Today, in the midst of different kinds of campaign against obesity and people experience expensive and/or strict dieting programs in order to achieve a desired body image, the article of Paul Campos titled “Being Fat is OK” surely gets the attentions of many. Our group tends to agree with Campos’s argument that people should relax and enjoy life because there is no solid answer for whether being fat causes health problems or whether losing weight is good or bad for you (209). Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion because there are numerous statistics that telling people about many health issues that will accompany obesity (Yves Engler 173). While it is true that there is a link between obesity and health problems, it does not necessarily follow that obesity causes health problems. The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine has emphasized that the fundamental rule of scientific inquiry is violated again and again when the subject is the supposed health risks of fat: demonstrating a correlation between A and B isn’t the same thing as proving that A causes B, or vice versa (Campos 208). In his article, Radley Balko said that we are responsible for what we choose to put into our bodies and the government should freeing insurance companies to reward healthy lifestyle, and penalize poor one (161). On one hand, our group agrees with Balko that eating habit is a private matter. On the other hand, we still insist that people cannot just choose to be thinner: the failure rate for diets is estimated to be at least 90 percent and any statistically significant group of dieters will end up weighing more, on average, than a comparable group that never began dieting (Campos 208). In conclusion, instead of concentrating on erroneous studies about the supposed health risks of fat and going through misery methods to lose weight for an imaginary disease, we believe that people should enjoy life and be happy and stay healthy no matter what size they are.
Work Cited
Campos, Paul. “ Being Fat Is OK.” Jewish World Review (2001). Rpt. in They Say/I Say with Reading. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
Engler, Yves. “Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations.” Z Magazine(2003) . Rpt. in They Say/I Say with Reading. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
Balko, Radley. “What You Eat Is Your Business.” Cato.org. Cato Institute. 23 May 2004. Rpt. in They Say/I Say with Reading. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
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I think your statement is brilliant. I agree that to many people focus to much on their weight. I know people that are within their BMI and still think they are fat. Focusing on the weight of other people really has a damaging effect on everyone regardless if they are fat or not. I think it is unfair that the media has used weight in order to make money off of people. I like how you used the experimental method to prove that A is a correlation to B not A causes B. That is true and very few people realize that. In that reading the writer states he runs 35 to 40 miles a week, but he is still "overweight." It is true that because you are skinny does not mean you are healthy, and vise versa. I think you guys did a good job, and made clear references to the readings which helped make your point.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on this assignment. I see use of various templates and your citations are effective. You have convinced me that there is no correlation between weight and one's health and reinforced the reality that corporations do not have our best interests at heart but their own through profitability. Your transitions are smooth and overall the flow is good and keeps you reading through to the end without difficulties. There are just a couple verb tenses and extra words that I would look at fixing to make it even smoother.
ReplyDeleteTo start out with I want to give your group props for this paper. I think that you guys where very effective with your writing to get your readers to read the whole paper instead of reading a few sentences and then quitting reading the paper. As for myself I was able to read through the whole thing because the paper kept me interested in reading on. There is nothing that I noticed from reading your writing that would require any improvement to your paper.
ReplyDeleteI too enjoyed reading your perspective of this article. I could follow the entire reading without getting bored or my mind wandering. I do agree that not all skinny people are healthy. I know a lot of people that are not fat and don’t have the best eating habits but don’t ever gain a pound. I wouldn’t suggest changing anything in your writings. With that being said I think your group did a very good job.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your topic, you used a lot of evidence and you got your point across great. I do agree that people always worry about their weight whether their fat or not. I think as long as they are healthy then they should not worry. Some skinny people are not healthy and they still think that they are fat, but also some people are overweight and think they are fine the way they are, but have many health risks.
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