Raise a glass to eating healthier, just make it a glass of fruit juice or maybe soy milk.
A new Gallup poll shows that 63 percent of respondents are avoiding soda in their diet, up from 51 percent in the 2004 poll and 41 percent in 2002. Currently, 13 percent say they don't think about soda in their diet, down from 24 percent in 2004.
People are dropping sugar from their diet too, with 52 percent saying they avoid it. This number is up by a mere one percent compared to the 51 percent of 2004, but up 9 percent from the 43 percent from 2002. And 56 percent are trying to avoid fat in their diet.
Other answers in the poll give weight to the notion that Americans are trying to eat healthier. Among all the respondents, 93 percent said they try to include vegetables in their diet and 92 percent try to eat fruit, but only 45 percent said they include organic foods in their diet.
"The data generally show that Americans are highly aware of what they should and should not be including in their diet, including their almost universal claim that they include fruits and vegetables in their daily eating plans. Because it is not clear that such a high proportion of Americans really do eat this healthily, the challenge appears to be one of changing their actual behavior rather than their underlying knowledge of what is good and bad for their health," said Gallup analyst Justin McCarthy in the article announcing the poll's findings.
The breakdown of meat and fish eaters also indicates a health-conscious attitude. Chicken and other poultry got the highest inclusion rate at 84 percent, followed by fish and other seafood at 75 percent, beating out the fattier beef and other red meat, which had 62 percent of people including it in their diet.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, obesity among adults and children is at an all-time high, with 35.7 percent and 17 percent, respectively. So how does that fact jive with the results of Gallup's poll? McCarthy notes the sobering fact, "Almost all Americans say they try to include fruits and vegetables. But this doesn't necessarily reflect their success in doing so."
Gallup conducted the poll via telephone from July 7 and 10, asking 1,013 adults from across the United States about their diet.
Photo: James Mackintosh
