▲In 2010, the average American consumed 2,481 calories a day, about 23% more than in 1970.

▲However, consumption of flours and grains is down from 2000, the year of “peak grain,” when per capita annual consumption was at 137.6 lbs per year.

▲Food is cheaper and easier to get for most Americans, which makes overeating easier. This is one of the primary reasons obesity levels have skyrocketed since the 1970s.

▲About 23.4% of the average American’s daily calories come from this food group—that translates into about 581 calories.

▲The average American today eats more bread and pastries, foods that are typically rich in calories and carbohydrates, though they contain hardly any fiber, minerals, or vitamins.

▲Compared to the 1970s, the average American’s consumption of oils and fats is way up. The average American consumes 23.2% of their daily 2,481 calories from the fats and oils group, or 575 calories.

▲Butter consumption has remained largely the same since the 1970s at 3.3 lbs per person per year, while margarine consumption has plummeted from a peak of 7.2 lbs per person per year in 1976 to 2 lbs in 2010.

▲The average American consumes 36 lbs of cooking oils—more than three times the amount we consumed in the early 1970s.

▲Americans are drinking 42% less milk than they did in 1970, especially whole milk.

▲In the past decade, chicken topped beef as the most-consumed meat. In 2014, Americans ate an average of 48 lbs of chicken a year (2 oz a day), versus 39.4 lbs (1.7 oz a day) of beef.

▲That translates into 12.6 gallons a year, or about 4.8 oz a day, which is about half of a glass.

▲Chicken consumption has more than doubled since 1970, while beef consumption has fallen by more than a third.

▲On the other hand, we’re eating a lot more cheese. The average American eats about 22 lbs of cheese a year, nearly three times the average annual consumption in 1970.

▲The reasons for this trend are likely varied. But one aspect of this phenomenon noticed by researchers is that yogurt is far more popular among women. This connection is likely related to advertising techniques. Most yogurt commercials seem to be geared toward women, promoting it as a healthy food that assists in the digestive process.

▲While Americans consumed a negligible amount of yogurt in the 1970s, we now consume 1.2 gallons per person per year in 2014—a 1,700% increase.

▲One of the ways in which our corn consumption has exploded is through corn-sourced sweeteners, which have become extremely popular.

▲The average American consumes 14 lbs of corn a year, up from less than 5 lbs in 1970.

▲On the other hand, we eat more dark green, leafy vegetables today than we did in the 1970s. The number increased from nearly zero to about 0.25 oz each day.

▲The average American eats less potato-based dishes today compared to the 1970s.

▲We’ve increased our sugar and sweetener consumption exponentially. In 2014, the average person consumed 77 lbs of “added caloric sweeteners” a year, which translates into roughly 23 tsp per day.

▲On the other hand, our sugar consumption has decreased in the past couple of decades. In 1999, the average American consumed more than 90 lbs of added caloric sweeteners a year, or 26.7 tsp a day.

▲While most of the sweeteners consumed in 1970 were refined sugar, the market is now almost evenly split between sugar and corn-derived sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup.

▲Today, this group accounts for almost 100 daily calories in our diets, while the number was just over 50 in the 1970s.

▲Overall, the average American consumes less calories from eggs than they did in the 1970s, but the trend is changing. The medical opinion regarding eggs has changed considerably since the 1990s, and consumers' opinions about eggs are much more positive than they were 10 years ago.

▲54% of interviewees also believe Americans’ actual eating habits are less healthy today than they were 20 years ago.

▲In 2010, fruits and veggies made up about 8% of our daily calories, while this group represented more than 9.2% of our daily diets in the 1970s.

▲54% of interviewees said Americans pay more attention to eating healthy foods today compared to 20 years ago.

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73% of interviewees said they were very or fairly focused on healthy and nutritious eating, while 58% said that they probably should be eating healthier for the most part.

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Most of the fats consumed by Americans are in the form of vegetable oils, such as soybean, corn, canola, which are used as ingredients to cook foods.

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Eating habits remain fairly similar when looked at from a year-to-year perspective, but when compared to previous decades, changes are pretty noticeable. Eating habits are influenced by the ever-changing opinion of the medical community, as well as fads pushed by advertising and social media. Take a look at how our diet has changed over the past 50 years, according to the Pew Research Center.