Join me in discovering our American Food System. The good, the bad and the ugly. Here I hope to share the knowlege I've gained as a chef and food advocate so that you can make better food choices for you and your family and have better health.
When I think of corn I think of the pilgram days. What I’ve learned about corn is completely different. If you think you know corn I’m about to blow your mind.
So basically, corn is in everything! If you’ve ever read the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan you’ll notice he devotes a third of the book to it, a whole seven chapters. It’s in animal feed which in turn ends up in out meat, fish, eggs milk. It is also pervasive in processed foods in the form of sugar. There are approximately over 12,000 items that contain some form of corn in the supermarket. To me that’s alarming! What’s even worse is the fact that almost 90% of the corn grown in American is GMO (genetically modified). Most corn is what is called BT corn, which is a genetically engineered corn using BT toxin. Below is more descriptive information on BT corn. Corn was modified in an attempt to control pests on crops that BT toxic would break down but by genetically modifying the toxin into the plant it was believed to help. Here’s the problem, now we ingest the toxin and to make is worse they still have to use pesticides on the corn crops and those pesticides (banned in Europe) are known endocrine disruptors.
Whew! I don’t know about you but this makes me want to avoid corn at all costs. There is some good news though. If you can find a local organic farmer who doesn’t grow a GMO corn crop you may still be able to enjoy corn in a healthy non-toxic way. Fresh, whole, organic, heirloom corn does contain vitamins and minerals that are beneficial to our bodies. Corn also contains soluble and insoluble fiber which our gut bacteria like! When buying corn you should look for
So, my advice would be to avoid processed foods and enjoy fresh heirloom organic corn only.
When I think of corn I think of the pilgram days. What I’ve learned about corn is completely different. If you think you know corn I’m about to blow your mind.
So basically, corn is in everything! If you’ve ever read the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan you’ll notice he devotes a third of the book to it, a whole seven chapters. It’s in animal feed which in turn ends up in out meat, fish, eggs milk. It is also pervasive in processed foods in the form of sugar. There are approximately over 12,000 items that contain some form of corn in the supermarket. To me that’s alarming! What’s even worse is the fact that almost 90% of the corn grown in American is GMO (genetically modified). Most corn is what is called BT corn, which is a genetically engineered corn using BT toxin. Below is more descriptive information on BT corn. Corn was modified in an attempt to control pests on crops but by genetically modifying the toxin into the plant it was believed to help. Here’s the problem, now we ingest the toxin and to make is worse they still have to use pesticides on the corn crops and those pesticides are banned in Europe as known endocrine disruptors.
Whew! I don’t know about you but this makes me want to avoid corn at all costs. There is some good news though. If you can find a local organic farmer who doesn’t grow a GMO corn crop you may still be able to enjoy corn. Fresh, whole, organic, heirloom corn does contain vitamins and minerals that are beneficial to our bodies. Corn also contains soluble and insoluble fiber which our gut bacteria like! To pick the best corn look for husks that are evenly green and are tight without holes. The husks should not be dry and a little bit of brown silk that is moist is good.
So, my advice would be to avoid processed foods and enjoy fresh heirloom organic corn only.
If you are anything like me you can’t resist potatoes. I can eat them any which way. I think my favorite would be mashed though. My family purposely made sure I was the last to get them at the dinner table because of my heaping portion I would take. There would definitely NOT be leftovers.
Unfortunately when potatoes go through the digestion process they convert to mostly glucose which is sugar. Sugar is the culprit that has made me gain weight, continue to overeat and causes an addiction to guess what??? MORE SUGAR.
I’ve learned a lot about sugar and all it’s consequences as I became more educated by my physician and then as a chef and food advocate. I’ll reserve all the bad news about sugar for another time. What I really wanted to know was could I ever allow potatoes back in my diet without having the addiction and weight gain come back. Then I learned about resistant starches, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk potato first!
What is a potato and what is the nutritional take away if any? The potato is actually part of the nightshade family (for those of you with inflammatory conditions). It is grown for its starchy tuber that grows underground. Potatoes range in shapes and sizes as well as colors. My favorite are the purple ones. Potatoes offer nutrients such as vitamin C, Potassium (found in the skin), and folate. However it is mostly carbs which converts to sugar as you digest it. I think it is well known that sugar contributes to a number of health issues including weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and depression to name a few. So we should all avoid potatoes, right? Well there may be another answer.
I recently learned about resistant starches. What are those, right? Well in foods like pasta, rice, beans and of course potatoes there are resistant starches. Resistant starch resists digestion which is how they got their name. The trick, it seems, is to eat foods with resistant starch either in it’s raw form or cooled after cooking. According to Dr. Steven R. Gundry who wrote in The Plant Paradox when a resistant starch passes your small intestine they get eaten up by your gut microbes converting them to short chain fatty acids instead of glucose, like a ferment-able fiber. To learn more visit the links below.
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