However the food we eat is high in fat and sodium and lack the nutrition needed to lead a healthy life. What’s being done to stop obesity, and whose problem is it? Should our government be able to step in and stop obesity as it becomes a matter of public health and a concern to the American people? This essay will discuss two authors with important views on the subject. In “What you Eat is your Business”, Radley Balko describes how our government is letting American's live unhealthy lives, while the healthy people have to pay for others unhealthy habits.
Dara Pierre English 101-IN Why not blame the eater?? There is an inherent responsibility that each of us to undertake and making healthy food choices is one of them. In David Zinczenko’s article “Don’ Blame the Eater”, published in the New York Times, he argues that fast food vendors are responsible for the growth of obesity and diabetics in young adults. He contends that fast food vendors like McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bells and Pizza Hut are really the only options for young adults that are affordable. Consumer’s are responsible for their selection in foods and if they chose to consue products that give no nutritional information that is on them.
At least in the health care battle, the administration can count some powerful corporate interests on its side — like the large segment of the Fortune 500 that has concluded the current system is unsustainable. That is hardly the case when it comes to challenging agribusiness. Cheap food is going to be popular as long as the social and environmental costs of that food are charged to the future. There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.
If the many families of our societies and the government don’t start to control the situation, then it will always be a major problem within our households. It is true that fast food is promptly available it doesn’t mean the habit should be avoided. I believe the epidemic on child obesity with fast food consumption can be solved by first solving the problem with the parent. It will take time to eliminate the problem with the consumption of always eating fast food but it will be a start. Whether if the government decided to take action related to fast food for the cause of child obesity.
We are so absorbed in this materialistic idea of the American Dream that we do not know when to stop buying and eating. Americans will buy the latest cell phone even if the one they already have works perfectly fine. They will gorge themselves with food even if they are not hungry anymore just because they paid for it. This overconsumption is the reason that America has some of the troubles that it has. It leads to things like obesity, hoarding,
Don’t Blame the Eater. In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, David Zinczenko complains about fast food companies that spend billions of dollars on advertising and marketing their products instead of providing more information about negative side effects of fast food to people. His own experience of getting 212 pounds by age 15 confirms how dangerous fast food might be, especially for children and teenagers. The author indicts those companies, because there is no information about the calories, health hazards and warning labels on the packages. David Zinczenko believes that fast food companies are the only reason of children’s obesity.
Children need guidance in developing social competency to meet need, deal with stress, accept themselves for their strengths and weaknesses, and recognize how the media and popular culture influence their decisions. Lawsuits have been made over the year against these fast food places blaming them for their children’s obesity. They suggest that if there were healthier food choices and food labels on the food then maybe the obesity rate wouldn’t be so high. While he has valid points, he overlooks the personal viewpoint of the parents and their own self responsibility. Zinczenko claims that “Many single parents claim that working long hours and having low income contributes to why their children eat the way they do” (153).
In his essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater” (They Say / I Say, Third Edition, 2014), David Zinczenko claims that the lack of information and healthier food options in the fast food industry are causing an outbreak in childhood obesity in todays society. He uses his own personal experiences with fast food and he lays out certain statistics to cater his thesis. David grabs the audience right away within his first paragraph by using a counter argument and then begins to describe his personal experience with fast food as a child. He shares his childhood experience by saying that living in a single parent household steered him in the direction of fast food like McDonalds and Taco Bell because there was no healthier alternatives (241). David continues on by giving some statistical evidence that the incidents of childhood diabetes is quickly escalating as well as the cost of related health care in America.
Many American eat such an unhealthy diet because American’s society is so fast paced, these days that it makes it difficult to cook one’s own meals, causing people to resort to buying fast food, which has little to no nutritional values. Fast food itself isn’t typically unhealthy when eating in moderation. The reason why so many Americans gain weight is, because they don’t do something after eating they eat large quantities of food. There several reason why Americans eat unhealthy diet. Average person determine what majority eat, they not concerned with their outward appearance and the companies.
Obesity results when the size or number of fat cells in a person's body increases (Michael D. Myers, M.D., Inc.)” A number of states are purposing bills to band Tran’s fat in restaurants and some people agree with it. Since obesity rates are so alarming some people believe the government should intervene with this problem as they did in the cases of smoking and seat belts. Since people cannot control what they eat the government should have a say in what people consume. Others say that private citizens should be accountable for their own actions. People are accountable for their health, so the government should not be intervening.