Dont Blame the Eater Essay

As the obesity rate in America increases, people are pointing fingers at the fast-food industry. Teenagers, with the help of their parents, have filed lawsuits blaming fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s for their own health problems. However, parents, not the fast-food companies, are to blame for the amount of overweight children that are present today. They are the ones who teach their children eating and exercising habits, they are the ones who let their young consume unhealthy foods, they are the ones who allow their children to watch television and play on the computer for hours on end, it is obviously the parents fault for obesity in youth.

Have you ever thought about suing a fast food restaurant because of how unhealthy is making your body? Well in his essay “Don’t blame the eater” David Zinczenko talks about children that are trying to sue McDonalds for making them fat. Growing up with divorced parents and a mother who worked long hours, Zinczenko was left with no other choice but to turn to fast food restaurants in order to sustain himself. He describes how it’s easy for kids to put on weight and turn obese by eating junk food. He argues that fast food restaurants are to be blame for people, especially children and teenagers, for their obesity. Honestly it is the parents fault. Is not like McDonalds put a gun to an individual’s head and forced them to eat their food. In my opinion I would have to disagree with David Zinczenko, it is your own fault and a parents fault and not these fast food places. Children are a parent’s responsibility. As a parent you take ownership on what your children eat. I know some parents do work long hours and find it very convenient to stop at a fast food drive through to feed that to their kids and themselves, but there is many things parents can do to guarantee that their children eat healthy.

Because of parents using food as a reward, many children learn that being good means eating unhealthy. Combined with the advertising techniques used by the fast food industry, children begin to make a correlation between fast food and a reward. Ellen Gustafson further confirms that fast food contains “more refined grains, fats and oils and sugars than the 1980’s.” All of these components of fast food make it appealing to children. Furthermore, many parents do not have time to make healthy meals for their children because of our fast-paced society. As David Zinczenko relates in Don’t Blame the Eater, “lunch and dinner, for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut. Then, as now, these were the only available options for an American kid to get an affordable meal.” This is not a rare situation. Many parents work long hours and therefore encourage their kids to eat fast food instead of taking the time to teach healthy habits. This has the ripple effect of overeating and lack of exercise. Without exercise, many kids gain weight, become obese or are at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and asthma. (Childhood Obesity) Today, type 2 diabetes exists in 30% of childhood obesity. (Zinczenko 154) Gustafson further states in her presentation “1/3 of American children are overweight and obese.” When a child has obesity, their ability to participate in everyday activities like sports and play is inhibited, which means

In the article “don’t blame the eater”, David Zinczenko focuses on the reason behind the obesity problem that the modern young generations are facing. According to him, the large chains of fast-food restaurants given their availability around the country and low prices are the ones causing this problem. He brings in his own life experience and tells the story of becoming a 212 pound teenager highlighting that he had to rely on these fast food chains for everyday meal. With a single mother, who worked long hours he had no other alternatives to this like many other American teens. The lack of information about the calorie content of the dishes on these restaurants was one other main concern. Most of these restaurants do not provide enough data about the calorie content of their dishes, and even if they do so its mostly vague and deceiving. To show the gravity of the problem he pulls out a statistics of an increase of 30% in type 2 diabetes resulting in an expense of hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare. Zinczenko implies that this impact is as serious as smoking. Hence, fast food should have a warning label to raise awareness among the consumers. He addresses these food chains as vulnerable and warns these restaurants that they will find themselves in trouble unless they look out for their consumers. He also adds the further effects these food habits can have in our society.

David Zinczenko’s impartial essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater”, questions if children should be suing fast food companies for making consumers obese. He starts out by connecting to those who have found their way into unhealthy eating styles, but luckily for him, he found a way out of there. Furthermore Zinczenko compares the rate of diabetes in children in the 90s to the 2000s, it was significantly lower as compared to present day. He then goes back to the issue that the youth has, being un-employed and young and only having access to the cheap fast food, should they still be to blame? The next topic that was brought up was the lack of information that fast food franchises provide, Zinczenko points out the fact that on the countless television

David states, “But where, exactly, are consumers-particular teenagers-supposed to find healthy alternatives? Drive down, and thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonalds restaurant. Now, drive back up to the block, and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit (463).” David’s point is that fast food restaurants don’t offer healthy alternatives, and there are several fast food restaurants in America which are tempting. While David has a decent point, he fails to convince me since Fast food restaurants offer healthy alternatives such as wraps, fruits, and salads. A fast food restaurant such as subway offers healthier options than McDonalds. There are similarly numerous grocery stores which sell nutritious vegetables, and fresh fruits. A grocery store such as food lion sells pre-made, and pre-packed salads, and wraps at a low-cost. It’s the consumer choice to either but a big packet of fries with coke or to eat a healthy grilled wrap with a cup of

Childhood and teenage obesity has been an issue in America for more than twenty years now. The percentage of obese children has nearly doubled in this time, according to the article “Is Your Kid Failing Lunch?”. Today’s generation of kids is recorded as the fattest generation in history. One of the main causes of this is believed to be fast food kids are exposed to every day in school lunches. Schools are now starting to serve fast food in their lunches as more kids demand it, causing an increase in the schools profit. Outside of that, Americans are currently spending more than $100 billion a year on fast food. Each day one in four Americans will eat at a fast food chain (Beaver). This is easy to believe as the global fast food industry spent

This article incorporates essential realities about the fast food industry. Likewise, has late news and moves made by well known fast food organizations. The site likewise has tabs that clarify the wagers and most noticeably worst kid’s meals and after that another tab that includes the calories in kid’s meals. The site additionally discusses the different advertising to children and adolescents that the fast food industry does. Most of the data

The government may not be the only responsible party for what is going on in America, Fast Food corporations have grown into a part of everyday life. Relentless advertising focused on children with the use cartoon characters and larger portions or extra sizes to entice people. Yves Engler, author of Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations, points out it’s not only fast food restaurants where unhealthy products are being consumed, but also soft drink companies with high calorie soda pop who are giving money to cash-strapped schools to advertise their product on school televisions. Meanwhile targeting young children who get their parents to buy their products. Engler proposes a solution regarding the increase in childhood obesity by first stating that vending machines should be removed from schools and the

David Zinczenko’s essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” stresses the connection of fast food restaurants to obese children. With his parents spilt up, and his mother working long hours to support the family, as a child Zinczenko had a limited choice of fast food restaurants such as Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut for both lunch and dinner. Just like today those were the only affordable meals for teenagers. Due to this, at the age of 15, Zinczenko becomes obese (212 pounds). Unlike a lot of people with similar issues, he he turns his life around by joining the Navy Reserves. Zinczenko notes that fast-food restaurants are located almost everywhere, attract to children, are cheap, and are easy to access. Hence why he believes that

In David Zinczenko’s article, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” Zinczenko argues that, there aren’t any cheap, healthy and convenient alternatives to fast food. This is a controversial issue that some argue that fast food restaurants are the reason why they have caused diabetes and obesity for children. There is a possibility that this argument can cause lawsuits to be brought upon these companies due to this situation. From my standpoint, the youth should have self discipline to a limit where they can still enjoy fast food but to a certain extent. In my own experience, my parents would take me out to eat fast food for a reward because of something that I did at school. Most of the time, my mom would always cook, so the meals that I mostly ate everyday

David Zinczenko’s essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” explains the similarities between obese children and fast-food restaurants. In Zinczenko’s childhood, he had certain foods he could eat also as seen as limited food choices, both at home and in public or other such places. By consuming food, twice a day, at fast-food places, David was now obese. He knows that by participating in the health and fitness corporation, his life was starting to turn around.

Schools have started to ban all sorts of fast food products such as sodas, chips and processed food, but in addition they should teach students the danger in consuming certain food. They should warn students of the effects those foods will have on their bodies in the long run. In “Don’t Blame the Eater” fitness expert David Zinczenko mentions that “fast food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels” (464). This false advertisement is often full of color, with images of happiness and delicious looking burgers to convince children to want their products. Fast food industries are smart to target children, because most of the time they know nothing about responsibility or what is good or bad for them. Zinczenko argues in his essay that without warnings or information“we’ll see more sick, obese children and more angry, litigious parents” (464). In contrast, if kids were warned and informed about the dangers in consuming unhealthy food, the number of obese children, diseases and angry parents would

Food companies make millions just from advertising junk food to kids. Food companies advertise using very known cartoon characters to appeal to kids that contain high-sugar levels that can cause many different disorders that can affect them in a server way. Kids tend to beg their parents for junk food and other types of foods just for seeing that they would receive a toy. In the article “10 Things the Food industry Doesn’t Want You to Know” states “On TV alone, the average child sees about 5,500 food commercials a year.” With these advertisements, kids can get the idea of going to eat in places that have unhealthy food. Advertisement like these can cause children to view fast food as something they can be constantly eating without having any problems.

In the article “Don’t blame the eater”, David Zinczenko states “Fast food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels.” It’s true, businesses are targeting children. Now a days, you will see all these fast food commercials, advertising the “toys” that come along with the meal. Well of course a child is going to notice and want it. Other than children being targeted, where are people supposed to find a healthy alternative? These days it’s so easy to find a fast food restaurant, just around the corner. Some, even within ten feet of the other! But where are you most likely to be able to find a healthy store? It is like going on a mission just trying to find a couple healthy fruits and vegetables. So many other businesses or stores fund these fast foods and place advertisements on the windows, making it noticeable to the drivers and children walking by. So you can say, these fast foods have it