Don't Blame The Eater summary
ENC 1101
10 March, 2014
Summary of “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, David Zinczenko says he identifies with a group of children who are suing McDonald’s for making them fat. Drawing on his own experiences as a “1980’s latchkey kid,” he describes how easy it is for teenagers to put on weight with a solid diet of fast food meals. Part of the problem, he argues, is that nutritional information about fast food is often either unavailable or hard to interpret. In his opinion, the sheer number of fast food restaurants is also part of the problem, since if you, “[d]rive down any through thoroughfare in America, … you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Now drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit” (Zinczenko 392). In sum, Zinczenko argues that, especially for teenagers, unhealthy and fattening fast food is almost unavoidable in our generation.
Template for Analyzing the Logic of an Article or Reading
1) The main PURPOSE of this text is to inform the reader about the dangers of fast food, agreeing that it is bad for one’s body. Also, the author informs the reader about the number of fast food restaurants like McDonald’s in America compared to the number of places that sell healthy food.
2) The key QUESTION that is being addressed here is, “Who’s the one to blame for today’s teenagers being obese with more fast-food restaurants than places to buy a healthy lunch?”
3) The most important INFORMATION in this text is that “Before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder – only about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity related, or Type 2, diabetes. Today, according to the National Institute of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country.” This is important because it shows that in 8 years only the
10 March, 2014
Summary of “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, David Zinczenko says he identifies with a group of children who are suing McDonald’s for making them fat. Drawing on his own experiences as a “1980’s latchkey kid,” he describes how easy it is for teenagers to put on weight with a solid diet of fast food meals. Part of the problem, he argues, is that nutritional information about fast food is often either unavailable or hard to interpret. In his opinion, the sheer number of fast food restaurants is also part of the problem, since if you, “[d]rive down any through thoroughfare in America, … you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Now drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit” (Zinczenko 392). In sum, Zinczenko argues that, especially for teenagers, unhealthy and fattening fast food is almost unavoidable in our generation.
Template for Analyzing the Logic of an Article or Reading
1) The main PURPOSE of this text is to inform the reader about the dangers of fast food, agreeing that it is bad for one’s body. Also, the author informs the reader about the number of fast food restaurants like McDonald’s in America compared to the number of places that sell healthy food.
2) The key QUESTION that is being addressed here is, “Who’s the one to blame for today’s teenagers being obese with more fast-food restaurants than places to buy a healthy lunch?”
3) The most important INFORMATION in this text is that “Before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder – only about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity related, or Type 2, diabetes. Today, according to the National Institute of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country.” This is important because it shows that in 8 years only the