Summary Of What You Eat Is Your Business In They Say By Radley Balko

Radley Balko’s essay “What You Eat Is Your Business, in They Say, I Say, the author argues that the government should take more targeted initiatives in dealing with obesity. Within the last 15 years, the United States government has implemented numerous laws and initiatives to try to make America healthy again. However, are they working? The daily lives of Americans seem to revolve around food, whether it be eating healthy and following the food pyramid, or on the other end of the spectrum, eating fast food for every meal and snacking on junk food. There are larger issues that the government could be handling, yet they choose this obesity epidemic over pressing day-to-day problems. Is this actually necessary? Radley Balko, author of “What You

She pointed out that unhealthy foods are more accessible to low-income families than healthy options (Olivares, 2014). She advocated for these low-income families by saying: “They [low-income earners] only eat less healthy foods out of necessity, and it’s hard for kids of those families to eat healthy when the public-school system offers them junk as well.” (Olivares, 2014, p20). The children to go to school, eat junk food that is provided for them, and then go home to an unhealthy meal to end their day. It is an endless cycle that is hard to escape (Olivares, 2014). When someone has a low-income and can barely afford healthy meals, if any healthy meals, it is assumable that they probably do not have the best health insurance coverage, which is why the government is taking care of their expenses in the first

Once the citizens are liable for themselves, it becomes easier to change as they are responsible both financially and physically (Balko, 2004). When the government decided to take vending machines and sugary snacks out of schools in the early 2000s, Balko opposed the decision. His thoughts were if a kid chooses to eat junk food, they should be responsible for what follows. In contrast, when the government steps back and lays off, Radley claims they are not doing enough. Balko claims: “Congress should make access to medical and health savings accounts easier, because it would increase accountability and precaution for the healthcare dollar.” (Balko, 2004, p469). Here, Balko shocks the reader by giving this opinion because just before he claimed that the government is doing way too much. However, there was something Congress could do that would appease him; which was the easier access to medical related savings accounts. Balko believes this would give the policyholder more knowledge of their money, what it is being used for, and how they can manage it. For the government, finding lines to draw and where to draw them is difficult enough, especially when conflicts within such individuals