I think the main message of the documentary How to Get Fat Without Really Trying is that Americans eat too much processed, unhealthy foods and the government aids in this over-consumption.  I was surprised to learn that farmers grow twice as much food as needed, which causes people to eat more.  If there is more supply than demand, in this case, the demand seems to rise to meet the supplies’ needs of being eaten!  Yet this isn’t just the food industry’s fault, but the government is funding our over-consumption of food.  The government makes non-nutritious foods cheaper by subsidizing them, which prompts people to buy the cheaper foods, rather than fruits and vegetables, which cost more than a bucket of popcorn drenched in oil at the movies drenched.  Another big message I took away from this video is that the government needs to step in and make some changes.  The government needs to shift putting their money into corn, and more into fruits and vegetables, and the government needs to put limits on the advertising schemes of the food manufacturers.  There should be a ban on advertising to children under the age of 12, like in Norweigh and in Sweden.  Kids are our future and we need to target their consumption in order to see a healthier America.

 

          I have heard of farm subsidies before, but did not know too much about them.  It seems as the government initially started these to ensure famers had enough money to grow the agriculture they needed, but now that we are in a new age, society does not need the government to still provide them with such subsidies.  In other words like stated in the video, “congress is handing out these subsidies without knowing their impact on nutrition.”  The more money that is out there, the more that product will be grown, however money from the government is going to the wrong food groups that do not need to be produced in large amounts, such as meat and sugary ingredients.  More should be going to fruits and vegetables, which only receive less then 1% of the government’s money.  The subsidies, as they are divided now amongst the food group, do not match up to the proportions Americans are supposed to be eating.  More money should be going to the grain and fruits and vegetables, rather than corn, which supplies foods with high fructose corn syrup, which falls into the top of the food pyramid.  Even though the food pyramid is a bit outdated, MyPlate’s proportions still show more fruits and vegetables should be eaten, and where the least amount of money goes to in agriculture from the government.  The government should limit the amount of subsidies that are given to corn, which ultimately turns into sugary, unprocessed foods.

 

          Corn is so heavily subsidized that so much is being produced; in fact 5.5 billion subsidies go to corn production in a year.  What are people going to do with all of this corn?  Make use out of it and put it into a variety of products so the corn is put to use.  It makes sense that corn is put into so many products because of how much is produced and funded by the government.  However, this shows that the government needs to reevaluate where their money is going to, and shift the money to go to more production of fruits and vegetables.  Overall, the government needs to change their ways.  They first need to stop putting money into corn production, and shift to putting money into healthier foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  Then the government needs to limit the age that food producers can advertise to the younger population.  A quarter of preschool kids already have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, all because of their diet.  The government should not allow over 10,000 advertisements for sugary foods to be targeted to young kids, since they are not at an age where they know that they are being manipulated.  Adults know how advertisements can manipulate them, which is why there needs to be a backlash from the U.S. population to help stop these food manufacturers to stop producing so many unhealthy, processed foods.  I am definitely one of those people who shops against the overall food industry, and purchase mostly whole foods, like fruits and vegetables, and limit my purchases of processed foods as much as I can.  I will continue to shop this way to try and change the way the food industry produces foods, and hope to one day see a change in the production of healthier foods.