Eating Is My Choice! Weight loss, weight gain, or even the maintenance of weight are all directly correlated to a person’s diet, and more importantly, that person’s choice as to what foods will be included or ones they will take part of. What we, the consumers, eat is our personal choice, right, and responsibility which no one is allowed to tamper with; part of that choice is the development of our likes or dislikes of certain foods: fruits, veggies, snack foods, or even desserts. Several factors should be included when people take into consideration things that would expand or limit their dietary intake: cluture, religion, finances, appetite, personal choice, age, body reaction, illness, and/ or disability. Dramatic weight gain (obesity) or weight loss (anorexia) have become common health issues that occur frequently in the medical field; these cases have not only increased in number, but it plagues the lives of hundreds of people every day. These
“illnesses” and “diseases” have become a huge issue and have been proclaimed by our nation’s capital as a public health crisis which is slowly turning into a global pandemic. Unfortunately, for most, arriving to this point in their lives happened because of the personal choices and decisions he or she have made when it comes to their diet. On the other hand, there are food scientists that would disagree that it is not our choice of what or how much we eat that makes us fat but rather what is in the food (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, etc) that makes us fat. In “What You Eat Is Your Business” the author Radley Balko expressed and wrote his opinion about his belief that the only way to cease and prevent those and others from becoming active participants in an unhealthy lifestyle would be to allow the government to step in and take control. Michael Pollan of “Escape From The Western Diet” explains how the continued research performed by scientists around the world in the endless search for the nutrient(s) responsible and to blame for the expanding waistline; bottom line is: no nutrient can function without the other. In her personal blog, Wendie Trubow wrote about advertisements and its relationship with food in “TV And The Power Of Suggestion” on how she saw daily food advertisements that made her focus on the food that wasn’t in her cabinets and refrigerator rather than the ones she did have. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) wrote several articles, but one particular article described and gave statistics on the access and availability that people may or may not have to fresh produce in the article called “Food Access and Affordability.” The truth of the matter is this, weight is a result of what a person eats by his or her own personal choice and under their own will, and in return, it is that same person’s responsibility to work their way back to a normal, happy, and healthy life. A diet is what a person chooses to eat on a daily basis which hopefully meets their daily nutrient needs which varies by sexuality, age, and height. As stated earlier, people use several ideals to decide what he or she will eat; for many it includes things like religion or culture, finances, or even aging. “It’s difficult to think of anything more private and of less public concern than what we choose to put in our own bodies” (Balko, p. 397) was written in Balko’s argument that things would be a lot easier if we lived in a socialism government which would end the bulging belly. Food is something that was meant to be enjoyed by all. If say the government did take over and told us what we could and could not eat no one would enjoy their meals. We can express our personal choices in our diets by the types of foods we eat every day. Finances are a huge contributor when a person is making a choice about the type and quantity of food; people will buy foods that they will be able to afford and in