Love Affair With Food
Americans love their food. That seems to be the logical conclusion of new research published by the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service. Americans spend, on average, more than two hours a day eating and drinking as either a primary or secondary activity.
Here are the specifics:
On an average day in 2006, Americans age 15 and older spent 67 minutes eating and drinking as a “primary,” or main, activity, and 16 minutes eating and 42 minutes drinking (except plain water) as a secondary activity—that is, eating while engaged in another activity considered primary by the individual. Eight percent of the population spent 4.5 hours or more a day on eating/drinking as either a primary or secondary activity. About 9 percent of Americans’ secondary eating and drinking occurred while driving a vehicle, walking, or biking. Secondary eating or drinking was most frequently accompanied by socializing, relaxing, and leisure, which includes watching television.
Also, researchers found that "individuals who are overweight or obese spent more time watching television and less time participating in sports and exercise than did those of normal weight." Shocking!
Now excuse me while I go get a snack.
(Hat tip: Docuticker)
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Government Executive Staff Correspondent Alyssa Rosenberg takes a look at news affecting the management and operations of the massive federal bureaucracy.
This study is out of context and the heading of this blogroll is misleading. How does this compare to the time spent eating in other societies? My guess is that most other societies spend more time than this eating. In many western countries, leisurely meals, including lunches eaten somewhere besides your desk while you continue working (gasp!), are the norm. Some researchers have suggested that the LACK of time spent eating in the U.S. contributes to obesity, because people focus on shoving food down their throats instead of savoring their food and taking time for their stomachs to register that they are full (which, so I'm told, takes about 20 minutes).
Anon. Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:07 AMThe "Anon" comment above is dead on.
The French, for an easy example, take many hours to eat a meal, however studies show they eat LESS food than we do. They also spending alot more time **moving** than we do.
Even if you do some basic math on the figures, you get people doing just what the previous commentor said "shoving food down their throats...."
I'm not sure why this study deserved a post in GovExec. This is just another Government study by bored researchers who use money that could be much better spent on other things. And for GovExec, I think there are at least 100,000 great stories about Gov Workers that you can post instead of this type of material.
Pam Boteler Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2008 3:14 PM