For good reason, the obesity epidemic gets a lot of press these days.
Whether it’s Michelle Obama’s initiatives to curb childhood obesity — one in three American children is overweight or obese — or recent criticisms lobbed by Congress at Dr. Oz for his promotion of “miracle cures” for obesity, there is no shortage of media coverage sounding the alarm about America’s nutritional emergency.
But what do Americans themselves say about what they eat?
The short answer? Too much.
Nearly half of Americans are concerned they eat too much (47 percent). With growing knowledge about food and its effects on health, and the availability of so many online resources and diet apps, it comes as no surprise that younger adults are more concerned about how much they eat, and what they eat, than older adults.
Millennials — born between 1984 and 2002 — are the generation most likely to say they are very or somewhat concerned about how much they eat (57 percent). In contrast, far fewer Elders — born in 1945 or earlier — express concern about eating too much (30 percent). Gen-Xers (49 percent) and Boomers (44 percent) fall between these extremes.
Concern among young adults
This pattern, in which concern about eating habits is greatest among young adults, emerges on a number of food-related topics studied in a new Barna Group study among Americans 18 and older. Overall young adults are twice as likely as Elders to express concern about their eating habits.
There is a similar contrast between the levels of concern expressed by practicing Christians (55 percent) and by Americans who adhere to a faith other than Christianity (42 percent) or to no faith at all (41 percent). Those who attended church within the past month (56 percent) also tend to be more concerned about eating too much than marginally churched (46 percent) and unchurched (40 percent) adults.
Beyond the amount of food they consume, what concerns Americans most about their eating habits?
The past decade has seen an explosion of healthier alternatives (depending on what you order) to traditional fast food, such as Chipotle, Corner Bakery and Panera Bread. National demand continues to grow for healthier dining-out options as well as for easier access to more organic foods.
Despite the availability of healthier choices, however, half of all Americans say they are concerned they eat too much unhealthy food (51 percent) and one-third say they eat too much fast food (37 percent). Again Millennials are much more likely to express concern about unhealthy eating and fast food consumption than Gen-Xers, Boomers and Elders.
Perhaps thanks to the popularity of nutrition and fitness regimes like Weigh Down Workshop and Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan, practicing Christians (53 percent) express more worry about unhealthy food than Americans who adhere to non-Christian faiths (40 percent). Similarly more practicing Christians (15 percent) are very concerned about eating too much fast food compared to Americans of other (8 percent) or no faith (9 percent).
The well-documented “grocery gap” in America’s cities may be partially at fault when it comes to the high levels of concern about unhealthy eating among black (62 percent) and Hispanic (58 percent) adults, compared to a lower percentage of whites (49 percent). And the high concentration of fast food restaurants in many urban neighborhoods likely affects the high number of Hispanic (60 percent) and black (46 percent) Americans who say they are worried about too much fast food (vs. 30 percent of whites).
Kids have a reputation for hating veggies, but according to a majority of Americans vegetables and fruit are not very popular among adults either: Nearly two-thirds of adults (63 percent) report they are concerned about not eating enough fresh produce. Once more generational and ethnic differences follow the established pattern. Millennials (29 percent) are more than seven times more likely than Elders (4 percent) to say they are very concerned about their low level of fruit and vegetable consumption. The percentage of Hispanics (32 percent) who express this concern is nearly double the proportion of whites (18 percent).
Two out of five adults say they are concerned they do not eat enough homemade food (42 percent), and one-third say they worry about unpredictable mealtimes (37 percent). These concerns are most common among Millennials and nonwhite Americans.
(Barna Group)
Share with others: