Sunday, July 22, 2012

Blog post 5 Cheeeessy!!!



So I am doing my opinion piece on obesity, so I though I would read something along the same lines

Summary: According to the article, "The Government wants you to Eat Cheese," editorial writer, Charles Lane, of the Washignton Post, says, "Average Americans consumed 33 pounds Of cheese in 2010," tripleling the amount since the 1970's. Cheese is everywhere: in pizzas,hamburgers,nachos, and pastas, causing for the rate of obesity to rise from a 14.5.(1970's) to a 35.7 percent in 2010. He also says, "Obese people cost health insurers $1,429 more per year than the non-obese do." People are now consuming sold dairy products rather than fluid, Lane also claims, " the net effect of dairy programs is to prop up fluid milk prices even when producers make more of it than people want to drink — leaving plenty of excess to dump on cheese manufacturers." When people see the prices of the milks rising, they are more likely going to want to buy something less expensive, like cheese. "The Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 authorized the Agriculture Department to collect a fee from all dairy farmers and turn the money over to a corporation known as Dairy Management, which promotes consumption of cheese and other dairy products," Lane states. Therefore, the government is in favor of consumers eating cheese because it gives money to the Dairy Management to advertise cheese, for example, "Domino's cheesy pizza."

Reaction: I have to say I agree with the author. I do not know if milk prices are going to rise, regardless though, of the price change, my 18 month still drinks milk so in our house, milk will be needed for a couple of years.I love cheese, but Hey! If Dairy Companies are making milk prices rise up so Americans can consume more cheese, I think is utterly unfair.

Questions: Answers

Charles Lane catches the readers attention by opening his sentence saying, " Not many foods contain more saturated fat than cheese." he states a fact to introduced his topic, "cheese."
He also uses comparison, to compare the rise of cheese consumption in the 1970's to 2010, he also talks about the rise of obesity within those years.
Lane does demonstrate an amount of knowledge of the topic he is discussing. He talks about the Acts being passed by the federal government and goes in to what is debated now by the democrats and republicans.
The author appeals a lot to logos. He explains why dairy-fluid production do not lose money because left over milk goes directly to cheese production companies

3 comments:

silvia almanza said...

I think I would have to disagree with the author. I just feel like there are other issues to obesity rather than cheese. For example fried foods, eating out, overeating, and no physical activity. I love cheese! Thats's probably the real reason I dissagree.

Amy Bolaski said...

Jessica,

I think the author makes a really prescient point here. But then, I tend to be a believer in logic like this: ". Therefore, the government is in favor of consumers eating cheese because it gives money to the Dairy Management to advertise cheese, for example, "Domino's cheesy pizza." Cow's milk in general isn't good for human consumption, something that's been proved on a number of levels across longitudinous studies, yet we're still encouraged to eat it and sold the bill of lies that it's "healthy" because it has calcium in it. Don't get me wrong - I love cheese -- but yeah, it's full of saturated fat. Since we can get calcium from multiple other, non-dairy foods (not to mention supplements), I think it frankly sucks that people really think it's a good, healthy choice.

I'm kind of in the middle of you and Sylvia. I think the author's probably right about the high consumption of dairy leading to weight problems, but it's a much more complex conglomerate of problems. As Silvia points out, a number of other causes have been targeted as being directly correlative to obesity.

You do a fair job identifying strategies here. I definitely see the appeal to logos, the author's use of his own authority based on historical precedent and knowledge, and the use of compare/contrast.

The one thing leaving me scratching my head here: since when is cheese cheaper than milk? I suppose if you get some crappy Kraft singles on sale, sure - but most cheese that's even remotely decent is NOT cheap, not to mention good cheese. I don't know. Am I wrong? I don't buy/use milk (we use rice milk, coconut milk).

Unknown said...

I disagree with the author because cheese is definitely not the number 1 reason for obesity. I'm sure you know about New York's idea of getting rid of large drinks (soda) to help reduce obesity, that could be another reason. overall, good job on explaining the article.