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Good News: Americans Are Eating 78 Fewer Calories Every Day

Americans are dining out less and eating at home more, new government research shows. This may mean more family dinners, like this one at the Brown-Spencer home in Mechanicsville, Va. Maggie Starbard/NPR hide caption

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Maggie Starbard/NPR

The Salt

Good News: Americans Are Eating 78 Fewer Calories Every Day

Americans' eating habits are changing — and so are our attitudes about food, a new USDA report finds. We're dining out less, eating at home more, cutting back on the saturated fat and consuming more fiber.

13th-Century Food Fights Helped Fuel The Magna Carta

The barons wanted King John to stop seizing their grain. The fish weirs had to go, too. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

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Wikimedia Commons

The Salt

13th-Century Food Fights Helped Fuel The Magna Carta

A greedy king who seized food was a key driver of the Magna Carta. That 13th-century document was a key inspiration for the American Revolution 500 years later. But at the time, the barons who negotiated the deal weren't concerned with the rights of starving peasants — these 1 percenters wanted to protect their own power and property.

USDA To Require Healthier Meals In Schools With Updated Nutrition Standards

The new nutrition standards will replace school lunch dishes like pizza sticks with salad. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

The Salt

USDA To Require Healthier Meals In Schools With Updated Nutrition Standards

Less salt and fat. More whole grains, fruit, veggies and low-fat dairy. This is what kids can expect in the school lunchroom soon, according to new standards for school meals announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and first lady Michelle Obama.

USDA To Require Healthier Meals In Schools With Updated Nutrition Standards

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Pizza As A Vegetable? It Depends On the Sauce

Pizza for sale at a Chicago public school. Under a House spending bill, this would still count as a vegetable serving — without extra sauce. Tim Boyle/Getty Images hide caption

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Tim Boyle/Getty Images

The Salt

Pizza As A Vegetable? It Depends On the Sauce

The U.S. House unveiled a spending bill that would unravel some of the Obama administration's efforts to revamp school lunches. Under the bill, pizza would still count as a vegetable. Nutrition advocates say if the rule stays, it will be a win for industry and a loss for kids.

Pizza As A Vegetable? It Depends On the Sauce

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