Cary Feng
Professor Humphrey
English 120 – L52
25 September 2015
Obesity’s Culprit David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health Magazine asserts that the fast food industry is the main culprit in America’s growing numbers of obesity in teenagers. Zinczenko himself has been a victim of obesity. With his parents split up and busy without time to supervise his meals, the only options he could afford to turn to were either McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut. As Zinczenko observes, there are fast food restaurants open almost everywhere in America, and finding a healthy yet cheap alternative to fast food is not an easy task. According to Zinczenko, one company’s web site misleadingly lists its chicken salad as 150 calories, when the actual calorie…show more content… In fact, instead of blaming the fast food industry, these teenagers instead should stop eating fast food if they do not wish to support it. Zinczenko can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, he argues that fast food is unhealthy and is the cause of what may be lifetime obesity in many teens. On the other hand, he also says that kids have no other choice but to eat these unhealthy foods because they’re inexpensive, when they actually have other options, which may be even more economical in some cases, such as homemade meals. By focusing only on the foods that teens consume, Zinczenko overlooks the deeper problem- which are other contributing causes for obesity such as lack of exercise, behavioral and/or genetic factors.
While it is true that consumers are provided an insufficient amount of nutritional information when it comes to convenience foods, many consume them knowing that they may have health hazards. I remember that during middle school, one of my friends complained that she was getting fat and told me that she wanted to go on a