In David Zinczenko’s essay “Don’t Blame the Eater”, the author shares his sympathy for a group of young people suing McDonalds for making them fat. Zinczenko makes a point that the surplus of fast food chains and the amount of advertising they are allowed has a serious effect on today’s youth. He goes on to argue his stance that the “eaters” are not to blame. His tone in the article struck me as if he was accusing those who hold unhealthy eaters responsible for their own actions as “victim blamers” who lack empathy and the understanding of how the food industries work. I felt as though he was coming off as too defensive and a bit arrogant. Despite that, I do think he made some interesting points. He supported his opinions with data and other facts, which is a sign of a good argument. I even agree with him to an extent. Particularity in the case of type 2 Diabetes and fast food companies responsibility for the obesity epidemic. …show more content…
The amount of unhealthy food consumed in America goes well beyond McDonalds. In fact, you have to go no farther than your local grocery store to find equally as terrible food choices. For example, in recent years the government has put out warnings against eating fat in excess, which lead many big food companies, from yogurt to Wheat Thins, to send out new products with “less fat”. However, products with “less fat” actually have nearly twice as much sugar. Many studies have shown that sugar in excess is much worse than fat. Although, food companies are leading us to believe these “less fat” or “no fat” products are the healthier options. Meanwhile, waistbands expand nearly as quickly as corporate
The fast food industry also hurts environments around farms in general. It has created an unsustainable cycle that farmers cannot escape. In order to feed themselves and their family, farmers play it safe and buy more fertilizer than needed. When the farmers do not use all of it, they must dispose of it, because that fertilizer will not be as effective next year, so they dump the fertilizer in the areas surrounding their farms. But what this causes is too much nitrogen in the environment because too much nitrogen can kill plants and throw the nitrogen cycle out of balance, in turn hurting the environment.
He shows that most are eating way more calories than they think. His usage of data and numbers in the last part of his essay reinforce what was already a strong
Because of the improvement of living standard, people’s demand for the food has changed. Healthy food could assist human to build a better body. It is common to notice that the reason that there are so many overweight, cardiac diseases, and type 2 diabetes because people can’t afford to eat healthy. When most of the families are buying the food, they are not just jugging about tight schedule, they are also cosidering about their budgets. According to Mark Bittman’s article, “ Is the Junk Food Really Cheaper?”
Tax it, Subsidize Vegetables" (July 23rd 2011) argues that the junk food companies have a huge advantage over the more healthy companies when it comes to manufacturing, prices, advertisements, and convenience. Bittman supports his claims by listing many different statistics on the decline of the American Diet, obesity and diabetes
In David Freedman’s essay How Junk food Can End Obesity, Freedman makes the claim to policy arguing that instead of demonizing processed foods, Americans should instead support the idea and production of healthier processed and junk foods. He calls on the public to recognize that while many products on the market these days are labeled as “wholesome” and “healthy”, consumers should learn to become aware of the fat and calorie content in these products because many times they have the same- if not more- fat and calorie contents as that of a typical Big Mac or Whopper. In his essay, Freedman primarily places blame on the media and the wholesome food movement for the condemnation of the fast and processed food industries saying, “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, us making us sickly and overweight” (Freedman), he further expresses that this portrayal of the
Novelist, Eric Schlosser, in his novel, “Fast Food Nation”, expresses how fast food has spread. Schlosser’s purpose is to make us see how addicted we are to fast food. He adopts a shocking tone through the use of diction, Logos, and diction in order to get people to make better choices. For starters, one of the strategies that Schlosser used in this text is diction. Diction can be defined as style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker /writer.
In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” David Freedman argues that ending processed food is not going to help solve obesity problems. He knows that “Junk food is bad for you because it’s full of fats and problems carb” (Freedman 515). Freedman believe that we should use technology to improve fast-food by taking out the unhealthy products in it, instead of getting rid of fast-food entirely. He also talks about his experiences with food between wholesome food and McDonald’s. He discusses how McDonald’s smoothies have the lowest calories and are cheapest out of all other smoothies he had.
In recent decade, the United States has seen supermarkets continuously get filled with packages labeled with things like “Low sodium” or “No Trans Fats.” Companies stick these labels on their food to match the current fads of what is good for you and what is not. In his essay Unhappy Meals, Michael Pollan advocates a return to natural and basic foods, and deplores nutritionism. Pollan argues that nutritionism does not actually tell people what is healthy or not, and that the only way to be sure you are eating healthy is to eat natural, fresh food.
Zinczenko’s Rhetorical Precis In his essay “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko sympathizes for port fast-food patron, like himself ages ago, he agrees that food industry should take some responsibility for obesity. He supports his claim by warning consumers about the dangers of fast food,as it play a factor in obesity. Within his argument, he questions other counter arguments and uses his narrative tone to show consumers that the food industry is necessarily at fault. Zincenko believes the prevalence of fast food and the lack of healthier food alternatives is causing obesity in America.
He has background in the issue making him a reliable source. However, the article itself oversimplifies the issue of obesity and contradicts itself along the way. Jobs have moved from more physical to more office dominated careers as America has seen a shift to a white collar society. In the article they claim this is a big contributing factor, yet they state that lack of exercise is not a major factor. These physical labor intensive jobs burn a lot more calories than white collar jobs do.
Obesity is a prevalent issue within the United States. “According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) (2009-2010), approximately 69% of adults are overweight or obese, with more than 78 million adult Americans considered obese”. Today’s society is inundated with a firestorm of information regarding the types of foods that are healthy and will decrease obesity. The most prominent voices in today’s food culture, primarily the wholesome-food movement, believe eating unprocessed food is the only way to live long, healthy lives free of obesity. However, journalist David H. Freedman argues that individuals should not fall prey to these false misconceptions.
Instead, junk food increases risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. Despite all of this, we saw change with the COVID-19 pandemic because people were eating at home more often, and that food was typically significantly more healthy than what is sold at the average fast food joint. This cooking at home stuck with people, and many continue to do it because of the many benefits that it does provide. People’s eating habits and self control are only partially to blame for the high obesity rates in America for these reasons, as it was shown people can eat healthy when given the choice. But since the popular restaurants prepare their food in such an addictive manner, people keep coming back to consume just one more Big Mac.
In “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko tackles the issue of who is responsible for fighting obesity. Balko argues that the controversy of obesity should make the individual consumers culpable for their own health and not the government (467). As health insurers refrain from increasing premiums for obese and overweight patients, there is a decrease in motivation to keep a healthy lifestyle (Balko 467). As a result, Balko claims these manipulations make the public accountable for everyone else 's health rather than their own (467). Balko continues to discuss the ways to fix the issue such as insurance companies penalizing consumers who make unhealthy food choices and rewarding good ones (468).
Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.
I love the way that he end the essay by putting the problem back to whom he believe own it. Zinczenko end his argument as follow: “And I’d say the industry is vulnerably. Fast-food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels. They would do well to protect themselves and their customers, by providing the nutrition information people need to make informed choice about their products. Without such warnings, we’ll see more sick, obese children and more angry, litigious parents.