How bad exactly, is the American diet? According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, only 33 percent of adults meet the fruit consumption target of two servings a day and only 27
percent eat the recommended amount of vegetables of three servings a day. Wait, there’s more: only 32 percent of high school students eat the recommended
amount of fruit and 13 percent meet the goal for vegetables. eat at least two daily servings of fruit and at least
three daily servings of vegetables. US News & World Report has more.
Want to see how your state’s diet stacks up against others? The list below shows the percentage of adults who meet the recommended goals:
1. Mississippi: 8.8%
2.
Oklahoma and South Carolina: 9.3%
3. Alabama 9.8%
4. South
Dakota: 10.1%
5. West Virginia: 10.3%
6. Kansas,
Kentucky, and North Carolina: 10.6%
7.
Arkansas and Missouri: 11.2%
8.
Louisiana: 11.5%
9.
Minnesota: 11.6%
10.Michigan and
Nevada: 11.8%
11. Ohio: 12.2%
12. Delaware and Iowa:
12.3%
13. New Mexico:
12.5%
14. Idaho: 13.0%
15. Tennessee:
13.1%
16. Utah: 13.2%
17 Georgia and North
Dakota: 13.3%
18. Indiana: 13.5%
19. Illinois and
Wisconsin:13.7%
20. Alaska: 13.9%
21. Nebraska:
14.0%
22. Virginia:
14.2%
23. Texas: 14.3%
24. Montana: 14.5%
25. Rhode Island and
Wyoming: 14.6%
26. New Jersey:
14.9%
27. Pennsylvania and
Washington state: 15.1%
28. Colorado:
15.2%
29. Maryland:
15.4%
30. Florida and
Oregon: 15.6%
31. Arizona and
California: 16.1%
32. Connecticut and
New Hampshire: 16.2%
33. Massachusetts:
16.4%
34. New York:
16.5%
35. Hawaii: 17.5%
36.;Maine: 17.7%
37. Vermont: 17.9%
38. Washington, D.C.:
20.1%
Data came from government health surveys conducted in 2007.
Hmmm – notice the difference between red/blue states? Any ideas as to what that means?
I would guess it’s more of a rural/urban divide, with a few political overtones (like Vermont, Hawaii, Maine ringing in so high as places that are largely progressive.) Red/blue also frequently follows the pattern – states that are predominantly small, with large open farmland and spaces rather than close sleek apartment buildings full of young couples and single people (less modernized) also tend to vote more Republican and conservative. What I find odd is that the states I consider to have all this open land to grow produce on and live off of have the lowest consumption of it. I guess they are exporting it to the cities to make a living. Sad.