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What You Eat Is Our Business By Radley Balko

1107 Words5 Pages

What You Eat Is Our Business The government maintains many things in our nation, branching from the highest and lowest of problems. While some see this as a good thing, there are others who see government regulation in a bad light. One instance of regulations that seem unnecessary is the control of healthy eating and dieting. Many ask the question, should the government get between the consumer and their Triple-Patty Supreme? Radley Balko is against policing the food choices consumed by others and believes they must be held fully responsible for what they eat. ‘If they bought the obesity combo, it’s their problem not mine’ is the mentality here. Though Balko’s argument has points, his general idea that the consumer is to blame is unfair to …show more content…

Marion Nestle knows better than anyone how they design a system to get consumers to buy the items they want them to buy. In “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate” she talks about the strategies implemented to get them to push the “buy” button. In her article, she explains that layout of your local Food4Less has put thought in every corner of their store. They “place the highest-selling food departments in the parts of the store with the greatest flow of traffic” (Nestle 499). Pop into the store for some milk? You must pass through the cookie aisle to get there, maybe even pick up a pack of chocolate chip cookies since it’ll go great with your milk. Most markets even place the packs of water bottles in the same aisle as the sodas, because why drink water when you drink something with more flavor? But why does Nestle refer to this as prime real estate? Because it’s designed to put the most profitable foods in the prime spaces, which includes junk food. Often the things we label as junk food are advertised in a way where they create demand for them. They create demand for them by pairing these long-lasting foods with cheap prices sure to make you happy when you don’t have much to spend. But Nestle states the clause “If you buy more, you are likely to eat more” (502). Which in turn makes you gain weight and become less healthy. But it’s seen as the problem of the customer, not the …show more content…

He provides no further outside source towards his ideas except his own. The only quotations he provides is the examples of the government influencing companies towards selling their customers food that won’t completely up their cholesterol every time they get a to go order. While previous examples like Zinczenko have experienced being poor with not much of a choice, Balko is a man who feels disconnected from the situation all together. He fails to consider why consumers would be subjecting themselves to a life of obesity and just concludes that they just have no self-control. This knocks down his credibility as not only a writer being unable to look at the different views to strengthen his argument, but also his credibility of being a well voiced opinion regarding

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In the article "Don’t blame the eater" written by Zinczenko, he argues that fast food is the main reason why so many teenagers are suffering from obesity in United States. He explains that many companies will use advertisements to deceive customers. For example, a company’s website offers a chicken salad with less than four hundred calories per serving; however, they don’t label everything that the salad has In the first label. They will use separate labels in the products that the salad has on it, so the costumer gets confused and thinks that he is actually eating a four hundred calories salad that is "healthy". However, he is actually eating a seven or more hundred calories meal.

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Obesity is an issue that affects many people worldwide. In the article “Why Shame Won’t Stop Obesity”, by Dhruv Khullar, Khullar tries to argue that obesity is a major problem in the United States and the way the country is handling this issue is incorrect. Khullar goes to medical school and experiences first hand the problems people with obesity have to deal with. He believes that some people have no option when it comes to what they choose to eat and that food industries are influencing people in the wrong way. He makes a strong and clear argument by identifying issues, providing evidence, solutions, and counter arguments.

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In the beginning of Balko’s article, he uses examples of past experiences to support his argument. These past experiences stated are used as a counter argument for Balko and also appeal logically to his audience. In the article Balko states, “President Bush earmarked 125 million in his budget for the encouragement of healthy lifestyles”(Balko). He immediately shuts down these factual statements in his thesis and provides evidence on why these “solutions” did not help. Using logic and countering previous experiences to develop his argument proves to be very effective and helps persuade his audience.

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In the article, Daniel Weintraub argues that parents are to blame for kids being obese, not food companies. “Parents, not state government, are in the best position to fight the epidemic of overweight children in our schools.” I agree with this claim because he gives good evidence and facts. The article is well written and includes good supporting details which helps the author prove his point. Even though it may have some weak points and some things aren’t explained, it’s very convincing and credible.

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Zinczenko’s Rhetorical Precis In his essay “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko sympathizes for port fast-food patron, like himself ages ago,  he agrees that food industry should take some responsibility for obesity. He supports his claim by warning consumers about the dangers of fast food,as it play a factor in obesity. Within his argument, he questions other counter arguments and uses his narrative tone to show consumers that the food industry is necessarily at fault. Zincenko believes  the prevalence of fast food and the lack of healthier food alternatives is causing obesity in America.

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He also states that the government should allow the citizens to access their health care funds account to support his conclusion, that, people will be more responsible for their health if someone else isn 't paying for their health problems. However, Balko fails to to provide evidence for to support his claim. Even though the problem of obesity is important, the Shorthorn should not publish "What You Eat Is Your Business" because it poorly argued and not interesting. Radley Balko’s central claim is that the government should not interfere in public health and diet. According to him people have no incentive to maintain their health when public money funds health care.

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In “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko tackles the issue of who is responsible for fighting obesity. Balko argues that the controversy of obesity should make the individual consumers culpable for their own health and not the government (467). As health insurers refrain from increasing premiums for obese and overweight patients, there is a decrease in motivation to keep a healthy lifestyle (Balko 467). As a result, Balko claims these manipulations make the public accountable for everyone else 's health rather than their own (467). Balko continues to discuss the ways to fix the issue such as insurance companies penalizing consumers who make unhealthy food choices and rewarding good ones (468).

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This appeals to our physiological needs because naturally, humans need to eat food and to hear from a professional that there are other influences outside of food that are giving cause to the obesity crisis gives Americans a slight sigh of relief when it comes to the degree of toxicity of our foods. Furthermore, that people eat a more wholesome diet versus those that do not, tend to be healthier than that live on fast and processed foods,there are also stark differences to recognize between these classes that should be taken into account as well such as the tendency to engage in exercise, air quality, and other health considerations such as smoking and

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The author in the reading of "A Better Way to Fight Obesity: New, Smarter Supermarkets" had few purposes. One of her points was that supermarkets need to focus more on selling healthier products. Another one is that the buyers the people who are purchasing at these local supermarkets need to realize not to buy everything they see. Also, that by following that by selling healthier items at supermarkets and buyers actually buying healthy products that are a better way to fight obesity. The author is trying to convince the U.S to put more money in constructing supermarkets that will have healthier items and that they will be placed at a look of an eye.

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His argue is that, politically, the health care system is becoming more and more socialist. Likewise, our government is too concerned on intervening with our nation’s junk food problem, and should be modeling and encouraging American citizens on personal health, responsibility, and self-awareness. The author feels that “we’re becoming less responsible for our own health, and more responsible for everyone else’s.” (897) Balko seems to hold more credible sources, and being the fact that he is a “self-descried libertarian” (896), he knowledge also helps greatly with his opinion on this topic of

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He, however, was able to find a way to turn his life around by making healthy choices when he started college and joined the Navy Reserves. Zinczenko mentions in his article, that consumers did not have access to "calorie information" and even if they had such information, it is always hard to understand. For example, he says that if your read the fine prints on the back of the dressing packet, you will realize that it actually contains 2.5 servings rather than one serving, which means that as a consumer, you are actually consuming 620 calories and not the stated 280 calories per dressing. In addition, he made mention of several statistics of childhood obesity which have led to the increase in diabetes due to the increased number of fast food restaurants. Although Zinczenko makes a compelling argument about the "eater is not to blame", his lack of evidence to support his assumptions weakens his overall point.

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Many heart diseases, diabetes, physical problems, and other issues pertaining to someone’s well being can be caused by bad eating habits. The only way people can break those habits is if someone, like our government, can help them. They will do this by controlling what we can and can not purchase in the stores, as

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