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Obese and Hungry for Change
Diet guru, Robert Atkins once said, “How much obesity has to be created in a single decade for people to realize that diet has to be responsible for it?”
In, “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko argues that obesity is the responsibility of the individual, not the government; and because of that healthy people are overwhelmingly footing the bill for their unhealthy fellow citizens. He points an angry finger at the government and politicians who are turning our health care system into a failing socialist commodity, making obesity a matter of public health; and claims that your lack of personal responsibility is becoming a financial burden on healthy people. Because of that, we are becoming a conforming
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He believes that if people were held accountable for their eating habits, they would make smarter choices. THESIS STATEMENT HERE
Balko states that if the government keeps paying for people’s anti-cholesterol medication, “what incentive is there for them to put down the cheeseburger?” (467). He correctly hypothesizes that government intervention, which should be meant to stop obesity, is instead incentivizing it. The obesity epidemic in the United States is three decades old now, and there has been a big amount of investments made in clinical care, research, and in the creation of programs to fight obesity and obesity rates keep skyrocketing. I wish I could go back in time and tell Balko his predictions were right. If he believed there was little incentive to lose weight back then, there is even less incentive today. Now with the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, citizens are forced to purchase health insurance for themselves, but also for the “free riders” out there. I guess non-obese people is footing the bill for obese people. Folks, isn’t this “divide everyone” or the “I will give you of other people’s money” idea the epitome of socialism? Believe me; I know what I am talking about. I come from a
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There is so much government could and should do. For instance, an article from US Today in 2003 states that “It costs about $1,400 more a year to treat an obese patient compared with a person at a healthy weight.” Fiscally responsible people are being punished by the benefit of the irresponsible, through government “enforced” redistribution. (Remember Obamacare?) It is not the government, insurance companies, or my job, for this instance, to fight and finance people’s “lack of control to stop ingesting fattening foods.” I understand obesity, for many individuals, is a deeper, more complex problem. However, laws are supposed to be passed to regulate government, not citizens. Intervening in the most fundamental and private aspects of our lives, even if there is some indirect social or financial cost, even if the reason is to finance the obese, is utterly wrong. Let’s say that the situation is, no different than safe drivers getting discounts and paying less than repeated DUI drivers and speeders. Take the risk, pay more. If health care costs are paid by themselves, people would think twice about their bills before carelessly eating too many
23 July 2018. Print. The. Brody, Jane E. “Attacking the Obesity Epidemic by First Figuring Out Its Cause.” New York Times.
Balko develops an angry tone about the fact that government believes unhealthy people should depend on healthy people or they should not hold any responsibility. Actually, Balko complains the way government prohibits any private insurer to charge additional fee of obese clients is unwise. Balko’s claim is that if people had to pay more financially, they would be more cautious about their choices on what foods should they consume. I agree with him on this point, because if insurers want to charge overweight clients with higher premiums, the clients would try to be fit in the average range to avoid paying any hard-earned money from their pocket. Balko evokes ethos appeals by demonstrating if the government is willingly paid for his anti-cholesterol medicine, then what the motivations for exercising are. He makes the audience sympathize with him by saying that what the government does is wrong. Toward the end, Balko implies that people will make better choices if there is no one responsible for those choices.
In his article, “What You Eat Is Your Business” Balko contends that government intervention is the wrong way to fight obesity. Rather, each individual should be held responsible for their own actions (Balko 467). This assertion is made through lines of deductive reasoning. He starts this argument by first arguing that former President Bush reserved $200 million in an anti-obesity budget that will foster measures to prevent and reduce obesity (467). Following that, he referred to some politicians trying to put a “‘fat tax’ on high-calorie food” (467).
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?
In “Don’t Blame the Eater”, by David Zinczenko and in “What You Eat is Your Business”, by Radley Balko both authors discuss and make their stance’s clear on their believed cause of obesity in America. On one hand, Zinczenko argues that it is not the consumers fault for putting themselves at risk of becoming obese or being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but that it is the fast-food companies fault. While on the other hand, Balko argues that we as individuals hold responsibility on whether or not we are putting ourselves at risk for obesity.
Beside on that, Balko argues with the government recommendation of health care systems, and it is willing to pay for citizens’ medication due to poor eating and living habits. He says, “Your heart attack drives up the cost of my premiums and office visits” (467). How it is possible to make offers for people instead of fighting companies that sell unhealthy food. He also points out, “For decades now, America 's health care system has been migrating towards socialism” (467). His point is that if the government would start to put lows to these companies in order to stop their widespread. As a result, the government needs to address this problem by providing health care systems, and this requires citizens to pay for it. I believe it is true that government might make a billion of dollars from health care systems as profits. On the other hand, government does not do anything for the companies that provide unhealthy food or food that has more than the average amount of calories so the government truly allows these companies to spread out their products, and citizens are
Obesity has become an epidemic in today’s society. Today around 50% of America is now considered to be over weight. Fast-food consumption has been a major contributor to the debate of the twenty-first century. Chapter thirteen, titled “Is Fast-Food the New Tobacco,” in the They Say I Say book, consists of authors discussing the debate of fast-food’s link to obesity. Authors debate the government’s effects on the fast-food industry, along with whether or not the fast-food industry is to blame for the rise in obesity throughout America. While some people blame the fast food industry for the rise in obesity, others believe it is a matter of personal responsibility to watch what someone eats and make sure they get the proper exercise.
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.
Balko’s use of informative statistics makes the reader think about government’s role with obesity, and how much they should to do with it being solved. For example, President Bush put $200 million into his budget for anti-obesity measures, and some Senators, including Joe Lieberman, made the call for a “fat-tax” on high calorie foods. Although it appears these politicians and government officials are all trying to help society and this growing problem in America, many would agree they are just hurting the cause. I remember when I
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
Ever since the creation of the golden arches, America has been suffering with one single problem, obesity. Obesity in America is getting worse, for nearly two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight. This obesity epidemic has become a normal since no one practices any type of active lifestyle. Of course this is a major problem and many wish it wasn 't in existence, but then we start to ask a major question. Who do we blame? There are two articles that discuss numerous sides of this question in their own unique way. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko is better than “Don 't Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko due to its position in argument, opposition, and it’s reoccurrence in evidence.
In the end, fast food companies and individual faults should not be targeted as the main epidemic of obesity in the United State is increasing tremendously. Our lifestyles and poor 'convenient ' diets we can all say is an appropriate blame for the increase in obesity. Heaney acknowledges Oliver’s admonition “to stop worrying so much about our weight” is premature, although his advice to start caring more about diet and exercise is sensible. Eating well, eating less, and exercising regularly is what we must do to if we want to increase our life span and feel better about ourselves
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity now ranks as the 10th most important health problem in the world (“Obesity Seen as a Global Problem”). Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Centers for Disease Control and Protection estimates that obesity contributed to the deaths of 112,000 Americans in 2000 (“Obesity in the U.S. Fast”). It is estimated that annual medical care cost of obesity are as high as $147 billion (“Obesity in the U.S. Fast”). Government-provided food stamps are often expended on junk or fast food, because it tends to be less expensive than fresh or cook food. Governments fund producers of meat and dairy products to keep prices low. For now, governments are taking a smarter and more productive approach through regulation, and by working with manufacturers.
The government must have a say in our diets. Because the issues of obesity have already reached national scales, because the costs of obesity and related health issues have gone far beyond reasonable limits, and because fighting nutritional issues is impossible without fighting poverty and other social issues, the government should control the range and the amount of available foods. The cost of healthier foods should decrease. The access to harmful foods should be limited. In this way, the government will be able to initiate a major shift in nutritional behaviors and attitudes in society.