America is one of the most obese countries in the world, and the reasons are obvious. Just look around you. Fast food chains on every block, unhealthy foods are much less expensive than the healthy foods we should be eating, more and more technology to make our lives easier and lazier, and high amounts of stress are all factors to weight gain in our country. What You Eat Is Your Business by Radley Balko, he argues about government interfering in private matters, such as making the choices for us in what we should or should not eat.
Spending millions of dollars will not stop people from eating what they want to. People will always find alternative ways that fits their choices. Government deciding for our choices is just not right even in the
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Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution we as people have full rights to choose for ourselves as long as it doesn't affect anyone else. Balko argues "It’s a private concern what we choose to put in our bodies. It only becomes a public matter when we force the public to pay for the consequences of those choices" (397). In Balko's argument, he appeals logically by using facts and logical argument. Radley Balko is a senior writer and investigative reporter for the Huffington Post, where he covers civil liberties and the criminal justice system.
He also writes about music and culture in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives.
Balko is a former senior editor for Reason magazine, where his weekly column and investigative features were finalists for and won a number of journalism awards. His2009 investigative report on expert witness fraud in a Louisiana death penalty case won the Western Publication Association’s “Maggie Award” for reporting. In 2011, That Week named Balko a finalist for “Opinion Columnist of the Year," and the L.A. Press Club named him Journalist of the Year for small publications, as well as Journalist of the Year overall (Balko).
"What You Eat Is Your Business" by Radley Balko is an article in which he argues about how government interferes in what we eat. Radley Balko says, "President Bush earmarked $200 million in his budget for anti-obesity measures. State legislatures and school boards across the country have begun banning snacks and soda from school campus and vending machines" (Balko 296). None of these methods will stop people from eating what they want; it is just a waste of money. In the essay, he argues about how health has become public matter, rather than private. The reason of very high health cost in America is that "We are more likely go to the doctor at the first sign of cold, when we are not paying for it from our own pocket." In the
conclusion, "We'll all make better choices about diet, exercise, and personal health when someone else isn't paying for the consequences of those choices." (Balko 298) A "Fat Tax" on high calorie foods and raising the cost of premiums, these are the wrong way to fight obesity. Fat Tax on sodas and high calorie food will not just affect individual but it affects the industry. Fat taxes just not for obese people but for every-one this might lower the sales in fast food industry, and this could cause lots of things such as cutting down the labor, less businesses and eventually it might higher the rate of bankruptcy for the businesses. Banning snacks and soda from school campus, and feeding tasteless food in school cafeteria, will not prevent students from packing their own lunch (unhealthy) from outside of school. Rather than all that I would say make it compulsory for all students in schools to take health and gym class. In health class, they will get educated about high calorie foods and the effect of them and in the gym class, they will learn about benefits of exercises and sports. This will not just make more students healthy and active, but would also help them make good and healthy choices they might take for themselves and their family in future. "Your choices of eating junk and high calorie food cost me higher insurance premiums and If the government is paying for it then why should I stop eating cheesy Mexican food" (Balko 397). Government should not collect tax from me to pay for someone else is health care, just because they chose to eat cheeseburger. Government should make people to pay for their own choice. For the people who cannot afford to pay for their health care, government should help them by giving them choice to pay in installments and in some other ways. Government should not pay for them from the taxes collected from daily hard working people. I believe there are many simple things we can do to help our country lose weight, and become healthy. Things like eating healthier and getting more exercise, but instead of forcing them on the choice of food, we should educate them on the effects of high calorie and junk foods. Government can educate, inform, advocate and inspire, but should not be the final decision-maker when it comes down to what is best for me.
Radley Balko, The author of the essay “What You Eat is Your Business”, would agree that in order to stop obesity, we must turn this public problem around and make it everyone’s individual responsibility. Instead of inflicting the importance of personal ownership, government officials, politicians and congress make obesity a public problem by prohibiting junk food in school vending machines, federal funding for new bike trails and sidewalks, and restrictive food marketing to children. Overall I agree that this manipulation of food options is not the proper way to fight obesity, however, I think that government should inform people about the food they are eating because then they have no excuses for not taking responsibility of the actions.
I am responding to the request to analyze Radley Balko’s article, “What You Eat Is Your Business” and make a recommendation for or against publication in The Shorthorn at University of Texas at Arlington. In order to respond, I have examined the rhetorical appeals of Balko’s piece and determined why this article should be posted in the next edition of The Shorthorn. I believe that the Shorthorn audience would be interested in what is being discussed regarding of obesity, things that could potentially affect their lifestyle as well as the professors. In “What You Eat Is Your Business”, Balko claims that obesity is the responsibility of the individual not the government, and how our government is allowing American to live an unhealthy lifestyle
In his article “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko emphasizes that we ought to be accountable with what we eat, and the government should not interfere with that. He declares that the state legislature and school boards are already banning snacks and soda at school campuses across the country to help out the “anti-obesity” measure. Radley claims that each individual’s health is becoming “public health” instead of it being their own problem. Balko also states, “We’re becoming less responsible for our own health, and more responsible for everyone else’s.” For instance, a couple of new laws have been passed for people to pay for others’ medicine. There is no incentive to eat right and healthy, if other people are paying for the doctor
Richard Balko and Mary Maxfield discuss personal responsibility, and choices in one’s health in their essays “What You Eat Is Your Business,” and “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” respectively. Balko feels the government should not intervene in people’s food intake because it is an individual preference. Instead, Balko asserts that the government should foster a program to assist the American people to take on personal responsibility and ownership of their own health. Similarly, Maxfield paints the same picture that our culture now finds it immoral to eat what our body needs, therefore believing in the idea of eating less is healthier. Maxfield points out the multi-billion dollar campaign of corporations into advertising false hope into consumers by buying into eradication of fatness. Why has food have suddenly become a risky subject at the dinner table? And who is to blame? Is it everyone else or do we blame ourselves?
“Fat Land”, a book by Greg Cristler, a health journalist who was formerly considered overweight, explains how America became the fattest people in the world. Before writing this book, Cristler was told that he needed to lose forty pounds and so to do so he enlisted a competent doctor, the prescription weight-loss medication Meridia, jogs in a congenial neighborhood park, a wife who cooked him healthy food, and access to plenty of information. Cristler is quick to add that those weren’t the only factors that led to his weight loss, but money and time were a big part of it. Cristler lost the weight, but he states “the more I contemplated my success, the more I came to see it not as a triumph of the will, but as a triumph of my economic and social
Should people be held accountable for what they eat? Many believe that it is a matter of public health, but some think that it is the matter of personal responsibility. In the article “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko argues that the government spending more money on anti-obesity measures is the wrong way to fix the obesity epidemic. He claims that people should be more responsible for their personal health. I am of two minds about this author’s claim that eating and lifestyle are matters of personal choice. On the one hand, I agree with his claim because of the unfair insurance policies, people should be more responsible for their own health, and people should take the time to be responsible for their kid’s health instead of blaming someone or something irrelevant. On the other hand, the government should do their best to dispose of “food deserts,” provide more opportunities to live a healthy life style, and give tax breaks to people selling healthy foods.
Studies have linked obesity to many things from ear infections, to pollution, to air-conditioning, to socializing with obese people. The reason Americans are obese is because of the increasing luxury available to them. Obesity is a rising problem in the United States, and with all the privileges given to its citizens, the country has become increasingly lazy. With portion sizes rising and physical activity decreasing, it is easy to see how obesity rates have skyrocketed.
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
In his article, Balko agrees with the opinion that people need to take more responsibility for their own personal health and well-being. “Instead of manipulating or intervening in the array of food options available to American consumers, our government ought to be working to foster a sense of responsibility in and ownership of our health and well-being. But we’re doing just the opposite” (158). Balko suggests that the government is babying the American population by putting the blame of obesity in corporations and business’s hands rather than the people of whom are buying the health hazardous products. In addition, one of Balko’s other arguments is that sense the American health care system has become collective enough to a point in which society has stopped worrying about its health in general because individuals know that if they do end up with some sort of health issue, the money will be there to support them. This money he says comes from everyday people in America that pay taxes. If this type of system continues in the United States, the country will continue to get fatter and fatter. However, Balko says that if the government tightens up its grip by integrating in effective changes to some health care policies and putting responsibility back into the people’s hands, then America will gradually slim
We make personal choices about what and where to eat. The government is not going to eliminate the unhealthy food because we think it is the cause of obesity. Ultimately, we must decide to either stay away from unhealthy food or eat them in moderation. Despite all the efforts of education, media and guidance it doesn’t prevent us from grabbing that cheeseburger with fries on the way to work. In his essay “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko argues that society should take full responsi...
In his article, “What You Eat is Your Business,” Radley Balko blames individuals for fueling today’s so-called obesity epidemic that is occurring throughout the United States. He argues that the government should stop labeling obesity as a “public health” issue, and start making people take responsibility for their own actions. Balko discusses how the idea of someone's "...well-being, shape, and condition have increasingly been deemed matters of 'public health,' instead of matters of personal responsibility" (Balko). He claims that deeming obesity as matters of "public health" is the wrong way to fight the obesity epidemic. He suggests that the best way to "...alleviate the obesity 'public health' crisis is to remove obesity from the realm of 'public health’ (Balko). He tries to convey the message that obesity doesn’t belong under “public health,” by emphasizing the fact that, “It’s difficult to think of anything more private and of less public concern than what we chose to put into our bodies” (Balko). Balko insists that if people take credit for their own actions, and stop blaming others for their condition, then they will start to make better choices when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. But what about the nonexistent nutritional facts on menus at restaurants Radley Balko? If the nutritional facts were available would that help decrease the obesity rate, and would people try to eat healthier?
The fact is that in our country, any government intrusion looks undesirable. We are so used to making free choice and to having access to everything we need and want that we have already forgotten the value and usefulness of the government control. No, that does not mean that the government must control everything and everyone. What I mean here is that the government control should be balanced with the freedom of choice. Unfortunately, plentiful foods do not lead to improved health conditions. We cannot always make a relevant choice. Our hurried lifestyles make us extremely fast, and eating is not an exception. We eat fast, but fast does not always mean useful. I believe, and in this essay I argue that the government must have a say in our diets. Because there are so many obese people, because obesity is an expensive disease, and because very often it is due to poverty that people cannot afford healthy foods, the government must control the amount and the range of foods which we buy and eat. Healthy foods must become affordable. Poor populations must have access to high quality foods. The production of harmful foods should be limited. All these would be impossible if the government does not take active position against our diets.
United States citizens consume too much of what is irrelevant for the body and not enough of what is demanded. “Americans need to consume more fruits and vegetables, especially dark green and orange vegetables and legumes. Nutritionists must help consumers realize that, for everyone older than age 3 years, the new recommendations for fruit and vegetable intakes are greater than the familiar five servings a day” ( Guenther 1371-379 ) When traveling around America, noticing the eating habits of each state is important and hard to miss. Eating what you want, when you want is okay, as long as you are canceling it out with exercise. Being obese and being overweight are completely different.
Many of us express our freedom by talking, writing, and drawing. So the same should be said for eating. If we choose to eating a Big Mac over a home-grilled hamburger then so be it. If we choose to watch the super-bowl rather than playing football then so is it. No one has the right to tell us what to eat or to force us to be slimmer and just like we choose to be capitalist; the food industry has the right to capitalize on our hunger without forcing it down our throat without our consent or that might be considered
Over the course of the last few decades, the U.S. has seen a drastic rise in the spread of obesity. Through the rise of large-scale fast food corporations, the blame has shifted toward the mass consumerism of these global industries. It is, however, due to poor lifestyle choices that the U.S. population has seen a significant increase in the percentage of people afflicted with obesity. In 1990 the percentage of obese people in the United States was approximated at around 15%. In 2010, however, it is said that “36 states had obesity rates of 25 percent or higher”(Millar). These rates have stayed consistent since 2003. The obesity problem in America is