Showing posts with label Corn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corn. Show all posts

The Skinny On Corn

By Penny Kane

Corn


Corn is used to fatten up livestock. Corn is a grain and not a vegetable. Most corn that we consume is genetically modified. Corn has long since been considered healthy until now when the consequences of eating corn in almost every product we buy has begun to make us sick.

High fructose corn syrup is dangerous to our health. Sugar from corn is more popular because it is less expensive to produce than cane sugar and contains twice the amount of fructose. This cheaper, sweeter product contains no vitamins or healthy enzymes and actually leeches nutrients from the body. It messes around with your insulin creating much of the type 2 diabetes epidemic, and has been found to inhibit the action of the immune systems white blood cells. White blood cells are crucial in our immune system to defend again disease and foreign materials. Corn not only fattens livestock up. A Princeton University research team has come up with some interesting evidence: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. High fructose corn syrup is more easily converted to fat in your liver and creates what is called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease which then can turn into type 2 diabetes. High fructose corn syrup contains no nutrients and in fact leeches healthy ones, it affects our immune system function resulting in allergies and illness, and our liver metabolizes it into fat creating fatty liver syndrome and insulin dependence.

Genetically modified corn or bt corn is also dangerous to our health because the corn is injected with a toxin that is designed to resist pests. This in theory would allow farmers to use less pesticides in their corn crops. When a bug eats the corn, the toxin injected into the corn spills out and damages their intestine and kills them. That leads to these questions. What happens when we eat it? Wouldn't the same rules apply? This genetically modified corn toxin does not have a shut off valve when it comes to human consumption. The bt toxin ends up killing the bugs, and hurting us too. This bt toxin is also known to cause allergies because it weakens our immune system. Bt toxin can also be found in pollen and it is just as detrimental to breathe. How many people report having seasonal allergies in this day and age? Here is another interesting fact. One farmer who switched to bt corn based feed reported an 80% decline in birth rates in his pigs.

I believe we are in the infancy of discovering corn's true dangers. Because we are inundated with corn in everything we eat, the risk to our health continues to increase.

•Corn is twice as sweet as cane sugar and affect triglycerides
•Corn has no nutritional value and leeches the good nutrients in your body
•Corn affects your insulin levels
•Corn affects your white blood cell count
•Bt or gmo corn is a suspected carcinogen
•Bt corn is known to cause an increase in allergies
•People living around bt corn crops have reported flu like symptoms and an increase in allergies
•Bt corn contains a toxin that attacks your intestines when you eat it
•Pigs fed corn experienced an 80% decline in fertility
•Rats fed corn syrup became obese
•North Americans are major consumers of high fructose corn syrup and corn products and are among the most obese in the world.

Penny Kane~Author

Article Source: EzineArticles


The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick, by Richard J. Johnson and Timothy Gower. What you don't know about High Fructose Corn Syrup could kill you. Cutting back on the fructose in your diet could save your life -- and shrink your waistline. Table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) -- the primary sources of fructose -- are staples of our food supply, and are even found in foods that aren't necessarily sweet, like breads, soups, ketchup, and salad dressing. These sweeteners are linked to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and joint and abdominal pain. They may also increase your risk for liver and kidney diseases, premature aging, and certain types of cancer... More

High Fructose Corn Syrup and the Fibromyalgia Connection: Fibromyalgia Recovery Handbook, by Janice Lorigan. Relief at last!! Living with fibromyalgia can be debilitating, miserable, and painful. Loss in work time is costly for employers, as well. The "down time" needed to restore energy and recover from bouts of the syndrome is wasteful and unnecessary. The specific guidelines involve no adverse side effects or risky or unhealthy measures. You will need to be aware of substances which are antagonistic and then carefully select and eat a wide variety of appropriate foods. Significant relief for you and millions of others who have been waiting for answers. Be the champion of your own recovery... More


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All You Ever Wanted to Know about Corn in Mexican Cooking

By KC Kudra

Corn is something which everyone is already quite familiar with; after all, this grain (which is often eaten as a vegetable) is a staple of American cooking but in Mexico, corn is a food, which has a great importance to the country's culinary tradition. From salads to soups, salsas and of course, as the basis for tortillas, corn shows up in a great number of easy Mexican recipes in one form or another.

This grain has been a staple food in Mexico since long before the arrival of Europeans on the continent. Used to make flour for tortillas, tamales and a variety of other dishes, corn was already central to Mexican cooking centuries, if not millennia before the Spanish came over in search of gold. The corn-based flatbreads acquired the name "tortillas" upon the Spanish conquest of what is now Mexico, after the Spanish word for "little cakes" (a name also given to omelets in Spain).

Tamales and tortillas are the most well known corn-based Mexican foods in the US; while flour tortillas are more common here, corn tortillas are now widely available in grocery stores nationwide and are becoming more popular. If you have never tried making tacos with corn tortillas, you are in for a real treat - the flavor a warm, soft corn tortilla adds to the dish just cannot be equaled by any wheat flour tortilla.

Another Mexican recipe, which features corn as the most important ingredient, is the tamale. This classic Mexican comfort food has been around for many centuries and may be served as part of dinner, lunch, or even breakfast! Tamales are made from corn flour dough filled with meats, cheeses, or vegetables and steamed inside of a cornhusk. Somewhat similar to Italian polenta, tamales are even made in sweetened or fruit filled versions, which are great for dessert or breakfast.

It takes some doing to make your own tamales at home, but nothing can beat a fresh homemade tamale's flavor. It is certain to impress your guests if you are up for a few hours in the kitchen, making (and eating) your own tamales can be a very rewarding experience.

Corn is sometimes used in salsas, where its flavor blends perfectly with tomatoes, herbs, and peppers. One common combination is black beans and corn, which makes a very satisfying salsa; you might have even seen some of these salsas at your local grocery store. Corn salsas are great with tortilla chips and wonderful with a taco (made with a warm corn tortilla, of course) or tamale.

There are also some Mexican soup recipes, which feature corn. One of the most popular Mexican soups, which showcases corn, is pozole. This is a spicy, delicious soup traditionally made with hominy, pork, and hot peppers. The combination of the corn's earthy sweetness with the meat and the kick of the chilies is a wonderful one and you can easily make a meal from a bowl of this substantial soup.

There are even restaurants, which specialize in pozole; if you live in a larger city with a sizeable Mexican-American population, you may have one near you. This is a Mexican recipe, which is relatively easy to make at home - the next time you want to try making soup, try this delicious recipe, which features corn in a starring role as a change of pace.

Mexican cuisine is vast and varied and if you want to know more, you can visit MexicanFoodRecipes.org where you can see just how many easy Mexican recipes you can make at home. You will also find plenty of interesting information on Mexican cuisine, which is known for being nutritious as well as very tasty.