3,900 - According to an article by Michael Pollan that was published in the New York Times, this is the amount of food calories produced every day for each American citizen.Think about this number for a minute. 3,900 calories is easily a thousand more calories than almost any of us will ever need in a day- but they are being produced so someone has to eat them. This is what I like to call the North American paradox. Food companies and food producers need us to consume more and more calories to keep their profits coming, yet we want to consume less and less calories to maintain our health and weight.This is why it is not an exaggeration when I say it is a constant battle to try to avoid overeating, and to make sure that the foods we do eat are healthy, nutritious foods. Imagine what would happen if everyone in North American suddenly decided to eat half the amount of calories produced by the food industry? That's 1,950 less calories per day and that's 1,950 calories worth of profit that food companies would lose out on. Most likely this would be financially disastrous. This is why we are bombarded with food advertising.

The best way to win this battle is to get closer to 1,950 than 3900. The key to doing this is always remembering that the foods you see in convenience stores and gas stations are there because someone wants you to buy them. Not only this, but they have spent a lot of time and effort to figure out what colors, names, and sizes will make you notice their products.So the way to win this battle is by not being a "good little consumer".

Try your best to buy only planned foods - The foods you plan to buy during your grocery run. Resist all unplanned purchases...gas stations, convenience stores, vending machines and checkout lines...these are all examples of places where we typically make unplanned impulse food buys.

Avoid the temptation to think that eating several meals in a day will "cause" weight loss. If you are eating too many calories, you are eating too many calories. It doesn't matter how many meals you eat.There are diet plans out there such as my book Eat Stop Eat that promote very brief periods of short term fasting as a method of weight loss. Plans like these teach us that we don't have to be constantly eating to be healthy. In fact, taking small breaks from eating every once in a while may actually be healthy for us.

By making at least one of these adjustments (avoiding "unplanned foods" and avoiding the urge to eat constantly) you will be one step closer to a healthy and nutritious diet. And remember, 3,900 calories per day is overeating for almost everyone.