Last year was difficult for me. While we were all struggling with the pandemic, I lost one of my closest friends to obesity. He suffered a heart attack due to his increased weight that had heightened his blood pressure at the time of his death. He was a lover of fatty foods, like many other obese patients in America. His death made me angry at high-calorie foods, and I supported ‘fat tax’. I supported the move to involve the government in imposing policies that would restrict the consumption of fat and junk foods so that people do not have to die of obesity like my friend. Even though government involvement may work, I now rationally believe it is not best to fight obesity. I wouldn’t want anyone to control my choice of food. I should be wise enough to choose healthy foods. Therefore, I agree with Radley Balko that the struggle against obesity should be a personal business. If one wants to live healthily, then he should willingly choose non-fatty foods instead of being forced.
In his 2004 essay, “What You Eat is Your Business,” Balko is against the enforcement by the government on people to avoid junk foods. Balko (2004) argues that the government and its stakeholders should foster a sense of responsibility for its citizens’ health and wellbeing. He explains that the American health care system has been focusing on public health instead of personal responsibility. The best way of imposing personal responsibility is by not socializing medicine and healthcare. Balko (2004) insists that people will be careful of their health choices when they pay for their healthcare services out of their pocket. They will be more careful to avoid getting sick and spending their money on treatment and recovery.
Based on my experience with my late friend, I find Balko’s argument to be correct. People are not careful of their health choices because they know that the government will be responsible for their medical expenses. Most of my friend’s expenses were covered by insurance; thus, he never put effort into losing weight. Instead, he ate whatever he could find without caring how it would affect him. His life wouldn’t have ended if he understood it was his responsibility to eat healthily.
Moreover, as Abdukadirov and Marlow (2012), governmental interventions in fighting obesity only increases the victimization of obese people. Obese patients mostly think that they are worthless for choosing foods that the government treats as fatty foods. Perhaps, my friend did not make an effort to lose weight because he felt useless. He would still be fighting if he had been made comfortable in his fight.
References
Abdukadirov, S. & Marlow, M. (2012, June 5). Government intervention will not solve our obesity problem. U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-government-intervention-will-not-solve-our-obesity-prolem
Balko, R. (2004, May 23). What you eat is your business. Cato Institute.
