Summary Of What You Eat Is Your Business By Radley Balko
My Body, My Problem? It seems that obesity will always be a problem with no solution. For once it would be merely impossible to find a solution that everyone likes or even one that the majority will support. There are different points of view in which someone could try to figure something out to at least help with the matter of obesity. ABC News is trying to tackle the problem and inform people on obesity by having a summit with Time magazine and discuss on various ways that would lower obesity in this country. Radley Balko mainly discusses the government point of view in his essay “What You Eat Is Your Business.” I agree with Balko’s essay since government needs to visualize the situation from different directions. Balko says that government
can make policies that would limit some main causes of obesity, but he says that this is a wrong approach to the matter. He explains that many politicians support anti-obesity measures, like banning snacks and soda from schools. He goes on to say that instead of controlling what Americans eat; the government should be finding a way to make citizens responsible for their choices and actions. He believes that changing the way health care works would make citizens more responsible of their own health and choices. Balko states the issues with how the health care plan works and he suggests various ways of fixing it or at least make it better. I do agree with some of his statements or ideas. The majority of people these days know what they are eating but really doesn’t care because it’s their own body, and if they don’t care why would anyone should else care. That’s where the problem starts because as Balko clearly states, “And if the government is paying for my anti-cholesterol medication, what incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger?”(p.397)
I strongly agree with the plan Balko mentioned in his essay regarding insurance companies to reward healthy lifestyles because that would cause people to think twice before choosing. The last major point is that people would change their ways of living and choices if they were the ones paying for their own bills instead of someone else paying it. Radley Balko points out some issues that are causing obesity but goes on to say that government is approaching the problems the wrong way. It is true that government policies are meant to reduce obesity in our society but just restricting or manipulating what we eat won’t change how people live. The government and the people itself should think of a way to make ourselves responsible for our own choices.
Works Cited
Balko, Radley. “What You Eat Is Your Business” They Say/I Say with Readings: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. 2nd ed. 395-398.
can make policies that would limit some main causes of obesity, but he says that this is a wrong approach to the matter. He explains that many politicians support anti-obesity measures, like banning snacks and soda from schools. He goes on to say that instead of controlling what Americans eat; the government should be finding a way to make citizens responsible for their choices and actions. He believes that changing the way health care works would make citizens more responsible of their own health and choices. Balko states the issues with how the health care plan works and he suggests various ways of fixing it or at least make it better. I do agree with some of his statements or ideas. The majority of people these days know what they are eating but really doesn’t care because it’s their own body, and if they don’t care why would anyone should else care. That’s where the problem starts because as Balko clearly states, “And if the government is paying for my anti-cholesterol medication, what incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger?”(p.397)
I strongly agree with the plan Balko mentioned in his essay regarding insurance companies to reward healthy lifestyles because that would cause people to think twice before choosing. The last major point is that people would change their ways of living and choices if they were the ones paying for their own bills instead of someone else paying it. Radley Balko points out some issues that are causing obesity but goes on to say that government is approaching the problems the wrong way. It is true that government policies are meant to reduce obesity in our society but just restricting or manipulating what we eat won’t change how people live. The government and the people itself should think of a way to make ourselves responsible for our own choices.
Works Cited
Balko, Radley. “What You Eat Is Your Business” They Say/I Say with Readings: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. 2nd ed. 395-398.