In the article “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radely Balko, he talks about how the government should stop making laws and policies about anti-obesity. David Zinczenko wrote an article called “Don’t Blame the Eater”, according to Zinczenko, he thinks people need to be more responsible in the way they eat. Both believe that it is the people’s problem the obesity rate is increasing more and more each year.
Balko makes a bold statement by saying “We’re becoming less responsible for our own health, and more responsible for everyone else’s. Your heart attack drives up the cost of my premiums and office visits.” (Balko 467). What he means by this is, because of the health problems that come with obesity, for instance heart disease, stroke, high
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It seems ridiculous at first, but then he talks about himself when he was young, that when his family split up and his mother had to work long hours to cover the bills just to make ends meet, he had no choice but to eat fast food for lunch and dinner, just because his mother didn’t have the time and little money. When he was 15 years old, he weighted 212 pounds and was only 5’10. But his life completely changed when he joined the Navy Reserves and learned how to manage his diet. He also says most teenagers that lived like him when he was young won’t have the opportunity to change their life like he did. But will be stuck in the never ending hole of constantly eating fast food every day, because that’s all they know. Zinczenko includes information gathered by the National Institutes of Health that says “Before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder---only about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity-related, or Type 2, diabetes. Today, according to the National institute of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country.” (Zinczenko 463). As you can see, because of the growing fast food industry food it is causing more people to become obese and then passing those hereditary traits on to their
Balko develops an angry tone about the fact that government believes unhealthy people should depend on healthy people or they should not hold any responsibility. Actually, Balko complains the way government prohibits any private insurer to charge additional fee of obese clients is unwise. Balko’s claim is that if people had to pay more financially, they would be more cautious about their choices on what foods should they consume. I agree with him on this point, because if insurers want to charge overweight clients with higher premiums, the clients would try to be fit in the average range to avoid paying any hard-earned money from their pocket. Balko evokes ethos appeals by demonstrating if the government is willingly paid for his anti-cholesterol medicine, then what the motivations for exercising are. He makes the audience sympathize with him by saying that what the government does is wrong. Toward the end, Balko implies that people will make better choices if there is no one responsible for those choices.
The article “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko, is an article aimed to bring attention to the ever increasing obesity rates in the United States, which he believes has been caused be the ever increasing amount of fast food restaurants in the United States.
Richard Balko and Mary Maxfield discuss personal responsibility, and choices in one’s health in their essays “What You Eat Is Your Business,” and “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” respectively. Balko feels the government should not intervene in people’s food intake because it is an individual preference. Instead, Balko asserts that the government should foster a program to assist the American people to take on personal responsibility and ownership of their own health. Similarly, Maxfield paints the same picture that our culture now finds it immoral to eat what our body needs, therefore believing in the idea of eating less is healthier. Maxfield points out the multi-billion dollar campaign of corporations into advertising false hope into consumers by buying into eradication of fatness. Why has food have suddenly become a risky subject at the dinner table? And who is to blame? Is it everyone else or do we blame ourselves?
In “Don’t Blame the Eater”, by David Zinczenko and in “What You Eat is Your Business”, by Radley Balko both authors discuss and make their stance’s clear on their believed cause of obesity in America. On one hand, Zinczenko argues that it is not the consumers fault for putting themselves at risk of becoming obese or being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but that it is the fast-food companies fault. While on the other hand, Balko argues that we as individuals hold responsibility on whether or not we are putting ourselves at risk for obesity.
Beside on that, Balko argues with the government recommendation of health care systems, and it is willing to pay for citizens’ medication due to poor eating and living habits. He says, “Your heart attack drives up the cost of my premiums and office visits” (467). How it is possible to make offers for people instead of fighting companies that sell unhealthy food. He also points out, “For decades now, America 's health care system has been migrating towards socialism” (467). His point is that if the government would start to put lows to these companies in order to stop their widespread. As a result, the government needs to address this problem by providing health care systems, and this requires citizens to pay for it. I believe it is true that government might make a billion of dollars from health care systems as profits. On the other hand, government does not do anything for the companies that provide unhealthy food or food that has more than the average amount of calories so the government truly allows these companies to spread out their products, and citizens are
The authors Balko and Zinczenkon have two different points views on one similar topic and that would be who is to blame on how American families becoming so overweight. Balko blame the government for putting pursuer on the insurance comping for stopping them from over charging overweight and obese people. And then there is Zinczenko he blames the fast food restaurants for not labeling their food. I acknowledge how they both see how there are different causes for Americans for being overweight. Putting labels on the food that’s are fast food chains allows the customer know what type of meal they are consuming and insurance companies overcharging people that are over weight so they could realize that their bad habitats do come at a
Should people be held accountable for what they eat? Many believe that it is a matter of public health, but some think that it is the matter of personal responsibility. In the article “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko argues that the government spending more money on anti-obesity measures is the wrong way to fix the obesity epidemic. He claims that people should be more responsible for their personal health. I am of two minds about this author’s claim that eating and lifestyle are matters of personal choice. On the one hand, I agree with his claim because of the unfair insurance policies, people should be more responsible for their own health, and people should take the time to be responsible for their kid’s health instead of blaming someone or something irrelevant. On the other hand, the government should do their best to dispose of “food deserts,” provide more opportunities to live a healthy life style, and give tax breaks to people selling healthy foods.
Best selling author of Eat This, Not That, David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” blames the fast food industry for the growing rate of obesity in the United States. Zinczenko’s main idea is that fast food companies should have warning labels on all the food they supply. Zinczenko believes that since health labels are put on tobacco and preserved food product, fast food industries should put labels on today’s fast food. Discussions about the availability of fast food compared to healthier alternative were brought up as well. Zinczenko states that when looked at, a salad from a fast food restaurant could add up to half of someone’s daily calories (155). He believes that because of fast food, Americans are having more health risks, which includes an insane rise in diabetes. Some agree with Zinczenko saying fast food companies should be the ones responsible to show people the truth about their foods. On the other hand Radley Balko, a columnist for FoxNews.com, states that fast-food consumption ...
Balko’s use of informative statistics makes the reader think about government’s role with obesity, and how much they should to do with it being solved. For example, President Bush put $200 million into his budget for anti-obesity measures, and some Senators, including Joe Lieberman, made the call for a “fat-tax” on high calorie foods. Although it appears these politicians and government officials are all trying to help society and this growing problem in America, many would agree they are just hurting the cause. I remember when I
Ever since the creation of the golden arches, America has been suffering with one single problem, obesity. Obesity in America is getting worse, for nearly two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight. This obesity epidemic has become a normal since no one practices any type of active lifestyle. Of course this is a major problem and many wish it wasn 't in existence, but then we start to ask a major question. Who do we blame? There are two articles that discuss numerous sides of this question in their own unique way. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko is better than “Don 't Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko due to its position in argument, opposition, and it’s reoccurrence in evidence.
The government must have a say in our diets. Because the issues of obesity have already reached national scales, because the costs of obesity and related health issues have gone far beyond reasonable limits, and because fighting nutritional issues is impossible without fighting poverty and other social issues, the government should control the range and the amount of available foods. The cost of healthier foods should decrease. The access to harmful foods should be limited. In this way, the government will be able to initiate a major shift in nutritional behaviors and attitudes in society.
In the end, fast food companies and individual faults should not be targeted as the main epidemic of obesity in the United State is increasing tremendously. Our lifestyles and poor 'convenient ' diets we can all say is an appropriate blame for the increase in obesity. Heaney acknowledges Oliver’s admonition “to stop worrying so much about our weight” is premature, although his advice to start caring more about diet and exercise is sensible. Eating well, eating less, and exercising regularly is what we must do to if we want to increase our life span and feel better about ourselves
As many people are trying to put the blame of obesity on restaurants, others, like myself, have a strong opinion that the restaurants have nothing to do with obesity and the customer has the right to order what they would like. Some supporters believe that government should take action to...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States more than one-third of adults and one-sixth of children are obese. Over the next twenty years, these numbers will more than double. By the year 2020, obesity will be considered a normal thing, and a healthy weight will be the exception. Who is to blame for the increasing obese population? Some say fast food restaurants that are on every block in the city. Others say it is the obese people themselves because they do not know how to control themselves. Many major health conditions come with obesity and it is costing the government millions in healthcare to pay for others lack of self control.
Finally, besides of making healthy decisions, another key issue to examine is the lack of parental guidance in terms of Zinczenko’s argument that, especially for teenagers, unhealthy and fattening food is almost un-avoidable. It’s not all kids fault to eat junk food their parents are equally responsible for this problem as much as kids because can teach their kids from early age to not eat junk food. Most of our parents taught us that smoking and drinking is bad for us but never taught is that sugar is also bad as drinking and