As part of a vocabulary lesson, my seventh grade language arts classes used context clues to define "jaded" as "wearied or worn out." Afterwards, one student asked me if I felt jaded about teaching.

I said, "Absolutely not."He said, "You didn't have to think about that much."That night, however, I did. I wondered if I was I lying to myself. If it was just about impossible not to get wearied and worn out doing any job for nearly 32 years.Eventually, I realized that I had told the boy the truth. That doing the same job for years didn't have to jade you. That it's only those people who expect their efforts on the job to affect outcomes over which they really have no control who burn out.I didn't become a teacher, you see, to change lives, create better citizens, or even increase the world's knowledge of the English language. I chose teaching because it can provide one thing every person should have.Options.In the painting of the big picture you call your life, you need a brush and a palette, replete with the primary paint colors so you can create others. That's why I teach. That's why I write this column, too.As a result, I don't get bummed out, wearied, worn out, jaded - or any other comparable phrase you can think of - when I read another of the seemingly endless articles that chronicle the absolutely atrocious eating habits of Americans. And the last one I read was a doozy.A study done at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil on U.S. eating habits from data gathered via the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) determined that more than 57.9 percent of the calories consumed by Americans come from ultra-processed foods.For the purposes of this study, ultra-processed foods are defined as "industrial formulations which, besides salt, sugar, oils and fats, include substances not used in culinary preparations," such as flavorings, colorings, sweeteners, and emulsifiers. In the Medical News Today article by Tim Newman highlighting the study, confectionary and desserts, reconstituted meat products, sweet and savory packaged snacks, instant noodles, and packaged baked goods top the list of typical ultra-processed foods.Now you may read sections of the newspaper rather quickly at times, but slow down your rate for a moment and allow the full impact of our dietary folly to hit you.In a highly respected study performed for years and seen as an accurate representation of the American public, 57.9 percent of the calories consumed came from ultra-processed foods, which are often ridiculously high in added sugars. How high? Out of all of the added sugar consumed by those in the study, 89.7 percent of it came from ultra-processed foods. And if that number isn't disheartening enough, consumer trends suggest that Americans' use of ultra-processed foods will only increase.It has to.Fewer and fewer Americans are eating traditional meals. More and more are snacking frequently throughout the day.Consider the change that has occurred at the Kellogg Company, best known for corn flakes and other cereal products. In 2000, the snacks they produce, such as Pringles, Cheez-It, and TownHouse crackers, accounted for 20 percent of their overall business.Today, almost half of what Kellogg sells is snacks. So much for cereal.Additionally, the NPD Group, a research organization that tracks more than $1 trillion of consumer spending in America each year, has determined that the 55-to-64-year-old age group -surprisingly - consumes the most snacks. Since the most recent U.S. Bureau and Labor Statistics project a significant increase in the percentage of 55 to 64 year olds in the workforce - and an even greater increase in those 64 to 74 remaining in the workforce - the trend of eating more snacks and fewer traditional meals should increase merely by that.So what could possibly get our collective bad eating habits back on track? One partial solution was presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology/Lifestyle 2016 Scientific Sessions and suggests reducing the cost of healthy foods like fruits, veggies, and grains by increasing the price of sugary drinks by 10 percent.By 2035, it's estimated that this single change could stop about 515,000 deaths by cardiovascular disease, as well as prevent another 675,000 cases of cardiovascular disease from occurring.Here's another way the researchers presented the power of positive eating: if every American added about 3.5 ounces of fruit, 3.5 ounces of vegetables, and 1.75 ounces of whole grain to his or her diet each day while eliminating the added sugar found in 8 ounces of a typical sugary drink, 3.5 million cardiovascular occurrences could be eliminated over the next two years.