It's not fair to assume every person is going to become addicted to things like diet coke or fast food. "American" diet has room for a lot of clean eating. Proc

It's not fair to assume every person is going to become addicted to things like diet coke or fast food. "American" diet has room for a lot of clean eating. Processed food shouldn't be considered the same as "American" food in my opinion. Convenience driven food choices is cultural in America but that doesn't make the chosen food American. I think something like Tex-Mex would easily allow for clean eating. Avocado toast, with whole grain bread is fairly healthy and was an absolute favorite of mine after workouts and I would consider it "American" food. Tacos are a great way to have good portion control and also feel filled. Allowing non-traditional recipes opens many options. Avocado grapefruit salad on tortillas with fried tortilla strips is a recipe I came across recently that I really enjoyed. I think non-traditional is the essence of true "American" food. For fast food, Popeye's Blackened tenders are not breaded, a 5 piece serving is listed at 280 kcal compared to the classic tenders being 740 kcal. Nuts or apple slices with peanut butter is a fairly filling snack and can easily fit within 200 kcal. The main thing you would have to look out for is sodium if cooking at home is difficult. I know most of my bodybuilder friends go to a diet of chicken breast and brown rice for dinner for months at a time when they want to cut. It's around 400-500 calories depending on how you prepared it. Vegetarian and vegan recipes are good starting points for cleaner eating too. Borrowing from other cuisine makes it a lot easier as well. I love preparing vegetable side dishes for dinner in the way it's prepared for Korean dishes. Miso soup is fantastic for when I have food cravings late in the night. It's not "American" but I'd argue there's nothing more American than making microwave miso soup at 3 am in my star wars mug. Coffee is popular too, and is very low calorie if you can get used to no milk or sugar, or only sugar alcohol/substitutes. For some context, I grew up and live in one of the most culturally diverse states and counties in the US. I know that not everywhere in the US has the same diversity of food options, but I would argue that Amazon has done a lot to make food accessible.