Mark Bittman's Article: Is Obesity A Disease?

1123 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The problem of obesity

Is obesity a disease? This is question many people have asked. Yes, obesity is a disease; but one essential question many people tend to forget to ask is, “Can obesity be prevented or how could obesity be prevented?” Prevention does not put an end to obesity, but in fact it can decrease a person’s risk of becoming obese. There are many challengers towards the decision to why obesity rates are increasing; many say it just refers back to the person’s lifestyle, eating habits, and environment. Obesity should be prevented in a childhood versus being corrected later in life, but in order for obesity to be prevented people must first be aware of the causes then conclude by learning the fundamental factors that play into prevention. One of the main …show more content…

Eating five to six servings of fruit, choosing whole grains or even just avoiding foods high in density can be a step closer to reducing chances of becoming obese or overweight. Mark Bittman in his article, “Is junk food really cheaper,” argues that Americans are wasting their money on junk food or fast food restaurants when that money could be used towards a healthy home cooked meal. He persuades the readers to have alternatives. Instead of buying McDonalds’ French fries people should get apple slices, instead of drinking sodas drink water, instead of buying junk food get vegetables. Bittman states, “The fact that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes.” I agree food (fast food) plays a huge role unto why Americans are so overweight. It is because fast food is so convenient and inexpensive to some. Even if a person wanted to eat healthy from a fast food restaurant, salads are more expensive than a burger or chicken nugget meal. How can a person with low income choose the “healthy” way when the healthy way is more expensive? Although fast food can be beneficial more so convenient in the short term, it can be very detrimental in the long term. One man filmed a documentary where he was supposed to eat McDonalds three times a day. Unfortunately during the film, he had to stop because his health started to fail. This shows that fast food is indeed not good for people’s

Show More
Related

  • Article Analysis: A Grizzly Answer for Obesity by Kevin Corbit

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Recently an article titled “A Grizzly Answer for Obesity” (Corbit, 2014) featured in the op-ed section of The New York Times. Through the course of the article its author Kevin Corbit - a senior biotech scientist - talks about the possibility of human gene mutation to solve the ever growing problem of obesity. The author’s objective is to reach a wide audience with no specialist knowledge in the field of genetic transitions. Kevin has extensively used elements such as language, structure, evidence and assumptions to shape the reader’s opinion. In the following essay I would specifically examine the usage of language and evidence employed by the author. Despite the presence of numerous examples of fallacious comparisons the author has perfectly used the language to his advantage and is successful in reaching a convincing conclusion.

    Read More

  • Anna Lappe's The Climate Crisis At The End Of Our Fork)

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Obesity is very common in America, around 66% of American adults are overweight and nearly 33% are obese, which leads to heart disease, cancer, stroke and many other illness. Furthermore, the consume of fast food is in my opinion one of the worst decisions we can make, the food may be cheaper but it leads directly to overweight problems, and it not only damages our bodies but they undermine local business, farmers, and in the process they support they massive slaughter of animals. Ms. Lappe states “…modern livestock production has steered away toward the industrial-style production to highly destructive overgrazing “(858).By consuming food from fast food industries we support the destruction of lands, and the poor conditions in which the animals we consume are suffering. Moreover, changing from consuming fast food to healthier food is in my opinion a transition every individual should make since we cannot keep supporting the companies that literally destroy our world and our body with our

    Read More

  • Analysis Of David Zinczenko's Whose Fault Is Obesity

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Obesity is a complex topic with many different branches. With things like weight loss pills, workout programs, and thousands of diet plans each claiming they 're the best, it can become overwhelming to decipher what the best option is without a tremendous amount of tedious research. This being said, it is often easier to put taking action towards obesity on the back burner with our increasingly busy lives. It is much easier to think "I 'll worry about it tomorrow" while chomping down on a greasy burger than it is to take the time to manage our schedules in an attempt to make time for the research hoping to produce change. With that being said, whose fault is obesity? Is it the companies producing the foods with little to

    Read More

  • Obesity In The Article 'America's War On The Overnight'

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    What comes to your mind when you hear someone is overweight. In most american’s eyes, it is someone who anyone who is not a model. This creates a huge predicadment counting that America is known to be fat. In the past few decades, lifestyle has changed our habits, but we did not think about the consequences. If we eat more then we must be doing some kind of exercise to counteract what we put inside of us. In the article “America’s War on the Overnight” by Kate Dailey and Abby Ellin, they successfully persuade the reader to tackle obesity, we need to focus more on the subject of obesity and not attack the obese using the rhetorical triangle.

    Read More

  • A Proposal to Reverse Obesity Rates

    1830 Words  | 4 Pages

    Obesity is a huge problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people, unlike most issues. People of every gender, every age, and every race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled within the last twenty years. Something must be done not only to prevent obesity rates continuous rising, but also to dramatically increase the percentage of obese people in America altogether.

    Read More

  • A Study of Obesity in African-Americans

    2600 Words  | 6 Pages

    Obesity remains an extremely serious issue worldwide. Once considered a problem for wealthier counties, overweight and obesity are now dramatically increasing in low and middle income countries (WHO, 2011). In American, the rates of obesity continue to soar. CDC (2009) recognizes obesity as a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other health problems. According to NHANES over two-thirds of the US are overweight or obese, and over one-third are obese (CDC, 2009). Treatment for this illness varies; it may include the incorporation of diet, exercise, behavior modification, medication, and surgery. Since there is no single cause of all overweight and obesity, there is no single way to prevent or treat overweight and obesity that will help everyone (CDC, 2009).

    Read More

  • Obesity

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduce life expectancy and/or increased health problems. Obesity has been a health problem ever since infectious disease had began in the first half of the 20th Century. The person with obesity is not the only person who is affected by their disease. In the case of childhood obesity, It can affect the parents because they might be the cause of the child’s issues. It can also lead to many different health problems such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory problems, and it can also even lead to death. Obesity has affected the world in many ways: task forces have been formed to address the issue, people are suffering from health problems due to obesity, and others suffer psychological and social issues.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Childhood Obesity Epidemic in America

    2200 Words  | 5 Pages

    The human body requires the intake of food in order to function properly. The foods that we decide to eat has an effect on the ability to use are mind, are strength, and even how prone we are to getting sick or hurt. Eating to much of the wrong foods, with little or no exercise can cause the silent but deadly epidemic of obesity in children and in teens. In the past, obesity was just known as a condition that only affected adults. In this generation the youths are becoming more prone to obesity. In 1995 an average of 18 million children all around the world was categorized as being overweight (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). In a Childhood Obesity Interventions article it says that 17% (12.5 million) of children in the United States is considered to be obese (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). This outrageous number of overweight children in the world is almost tripled in 2010, where 43 million children under 5 are considered to be overweight (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). Another staggering statistic is more than 60% percent of the children that are classified as overweight before they reach puberty, will be overweight as they become adults (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). This leads us to the most stifling fact of there being 2.8 million people in the world that die from being overweight or obese each year (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). These shocking statistics show how dangerous obesity really is, and should urge everyone to fight against this epidemic.

    Read More

  • Obesity Epidemic In The Film The Weight Of The Nation

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    But as previously discussed, even though it is convenient and cheap, for the long term the “hidden costs” will be made up with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases that arise due to higher fats, calories, and sugar that these fast-foods contain. These environments play a big role in the factors that influence food choices. As adults and children live in these poor neighborhoods where fresh produce is desolate, processed fatty foods become the choice and sometimes the only option. This has adverse effects, because the only things the children in this area learn is to be addicted to these foods, also they see their parents increase in weight as the children do the

    Read More

  • Max Pemberton

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the articles “Obesity is not a disease” by Max Pemberton and “Obesity is not a disease – and neither is alcoholism” by Dr. Keith, both agree that it is not proper to call obesity a disease. While Pemberton’s article explains that we blame obesity on other factors such as genes, lifestyles and the government, Keith focuses on the fact that obese people have control over their weight. While both articles have similar views on obesity, they lack sufficient medical research that support their claims.

    Read More

  • The Cause of Obesity in the United States

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eating habits have become a cause of obesity because most people in America decide to take the fast route. Fast food has become so prevalent in the day to day lives of so many families and individuals. The cost and convenience of fast food has led to an increase in consumption, which does not help our cause. According to Carey Polis’ article in The Huffington Post, fast food is about $550 cheaper per year than choosing the healthy option. That means people are more likely to choose a cheeseburger from McDonald’s over fresh fruit and vegetables from the produce section at the grocery store. Along with how cheap it is to get our hands on fast food, the convenience makes it even more difficult to resist. With a fast food restaurant on every corner of every block in town, it makes it much easier for someone to pick up on a meal on their daily commute rather than actually trying to cook something healthy. Choosing fast food is not the most nutritious way to go either. Fast food is filled with sugar, fats, salts, and calories. It is usually low in nutrition and high in what are considered to be “empty” calories. By definition obesity is caused by the excess in...

    Read More

  • Dont Blame The Eater By David Analysis

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    But what is true, fast food is harming our kids and teenagers. In the article Don’t Blame the Eater, David argues that it is not the fault of the eater who becomes obese on account of eating fast food for meals. His first argument is that there are few alternatives for fast food that consumers can choose. There are thousands of McDonald’s restaurants but few fruit

    Read More

  • Fighting The Fast Food Habit: Can America Downsize?

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    We hear it all the time, regarding how fast food is bad for our health, and yet we continue eating it. Life doesn’t slow down and sometimes it is just much easier and better for you timewise to just go through the drive through. In the article “Fighting the Fast Food Habit: Can America Downsize?” it basically says that even though most of the fast food chains and food suppliers are trying to decrease the unhealthy options on their menus, it is too late for it because of our eating habits. We want the unhealthy food. Companies are going to market to what the consumer wants. That’s how they make their profits. To sum it all up, companies are food options it a little healthier, but not for us, they only do as much that is needed for people to keep buying it and still feel like they are eating a little healthier. (Garcia 94) Just because a company says they are making changes doesn’t mean you’re eating healthy. It simply means they are making the food and drinks people are consuming a little healthier, however, it still shouldn’t be considered healthy. They do what they have to do to make money. All in all, you should consider eating less fast food and work toward adopting some good eating

    Read More

  • Childhood Obesity

    1849 Words  | 4 Pages

    Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).

    Read More

  • Childhood Obesity Prevention Essay

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    147 billion is the total amount of dollars spent annually by the US on obesity-related healthcare—86% of the nation’s healthcare expenses (“Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.”). The direct cause of this is the increase in obese Americans. Since the 1980s, the rate of obesity in adults has doubled and more than tripled for children (use new source). In fact, one-fifth of children and one-third of adults in the US struggle with obesity (“Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.”). It not only affects the health of the country, but the economy and even military readiness as well (CDC). However, according to the National Childhood Obesity Foundation, obesity is manageable and most often preventable. Many solutions Therefore, there are many ways in which obesity can be prevented at an early age.

    Read More

More about Mark Bittman's Article: Is Obesity A Disease?

Open Document