Obesity: Swallowing America Whole The American taste buds are hooked to sweet, spicy, and salty flavors. The mouth controls the diet and emotions of every American. This food obsession, however, has transformed from an excitement to an addiction. Food controls physical and mental health; one eats when sad, happy, or bored. Food answers all problems. As the obsession with food increases, the obesity crisis in America also grows immensely. The obesity epidemic in America stems from three sources: the food industry, the government, and the American culture. The food industry’s lies and greed prevent Americans from knowing what food possesses as ingredients and why one feels the need to continue eating it. While the government and the FDA fail …show more content…
The government, responsible for protect those it serves, allows the obesity rate to increase rapidly and seems to ignore the large issue at hand. The government prompts the obesity epidemic by allowing the food industry to violate codes while doing nothing in retaliation and focusing on greed rather than health. Eric A. Finkelstein and Laurie Zuckerman, authors of The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What to Do About It, discuss the power and role the government has on the food consumption in America: “Government has imposed numerous laws and regulations that, whether directly or indirectly, influence our food consumption and physical activity decisions, and ultimately our rates of obesity” (Finkelstein and Zuckerman 115). The ordinances and rules that governmental programs, like the FDA, dictate what Americans eat on a daily basis. The restrictions and codes, also provided by the FDA, force the food industry to create, produce, and package foods in a certain manner in order to sell them. These rules, however, are not always enforced; according to Nancy Deville, author of Death by Supermarket; The Fattening, Dumbing Down, and Poisoning of America, “Factory foods are manufactured or raised with toxic substances that have either received FDA approval or these substances have slipped through cracks” (Deville 61). …show more content…
Magazines, TV, music, books, and movies help one make decisions and take action whether consciously or subconsciously. This large sphere of influence, however, is not always beneficial for those who suffer victim to these forms of public entertainment. The medias version of beauty, shames those who are considered overweight and scares almost everyone into thinking that being thin is the only way to be pretty. Jolene Hart emphasis how important beauty is in the American culture in her book Eat Pretty: Nutrition for Beauty, Inside and Out: “There’s a multi-billion-dollar industry built on helping us achieve greater physical beauty” (Hart 33). By creating this manipulated and untrue image of beauty, the American culture encourages eating disorders like anorexia (undereating) and sustains obesity (overeating). When interviewing Shannon Herman, a licensed professional counselor and certified eating disorder specialist, she revealed that adolescents in 2015 are exposed to media about body types and sizes more than any person in history. It goes without saying that mixed messages are bounding and truth is always relative. There are no absolutes. Media does not have mercy on anything but perfection. The perfection that surrounds today’s media causes eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. In order to achieve the body culture claims to offer, one resorts to dieting and exercise; dieting and exercise,
This appeals to our physiological needs because naturally, humans need to eat food and to hear from a professional that there are other influences outside of food that are giving cause to the obesity crisis gives Americans a slight sigh of relief when it comes to the degree of toxicity of our foods. Furthermore, that people eat a more wholesome diet versus those that do not, tend to be healthier than that live on fast and processed foods,there are also stark differences to recognize between these classes that should be taken into account as well such as the tendency to engage in exercise, air quality, and other health considerations such as smoking and
The high obese population can be explained by culture, portion sizes, food companies and restaurant policies, diets, and traditions. Obesity is not only an individual issue; it is most importantly a national matter. It raises both individual and collective problems related to economic and demographic dynamics. Therefore, based on the alarming rate obesity is growing, it is crucial at this point to find a solution in order to slow down and hopefully stop this epidemic. Comparing diets of different countries and taking a look at the background story of American nutrition and regimes, it is clear that the American diet is very different from other nationalities and has worsened over the decades.
Morgan Spurlock, an American Independent Filmmaker embarked on an experiment of eating only McDonalds for thirty days. He documented his findings in a documentary titled “Supersize Me” As a result, Spurlock gained nearly twenty-five pounds, and his body mass increased almost fifteen percent. The reason behind Spurlock’s investigation was to identify the problem with our countries rise in obesity, largely contributed to a lack of fresh and healthy food being available. Obesity is an epidemic plaguing our country ever so quickly and one of the biggest reasons for it is many communities don’t have access to fresh food, and in many times that food if available exceeds the families budget. The United States Department of Agriculture (1) defines
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.
Unhealthy Food Indulgence: Who Is To Blame? Obesity and its associated health problems continue to be a growing menace to the American population. With only a few minutes spent on a busy street observing all the people of diverse ethnicities, age and race walk by and most of us will agree that obesity in America is not exclusive; it’s affecting both the young and old alike. David Zinczenko and Radley Balko both agree that some measures should be carried out in the fight against obesity in their articles, “Don’t Blame the Eater” and “What You Eat Is Your Business” respectively. However, differences exist between the views of the two authors as to who to blame for the obesity crisis.
The grotesque amount of food purchases consumed by countless citizens explodes through the roof, with the nation as large as ever. Gone are the Renaissance days of plumpness being chic and desirable, since forth replaced by the yearning of health, fitness, and youth of the mind, body, and soul. However, these ideals hold little standings for the masses remain unhealthy. The supply and demand of ample quantities of foodstuffs veer people off the path of health and into the selfish world of delicious meals, snacks, and desserts. By placing restrictions on the magnitude of food consumed, overconsumption of food diminishes and obesity rates decline.
Eating Healthy Michael Pollan, a health food spokesperson, made some interesting critiques on how he believes that there is an American paradox such as, “a notably unhealthy population preoccupied with… the idea of eating healthy” (Maxfield, 442). The idea taken from Michael Pollan’s quote is that he believes the definition of healthy eating has more to do with how it is “driven by a well-funded corporate machine” (Maxfield, 442). He is also claiming that the food industry is benefiting on our lack of knowledge on how to eat properly when it comes to being healthy. In her article Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating, Mary Maxfield directly attacked Pollan’s claims, pointing out the hypocrisy in his words because he is sharing
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.
In both David Zinczenko’s “Don’t Blame The Eater” and “ Radley Balko’s “What You Eat is Your Business”, the argument of obesity in America is present and clear from opposing viewpoints. Both articles were written in the early 2000’s, when the popular political topic of the time was obesity and how it would be dealt by our nation in the future. While Zinczenko argues that unhealthy junk food is an unavoidable cultural factor, Balko presents the thought that the government should have no say in it’s citizens diet or eating habits. Zinczenko’s article was written with the rhetorical stratedgy of pathos in mind.
Obesity has gained a lot of attention in the recent years especially in the 21st century. Right now in America, there is an ongoing epidemic. The cause is not by viruses or bacteria, but by human nature. There is no one way to solve this serious problem. With growing body sizes and serious medical problems associated with obesity, it is a problem that needs to be addressed and changed.
If changes are not made now, then people will soon be living shorter lives and suffer most of their life from obesity and the health issues that come with it. The Government should regulate what Americans consume in order to curb obesity rates and potentially save lives. Childhood obesity is a big issue that affects children every day. A third of the child population below the age of 20 are considered obese. The way Americans eat today and the lack of physical activity is leading to serious health risk that will continue to get worse as children age.
From an early age, we are exposed to the western culture of the “thin-ideal” and that looks matter (Shapiro 9). Images on modern television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful. Often, television portrays the thin women as successful and powerful whereas the overweight characters are portrayed as “lazy” and the one with no friends (“The Media”). Furthermore, most images we see on the media are heavily edited and airbrushed
As a hole there should be more restaurants that promote healthy food choices. Obesity in the United States is out of proportion and something need to be don , not necessarily at the point of government intersection but this needs to be fix some way somehow. ”public health experts say that an unhealthy diet and the lack of exercise are still the two biggest culprits. ”-Felix gusson.
Most Americans in contemporary society run on an automatic default setting, not bothering to question what they attest to on an everyday basis. A monotonous routine sets in that transcends into future generations. In this current fast paced way of life it’s not difficult to fall into the trap of the unregulated food industry. The least of many concerns is to worry about a couple of unpronounceable words on the back of the cereal box one has for breakfast each morning. Many of these ingredients and their derivatives are unknown to the common shopper.