The Standard American Diet is Killing You and Your Progress

Cheeseburgers, fried chicken, soft drinks, packaged snacks, hot fudge Sundays, peanut butter and jelly, candy, white bread, alcohol, French fries, vegetable oils, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, apple pie, milkshakes, Starbucks, sauces, chocolate chip cookies, potato chips. Get where I’m going with this.

All of the above are staples of the Standard American Diet or ironically, the “S.A.D”.

S.A.D.-ly enough, corporations and the government have tricked us into believing that this is an OK diet to fuel an American. Could not be further from the truth. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all delicious and can be a fun treat from time to time. But if carbs, highly processed foods, oils, and sugars are making up the majority of your calories, it will not take long for you to get fat, tired, and sick. A recent study shows that over 60% of America’s caloric consumption comes from highly processed foods. Now I could put on my tinfoil hat and argue that big food is in bed with big pharma to create a vicious cycle of unhealth among the population, but that’s a story for another day.

Above is a picture of the standard food pyramid that we were all shown in health class. HEALTH class. Looking back on it, this pisses me off and blows me away that I was taught to eat this way. And who is the culprit you ask? No other than the World Health Organization. The same World Health Organization that recently told everyone it was a great idea to take 5-6 experimental injections because it’s good for you. How’s that going?

Along with the pyramid, they suggest that the average diet should be filled by up to 75% by carbohydrates like bread, bagels, wheats, and pasta. 75%. Quick maths, that leaves only 25% combined for meat, fruits, and vegetables. Put fitness and any sort of strength or bodybuilding aside, if we follow the WHO’s guidance when they created the food pyramid in 1989, we would all be weak and obese.

S.A.D. Issue #1: Not Enough Protein

If you’re eating 2000 calories per day, and only 12.5% of that is high protein foods, that only leaves 250 calories for those high protein foods. Let’s use ground beef for example. 250 calories of ground beef is roughly 3 oz. 3 oz of ground beef, one of the most highly dense sources of protein, is just 13 grams of protein. If you are only taking in 13 grams of protein per day you can entirely forget about muscle protein synthesis and muscle growth. You will RAPIDLY experience muscle protein breakdown. Even assuming you’re getting trace amounts from milk, vegetables, etc., there’s no way a 200-pound man is getting enough protein from 75% carbs. It just doesn’t make any sense.

S.A.D. Issue #2: Vegetable and Seed Oils

One of the most underrated yet horrible “food” products that we can eat are vegetable and seed oils. These oils are derived from seeds and plants using high temperatures and a mix of chemicals. Some of the worst and most common examples are canola oil, corn oil, soy, olive oil, peanut oil, avocado oil, rice seed oil, and more. Read your ingredients labels, they’re in EVERYTHING that comes in a bottle or a box. These oils were introduced 100 years ago and then popularized in the 50’s as a healthy and even patriotic cooking alternative. Americans were told that this was a healthy way to sub out bad fats and prevent heart disease. Little did they know, but thee oils were doing them more harm than good. Since seed and vegetable oils have become as popular as they are, chronic disease has skyrocketed at the same pace. Coincidence? I think not.

Seed oils are also linked to fatigue, inflammation, and obesity. For more info on seed oils, check out some of Paul Saladino’s content. Paul, aka “Carnivore MD” is leading the pushback against seed oils and has more literature and podcasts about their dangers than you could finish in a year.

S.A.D. Issue #3: Low Energy Levels

You ever wonder why the US leads the world in caffeine consumption at 971,000 tons of just coffee per year? Obviously population plays a role, but that is an insane amount of caffeine. There are worse things to drink than coffee, but why are we so tired? Could it be because we’re eating so many carbs? Methinks yes.

“But don’t carbs give you energy??” Yes and no.

While carbs contain a ton of calories, which is how we measure how much energy is in food, they can result in making us sleepy over the course of a few hours. Carbs are digested quickly and absorbed into glucose. As a result, our blood sugar goes way up, way quick, leading to that jolt of energy. Then, as quickly as your blood sugar goes up, it comes crashing down, making you sleepy again. What do you do when you get sleepy again? Drink more or eat more (extra calories). This is why so many people are tired after lunchtime every day. It’s a vicious cycle of energy uppers and downers.

High protein sources like animal meat and eggs however, are more filling than carbohydrates. They take longer to digest, which leads to more sustained energy over long periods of time, without having to snack along the way. This means less eating, and more weight loss if that’s your goal.

S.A.D. Issue #4: High Sugar Content

This is the tough one for yours truly. There’s nothing I love more than a Reece’s peanut butter cup or some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream. But don’t get me going. While it won’t kill you every once in a while, sugars (especially refined sugars or anything other than fruits and honey) are incredibly harmful for the human body. Even more so if you have any sort of bodybuilding aspirations. Sugars cause a spike in blood sugar which sends excess insulin to your muscles where it is stored as fat. Want to look fat? Eat a bunch of sugar.

What can I do?

Unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do to reverse this process on a macro level. Big food and big pharma benefit too much from people living this way for anyone to really be able to change it. Combined, there are 2.1 trillion dollars against anyone trying to help America get to the root source of unhealth. Let me know if you can come up with 2.2. The only thing you can do is make better choices for yourself and your family.

Apart from calorie count, here are two rules of thumb that I try to follow.

1. One ingredient foods. One ingredient foods are simply any food product that does not have an ingredient label. Think meat and produce. Beef, chicken, eggs, fruits, vegetables, some dairy products. You’ve probably heard arguments about which type of diet or nutritional plan is the best. “I lost 30 pounds on keto!”, “well I lost 40 pounds as a vegan!” While I definitely have a preference when it comes to one vs the other, what they both have in common is that they cut out processed food and focus on single ingredient foods. Single ingredient foods have less chemicals and oils, all while being more filling over long periods of time. Meaning you’ll get more nutrients all while eating less calories! A good way to think about it is to focus on foods that are found on the perimeter of the grocery store, or foods that will go bad within a week or so. That’s where it’s at!

2. Protein to Calorie Ratio. When picking my foods, the first two things I’m looking for are protein content and calorie content. Here’s a fun tip: the best ones will not have nutrition labels on the packaging. That’s because I’m talking about beef, chicken, and eggs. These products have all of the nutrients you need out of food and are the best three things you can eat for muscle protein synthesis. Two for one. They’re simple, dense, foods that will make your body strong and your belly happy. Now, there will be scenarios where you are unable to sit down for a filet or bake a chicken. Life happens and sometimes you have to choose foods from the likes of the middle isles or convenience stores. In cases like those, I’m still looking for a high protein to calorie ratio. Basically, anything with over 10g of protein per 100 calories is a minimum. Stick to that and you should be fine.

Why is the Standard American Diet So Prevalent?

Once you break free from this style of eating and drinking, you’ll look back and wonder what you were ever thinking. How did you fall down that rabbit hole? You’ll feel energized, healthy, and happy. You’ll even start to feel sick when eating all of your old favorite foods. You’ll feel bad for people who are still stuck in the fast-food, pizza, and sugar world.

Have you ever seen the Matrix? Long story short, Neo (the main character) wakes up out of a sleep pod and realizes that his whole experience has been fake. He’s been tricked by organizations much larger than himself into believing he was happy. He has the choice to either go back into the fake world, or make the difficult decision and live free.

This is eerily similar to what has happened to health, fitness, and nutrition in the United States today. These giant corps (big food if you will) have billions and billions of dollars at their disposal to make you believe that their foods are healthy. In reality these big companies exist to make a profit.

And how do you make profit?

Minimize expenses.

How do they minimize expenses?

By selling processed garbage along with other processes garbage that they market as health foods.

Naked fruit smoothies are my favorite example of this phenomenon. If you look at a packaging for Naked Fruit Smoothies, you would think you’re making a healthy choice by buying it. Nope. These drinks have more calories and sugars than Mountain Dew or Coca-Cola. It’s just clever branding and millions dollar marketing budgets that have gotten the uneducated consumer to believe it’s good for them. It’s a sick game where the uneducated consumer loses. Similar perpetrators are products like sugary sports drinks, peanut butter, wheat bread, flavored yogurts, trail mix, and Nutella. Nutella is literally just chocolate flavored sugary lard, but parents pack it for their kids every day thinking it’s somehow healthy. There are 21 grams of sugar and 200 calories in just two tablespoons of Nutella. Two tablespoons. Two. Tablespoons. For God sakes people, take the red pill and get out of the matrix.

So What?

You have zero chance to ever achieve your fitness goals if you cannot put the S.A.D. behind you. If you finish a workout and stop at McDonald’s on the way home, you would have just been better off sitting on the couch.

I’m not saying that you can’t have cheat days. Nobody wants to be around the guy that won’t take a nacho chip when they’re ordered for the table. Your friends will resent you and you’ll end up hating your life. What I am saying is that you have to be serious and vigilant about what you’re putting in your body on a routine basis.

Food is the foundation of your fitness journey. Build a strong one.