In the essay “Don’t Blame the Eater”, David Zinczenko, Founder and CEO of Galvanized Media also an editor-in-chief of fitness magazine, Men’s Health. He goes over the on-going health crisis with obesity among Americas childhood youth. Similarly, he relates the problems of the younger generation to his past while struggling to maintain a healthy diet and overly consuming fast food. Zinczenko also points out how fast food chain restaurants do not clearly state nutritional facts or label health warnings regarding hazards to one’s health and long-term effects in the future. The numerous fast food restaurants throughout America is becoming a deadly problem for youth consumers.
Zinczenko begins to state his argument by going back to his childhood struggles with obesity and later on in life learned to change his eating habits and became healthier. Fast food restaurants can be appealing and affordable to youths who become victims to this health trap of quick, cheap, and filling meals. The big problem is that fast food companies are not trying to make people healthier, they are simply there to make money for their franchise they do not care what health risks the buyers are facing. “Before 1994, diabetes was generally a genetic disorder only about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity-related, or Type 2, diabetes. Today, according to the National Institutes of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases.” (463) If consumers were truly informed and educated on these unhealthy foods perhaps it could shift the obesity in children to a decline rather than an incline.
Zinczenko also begins to argue how there is not many healthy alternatives for fast food. David Zinczenko notes how scarce healthy alternatives are “Drive down any thoroughfare in America and I guarantee you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonalds restaurants. Now, drive back up the block and try to buy a grapefruit.” (463) Most fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, Wendy’s, or Burger King are located on every major intersection creating a sense of convenience in our fast-paced society. Making healthier meals take up more time due to the fact you have to buy and prepare it yourself.
Zinczenko profusely complains unlike other poisonous