Is the United States a Health Conscious Nation?

I am of the opinion that, overall, the United States is not a health conscious nation. I believe this for three reasons. First, Americans eat way too much junk food. One especially dangerous category of junk food is fast food. Americans spend $148.6 billion a year on fast food, which comes out to almost $500 per person on average. While fast food chains are coming out with more healthy options, the majority of fast food is not good for you. Fast food staples include french fries, sugar-sweetened drinks, red meats and processed meats, sweets and desserts, refined grains, and fried foods--all of which have been found to contribute to weight gain. As long as Americans are such huge consumers of fast food, I don't believe they can be considered health conscious.  The second reason Americans as a whole cannot be considered health conscious is because they consume huge quantities of soda and other beverages that are high in calories and low in nutritional content. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 450 calories a week from sugar-sweetened drinks (the equivalent of three cans of soda per week), but the CDC found that the average male consumes 175 calories per day from these drinks--which adds up to 1,225 calories per week, or almost three times the maximum limit. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the average American drinks 526 twelve-ounce sodas per year. If he or she were to cut the soda and drink water instead, that would lead to a reduction of 6,000 calories per month, or twenty-one pounds of weight loss a year! Americans really need to cut back on soda and other sugary drinks in order to improve their health. Finally, in order to be considered healthy, Americans needs to put a greater emphasis on exercise. Most Americans do not get enough exercise. This can be evidenced by the fact that schools are cutting physical education programs due to budget cuts and reducing recess time to improve academic performance. Add to that the fact that many children would rather watch TV and play video games than play outside, and it becomes apparent that we are grooming a generation of couch potatoes. For these reasons, I think that the United States cannot be considered a health-conscious nation.