Beth Hoffman It's Patience Not Cost That Makes Us Fat Summary

Annotation and Conversation

Beth Hoffman in “It's Convenience, Not Cost, That Makes Us Fat” tries to convince her audience that (contrary to many people’s opinions) obesity stems from a lack of time or willingness to cook as opposed to overall cost. She brings up data from the Centers for Disease Control to back up her claims (2012). From these studies it’s found that 41% of obese citizens make over $35,000 USD per year, and only 20% of those that are obese are “poor” or below 1.3 times the poverty level (Ogden, Lamb, Carrol, & Flegal, Obesity and Socioeconomic Status in Adults, 2010).

Derek Bryan in “Reasons People Eat Junk Food Instead of Healthy Food” believes people eat fast food because many have a mild physical addiction to it. Bryan tells us that this addiction is the result of a lack of sleep, and easing anxiety caused by the fast-paced culture that obese people may live in. When determining the primary factor as to why, Bryan delved into some of the psychology of those who lack sleep. Reminding us of how the decision-making process of the brain is not optimal when sleep deprived, Bryan told us how those that are deficient in sleep tend to go for instant gratification and not

She has credible ties to universities, and even documentary projects that can vouch for her. She provides sources via hyperlinks. She does seem partially biased as she only presents data from Ogden et al. that validates her claims. While she may still be correct, she never provided any counterarguments or reasoned why she left out “[h]igher income women are less likely to be obese than low income women”, but included “most obese women are not low income”. Males may have no correlation, according to “Obesity and Socioeconomic Status in Adults: United States, 2005–2008”, yet African-American and Mexican-American tend to have a positive correlation between income and obesity (Ogden, Lamb, Carrol, & Flegal,