Although it may seem that corn is a good food to add to your diet, there are some good reasons why it would not work well in diet plans.
A summer barbeque seems incomplete without a piece of corn on the cob and a movie show, whether at home or in a theater, seems to be more enjoyable with some buttered pop corn, but there are reasons to think twice about either choice.
This question seems to be coming up more and more often...
Does corn have a place in diet plans?
It's been approximated that about 60% of the corn, now in the U.S., is genetically modified (although, I do think this number is higher now). The practice of genetically modifying corn began in an attempt to make corn crops resistant to certain pesticides. This helps the farmer because they are then able to grow a larger crop because it is easier to fight off pests (they can spray the crops with pesticides and get rid of insects without damaging their crop).
Sweet corn, now also called Bt-corn, has been altered to produce an insect-killing poison.
Now although some of these may sound like a good thing (especially if you're a farmer!), we need to consider how GMO foods respond in our bodies and what kind of long term effects they can have on our health.
The plain fact is that we do not know if any GMO foods are safe. Everyone is an involuntary guinea pig. In April 2007, a researcher from Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, UK, announced that rats had intestinal problems after eating genetically engineered potatoes.
This actually doesn't surprise me. It's amazing to me how many more people now complain of things like irritable bowel syndrome and other nagging digestive problems. I'm not saying that eating GMO foods is the only cause for these conditions but I'm sure it's a significant contributor (along with processed foods, but that's a story for a different day).
Assuming that you can get your hands on non-GMO foods, then does corn fit into good diet plans?
Carbohydrates And Weight Loss
First, your body reads corn as a grain, NOT a vegetable so if you are to include it into your meals, this will be the grain (carbohydrate) for your meal. So having corn and brown rice would be having 2 grains in one meal. This is not necessarily off limits and not "bad" in any way, just consider if you are someone who is sensitive to grains, you will lose weight faster by greatly reducing the number of grains you eat each day. You may want to take 2 - 3 weeks and follow the "no grain" meal plans in the Diet Solution manual and see if that helps break through any weight loss plateaus and/or helps your digestion.
What role does microwave popcorn play in a healthy diet?
Well even the organic varieties contain preservatives (of course to keep them in the bag) and have been shown to contain the same chemical coating in the bag that is used on non-stick cookware (double YIKES!). I would stay away from this stuff.
What about air popped popcorn?
This is your best bet and can definitely be used as an occasional snack. But notice I said "occasional". Remember most people lose weight faster by decreasing (not necessarily eliminating) many grains. Snacking on popcorn every day could and most likely will, impede your weight loss efforts.
In conclusion, then, it's fine to include corn into your diet plans provided you take some precautions. Firstly, only get the non-GMO variety. Secondly, consider corn a grain rather than a vegetable and allocate it to the carbohydrate portion of your meals.
A summer barbeque seems incomplete without a piece of corn on the cob and a movie show, whether at home or in a theater, seems to be more enjoyable with some buttered pop corn, but there are reasons to think twice about either choice.
This question seems to be coming up more and more often...
Does corn have a place in diet plans?
It's been approximated that about 60% of the corn, now in the U.S., is genetically modified (although, I do think this number is higher now). The practice of genetically modifying corn began in an attempt to make corn crops resistant to certain pesticides. This helps the farmer because they are then able to grow a larger crop because it is easier to fight off pests (they can spray the crops with pesticides and get rid of insects without damaging their crop).
Sweet corn, now also called Bt-corn, has been altered to produce an insect-killing poison.
Now although some of these may sound like a good thing (especially if you're a farmer!), we need to consider how GMO foods respond in our bodies and what kind of long term effects they can have on our health.
The plain fact is that we do not know if any GMO foods are safe. Everyone is an involuntary guinea pig. In April 2007, a researcher from Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, UK, announced that rats had intestinal problems after eating genetically engineered potatoes.
This actually doesn't surprise me. It's amazing to me how many more people now complain of things like irritable bowel syndrome and other nagging digestive problems. I'm not saying that eating GMO foods is the only cause for these conditions but I'm sure it's a significant contributor (along with processed foods, but that's a story for a different day).
Assuming that you can get your hands on non-GMO foods, then does corn fit into good diet plans?
Carbohydrates And Weight Loss
First, your body reads corn as a grain, NOT a vegetable so if you are to include it into your meals, this will be the grain (carbohydrate) for your meal. So having corn and brown rice would be having 2 grains in one meal. This is not necessarily off limits and not "bad" in any way, just consider if you are someone who is sensitive to grains, you will lose weight faster by greatly reducing the number of grains you eat each day. You may want to take 2 - 3 weeks and follow the "no grain" meal plans in the Diet Solution manual and see if that helps break through any weight loss plateaus and/or helps your digestion.
What role does microwave popcorn play in a healthy diet?
Well even the organic varieties contain preservatives (of course to keep them in the bag) and have been shown to contain the same chemical coating in the bag that is used on non-stick cookware (double YIKES!). I would stay away from this stuff.
What about air popped popcorn?
This is your best bet and can definitely be used as an occasional snack. But notice I said "occasional". Remember most people lose weight faster by decreasing (not necessarily eliminating) many grains. Snacking on popcorn every day could and most likely will, impede your weight loss efforts.
In conclusion, then, it's fine to include corn into your diet plans provided you take some precautions. Firstly, only get the non-GMO variety. Secondly, consider corn a grain rather than a vegetable and allocate it to the carbohydrate portion of your meals.
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