corn awareness
For a long time now, I've suspected that there are some gaping flaws in the modern American diet. For one, we eat way too much fast food. Mind you, I'm not immune or innocent of this. I've been known to stop at Wendy's late at night to satisfy my hunger or to eat more than my share of fried chicken. We also drink way too much soda. Again, I know that a Coca-Cola Classic tastes good. And we eat an enormous amount of junk food. Hey, I love a bag of Doritos or Cold Stone Creamery as much as anyone. We're all guilty.
What is the common denominator among all of those poor eating habits above? Corn. Corn is in everything, and most of us don't even know it. According to Wikipedia, the US alone produces 280 million metric tons of it every year. Where does all of corn end up? It's impossible to track exactly, but I'd wager a good guess that we consume most of it. Newsweek printed that, "Americans consumed a staggering 62.6 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per person in 2001, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture." It's not just HFCS that's killing us, because our entire food ecosystem is setup around corn.
I heard about this movie called King Corn, an independently-made documentary about two guys who go to Iowa and try to find out where all of the corn is going. Watch the trailer here.
Since Kai was born I've been a notorious label-reader, although I've tried not to preach about it. I've been consciously avoiding foods made with HFCS whenever possible. The stuff is everywhere, under a variety of names. HFCS, crystalline fructose, maltodextrin. Erin and I eat in as much as possible, and we try to eat whole foods at every meal. It's challenging, but rewarding. Our meals are delicious, and Erin and I are in the best shape of our lives.
There's even a movement to take the "King Corn" challenge, to avoid foods that contain corn or any corn derivatives for one month. It sounds hard. I don't think that it's necessary to go that extreme, but a little awareness and exercising the power of our wallets is a step in the right direction.
posted by wine daddy at
11:35 AM
4 Comments:
I have not heard of King Corn, but Omnivore's Dilemma did it for me. Between that and Fast Food Nation, they have ruined my life. That is, if knowing everything that is bad for you is ruining your life.
Ignorance IS bliss. Going 30 days without corn derivatives would be very difficult for the regular person.
I try to tame my evangelism on the topic, but it is hard when people are asking why you are not grazing along the office candy tray.
Also, I thought places like Whole Foods or Wild Oats provided a fairly safe haven from most of this stuff, but after all, they are a corporation. Just yesterday, I noticed that regular Heinz ketchup (yes, HFCS) is on the shelf. Also, that Vitamin Water stuff advertises "all natural" but has the crystalline frustose, which is supposedly 90 times sweeter than HFCS.
Nice post, I'll Netflix it.
Fascinating..Im going to go through my pantries!!
Yes, I do have to tame my evangelism from time to time as well. I've known about the HFCS thing for quite a while, but the images on King Corn are shocking. The point of it is that our society is setup to encourage the overproduction of corn. While it's not bad by itself, I don't see anyone saying an all-corn diet is good for you. Which is what a lot of people are on...
I'll have to see King Corn. Have you ever seen Super Size Me or Fast Food Nation? Very eye-opening stuff. Too bad most of it is very disturbing. But it's good to be aware of what you are consuming on a day to day basis. Glad you guys are practicing whole food choices because in the end, your health is all you have so feeding it well is like an investment.
Not to say that you can't stop at Church's chicken every now and then :)
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