Don T Blame The Eater Summary

American obesity is a widely known problem that keeps getting worse every year. People struggle daily between choosing to eat healthy or to find a quick and affordable meal to eat. The government needs to get more involved by making healthy food more accessible and more affordable in order for people to make healthy food choices.

“Don’t Blame the Eater” written by David Zinczenko explains how it is not the eaters fault for eating all of the unhealthy food and calories that they consume. Zinczenko points out that when you look around at your surroundings there’s plenty of unhealthy food options around you, but when you want to try and find healthy food it is nearly impossible. Companies do not display the kind of warning labels that they should be advertising. When you look at health labels on the food that you are consuming it is difficult to grasp what you are reading due to the company not wanting you to realize exactly what you are eating. The fast-food world deceives many customers making it nearly impossible for anybody to make healthy food choices.

“What You Eat Is Your Business” by Radley Balko shows that socialism is the wrong way to fight American obesity.

Balko says that the government is getting involved in a way where obesity is being encouraged and they need to take a step back in order for people to learn how to maintain their personal health. Radley Balko states that insurance companies are being forced to keep overweight premiums at a standard rate which takes off the financial aspect that could potentially push people towards living and eating healthier. Balko says “And if the government is paying for my anti-cholesterol medication, what incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger.” This is showing how the government supports people’s bad eating habits by taking the consequences away. By making the weight of the unhealthy eating consequences everyone's problem, it encourages unhealthy eating even

further.
“The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” written by Michael Moss shows how manipulative food companies are in order for the consumer to keep coming back for more. Moss shows how our society fails to realize what kind of impact the food advertisements do to a child's mind and we are quick to blame American obesity on irrelevant products like tobacco. Moss says that Companies who sell food products are interested in profit rather than how healthy their food actually is. From Michael Moss’ research, he found that labs around the world are focused on intentionally creating products that are fast, easy and cheap for the user to buy so they will keep coming back for more. Companies get the consumer hooked on their unhealthy product without them realizing it.
According to the various writers, the control that the food industry has over our society is abundantly clear. They do an infamous job at drawing a vague line between what food choices are healthy and which ones are not. This subsequently leads to the consumer being considerably more prone to making poor choices in diet. People fail to see the double standard, particularly when it comes to tobacco companies and the young individuals that they target with their advertising, while at the time, nobody seems to bat an eye while the food industry continues to strengthen its corporate grasp over our youth. It is clear that many different aspects of our society seem to be pushing to get people more accustomed to cheap and convenient foods in a collective manner. Not to mention the completely inhumane way in which our animals are treated for the sake of the meat industry. Once the government steps in and makes healthy food convenient Americans will be compelled to make better food choices.