Our Country is Addicted to Corn

I enjoy food. I do not like being enslaved to it however. With the increasing obesity epidemic not just here in the United States but all across the world (and yet we have a global food crisis, mmmmh) I often ponder what is making us all so fat. Well the reality is that calories are not created equal. Even food banks in this time of economic duress have begun to kindly refuse high calorie but nutrionally empty foods laden with saturated fats and/or high fructose corn syrup. Can a person be nutritionally deficient but still obese? Yes. As a person consumes food that does not have the micronutrients (or sadly even macronutrients) they need their hunger mechanism will not be satiated telling them to consume more in hopes of meeting their nutritional requirements...in a word, nutritionally starved but obese people.

The Western diet is largely based on corn and meat raised on corn and we banked our hopes on cleaner environment with corn based ethanol. I sure wonder why food prices have gone up so much? Type II diabetes used to be known as adult on-set diabetes but with the prolific "fast-food" culture we live in we now see public service announcements to address the prevention of this disease in children.

But please don't take my word for it. Michael Pollan, a respected writer when it comes to American eating habits and our agricultural history, has written two well known books, An Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. A brief synopsis of In Defense of Food can be read here. People have no concept of how much corn they eat (a starch), that fortified foods are not insurance against nutritional deficiency and that food manfacturers pay for the labels like "American Heart Association Approved." The "whole grain, heart healthy" Pop-Tarts are not good for you regardless of whatever the package says.

I think the key here is that the maxim, "You are what you eat" resonates with me. If I eat processed foods that bare no resemblance to the original counterparts that helped create them, a list with things I cannot pronounce then I am not a healthy, well balanced person. If my bread has more than six ingredients, why in the world would I want to put that in my body? I will be honest in saying that I am sugar/bad carb addict that is constantly in the process of reformation because my body feels so much better when I do eat well. Even the aisles at Trader Joe's with their convenient frozen food options call my name but they add so much stuff my body does not need.

I have some food books on my list that I want to read and can hopefully post some more stuff down the road. Let me know if you want some recommendations on other foodie books.