According to a recent survey, only one in every eight adult Americans actually knows how many calories should be consumed in a day. On the other hand, almost 75% of adult Americans recently changed their eating habits (most underwent the change in order to lose weight).

How in the world does that 75% know how to best change their diet if they don’t even understand the basics of counting calories?

Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, a director with the International Food Information Council Foundation, stated, “There is confusion on all sides of the calorie equation. They need references for those numbers.”

The study showed that losing weight is the primary reason why American adults change their eating habits. The study’s results showed that Americans are becoming suspicious of sugar. Last year, 66% of respondents agreed that “moderate amounts of sugar can be part of an overall health diet.” This year, only 58% agreed with that statement.

Over half of the respondents (57%) considered themselves overweight, while 8% said they were obese. In reality, 34% of people are obese and 33% of people are overweight.

First Lady Michelle Obama has recently pushed many programs dealing with nutrition. Counting calories is just one part of the first lady’s regimen. She has won pledges from a variety of companies including PepsiCo Inc., Kraft, and General Mills to reduce calories by either cutting portion size or reformatting recipes.

When I began dieting at the beginning of the year, I turned to calorie counting as my primary means of changing my diet. While it was challenging at first, I quickly learned how many calories I should consume in a day, and now I’m able to look at a plate of food and come up with a good guesstimate regarding calorie content. I believe that we can all understand the basics of calorie counting—if we take the time to learn them.

(Image Source: Robinsons Blog)