English Expository III September 15, 2011 Responsibility? In the article The Battle Against Fast Food begins at Home by Daniel Wientraub, he argues that it’s not the fast food industry or the video game manufactures that are at fault for children obesity, it is the parents who are at fault. Two arguments Wientraub made were, that parents are responsible for teaching their children good eating habits as well as good exercising habits. I agree with both those arguments. However the first argument he made which was that parents are in the best position to fight obesity , I disagree because parents don’t always know what their children are eating.
It is ultimately up to the consumer to make the decision of what to put into their bodies. Without a healthy alternative, little to no nutritional information, and the ease and convenience of fast food why would we choose anything else? The fact is that we have been conditioned as children to eat fast food. We also see the ease of a drive trough and think of it as a great convenience to the alternative of cooking for you at home. American’s are always on the go and fast food corporations have exploited that fact to the extreme.
Obesity has become a serious problem in America, including children. But who is to blame? Is it the kids, fast food, or the advertisements you see on television? Daniel Weintraub, author of “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home”, states his opinion that it is the parents’ fault. I completely agree with Weintraub and believe that they should take more responsibility.
While some argued that it is the fault of food industries, and for some, fault of consumers, it can easily be resolved with two words: self-responsibility. Therefore, consumers are definitely the ones responsible for the current epidemic in this country. The first reason why consumers are responsible for America’s obesity epidemic is because consumers are the ones that choose what to eat and feed their children. There are many alternatives to fast food but most people rather not take their time to prepare for a healthier meal. In “The Battle against Fast Food Begins in Home”, author Daniel Weibtraub tries to convince parents to take a stand and fend off obesity in their homes.
They say ever since she has wanted healthier food in schools they started serving foods that do not look edible and gross. Many programs are trying to make healthier school lunches because it is the main cause for child obesity. The school lunches are super unhealthy for the kids because they have a lot of sodium, fat, and sugar. Schools should cut down on all the sweets they give the children also because that cause a lot of health problems. One of the main things schools need to do is to stop adding so much salt on to the meals because salt is super unhealthy.
They increase their levels of sugar, sodium and fats. The central focus should be on their diet. Many people, including those who work for those major snack companies such as Nabisco and Hostess, state that eating junk food is fine, just as long as one exercises daily to burn off the calories. However, they don’t say that indulging in the snack may have consequences later in life such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, and asthma. Therefore, the focus should be more on the diet of the child rather than exercising.
Macintyre et al found that the media have a major impact both on what people eat and also their attitudes to certain foods. However, researchers also state that many eating behaviours are limited by personal circumstances. Thus, people appear to learn from the media about healthy eating but must place this information within the broader context of their lives. Studies between parental modelling/social learning theory have been supported by Birch and Fisher in his study of mothers and daughters. They found that the best predictors of the daughters eating behaviour were the mothers dietary restraint and their perception of the risks of the daughters becoming overweight.
Greg Crister writes in “Too Much of a Good Thing,” that many baby boomer parents believe that children are able to distinguish when they are full and have the right to make bad decisions about what they eat. “That may be true” according to Crister but he argues that in a world that billions of dollars are spent to attract kids and their families to enjoy a greasy fast food, its not always the best choice to let children decide. In most cases, since parents are the main role models of their children, they should be the ones to teach their young to eat
Both private and publicly owned institutions that have not kept the public sufficiently educated on the dangers of eating the products they serve or produce; these companies have made millions of dollars on the sales of fast food, junk food, and sugar drinks. As a nation we should be stressing physical activity in home and at school, however, recess is being systematically eliminated, while games and sports equipment is being sacrificed for other costs. The fast food industry has done a wonderful job in making children want fast food and convincing parents that fast food meals are a nutritious alternative to cooking meals at home and they are quick, easy, and affordable. “Advertisements often portray unhealthy eating messages to children. As many commercials are for fast food, soft drinks, and cereals sweetened with sugar, one could argue that children are encouraged by the media to consume high fat, energy dense food” (Ebbeling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002).
The easy way out to being healthy and eating right for ones body, fast food has plagued the nation especially with diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and even strokes or heart attacks. A question is now posed of whether or not fast foods should be fed to children, in substitute of their regular lunches at school. These kids are what seem like innocent victims because of their naivety towards the real problems with fast food. The problems with this quick fix in school cafeterias are that students would become obese, they would develop bad habits, and that the school would be advertising for these companies. “More than 70 percent of obese adolescents retain their overweight and obese condition even during their adulthood” (What Are Children Munching On?).