Don T Blame The Eater Summary

How many Americans do you think eat at fast food restaurants daily? How many Americans have experienced weight gain and health issues of the years? We as Americans are overweight and unhealthy who is to blame? We want to believe that McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s etc. is the reason why we are fat. But the truth is that we are becoming overweight and unhealthy because of the lack of responsibility over our own diet and eating habits. In the essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko he, believes that the fast food industry is responsible for the health and obesity epidemic in America. He argues that there are not many healthy alternatives to fast food for consumers, “particularly teenagers” to buy food. He goes further

“By age 15, I had packed 212 pounds of torpid teenage tallow on my once lanky 5-foot-10 frame. Then I got lucky. I went to college, joined the Navy Reserves and got involved with a health magazine. I learned how to manage my diet. But most of the teenagers who live, as I once did, on a fast-food diet won 't turn their lives around: They 've crossed under the golden arches to a likely fate of lifetime obesity” (463). As Zinczenko stated many teenagers are misinformed about the unhealthy foods they are eating. But is it the fast food industries job to inform them? I don’t think so the fast food industry is interested in making money not informing the public the harm that their food would cause them. Radley Balko states in his essay “What You Eat is Your Business” “…. our government ought to be working to foster a sense of responsibility in and ownership of our own health and well-being” (467). The fast food companies are aware of the accusations made over the years and has acquired different varieties of healthy alternatives to their menu such as; grilled vs fried chicken, a variety of salads, apples instead of french fries, and substituting milk for soda. Those changes do not stop consumers from walking into a McDonald’s and ordering their child a happy meal with fries and a soda it is the choice of the