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What You Eat Is Your Business Radley Balko Analysis

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Homework #2 “What You Eat is Your Business” In Radley Balko’s article “What You Eat is Your Business”, Balko argues that obesity is the responsibility of the individual, not the government or anybody else for that matter. He argues that obesity should be more so a matter of personal responsibility instead of being looked at as a matter of “public health”. After reading Balko’s article, his position is pretty clear. He is completely against obesity being a “public health” crisis. What a person consumes, unhealthy or healthy, should not be anybody’s business but their own. He is also against the public paying for others unhealthy choices. Balko states, “It’s difficult to think of anything more private and less public concern than …show more content…

I do support Zinczenko’s position that the fast food restaurants should be held accountable, but I find Balko’s argument about personal responsibility to be equally persuasive. They each make really important points. I agree that fast food companies play a huge role in a lot of health risks, in today’s society, but I cannot agree that they are the only ones to blame. Nobody is forcing me to purchase that ten piece chicken nugget meal from McDonalds instead of getting something from Wholefoods that I can cook, it’s a choice. Everything that we do in life is a choice. It takes more than eating to become obese. Balko States, “We’ll all make better choices about diet, exercise, and personal health when someone else isn’t paying for the consequences of those choices.” People in today’s society don’t take accountability for their unhealthy choices because they don’t have to, the government makes it okay not to. Personal responsibility should be primary in our nutrition choices. The government shouldn’t be trying to control what we eat, but they should instead be giving us a healthier, affordable alternative. It’s not okay that we lack healthier alternatives, nor is it okay that we lack information about what we’re consuming, but it is definitely not okay us to look at everything possible to blame without even looking at

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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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In the end, David Zinczenko should have mentioned my points in his writing. He should have addressed some of my reasons in his writings because fast food restaurants are spending millions of dollars on advertisements, he should have mentioned some benefits of eating healthy, lack of parent’s involvements, and fast service is being provided by the restaurants. If we add these all up, then it’s all our fault that we are eating junk food on daily bases because at the end you have to make decisions for this kind of situations. You could be healthier if you will make a right decision then you will live a healthy life because junk food is high in sugar, sodium and many other things that is harmful for your health. It’s all your choice to make right

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The companies only care about making money out of producing the harmful food. Both authors argue about people’s personal choice has to be very effective because food and financial status which can carry through your entire life and rich people have more options than middle-class people when it comes to food. Moss and Krugman mention about the decisions you make about food and money should be reasonable. Krugman states, “Because American children low-income families are often uninsured, they’re more likely to have health problems that derail their life chances” (Krugman 567).

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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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“Don’t Blame the Eater”, written by David Zinczenko, is a short article discussing how fast food is the main cause of childhood obesity. This article came about in relations to two kids filing a lawsuit against McDonalds for making them fat. He begins his piece by sympathizing with these individuals because he used to be like them. Zinczenko then informs the reader of his background and how he fell into the category of being dependent upon quick and easy meals. In an attempt to provide a valid argument, he debates on how kids raise themselves while their parents are at work and that the nutritional values are not labeled upon prepared foods.

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In the “Food Police” video, Joe Salatin, a farmer and activist, states that, “A big basic food freedom of choice should be as important as the freedom to worship, speak, or own a gun” (“Food Police”). I agree with Salatin because if the government makes laws on how we have the freedom to worship and speak, which is our individuality as a person, shouldn’t the government allow us to eat what foods we want. Understandably,the government is just trying to protect us from risks, but as Salatin says, “Life is a risk” (“Food Police”), if life 's a risk that we take everyday, should the government make us live in plastic bubbles to protect us from

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We have the right to choose what to eat, when to eat, and with who. There is no better solution than to eat our own that will not make it to the ethereal living that this great nation is known for eating at. We make our choices. We make our food. We are not outsourcing to foreign nations to obtain their lesser and degraded choices of food.

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Time for Intervention Certainly, deciding what to eat is a personal decision. Food industries and food chains offer what works the best for them and they often work on a supply and demand basis. Moreover, the problem arises when the indexes of health problems related to inadequate nutrition in the United States are extremely high and no one seems to care. Although overweight can be caused to factors other than malnutrition, obesity increases the risks of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; diseases that have a severe impacts in individual’s health. Yet, many analysts agree that the government should not intervene or regulate the availability or the marketing of certain foods, arguing that it undermines the importance of

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With this health crisis, people are searching for solutions. Many look to the government to intervene and prevent this rapidly increasing condition; however, the true solution to ending obesity lies with the individual. The primary reason that ending obesity is a person’s responsibility rather than the government’s is that obesity is a lifestyle. While genetics tend to play a role in a person’s body weight and structure, personal habits are more often the core causes of obesity or overweightness.

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In my opinion, the government shouldn’t have a say in our diets how would this be possible? Our president has tried to gain control over the way this generation eats in schools and colleges but is it really possible for him to keep check on everyone’s diet under his control? Imagine how hard it would be to keep track on societies’ diet with all the food corporations today and all the companies that make junk food that would go out of business if we were no longer able to eat their food. For example; hamburgers and little debbies, and other fatty foods. There would have to be a law against buying these foods to control people’s diets and there is no way the government would be able to make that decision without a war against the people.

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The press is known to explode with news everyday, informing the people on different topics that are happening worldwide. The newest revelation is on the soda ban in New York. Websites and pages are plastered with information and headlines announcing how “Mayor Bloomberg is overreaching with N.Y.C. large soda ban” or “Banning the Big Gulp Ban”. Reporters are scrambling to join the bandwagon of criticizing or praising this mayor’s audacious decision. There are many factors that influence opinions on the matter, but one of the most popular reasons is because of the high numbers of people that are obese and overweight.

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