now quite a few vegan celebrities. John Mackey's recent conversion to a vegan diet was widely publicized. There's also a growing interest in local foods, fresh foods, slow foods, and organic foods mirrored by the rapid increases in farmer's markets in the past couple years.

In an attempt to validate this trend, I simply ran a search on an academic database for the word 'vegan'. The number of articles retrieved by year are as follows:

Year Articles
2000 567
2005 1,160
2008 2,089

Draw your own conclusions.

[f1jim]

We didn't say to smokers to cut back for their health. We should give the information out in the most unbiased, clear cut manner and let the chips fall where they may. While I agree with Purdy that modest changes to diet will improve the picture considerably, I disagree at what our target should be. I say aim high and expect good things. We do the opposite in education. We keep lowering our expectations and results follow.
f1jim

[Letha.]

In an attempt to validate this trend, I simply ran a search on an academic database for the word 'vegan'. The number of articles retrieved by year are as follows:

Year Articles
2000 567
2005 1,160
2008 2,089

Draw your own conclusions.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Letha