Food Nutrition and Health

Dramatic cultural changes have occurred in the areas of food, nutri- tion, and health in the United States. Today, the clarion call is for fitness with "trim-muscular" in and "skinny-pale" out. The "me generation" has turned into a robust health seeking "we generation," with emphasis on group participation in an ever-increasing array of health clubs. Com- bined with this renewed interest in fitness is an increasing acceptance of technology, which has resulted in the expectation of a high quality of life through the use of technology rather than through its banishment as was the case in the late 1960s and 1970s. Thus, we see the use of indi- vidualized computer programs for diet, exercise, and improvement of athletic performance through motion analysis of the event. Aging has become an accepted phenomenon and the long fruitless search for perpetual youth seems over. Old is beautiful as long as it is associated with the trim and robust look of other age groups. This is due to the changing demographics of the United States, as well as recogni- tion of the simple fact that age is not a drawback in achievement levels in most areas of our society. These changes, which are in many respects the antithesis of the beliefs of the 1970s have led us to write this book. We are going to attempt to use the same style of communication we used in our previous book, "Food, Nutrition, and You" but the focus and content is quite different.