Dont Blame The Eater Summary

Blame the Person in the Mirror Imagine suffering from a totally preventable, yet ubiquitous disease called obesity, in which one struggles with the smallest things such as walking. As time passes, obesity has become more common which is essentially ruining today’s society. It has become more common because of the changes in lifestyles and eating habits. Knowing the right things to eat and exercising are important in keeping a healthy lifestyle and avoiding diseases such as obesity. Obesity is a controversial issue in deciding who is a fault. Food companies and the government are usually the one’s getting the finger pointed at, however, the people who are pointing the fingers should be at fault and begin taking personal responsibility.
If the generation now takes personal responsibility in facing the problems of obesity, other generations will follow. In order to fix the on going problem of obesity and obesity related diseases, young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 must take the responsibility to educate themselves on ways to live the healthiest life. It is indisputable that obesity is a leading preventable cause of death that tends to be ignored. Obesity is ridiculously common nowadays, two thirds of Americans are considered overweight. In The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home, Daniel Weintraub believes something must be done about obesity and argues that “The sooner we face up to the fact as a society, the sooner we are going to be able to do something about it”(5). It is a complex disorder involving an excessive amount of body fat and is not only a cosmetic concern but a major health concern. If one is obese, it increases the chance of them developing diseases and further health problems. Some possible issues that are likely to occur include heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. One's body weight can be affected genetically, however, obesity is when one takes in more calories than one burns. The two principal causes of obesity are inactivity and unhealthy diet and eating habits. All of these causes of obesity are totally preventable, it is up to how willing one is to step up and face those issues. Obesity is a condition that continues to worsen as the years go on. A large amount of things have changed overtime causing the number of overweight Americans to increase. Back in the 1970’s, most people lived in a traditional home, having home cooked meals and dinner at the table every night. The divorce rate was extremely low during that time period and students never came home to an empty house. As time goes on, divorce has become more common causing mothers to no longer stay at home but actually having to go out of the house and work. Due to the fact that mothers were no longer home as often, the amount of home cooked meals began to decrease causing the use of boxed foods to increase. The term latch key kid soon came into play meaning that for the first time, kids were coming home to an empty house. Not only has lifestyle changed and played a part with issue of obesity but also food, and how it has changed over time. Food is obesogenic meaning it tends to cause obesity and obesity related diseases.
Overtime, the plate serving has increased with the average plate being nine inches in the 1970’s and today being twelve inches. People began adding corn syrup to everything which caused people to eat greater amounts. More fast food places and restaurants were being built and open during the 1980’s. Since families were separating, they found this as the perfect opportunity to get something to eat quick and easy and began to do this often. These food changes did nothing but start problems, for example, diabetes was generally caused by a genetic disorder, however, this began to change. In Don’t Blame the Eater, David Zinczenko, explains that in America the amount of childhood cases that were obesity-related or Type 2 diabetes has increased over the years with the size being five percent before 1994 and today with it being thirty percent (4). This is caused by the amount of unhealthy food that people consume, therefore the changes that have been made and are still being made cause tremendous amounts of
trouble. It is important for people to watch what he/she eats everyday.
One should stay away from consuming fast food more than twice a week. A person must know exactly how many calories he/she should be eating in one single day. Not only does one need to worry about the amount of calories one consumes but also the difference between calories. A person should understand the fact that good nutrition is not only about the numbers but also the nutrients, therefore, a person should make the calories they consume count. For example, one can eat something that has the same amount of calories, however, one will store more of the calories as fat than the other will because of the difference between whole foods and processed foods. In Are All Calories Equal? How to Make Them Count, Karen Ansel, MS, RDN, discusses that “With whole foods, your body has to do the work...With highly processed foods, a machine has essentially broken down the nutrients for you, so your body doesn’t have to do much to extract the calories”(5). Calories and knowing what to eat is important in trying to help the obesity problem in today’s
society.
Exercising is one of the key things needed in order to live a healthy life and should be incorporated in a person’s weekly if not daily routine. Experts say that children and teenagers should exercise one hour everyday and adults should get at least two hours and thirty minutes per week. A person should be walking at least 10,000 steps a day, however, an average person walks about 3,000 to 4,000 steps per day. This is an issue because if people can not walk the appropriate amount of steps per day, then one must not be exercising either. Exercising is necessary when trying to avoid obesity or obesity related diseases given the fact that just simply exercising can play a huge role in keeping one’s body at a healthy weight. If one exercises the appropriate amount, they will have a lower risk of developing certain diseases. These diseases being Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure which used to be common in adults and are becoming more common in teens, therefore, making exercising part of one's daily routine is crucial. Although some people find exercising a hassle, not exercising could lead to bigger problems in the long run.
Some people believe that the government and food businesses are culpable for the ridiculous amount of people with obesity and obesity related diseases. People argue that the government needs to provide things such as classes that will educate people on health. They may also say that the government needs to create more sidewalks, trails and parks for people to use to do something other than staying inside. All these may be true, however, if the government does add these things it is still up to the person to actually take advantage of them by attending classes or going out and using the trails, sidewalks and parks. Another thing people tend to blame are food businesses specifically fast food and how there is a lack of displaying what exactly is in the food sold. What people do not understand is that it is not up to food places to make the consumers aware of what is in the products. Food places are doing whatever it takes to keep the certain company going and improving, if that means not including details about the food products then that is what will be done. This is where personal responsibility comes into play and Weintraub agrees when he states, “Before we start talking about banning fast food, let’s do more to encourage personal responsibility”(16). At the end of the day, it is up to the person themselves to lower the amount of obesity, not anyone else.
Americans need to step out of all the lazy habits and become comprehensive on what one should eat depending on themselves. In order to do so, a person must take the responsibility to look into exactly what one should eat per day and how much of that certain thing. There are a variety of websites that will let a person know exactly what he/she should eat depending of their age and body weight. People need to understand the basics, such as the difference between males and females. For examples, males tend to eat more than females in a single day. Females also have a higher BMI or Body Max Index. The taller a person is the more a person can eat. When one stops growing, one is able to eat more and of course the more one exercises, the more one can eat. These facts are all essential in knowing in order to maintain that healthy lifestyle everyone should strive for.
It is insane how much obesity has increased and affects America today. The generation of people between the ages of 18 and 26 have the most impact on older and future generations, therefore, it is up to them to step up to the plate and face this issue. Given that, it makes the most sense for this generation to really step up to the plate and take time to look into ways to maintain a healthy life. Once they find these ways, he/she must apply the skills to their everyday life. After this generation takes personal responsibility and learns ways to prevent these horrible problems, they are responsible for teaching other generations. Young adults must teach adults the different things they have discovered in order to help decrease the obesity in that age group. Most importantly, young adults must inform and teach the younger generation because it is sad how many younger people are being considered obese and dying at such young ages. Informing the younger generation will impact the society as a whole as they essentially control the future by passing down the same information learned if not more to future generations.
Personal responsibility should be taken into action so that young adults ages 18-26 can help in decreasing the amount of people with obesity and obesity related diseases. America today is being over flowed with the amount of people with obesity. Changes in lifestyle and healthy food consumption has caused the amount of people with obesity skyrocket. People in America have become lazy over the years, forgetting to do the things they need to maintain a healthy life. People need to stop wasting their time putting the blame on others and do something about this issue. It is important for this generation to be the ones to step up and start facing this problem. If they do so, future generations will continue doing so causing the world to not only become a better place, but a healthier one as well. This generation must do everything in their power to reduce the amount of obese people or else before one knows it, there will be more obese people than regular sized people.