Most people eventually figure out that they can't grow muscle (or lose body fat) on a diet of hot dogs, potato chips and soda! Food is essential for our survival and with today's age of choices and fast food we often seem to skimp on health and just get what's quick.

Sometimes it seems as though dietary fat is the most important thing in everyone's lives. News-papers and magazines are filled with articles about the dangers of eating too many high-fat foods. Supermarket shelves overflow with reduced-, low- and non-fat foods, and virtually every person you talk to is trying to trim the fat from his or her diet! With all of this attention to fat, one would think that Americans are pretty well versed on the subject. Nonetheless, misconceptions about fat-especially about reduced-fat foods and their role in the diet-pop up frequently in conversations and articles on health.

While many of us could benefit if this were true, in actuality Americans are not eating less fat, but have decreased the percent of calories that comes from fat in our diets. This may sound like semantics, but it is not-there is a real explanation. According to Ronette Briefel, Dr.P.H., R.D., Senior Research Epidemiologist and Nutrition Policy Advisor at the National Center for Health Statistics, "Between the 1970s and the 1990s, Americans decreased their intake of total fat from about 37 percent of calories to about 34 percent of calories. Yet, during this same time period, average adult calorie intake increased by approximately 300 calories," adds Briefel. This increase in caloric consumption explains why the decline in percent of total calories from fat can be confusing. Fat consumption actually increased from around 81 grams per day in the late 1970s to about 83 grams per day in the early 1990s. As you can see, there is still room for improvement with regard to fitness and nutrition.