Teleya Bailey
ID: 35707200
Class number: 24698
Section number: 0002
9/18/2015
A Rhetorical Analysis of Honor Whitman’s
“Healthy diet and, exercise
‘Not enough to treat obesity,’ say experts”
With her article, “Healthy diet, exercise ‘not enough to treat obesity,’ say experts,” published in Medical News Today, devoted journalist Honor Whiteman touches on the sensitive debate of how to cure obesity. Honor Whiteman’s main interests are new medical diagnostics, neurology, and stem cell and cancer research. She has strong experience in journalism. Prior to Medical News Today, she worked for a number of financial publications covering both consumer and trade finances.
Obesity is a big problem in America and she lets us know that by stating
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the percentage amount of adults and children are obese. Although a healthy diet and exercise are prescribed as treatment for obesity, she says it isn’t enough. She gives reasons why it is not enough and explains that more needs to be done. A healthy diet and exercise are only good in short term, but treating obesity as a chronic disease caused by biological and behavioral factors will allow better results for individuals in the long run. As of right now, gastric bypass surgery has been shown to be effective in reversing changes in appetite-related hormones caused by obesity, which affects how the brain responds to food. This is probably why bariatric surgery seems to be the only treatment that works long term. In this piece, Whiteman is very upfront with her thesis, which is good idea in this case.
She has very few uses of pathos, but they are direct. Her ethos usage is very strong and Whiteman’s establishment of credibility, at the very beginning, will entice the reader to believe what she’s saying. Her logos appeal is clearly stated, but kairos is not well written either, though she manages to somewhat get it in.
Creating her thesis as an opener for her argument was genius because it’s a powerful statement that leave the reader hooked. It gets right to the point without any mystery. Most people reading medical or health articles would want the main point to be at the start, so they know what they are reading. By saying, “not enough to treat obesity,” Whiteman is demanding attention to her article. It was the first thing I noticed. Which in turn has already made her article twenty times more
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interesting. In the beginning, Honor Whiteman gives her whole argument away in her title.
Not everyone thinks there is much more to obesity that poor diet and lack of exercise. By being so straight forward with her thesis, she has done a great job at gearing her argument towards individuals with obesity. She hits a sensitive spot for overweight people by saying, “obesity may not be cured with a healthy diet and physical activity alone.” For people that are in a range of normal weight, this statement would make them have some kind of sympathy for obese individuals. Later on in her article, Whiteman gets a quote from an expert Dr. Christopher Ochner, “few individuals ever truly recover from obesity; rather than suffer from ‘obesity in remission.’ They are biologically very different from individuals of the same age, sex, and body weight who never had obesity.” Although this can fall into the category of ethos, this remark leaves a scar on someone trying to overcome this disease. For me, this description sounds almost the cancer because of the word ‘remission.’ It seems that it’s just a disease that can constantly be treated but never fully out of your system. Nobody wants to believe that something cannot be
cured. As a result of quoting an expert doctor, Whiteman establishes her credibility, ethos. The article was written by experts in this field. Honor Whiteman also works for, Medical News Today, so she does a lot of research in the medical field for her articles. In the article the experts also explain that, “obesity is a chronic disease that can be caused by biological factors…” She’s giving readers reasons why a good diet and being active isn’t adequate. She name drops, Dr. Christopher Ochner, assistant professor of pediatrics and psychiatry. He is her main source of convincing people that more need to be done to prevent and cure obesity. Whiteman’s logos is clearly stated with, “while a healthy diet and exercise may help obese individuals lose weight in the short term, around 80-95% eventually gain back that weight.” She gives credit to Dr. Ochner while giving evidence of the amount of people that will not keep off the weight. The author previously stats that in the US, about 35% of adults and 17% of children and adolescents are obese. So she has done her own homework on the subject. To end her argument Honor uses a kairos affect. Dr. Ochner says, “Ignoring these biological factors and continuing to rely on behavioral modification will surely result in the continued inability to treat obesity effectively and the premature deaths of millions of individuals each year.” She’s shining light on the fact that people are currently dying from this and it’s time to stop disregarding other important factors. While her argument shows valid proof, she raises ideas but does not give deeper explanation. Whiteman brings up behavioral cause of obesity, but doesn’t give any examples of what these are or how to teach patience to break these behaviors. She mentions obesity being treated with biological interventions. Honor should have told the reader what these are. Now the reader has to go do some extra research. She says that bariatric surgery is the only thing that works long term, but is it really. This is where more use of pathos would come in handy. After getting this surgery and losing weight, there will most likely be an abundance of extra skin. This would result in another surgery. How would this affect obese men, women, and children mentally? Her article would have had more credibility and been more persuasive if she would have used pathos and other doctors that researched obesity. I would have had more sympathy if there was a story of someone that is currently dealing with or has dealt with obesity. It would have been more interesting to read about how they changed their daily behaviors or how their biological interventions reversed their lives. With that being said, Honor Whiteman’s argument was intriguing with lots of information I did not know about. She had a reliable source with lots of quotes and reasons why there needs to be more done about obesity. She leaves the reader wanting to do more research because she didn’t explain too much. At the same time, she has left the thought of how much more severe obesity is than what meets the eye. Works Cited Whiteman, H. (2015, February 13). "Healthy diet, exercise 'not enough to treat obesity,' say experts." Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/289339.php.
In 102 Minutes, Chapter 7, authors Dwyer and Flynn use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the readers’ consciences, minds and hearts regarding what happened to the people inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Of particular interest are the following uses of the three appeals.
The chapter, Church, has the troop hold up in a church for a few days. In the church, the monks take an immediately likely to the troop help with food and weapon cleaning. A few of the soldiers discuss what they wanted to do before the war. The troops learn more about each other and insight into what faith can be to them.
America’s obesity epidemic is a hot topic these days. Many people, experts or not, offer an opinion on the best solution to our nation’s weight gain, two of them being Michael Pollan and Michael Moss. Pollan and Moss present different opinions on the subject and offer solutions to the issue. Although Pollan’s article has good points, Moss’s article does a much better job of discussing obesity and providing a viable solution.
I chose this word because the tone of the first chapter seems rather dark. We hear stories of the hopes with which the Puritans arrived in the new world; however, these hopes quickly turned dark because the Purtains found that the first buildings they needed to create were a prison, which alludes to the sins they committed; and a cemetery, which contradicts the new life they hoped to create for themselves.
American health, specifically our obesity epidemic, has grown into a trending media topic. A quick Google search will bring up thousands of results containing a multitude of opinions and suggested solutions to our nation’s weight gain, authored by anyone ranging from expert food scientists to common, concerned citizens. Amongst the sea of public opinion on obesity, you can find two articles: Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss. Each article presents a different view on where the blame lies in this public health crisis and what we should do to amend the issue. Pollan’s attempt to provide an explanation pales in comparison to Moss’s reasonable discussion and viable
The article “Rethinking Weight” was written by Amanda Spake, and is about the hardships of losing weight and keeping it off. She makes note of the fact that healthy weight loss (medically supervised, slow and gradual weight loss) is a completely unfair playing field against fast weight loss. She also talks about whether obesity should be classified as a disease so that it gets better treatment in the medical field. The article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” was written by Mary Ray Worley, and is about learning to live in a “new world” as the author, Worley, describes it. This new world is one she experienced while at a NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) convention.
Ender is first shown as intelligent and skillful, and Peter shows the same attributes throughout the story. Ender uses his intellect to triumph over his bullies, and this translates to his experience in the Battle Room. He has to outsmart the enemy, rather than beat them physically, and it worked in his favor the majority of the time. Ender understands when he has to use his physicality to beat a bully, but also knows when he has to strategize to avoid a certain situation. When Ender is encountered by Bonzo after he won the battle by disobeying Bonzo’s orders, he has to use his judgement rather than his fists to get what he wants. Ender argued with Bonzo, “‘... I’ll pretend that you won this argument. Then tomorrow you can tell me you changed your mind.’ ‘I don’t need you to tell me what to do.’ ‘I don’t want the other guys to think you backed down. You wouldn’t be able to command as well’” (Card 87). Ender understands what his enemy, in this case Bonzo, wants, and knows how he can make both of them get what they want. He doesn’t resolve to violence when he knows that he can use a different method that benefits him. Ender’s intelligence and strategizing helps him overcome the difficulty he approaches throughout his life. Peter also uses his intellect to benefit himself throughout the events that happen.
This documentary shows great examples of how obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic as important as terrorism, according to Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona. He stated, “Obesity is a terror within us. It destroys our society from within.” If we don’t take responsibility and change our horrible eating patterns we are going to be doomed. One of the main reasons for obesity, other than the lack of a healthy diet, is the modernization of our world.
The film starts with what the government and many food companies say: that people become obese because do not exercise as much as they eat, and that obesity is caused by lack of effort. As the film suggest, exercise can moderate
Fumento uses humor to open the article by stating “the Land of the Fat, Home of the Broad” is how America should be defined. However, this statement might offend people who are obese or anyone in general. Fumento shows that he is unhappy with those people who have been carelessly giving out information on the low-fat diet and claims that much of the obesity epidemic can be laid at the feet of the food industry, diet-book authors, and government health officials. Throughout the piece, Fumento expresses his concern about the rising obesity epidemic and claims that health officials must stick to science if they want to help defeat the epidemic, but “first, do no harm.” The impact of the increasing obesity statistics have concerned Fumento so much that he has also written his own book, “The Fat of the Land,” to discuss this controversy. In the book he discusses the misinformation given out to the public on loosing weight and how they reap billions in profit. Intrinsic ethos takes a positive toll on Fumento’s argument which creates a better chance of getting his point across to the
"Treating Obesity Vital For Public Health, Physicians Say." Science Daily. 2006. Web. 10 May 2014. .
Goldstein, Hesh. Why There is an Obesity Epidemic. 16 Nov. 2009. 12 Nov. 2011 .
Brody, Jane E. “Attacking the Obesity Epidemic by First Figuring Out Its Cause.” New York Times. 12 September 2011. Print.
“Obesity is a complex condition, one with serious social and psychological dimensions, that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries” (controlling the global obesity epidemic). I quoted that whole line because it is the best worded statement I have seen in my research when it comes to summing up the obesity epidemic.
Obesity is a serious condition that has generated a discussion on whether or not to be classified as a disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is the body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, which is calculated based on the person’s height and weight. For years, our society has been facing the obesity challenge, which can be extremely costly once it leads to several diseases. Thus, because of the constant increase of percentage of people with obesity, the American Medical Association (AMA) proposed in June 18, 2013 to classify obesity as a disease. Their argument was that obesity increases the risks of countless health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension etc. Moreover, it increases morbidity and mortality. By considering obesity as a disease, their aim was to maximize researches and funding, which will focus on obesity from different medical and health approach levels. Their idea of classifying obesity as a disease was in accordance with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s declaration of 1995. The institute declared, “ Obesity is a complex multifactorial chronic disease developing from multiple interactive influences of numerous factors.” In 2012, the CDC data showed 34.9% of adults obese and 17% of obese children. These numbers are very alarming especially since the struggle to deter certain factors contributing into this condition is still a challenge. Among the struggles, there are the people’s rights versus health regulations to keep them as healthy as possible like the former mayor Bloomberg regulation on soft drinks size cut. During CNN’s show GPS of Sunday 2, 2014, the host Zacharia...