The news used as the headline deserves full disclosure, my commentary, your consideration, but not an entire column. It's one of the three factoids found here to help you enhance your health.

More people eating outthan ever beforeReflect upon the following found in the September 2015 issue of The Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter: "For the first time, Americans are spending more money eating out than buying food in grocery stores. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, consumer spending at restaurants narrowly edged grocery-store purchases in December of 2014, $50.4 billion to $50.2 billion." (Note: the grocery-store total does not include ready-to-eat items, such as those from a salad bar, prepared pizza, or rotisserie-cooked chicken.)After learning this, is it really a surprise that the CDC also decreed that the average U.S. citizen weighs far more than 50 years ago?What is it about eating restaurant cooking that makes it harder to control your weight and easier to pack on the pounds?Splurging because you're eating out might be part of it, but many people nowadays eat out so frequently that it's no longer a novelty. A more significant factor may be that when you allow an outside source to cook your meal, you're no longer in control.For instance, that Italian dish that you always order at your favorite restaurant because you cannot ever get it to taste as good at home could be prepared with four tablespoons of olive oil instead of the one tablespoon you add at home. And while olive oil is a relatively healthy oil, all oils are close to the same calorically - and calorically dense.So even if you practice portion control and eat the same amount at the restaurant as you do at home, the additional olive oil could easily add 250 calories to the meal. (That's an estimate - since not all the olive oil used would get absorbed by the food - but it's a conservative one.) Eat three or four outside-of-the-home meals a week, and it's easy to gain a pound every two or three weeks even when you're cognizant of portion size.Dehydration is oftenmisinterpreted as hungerThis factoid is well known by the fast food industry and why that type of food often contains high amounts of sodium. According to the website Fast Food Menu Price, dehydration misinterpreted as hunger is just one of the potentially adverse affects that occur once you've consumed a Big Mac, quite possibly the epitome of fast food eating.About 20 minutes after you've finished a Big Mac, the sodium in it works in concert with the high-fructose corn syrup to make you crave more food and drink. Ten minutes after that, the dehydration created by sodium overload makes you feel as if you need to eat more.That's because the signals your body sends for both hunger and dehydration are so similar that many people overeat when they really need a glass of water. A good rule of thumb for any sort of hunger that doesn't make sense - like the feeling you need to eat more shortly after eating fast food, which tends to be calorie dense - therefore, is to always try to drink something that's non-caloric and see if you can "wait it out."If you're still hungry 20 minutes later, there's a fair chance that the hunger is genuine.Bad food does itsdamage quicklyWarren Buffett once said, "It takes 20 years to develop a good reputation, and five minutes to ruin it." In certain situations, your health seems to be that way, too.Consider the case study of a three-year-old girl with type 2 diabetes presented at the annual European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting held this fall. The presenter, Dr. Michael Yafi of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston initially evaluated the girl because she was always thirsty and always urinating - clear signals of type 2 diabetes - yet there was no history of diabetes in the family.Both the mother and father, however, were obese and all three ate poorly. As a result, the girl weighed 77 pounds, making her heavier than 95 percent of children her age. Her body mass index, BMI, also put her above the 95th percentile for three-year-old girls.After extensive testing, Yafi ruled out virtually every cause of her symptoms and excessive weight - except type 2 diabetes, the type that used to be called adult-onset diabetes because years ago decades of poor eating and little exercise caused it.This case study, however, shows how quickly bad food can adversely affect insulin secretion. But it is also testimony to how quickly a body, especially a young body, can readjust.After six months of the drug metformin, an increase in physical activity, and a change in the amount and type of food the entire family ate, the girl lost more than 17 pounds. Equally as important, she recorded normal blood glucose levels and stopped receiving metformin.