A few weeks ago a friend on Facebook posted about a documentary about the role of corn in our lives and diet. It sounded interested and my husband and I finally watched it tonight. King Corn was very interesting and not entirely shocking. I learned more about the role the government plays in the corn industry and about how Iowa is a huge corn producer, but the corn grown there is cheap and low in nutrition. The corn there basically turns into feed for cattle and high fructose corn syrup. It's cheap, and in turn allows companies to turn out cheap products.
Corn in some form is in so many foods that we don't even realize. An entire fast food hamburger combo meal has some form of corn in it. High fructose corn syrup is in so many different foods and things that would never occur to you like breadcrumbs. I haven't been a fan of high fructose corn syrup for a while now and have been making an effort not to buy things that contain it. There is still a huge debate about whether it is harmful or not compared to regular sugar, but it is so highly processed that I'm trying to steer clear of it. Of course trying to limit any kind of sweetener is important. I love that Fresh and Easy makes their products without HFCS or any preservatives or artificial products.
The other interesting thing was about the corn fed beef that we eat constantly. Supposedly the corn fed beef has a higher saturated fat content than grass fed beef, not to mention that the corn is horrible for the cows. But it's cheap so who cares right? I'm by no means going the vegetarian route ever, but I think I'm going to read up and look into the cost of grass fed beef as a possibility. The other thing was all of the antibiotics that they have to give the corn fed cows to keep them from dying before slaughter because of the confinement and corn diet. Yikes.
All I can say is do we really know what is going into our bodies? How is it all effecting our health? All of these chemicals can't be good.
I'm just trying to change things little by little. I'm only doing what is manageable for us at the time. Of course anyone can eat however they'd like, but this is what works for us. Like I said, I am learning as I go.
Air Fryer Potato Wedges
6 days ago
1 comments:
Have you watched Food Inc. or read the Omnivore's Dilemma? The Omnivore's Dilemma is a fascinating read and very eye-opening. It sounds similar to King Corn in that it talks a lot about how government policy has shaped the food industry, and what that means for our health. Food Inc. is in a similar vein. I read the Omnivore's Dilemma right after I had Henry and after reading about factory farming in the U.S. I was determined to go vegetarian. In the past two years we are still not totally vegetarian but have definitely decreased our meat consumption (we only eat it once or twice a week, and it is always in small amounts). I doubt we'll ever go totally veg because I love the occasional cheeseburger and adore seafood! We have yet to find a good source for grass-fed beef/organic meats, unfortunately, although we can get some things at Trader Joe's.
Just out of curiosity, how much would you say you're spending on groceries now that you're eating this way compared to how much you were spending before? Are you spending quite a bit more money, or have you found that cutting out buying cereals/snacks kind of makes up for the difference?
I haven't seen King Corn yet but I'll have to add it to my Netflix queue! Thanks for the recommendation!
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