Article Analysis: Don’t Blame The Eater

David Zinczenko; a renowned American publisher and a Nutrition and Wellness editor with ABC News is known for his notable article “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko that cuts across the mould and calls to arms the fast food industry for playing a major key in the evolution and rise of obesity in the country. Zinczenko argues that children who indulge in foods from fast-food chain restaurants for example Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut or Mc Donalds should not at any circumstances be personally blamed for their results in weight gain, but rather should take action and 'launch lawsuits against the fast-food industry' as denoted in the article for making them fat.

In the article, Zinczenko goes on to claim that it is easier to find an Mc Donald's drive-in and restaurant that it is to find a grapefruit emphasizing the fast and widespread fast food industry on every corner than natural foods. He then goes on to provide additional statements that calorie information; even if it would be readily available to those eating in the fast-food restaurants, it would still present a difficulty in understanding and deciphering the information.

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Providing a satirical comparison of an eater growing fat is as nonsensical as a man suing a Porsche company for speeding tickets; he moves to share a personal anecdote of his childhood and how he had a struggle eating two meals a day in fast-food restaurants. Citing numerous statistics that come about as an increase in the fast-food industrial chain on the impacts of eating these foods, Zinczenko connects this point in which children nowadays are in the process of growing obese.

Though the information Zinczenko provides is accurate and true, I agree with his statement that the consumer is not to blame on the part of growing obese. The fast-food industry is to blame for the increasing cases of obesity in the country due to their increased chain of restaurants opening, low pricing and lack of nutritional information to the consumer.

Although there are many causes of obesity in an individual, the increased expansive chain of fast-food restaurants plays a major role in increased cases of obesity in society. This is because, as each fast food industry employs people in the society by opening up a restaurant at least in every block or street, this, in turn, provides easy access to people who eat fast foods. In cases of availability of these restaurants in a smaller radius that has encroached even neighbourhoods of schools, children and also adults have easy access to such foods as they do not see the need to walk all the way to a grocery store to buy vegetables and then come back home to cook them and await their meal to be ready for them to eat late. Also, this is due to people in society working late shifts and by the time they are done with work, most grocery stores are already closed down and the only or nearest access to food is your corner drive-through fast-food restaurant like Mc Donalds. This, in turn, shows the availability of the fast-food restaurants across the country and in every neighbourhood a factor that contributes to increased cases of obesity in the country an amongst people in society.

Not only does the convenience of a neighbourhood fast-food restaurant contribute to increased cases of obesity countrywide, but so does the low pricing of the foods found in the restaurants. This has become a very important aspect in people indulging in fast foods rather than a good nutritional and well-balanced meal. Fast foods gross for very little money when it comes to buying them as opposed to going into the grocery store and spending close to five times as much for food that you will still need to watch slow cook, eat and enjoy hours later. Fast food restaurants like Mc Donalds have come up with value packs that not only offer the hamburger for a cheap price but also added on is a side of French fries and a coke soda. The amount seen spent on such a 'value pack' is equalled to a stem of groceries that one will still need to add the cost of cooking at home; thus putting it at convenience for anyone to buy more for less. Considering the notion of ' buy more for less' one will comfortably eat all that they have bought in one seating knowing that they still have money to buy more the next meal or day: making this a cause of an uproar in cases of obesity in society.

Furthermore, the lack of a nutritional list on the menus or boxes of fast foods is a cause for increased cases of obesity in society. Walking into a fast-food restaurant and ordering a king-sized hamburger with chicken nuggets and a side of French fries for example maybe a case of hunger rather than understanding the calorie content in the whole meal that a consumer just ordered. The human body is known to need a certain amount of calories per meal and the absence of a calorie information chart on the meal will lead to more calories being ingested than needed ending up in the fat tissues of the body that slowly get saturated and with increased calorie intake inherently leads to obese people in society.

While this may be true, it is also a personal approach that may lead to obesity amongst society. Gaining weight to a point of obesity is associated also with a lack of or reduced physical activity. The proximity of fast-food restaurants leads to people having less time to walk to grocery stores and purchase healthier foods as people tend to be lazy and seek proximity to healthier options. The race towards efficiency and less strain has also led to people disregarding good healthy exercise and workouts to keep them in tip-top shape even after indulging in fast foods.

In conclusion, the lack of exercise and letting our bodies go plays a major key in obesity. The motivation to better one should come as a priority in making sure that we are living healthy. Though this is a fact of life, the convenience and proximity of fast foods in neighbourhoods, low pricing and lack of nutritional health information will be a leading cause for increased obesity in the society. Looking forward, we as a global community need to adopt the policy of “less can be more” and quality over quantity, thus food spending might actually increase, which suggests there may be a “silver lining” of opportunity to savvy foods and healthier options with an inclusion of exercise routines that keep us fit and shy away from the obese scale.