Summary Of What You Eat Is Your Business

Most people say that the government’s role, in our diets, is the key for a healthier life. While others may argue that it is freedom of choice to eat whatever we want. However depending on the point of view, the government’s role in shaping what we consume is either a compulsory intervention or a blatant interference on American free will. Even though we hear a good argument on the government controlling our diets, most research show that the involvement of the government on our diets has shown little to no results.

Whether or not a person wants a burger and french-fries’ or a salad from the salad bar, the decision should be up to him/her. Two articles share views on food, “What You Eat Is Your Business” by Radley Balko and “Junking Junk Food” by Judith Warner. These two authors wrote articles about how they felt about food and how it’s related to obesity. However, Radley Balko would not approve of Judith Warner’s views on food for the reason that the two authors have different viewpoints on the aspect of the government helping people to make better food choices. Warner and Balko also has different views on the ideas which are that eating is a psychological matter; and eating healthy should be a personal matter.

In the essay, “What You Eat is Your Business”, Radley Balko writes to tell his audience about how the government is trying to control people’s health and eating habits by restricting food, taxing high calorie food, and considering menu labeling. Balko includes in his essay that government restricting diets and having socialist insurance is not helping the obesity problem, but it is only making it worse because it not allowing people to take their health in to their own hands so they have no drive to lose weight or eat healthy. In his essay, Balko is targeting society, including those who may be obese, he is trying to show them that the laws our

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,

“The Cato Institute’s” Policy analyst, Radley Balko, in his article “What You Eat Is Your Business,” talks about the idea of obesity and whose fault it is. Balko’s purpose is to convey the idea that obesity is the individual’s responsibility, not the government’s or anyone else’s for that matter. Ultimately, Balko’s “What You Eat Is Your Business” has a strong hold on ethos, pathos, and logos, making for a successful and persuasive article.

The government is trying to do its best to regulate what is healthy and unhealthy for

In the article of Radley Balko, he considers obesity a problem in the nation. Balko believes that it is unhealthy for children to be eating bad food but it’s their choices to eat that food. Balko is saying that if people are eating unhealthy and are having health problems everyone shouldn't have to pay for their health problems. Balko says, “In other words, bringing the government between you and your waistline.” Basically he is saying that the government shouldn’t be in your business of what you are eating or whether you are obese or not. Balko does not like the fact that the government has so much control over what we are eating and are fighting obesity the wrong way. Balko thinks the

In the United States the society needs to work on controlling this problem known as obesity. It is a problem that if does not get controlled sooner than later, will spiral out of hand even more. Before this spirals out of control society needs to take action to reducing the cost of healthy food amongst middle-low class citizens so they can eat the

Regulating what the government should control and what they should not was one of the main arguments our founding fathers had to deal with when creating our nation, and to this day this regulation is one of the biggest issues in society. Yet, I doubt our founding fathers thought about the idea that the food industry could one day somewhat control our government, which is what we are now facing. Marion Nestles’ arguments in the book Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health deal with how large food companies and government intertwine with one another. She uses many logical appeals and credible sources to make the audience understand the problem with this intermingling. In The Politics of Food author Geoffrey

The government has to support people because they need get help since they get diseases related to obesity. There is also a problem when traveling. The average American has increased 24 pounds since 1960.And an airplane needs about a gallon of jet fuel to move 100 pounds on a domestic flight.The average gallon cost around $3.05, which cost a lot more for the companies and produces megatons of CO2(Source B). This would also support the satirical political image that obese people are the cause for all of our problems. The image start with an obese person eating cake, which causes a button on his shirt to pop, this ends up in the cut down of a Brazilian rain forest. While very exaggerated, there is some type of truth behind it. We obviously can’t blame everything on obese people but we can conclude that as people grow bigger so do our

Due to the obesity epidemic, the government may need to intervene as a result of its own involvement in supporting institutions that are contributing to the problem. For example, the government supports the production of food commodities and subsidized U.S. crops, most notably sugar

“If and when the public chooses to use government power to offset the factors that promote obesity, we can do so. A day may come when we decide to limit advertising of unhealthy food, strengthen lifestyle teaching in schools, and create stronger financial incentives to adhere to lifestyle recommendations. The more eager we the people are to fight the obesogenic environment, the more responsive and effective our governments will become” (Medscape General Medicine, vol. 9, no. 4, 2007).

Obesity has become a serious problem with more than one third of adults being obese in the United States. Obesity is seen as a self-destructive behavior accompanied with smoking and use of other drugs thus, government officials and other business bureaucrats expressed the need to impose higher health insurance premiums on the obese. Obesity is not always due to the personal behavior of people and can be linked with the environment and genetics; I personally feel that obese people should not pay a higher health insurance premium compared to those that aren’t. Government officials and other business bureaucrats

The fact is that in our country, any government intrusion looks undesirable. We are so used to making free choice and to having access to everything we need and want that we have already forgotten the value and usefulness of the government control. No, that does not mean that the government must control everything and everyone. What I mean here is that the government control should be balanced with the freedom of choice. Unfortunately, plentiful foods do not lead to improved health conditions. We cannot always make a relevant choice. Our hurried lifestyles make us extremely fast, and eating is not an exception. We eat fast, but fast does not always mean useful. I believe, and in this essay I argue that the government must have a say in our

Obesity rates in the United States are rapidly increasing, it is up to the people of the United States to induce change. However, to do this, the people need the government to play a role in reducing the obesity rates. According to the food sector of the United Nations (an inter governmental organization that promotes, protects, and improves international cooperation since 1945) “Obesity was once considered only a problem in high-income countries like the United States, where nearly 70 percent of the adult population is overweight” (Roussev 60). Interestingly enough, individuals consumption of media and the lack of following a diet plan makes up a majority of the 70 percent. All of which is a result of making a personal choice to indulge in