Most of the time when we think about fast food restaurants, we think how delicious they are yet unhealthy at the same time. We blame fast food restaurants for the causes of obesity as well as diabetes. “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko, talks about how his entire childhood he was obese. He mentions how he was just an average kid trying to make a living out of everything he had. Zinczenko mentions how easy, cheap and delicious was to buy junk food, but when it comes to going back into the healthy eating pattern; it was almost impossible. Zinczenko stated that no matter where you were driving through you would always see a McDonald’s or Wendy’s, in every corner, but driving back you barely see fruit markets. The essay “Don’t Blame the Eater, by David Zinczenko leaves me wondering; Why would people choose fast food restaurants knowing that it is unhealthy? My research leads me to conclude that Low income family are most likely to only buy junk food because of the cheap price. People can eat more and spend less; however, we need to keep …show more content…
in mind that fast food restaurants are just companies and like any other company they only care about making money not our health. When it comes to fighting against obesity, we need to consider the different causes of why fast food restaurants have become more popular. Obesity can be caused by many reasons including the lack of health knowledge, the price of fast food vs healthy food and low-income families trying to feed their children. In order to understand Zinczenko, we must examine the lack of knowledge towards health carefully. The issue of the lack of health knowledge is important because without it, people will misunderstand what being healthy is, as well as the factors of what makes you healthy. This issue involves being open minded to the different reasons on why obesity is increasing. An article called “Healthy Diets Makes Empty Wallets” written by Kelly Haws, Rebecca Walker, and Kevin Sample, talks about the different intuitions and/or common beliefs that can lead people on believing that healthy foods are expensive. While describing her observation, Haws says “Media coverage also plays a big role when it comes to food decisions. The online articles and blog posts devoted to budget-friendly ideas for healthy eating” (Haws, 994). According to Haws, the main reason why people believe that healthy food is expensive is because social media is creating false ads for people to think that fast food are still healthy and less expensive. In other words, Haws is saying that social media is putting false belief into people’s mind, so they can buy more junk food’ which leads people to obesity. Although it is true that if you do not have a basic understanding about eating healthy it may lead you to follow the wrong nutrition pattern. However, it does necessarily follow the belief that social media is connected with the everyday choices people make in order to buy food. I feel that Haws is missing a very critical factor of why more and more people are buying junk food. By focusing on social media’s influence, Haws overlooks the deeper problem of low income families. One of the biggest reason why obesity is increasing is because of the lack of money between low income family. Haws focused her research on social media and provided very little evidence, with bias results. If you look at the College’s meal prices you will noticed that something healthy as a wrap with lettuce and tomatoes costs around $5.95, while French fries with chicken tenders cost $3.25. If I didn’t have enough money and I am trying to save as much money as I can, I would buy the French fries. I would have chosen the least expensive, not because social media told me that it is better but because I would be able to eat as much as I want, and at the same time save money. I personally don’t think that someone with a good income level would be buying fast food knowing that it would damage their health.
Which is why I do not agree with Kelly Haws’s argument. While Haws only focused on one reason of why healthy=expensive, I say that we need to take a much deeper look into this. When it comes to low income family, childhood obesity is increasing in a rapid rate. Because children don’t have a choice of what or when to eat, they fully depend on their family, which turn them into victims of childhood obesity. A recent article was published call “Fast Food Is a Major Cause of Childhood Obesity” written by Meghan M. Kluge, where she explains the different factors of what can cause childhood obesity. As a today we can say that parents are taking less time on cooking because they have such a busy schedule, which can be the main cause of why children and teens are buying more and more junk
food. According to Kluge the number factor of childhood obesity is family influence as well as eating patterns. Kluge mentions how a working parent may not have enough time to cook for their children, and because of this they can choose an easier alternative by buying meals near a local fast food restaurant. Kluge also mentions how teaching children how to eat healthy in an early age can also be helpful, not only are they going to stay healthy through their Teen-hood, but they have a less chance of ending up obese. This actually makes sense since we learn a lot of things throughout our families and we tend to carry different beliefs as well as the knowledge that we have been raised with. Knowing what families eat, and how often they eat, is a very convenient strategy to understand better the patterns of childhood obesity. Kluge also suggested how Media can influence how often a child eats in a fast food restaurant. She mentions how today fast food restaurants has little toys inside their package meals with encourage children to eat more in order to obtain and college all toys figures. As well as how fast food restaurants are pulling more and more children to buy in order to win prizes, Kluge states “The game consisted of children matching the logo of the restaurants with a type of food offered there” (Kluge, 2/7). This means that restaurants are creating these games where a logo is inside a kid’s meal, in order to win the child’s logo must match with the logo that the restaurant have. This can be a really useful game for restaurants in order to attract more and more people in. With these types of games children are going to be encouraged to buy as much meals as they can in order to win. I choose this part of the article because Kluge has a really important point in this. By making games inside a child’s meal, more and more children are going to be attract on these types of games which will make them to buy and eat more junk food. Even though parents know that buying excessive junk food can hurt their child, they mostly focused on the low costs cheap and at the same time how happy their child is to be participating or winning in these types of games. These types of things can also influence the life of a low-income family child trying to make a living out of whatever they can. This may not be true for everyone, however if we go back to the essay “Don’t Blame the Eater” Zinczenko says “Lunch and dinner for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, or Pizza Hunt” (Zinczenko, 462). With this, Zinczenko is implying that the only types of food available to him was those with the lowest price which was junk food. It can be really hard for someone with a low-income level to have a healthy life, or to quit buying fast food; which can be the only thing cheap enough for a person to buy. If we think about when was the last time we saw or hear anything about fast food, most likely we would think about ads on Television. Most of the ads about fast food or fast food restaurants are air on when a family movie is being played or when kids Tv Shows are on. Because of this, kids or family tend to crave for food; specially for fast food restaurants. In the article Kluge states that a research was conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Researchers (NBER), where they suggested that if fast food ads during children’s television programming would be ban how much would this decrease the number of overweight or obese children.
There has been withstanding controversy about whether fast food is easier on the pocket than eating home-cooked meals. Take McDonald’s for instance, they’re notorious for their convenient and affordable dollar and value menus. Since you can get a burger for just $1.19, feeding a family of four should be inexpensive right? Mark Bittman, author of “Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?” argues otherwise. He claims that fast food is not at all cheaper than buying a few groceries and cooking at home. He expresses the different myths about fast food like how it is supposedly cheaper than real food when measured by the calorie, the mentality of people that if it isn’t fast food, it has to be costly organic food, and that there just isn’t enough time to cook at home. These myths followed by genuine factors such as addictions and a cultural impact, help Bittman prove his argument’s validity across to his audience. I have to say that Bittman proved his argument’s effectiveness, for he clearly stated his thesis and provided various reliable
Throughout the United States many American’s go through and eat at fast food places such as, McDonalds, Burger King, and Jack ‘n the Box. Mainly unaware of the amount of weight one can gain if consuming it on a daily bases or even two times week, can cause health issues, diabetes and possibly obesity. This was the main premise for writer Dave Zinczenko essay Don’t Blame the Eater, who makes an argument that many people are becoming obese and diabetic because of the fast food they eat. He asks a regarding his concern; Shouldn 't we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast-food restaurants?, As a way to engage the general public, like parents and teenagers, he expresses his argument through his own experience when he was a teenager eating at fast food places and information on the fast food industry in regards to how many calories are in the food.
Whether we recognize it or not, every day the common person drives by numerous fast food restaurants. It could be McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King, or one of plenty more. Most citizens make the decision on their own as to if they will make that purchase. A majority of the responsibility falls back on the consumer, but some will make the arguments that children cannot make that decision for themselves. It is a valid argument to question if this responsibility is in the parent’s hands, children’s, or simply it is just circumstantial. In the reading “Don’t Blame the Eater” the author David Zinczenko presents the case that we as citizens cannot put this blame directly onto the individual. Cases like this can be open to one’s interpretation. However,
Unhealthy foods are what make the money for schools and that is why they serve them for students. (Schlafy) Schools feel like they need the extra money in the budget, even though it is at the student’s expense. Data shows that nearly 60% of all middle schools in the US serve soda from vending machines. (Schlafy) Soda is very high in sugar and is not at all good for children, but it is still sold in school vending machines. The ways food in schools is now are way too high in fats and sugars. This is not good for the children and very bad in the long run. Elementary schoolchildren have an estimated $15 billion of their own money that they can use to buy whatever they want in schools, and parents have almost another $160 billion to give students for food money. (Schlafy) Big businesses see this as a big source of profit and therefore encourage children to buy their products, and want them to be offered in school because of th4e likelihood of children buying the business’s product. All in all, obesity in the US is greatly influenced by the foods offered in schools
Many people in America love to get greasy, high calorie fast food from many places such as McDonalds and its competitors, but in the article “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko, he reveals the health problems associated with these fatty, salty meals. His articles are affective with its well organized layout, rhetorical appeals and tone which give it a very convincing argument. As you read through the article the author reveals the underlying problems with eating fast food and how there are no warnings of such problems posted. As a former obese child who grew up to diet and watch what he ate he sets a credible stance for the argument.
Almost everyone has eaten fast food at some point in their lives, but not everyone realizes the negative effects some fast food can have on our nutrition. My family especially is guilty of eating unhealthy fast food meals at least once a week because of our budget and very busy schedules. In Andrea Freeman’s article entitled, “Fast Food: Oppression through Poor Nutrition,” She argues that fast food has established itself as a main source of nutrition for families that live in average neighborhoods and have low-incomes. Freeman begins the article by explaining how the number of fast food outlets is beginning to grow in poor communities because of the cheap prices and quick service these restaurants are famous for. The overabundance of fast
Due to the fact that they want a cheap meal that will fill them up, they will go with the fast food restaurant. In a video titled "The Dollar Menu," a family shows that a piece of fruit can and will cost more than a burger from the dollar menu, candies, or even sodas and they blame their busy schedule for their lack of healthy choices. The father in the video has diabetes and their concerned that their youngest daughter may get it as well since they mostly eat fast food meals. The family says not only are the healthy foods more expensive, but they don’t fill them or their kids up. The family struggles on income and finds that fast food is the cheapest way to feed their family. Fast food affects your energy levels, liver, heart, and can lead to diabetes. These fast food restaurants make it incredibly easy for this family to get food and not spend a great amount of money. The reason fast food is so cheap is because it’s unhealthy, and they don’t care what they are doing to people’s health; they just want the money. Fast food restaurants are killing the
Millions of American people buy fast food every day without thinking about where, how and why. The ramifications of fast food is impacting the American people both around the waist line and the community where they live at. “As the old saying goes: you are what you eat.” (Schlosser) The customer have made the choices to eat fast food or not. The industry doesn’t care about the customers; studies have shown that the fast food industry is the reason for the rise of American obesity. “Live fast and die young” (Moore); this could not be more true when looking at the impact of the fast food industry.
Best selling author of Eat This, Not That, David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” blames the fast food industry for the growing rate of obesity in the United States. Zinczenko’s main idea is that fast food companies should have warning labels on all the food they supply. Zinczenko believes that since health labels are put on tobacco and preserved food product, fast food industries should put labels on today’s fast food. Discussions about the availability of fast food compared to healthier alternative were brought up as well. Zinczenko states that when looked at, a salad from a fast food restaurant could add up to half of someone’s daily calories (155). He believes that because of fast food, Americans are having more health risks, which includes an insane rise in diabetes. Some agree with Zinczenko saying fast food companies should be the ones responsible to show people the truth about their foods. On the other hand Radley Balko, a columnist for FoxNews.com, states that fast-food consumption ...
Whether you are rich or poor, fast food is bad for you (Alter and Eny 2005). The quantity of fast food one consumes is of course important, but the super-sized nature of these foods and relative ease at which one can buy a lot of fast food does not help the consumer (Stender 2007). But it is part of Americana. Fast food organizations plan where their franchises are built. McDonald’s explicitly stated that they wanted a McDonald’s “within a 3- to 4-minute trip for the average American” (Lubow 1998). An American Journal of Public Health study found fast-food restaurants to be fairly evenly dispersed across predominantly white and African-American neighborhoods (Morland 2002). There are many things wrong this anyone who makes arguments about fast-food based on this study. One, the United States is literally more than black and white. Two, that same study explicitly says “Our findings underscore the importance of including characteristics of individuals’ local food environments into future studies to gain a better understanding of barriers to healthy eating” (Moreland 2002). Indeed, even if one over simplifies the United States’ population to black and white, one cannot ignore other factors that might make these black citizens more susceptible to the increased fast food consumptions. These factors where laid out by Naa Oyo A. Kwate in 2006 – “money, power, prestige, and social connections” (Kwate 2006). He explains why these factors have
Remember how happy you were when your parents bought you a happy meal as a child. It came in that cool little red box with some fries and chicken nuggets. Oh, and best of all it always came with a toy; your parents would tell you not to open it until you finished your food but that never happened. Or the time you forgot money at home but still managed to scrap up a dollar and sixteen cents from your car for an iced sweet tea. Fast food always comes in the clutch, but what is really behind the happy meals and sweet teas. We all know fast food is not good for you, but who’s to blame. Is it fair that we blame fast-food chains or are we just to afraid to blame ourselves?
Research shows “the prevalence of obesity among U.S. preschoolers has doubled in recent decades” (May 629). This is not surprising because we live in a “fast food” world where convenience is king. Where the television is the babysitter, and staying indoors to play video games is preferred to playing outside. So is this the child’s fault? Sometimes, but it is my opinion that parents are mainly to blame for childhood obesity because they are the ones that buy the groceries, set the television limits, and rely on fast food to feed their children.
We are facing a big problem that will make our life more miserable. We are eating junk food constantly that is bad for our health. Many people eat junk food because they think it’s cheap and faster or some people do not like to cook their own food. “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko. This article is talking about how fast food is making us eat bad because of their fast service and cheap prices. People tends to choose fast food instead of cooking a healthy meal. It is easy for teenagers to gain weight by eating fast food meals. Zinczenko also argues about the absence of nutrition information about the food. I agree with Zinczenko. However, Zinczenko could also have examined the issue of fast food advertisements, mention some benefits
Therefore, people tend to go to McDonalds to have a Big Mac rather than getting healthier food. According to Fryar and Ervin (2013), “in the youngest age group, 20–39, the percentage of calories consumed from fast food significantly decreased with increasing income level.” In this case, people that have lower income tend to have more unhealthy food because they cannot afford healthy food.
It became so clear that junk foods lead to a punch of catastrophic diseases like obesity, type two diabetes, vascular diseases and cardiac disorders. Those kinds of diseases cost more than $150 billion annually, just to diagnose, treat people who suffer from them. That disease is chronic and leads to many health-related issues, for example, obesity considers a risk factor for type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, joint disorders and many others (The Denver Post 2012). The key of preventing many chronic problems is nutrition. Low income plays an important role of limiting most people to buy and eat a healthy diet and in the other hand, it is easy for people budgets to purchase junk foods. So controlling the prices of healthy foods to be suitable for all people make good nutrition available for everyone. Adequate diets mean decreasing the epidemic of those serious diseases, and stopping the spread and break the bad sequences that may happen. Long-term exposure to junk foods that are full with chemicals like additives, preservatives have led to chronic illnesses difficult to treat. Also, the chemical added to junk foods are tasted unique and made millions of people becoming addicted to them and are available everywhere for example in restaurants, cafes, lunchrooms (The Denver Post