We should be worried, but we're not. We should care about what we put in our bodies, but we don't. I am guessing that many of us know what we should be eating, but decide that we can't or won't do much about it and continue to eat junk.

Well, we are becoming exactly what we deserve, as a nation, on our current diet: overweight, patched together with drugs, unhappy, and sick.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention came out with a study this month which reveals that Americans still aren't eating their vegetables, in spite of a decade of campaigns designed to bring awareness to the importance of a healthy diet. The New York Times article that details the report shows that we're eating fewer salads than we were 16 years ago, and only 23 percent of our meals include a vegetable.

In order to meet the recommended guidelines for 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, or 41/2 cups for a person who consumes 2000 calories each day, that means eating at least two vegetables or fruits at each meal, plus snacks in between. If we were eating that many veggies, we wouldn't have room in our bellies to be hungry for the bad stuff.

Except that all we want is the bad stuff. As a nation, we are addicted to sugar, fat, hyper-salted foods, caffeine and artificial flavors. And it is making us sick.

Of course we want someone to blame when we become sick. We want a pill when our blood pressure is too high, when our cholesterol is out of whack, and when we get heartburn every time we eat. We accept Type-2 diabetes as if it were inevitable. We don't want to prepare a meal with fresh foods: we want convenience and instant satisfaction.

Lauri Patterson, Star Tribune

Of course it's all our fault - no one is shoving those fried, sweetened, microwaved, chemical-laden food into our guts. We are. Until we can wake up and take ownership for our health before our desire to eat another meal of junk takes over, nothing will change. We have to make a commitment to our bodies that will require carving out a little extra time to treat ourselves better.

I have no illusions that a frustrated rant against the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) will change anything, but I am passionate about helping people who are interested in making a change for their health by seeking out ways to learn more about it. I teach healthy cooking classes, I lead healthy living retreats and I do one-on-one food coaching where I help clients by designing custom food plans, complete with shopping guides and recipes.

At the end of the day, I believe that there is hope. I know how good it feels to eat well, get exercise, and sleep for at least seven hours per night. I also know that the basics of what I'm talking about are completely achievable for everyone, no matter where they live. Barriers exist for all sorts of reasons - I am aware of that - but if something is important enough, there is always a way to make a difference at any level.

Recipe for Making a Personal Change

A commitment to a change in lifestyle takes more than just thinking you want to change. In order to find success, following a series of steps is the surest way to reach your health goals.

1. Decide exactly what you want to achieve for your personal goal.

2. Write it down CLEARLY and in as much detail as you can.

3. Set a specific deadline. If it is a large goal, break it down into subdeadlines and write them down in order.

4. Make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list.

5. Organize the items on your list into a plan by placing them in the proper sequence and priority.

6. Take action immediately on the most important thing you can do in your plan. This is VERY important.

7. Do something every day that moves you toward attaining of one or more of your important health goals.

8. Share your plan with the world - the more people who know what you're doing, the more support you'll gather, plus you'll increase your accountability – and you'll probably even inspire a friend or two!