1. In his article "Don't Blame the Eater," Zinczenko argues that there are no healthy yet convenient alternatives to fast food restaurants for teenagers. This one way road he asserts, is winding to a dangerous spiral towards obesity and health problems for the teenagers who out of necessity are forced to consume the fruit of its poisonous tree. Zinczenko believes that these kids should not be held responsible for their unhealthy meal choices as necessity and lack of options has deprived them of any choice all together. This necessity he speaks of however, is somewhat overstated. In today's world nutritional information if available to every customer willing to pay attention. As health concerns grow among the informed populous, so do the food choices available to us. For instance grocery stores sell prepared oven roasted meats, smoked fish, or prepared sushi. Healthy snacks like raw almonds or dried fruit can be purchases in one serving size amounts for as low as a dollar each, not to mention whole fruit that can be cut up for convenient snacks on the go. Though a trip to the grocery store might mean a higher one time cost than a trip to the fast food restaurant, overall it provides a greater savings per meal in calories, dollars, and time spent. With a little effort, teenagers can make wise decisions when it comes to their nutrition. The question is, will they act?
2. The USA is very well known for having an obesity epidemic and all the health risks that come along with it. I believe that it is not only a medical problem as it is also a cultural one. For example, we see obesity affecting the lower class. Possibly because they see fast food restaurants as a means to save time and money.
Another thought is that we don't only have an obesity problem, but simply an issue with weight. Because on one hand there are the morbidly obese and on the other hand we have anorexics and bulimics. In our culture we have all these fast food chains that have low prices and flashy advertisements with appealing images of food that are every where we turn, and then we have this other side of the media that is always talking about the "ideal" body. All in all both medical problems and cultural stereotypes have an effect on our eating habits.
Your first paragraph was summarized very well; you used different words to capture your audience instead of "and then he said..." And i liked how you rebutted his points with a smooth transition.
ReplyDelete--Xinyu
I completely agree with everything you said! There's no better way in putting it! Teenagers have to take a step in working away from unhealthy food, like as you said, go grocery shopping. Groceries have so many different healthy foods available, you just have to be creative. Also, I like how showed that we have all these fast food restaurants with flashy advertisements, but at the same time, a media continually rubbing in the perfect body. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job at arguing this subject. In the first paragraph, you talked about nutrition information and how only the willing will pay attention, which i find very true. However the question is, will they do anything about that information, which again you asked a the end of the paragraph.
ReplyDelete-Jordan Sayabath
I thought your arguments were very thought out and informative. I liked that you included a lot of people are obese and at the other side of the spectrum people are anorexic.
ReplyDelete