Don T Blame The Eater Summary

In Michael Moss’ article, “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Food,” he discussed multiple methods food industries used to attract consumers to buy more of their products. He mentioned how multiple CEO’s of food companies discussed the health epidemic. He revealed, “Today, one in three adults is considered clinically obese, along with one in five kids, and 24 million Americans are afflicted by type 2 diabetes, often caused by poor diet”(476-477). Basically, Moss is stating that millions of Americans are at risk of or have type 2 diabetes because of the unhealthy choices in their diet. Similarly, in David Zinczenko’s article, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” Zinczenko blames food industries for the health epidemic. He stated, “But where, exactly, are

The passage entitled “Don’t Blame the Eater” written by David Zincenko starts off with a personal anecdote about his youth. He writes about how he was a “latchkey kid (Zincenko 241)” and how every day he had to have fast food for lunch and dinner. Zincenko goes on to write about how obesity and diabetes have become more prevalent in today’s society. He argues that fast food is more available than healthy food, and there is no nutritional information on the fast food that people are buying. Because of this, he believes that the fast food industry and society as a whole are set up for failure because of lawsuits and deteriorating health.

Radley Balko, the once editor of the Huffington Post, argues in his essay “What You Eat Is Your Business,” that personal responsibility is necessary when it comes to the food you ingest and your health. Balko goes into detail about how the government should not have a hand in what consumers eat or where they eat by discussing initiatives the government has put in place. Anti-obesity initiatives such as the request for more food labels and the restriction of junk food in vending machines at schools are becoming more popular and causing the American population to not take responsibility for their own health choices. American’s well-being has become an issue of “public health” instead of being an individual concern.

In an article written by Radley Balko titled “what you eat is your business” published on May 23, 2004, Balko informs us that giving the government control of the food industry is not the correct way to fight obesity. He points out that a few of the things that the government is doing already to try to control what students eat at school, and some ideas that congress are considering to help reduce obesity. Something that Balko mentioned related to putting focus on individual duties as a person, to take care of themselves by monitoring personal food intake, instead of everyone else’s unhealthy choices. He says that by giving government control of it, takes away the personal responsibility. Balko thinks that because the government is not allowing private healthcare to increase

David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater” states how he was obese as a child and that it was not his fault. He then goes into detail about diabetes and how teens are the main consumers of fast food. The title of the article “Don’t Blame the Eater” summarizes Zinczenko’s attitude of the article. Throughout the article he is blaming fast food joints for obesity and type two diabetes. Zinczenko also makes another point about fast food restaurants lacking on nutritional information on their food products.

In the article, “What You Eat is Your Business,” senior writer and investigative reporter, Radley Balko, argues obesity is a personal and individual responsibility and should not be regulated through the government since that violates our freedoms and rights. Balko states the government’s regulations in preventing obesity, such as, removing junk food in school vending machines, more detailed food labels, and forcing the food industry to be more responsible in their behavior towards the health issues of consumers. Many politicians agree with banning of unhealthy snacks and sodas from school vending machines, in addition, calling for a fat tax on unhealthy, high calorie foods. According to Balko, this is the wrong way to fight obesity, he continues,

You cannot watch your favorite shows without coming across an advertisement for a fast food restaurant. It happens so often that people get persuaded to try out the new items at these places, but what the advertisement is not providing are the nutritional facts. Most of what is being promoted on television is not healthy for anyone, but people get blinded by that because the food looks appetizing and it is so easy to access. For instance you cannot travel anywhere around the United States without passing a McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) or Pizza Hut (“Don’t Blame the Eater”). These are the three most recognized food chains across the United States and they are also the same fast food restaurants that are causing major health problems within the community such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Some may say that it is not the restaurant’s fault that people are enduring these health problems because no one is forcing a person to eat the fast food which is true, but if these restaurants were not being promoted as much, people would not be so compelled to go out and eat that type of food. In David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, he talks about how we cannot blame people for what they are eating. I agree with Zinczenko up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that the consumer is not to be blamed for the food that goes into one’s body because children eat what is being placed in front of their face at

In the article, “What You Eat is Your Business”, Balko argues that the many government programs are not helping people become healthier. In reality, it seems that these programs are enabling bad choices. President Bush added a whopping $200 million into his budget to combat obesity, and state legislators are now banning certain snacks and sodas from school campuses and vending machines (Balko 396). Balko believes this is the wrong way to create a healthier society, because it does not create a sense of accountability for one’s health. He then goes on to say, “Your well-being, shape, and condition have increasingly

Fast food companies are the one to blame for America’s obesity and obesity in children now days. Back in time we would never see children with diabetes or with heart disease, and now that’s all that we see in the streets, news, etc. It’s all about marketing and their target is children, which is wrong! Food enter by the eyes as the saying says, and children’s are the one who goes more by that saying. If only fast food would control the amount of calories you in take things would be so much better in the terms of obesity in children, but no one does anything for the cause. It’s not bad to eat once in a while at a fast food restaurant. I mean we all do that and it’s not bad. Is just the amount of fast food (Junk Food) that we eat and how often

One of the groups to blame for the epidemic in America is the food industries itself. The food industry is primarily interested in profit and would do anything to achieve it, not caring about our health. Shannon Brownlee a nationally known writer and essayist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times Magazine said, “Fast food marketing strategies, which make perfect sense from a business perspective, succeed only when they induce a substantial number of us to overeat” (Brownlee, Shannon. "It’s Portions Distortions That Make America Fat." Sacrament Bee, 5 Jan. 2003. Web). In Ms.Brownlee’s opinion fast food industries trick people to eat fast food by providing extraordinary deals, in order to make more profit. This worked because

Visualize the world somewhere a school-age child can step out of his school and walk into a McDonalds. Fast-food causes an array of problems in your body. The food is often high in sugar, fat, and calories while providing very few nutrients. The obesity epidemic Americans face today is a growing problem that affects more than half of the population with growing body sizes and serious medical problems associated with obesity. It is a problem that needs to be addressed and change. No one would argue that obesity in children is a problem, however, the cause of childhood obesity is seriously debated. Many people claim that fast food restaurants are not to blame. On the other hand, fast- foods companies have used marketing strategies, the location of their vending sites, pricing system and convenience to manipulate children.

In today’s world most people are already too lazy to make healthy decisions. That’s ultimately why we have fast food so people do not have to think about what we are eating. Fast food chains take advantage of our laziness after a long day at work or a stressful day of school. “Consumers spend more than half their food dollars outside of the

In the United States of America, fast food has become such a big deal. There are fast food restaurants everywhere now. Each way you look, there’s a McDonald’s here or a Wendy’s there and they’re building them quicker because Americans have become lazier and lazier. Fast food can be the blame for most of our health problems. Since the rate for fast food has went up, so has the rate of obesity, non-communicable diseases/disorders and even death. The numerous issues of unhealthy eating and living are leading to many life-threatening diseases/disorders, one in particular is diabetes. More and more people are diagnosed each day with diabetes. In 2012, 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3% of the population,

Throughout this article David Zinczenko calls out fast food companies, such as McDonald's, for manipulating children into becoming obese. Mr. Zinczenko claims that unhealthy fast food, was the only affordable option when growing up. Zinczenko joined the Navy Reserves and got involved with a health magazine, so he managed to avoid obesity, unlike some of his friends. Since the year 1994, Type 2 diabetes has risen over 25 percent. Finding healthier alternatives to fast food is difficult. The big fast food chains such as McDonald’s, have a monopoly, with over 13,000 restaurants in North America alone. Additionally, there is little to no information about the food being consumed. When there is information on the label, it is often manipulated.

People who are obese and/or have Type 2 diabetes is rising, in David Zinczenko’s “Don’t Blame the Eater,” he states that “before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder” and around 5 percent were due to obesity (392). Since then the numbers have increased at an alarming rate. There are people who argue that the fast food industry is to blame for these numbers, however, people are not as naïve to not know what repercussions consistent unhealthy eating has on their health. In America, we have seen the efforts of society trying to tackle unhealthy eating with the food pyramid, the food plate and portions, former First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign for healthy eating and even the lobbying for taxation on sugary drinks. However, America still faces the health issue of obesity and its consequences on the body. Yet, who should be held accountable to this health issue America faces: the fast food industry and their affordable food, people who refuse or are ignorant to face the facts of unhealthy eating, or the food industry who produces the alternatives (healthy food) but are more costly than fast food itself.