History

A diet is the total nutrient value that is found in the food that one consumes. It is usual that the different regions of the world or even the different people in the world consume food with different nutritive values. The different parts of the world have people with different preferences when it comes to the kind of food that they take. This varies because of diverse reasons. It might be due to culture, religion and even the availability of food. The American population is made up of people from the different regions of the world apart from the natives. This presents a wide range of choice of diets as each and every one goes with the diet that they like.
In the United States of America, the different ethnic groups have influenced the dietary intake of America. For instance, in the early twentieth century, the continents experienced a shift in dietary preferences. For instance, the widely African diets that included foods that are rich in starch like cassava and yam were introduced into the American feeding culture. The other influences that came from the other continents would include those that are rich in proteins from the Southern American region. An example would be pork from pigs. The dietary influences, just like now, were also heavily leaning on the lifestyles of the people and hence you would find that those who could afford heavy spending on food would actually get food that would form what was considered to be balanced diet then. These were meals that contained the most basic nutrients in sufficient quantities in the daily food intake. Together, with the influence from most of the continents, America stopped leaning heavily on animal proteins, mainly from cattle. This gave way to eating culture that would include intake of alcohol on much more restrained intervals. Before that, the diet had included alcohol in the form of whisky.
The coming of slaves to America in the eighteenth and nineteenth century also brought in a mixture of food cultures that included food mainly found in the western part of Africa. In America, they were referred to as the soul food. Up to date, it is a term that is used to refer to food that is mainly a dietary preference of the African American population. The soul food is a diet that is rich in proteins and carbohydrates. An example is the quantity of poultry products and whole meal corn and rice that is common in the diet.
During the post World War II period, the American diet experienced a huge change in the foods that were recommended as there has been an effect of the unrestricted diet that having been there before. Due to the lifestyles that had changed after a high rate of development, most people that were working in the towns began to experience a more sedentary kind of lifestyle. With it came diseases that affected the different body systems. There was need to introduce diets that would be consistent with the kind of lifestyles that the people were used to. For instance, more strict diets were to be observed by the people who lead sedentary lives. This includes food that is low in fats, especially animal ones that contain saturated fats. Some other food that was to be taken in small were those products that contain a lot of carbohydrates and gluten e.g. processed food like refined wheat, corn floor and rice.
    Currently, we find more and more people observing strict diets that might even totally kick out the consumption of animal products. This is referred to as the vegan culture. Most of those who observe this kind of diet do it mostly due to ethical reasons as opposed to health measures. In as much as there are those who might eat some kind of animal product while avoiding some particular others these are strictly not vegans. They are vegetarians. Vegetarian diet might include food that does not consist of meat as an animal product and other products such as eggs.
    The current diet in America also tends to lay less emphasis on highly refined food such as processed grains like wheat floor, rice and corn floor. Among the processed foods is also a list of products that are canned like fish, meat and beans. These are considered to digest quickly in ones system thereby leading to the body needing more food which in turn introduces us to a feeding culture that is not healthy. Fast food is also a form of current diet that is not very healthy and that is common in the current culture. Fast food has been known to contain an unregulated amount of fats that the body does not necessarily need. Unfortunately enough, much of the population that can not afford the healthy diet are exposed to the danger posed by frequent consumption of fast food.