What do we eat

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT.../МЫ - ТО, ЧТО МЫ ЕДИМ...

Do we live to eat?
How much food do you think you will eat by the time you are seventy-nine?
The average Frenchwoman, for example, will eat:

25 cows 
40 sheep 
35 pigs
1,200 chickens
2.07 tonnes of fish
5.05 tonnes of potatoes
30,000 litres of milk
13,000 eggs
50,000 loaves of bread
12,000 bottles of wine
9,000 litres of orange juice

6,000 litres of mineral water
1.37 tonnes of apples
768 kg of oranges
2.07 tonnes of fish
430 bags of carrots
5.05 tonnes of potatoes
720 kg of tomatoes
30,000 litres of milk
1,300 lettuces
13,000 eggs
Hundreds of packets of coffee, sugar, spaghetti, etc 8 kg of dirt

Delicious, isn’t it? How many cows and pigs have you swallowed already?
Scientists say that we eat about half-a-ton of food a year – not counting drink!
Some people eat even more.

Land of the fattest
According to WHO (World Health Organization), Americans are the fattest people in the world. 55% of women and 63% of men over 25 are overweight or obese. (Doctors say that you are obese if you weight at least 30% above ideal body weight.)
“Compared to Europeans, Americans eat all the time,” writes Joanna Coles, a British correspondent for The Guardian. “At the hairdressers, in their cars, during college lectures, while waiting in hospital and at the cinema, where they arrive clutching monster buckets of pop-corn, Doberman sized hot-dogs and containers (!) of diet Pepsi”.

The epidemic is spreading
Though America is the world leader in obesity, Europe is quickly catching up. According to WHO, almost one-third of people living in the European Union are now overweight and one in 10 is obese.
Britain has replaced Germany as Europe’s most overweight nation! 20% of women and 17% of men are obese. And the English are fatter than the Scots or Welsh.
Russia, the Czech Republic and Finland also have some of the heaviest people in Europe.
Even in such countries as French, Italy and Sweden, Europe’s slimmest nations, people (especially women) are becoming fatter.
Among the French, Italians and Swedish, who are considered to be Europe’s slimmest nations, the number of overweight people is dramatically rising.

Why?
We live in the era of fast food culture. We are always in a hurry. We have no time to relax and enjoy a meal. We want to eat fast.
Every day a new McDonald’s restaurant opens somewhere on our planet. Soon American food will take over the whole world.
Another reason is lack of exercise. We spend too much time in front of our computers and TV-sets. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport. Yes, many people nowadays are exercise crazy, they spend hours in gyms – and then they rush to have a good snack!

Put down this packet of chips and listen up!
What is tasty is not always healthy.
Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, Coca-Cola spoils our teeth, coffee shortens our lives.
If you go on eating too much, you’ll become obese, and obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
Some scientists believe that food influences not only our bodies but our spirits as well.
Foods with lots of additives, fat or sugar can make you violent and anti-social. Natural foods like fresh fruit and vegetables which contain lots of vitamins and minerals can make you more intelligent, optimistic and energetic.
So think twice before you start eating!
There is danger hanging over your life!
If you are young and fit, don’t think that this doesn’t concern you. Teenagers, too, are getting fatter. Obesity rates in teens, according to experts, are doubling!
Surveys show that the favourite foods among teenagers both in Europe and the USA are:
hamburgers  (cheeseburgers, fishburgers, beefburgers, eggburgers…in fact anythingburgers!)
chips (they are called French fries in America)
hot dogs 

pizzas 
icecream 
Besides, teenagers in Britain, for example, spend 27 hours a week watching TV, and nobody knows how much they sit in front of their computers…)
What will today’s teenagers look like when they grow up? Imagine yourself as a lazy, fat old man or woman with eyes glued to the TV screen, hands digging down in a packet of chips, munch-munch, staring at the glaring pictures. A real nightmare! As one of our teenage readers said: “No! better die in war, be kidnapped by terrorists or disappear as a hero climber of the Himalayas.”
But this is the danger hanging over your life!