(Los Angeles, CA) -- The U.S. federal government may actually be encouraging Americans to be overweight, fat or even obese. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends an adult diet of 2,000 - 2,500 calories daily, with 30% derived from fat. That means, according to the FDA website:

if you eat 2,000 calories a day you can have up to 65 grams of fat per day.

if you eat 2,500 calories a day you can have up to 80 grams of fat per day.

And teenagers (3,000 calories a day) can have up to 100 grams of fat daily.

Thus, according to the federal government, the average person can eat between 65 and 80 grams of fat per day or, if you are a teenager, 100.

Now, if you go to the McDonalds.com website you will see that one Big Mac contains a total of 33 grams of fat. And 2 Big Macs would contain 66 grams of fat, an allowable amount of daily

Therefore, in effect, the U.S. government is telling its citizens (depending on their caloric intake) that it's perfectly OK to have the equivalent of 2 Big Macs or more every day. I don't know about you but if I ate like that I'd gain weight. A lot of weight. I'd be looking in the mirror saying "Hello Chubby!" And then I'd have to force myself to run like 50 miles a day just to lose the extra weight and keep it off.

Based on the FDA guidelines the government must want us all to be fat. And, considering the already overweight population and the epidemic of obesity in America, regarding fat content in our diet it looks like the politicians and health officials in Washington are out to lunch. Perhaps at McDonald's.

Maya Pinion is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, a contributing editor at News4Net, and a big fan of DestinyFinders.com