Americans Slowly Alter Eating Habits Make That A Green Salad, No Dressing, And A Malt, Please

Call it the dinner table trade-off.

Americans are cutting back on red meat in favor of chicken and fish, eating fewer eggs and more vegetables.

Then, they’re rewarding themselves with, for example, a bowl of ice cream and a cup of coffee - cream and two sugars, please.

Most Americans are trying to clean up their dietary act, the Agriculture Department says in a new report comparing today’s eating habits with diets of 1970. But they have a way to go.

“Americans are slowly, and with fits and starts, shifting their eating patterns toward more healthful diets,” the department’s Economic Research Service says in the report. But “a considerable gap still remains between public health recommendations and consumers’ practices.”

The government says to use fats, oils and sweets sparingly. Fats are blamed for clogged arteries and cancer. Sugars add calories but nothing else.

The government also suggests eating about five servings a day of fruits and vegetables, and even more breads and whole grains, to get enough vitamins, minerals and fiber to keep the body working and help avoid cancers.

People ate 20 pounds less beef, pork, lamb and other red meat per person in 1993 than in 1970, the report said. They ate 27 pounds more chicken and poultry, 3.2 pounds more seafood.