Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Diet Plans: Is Corn Safe To Eat?

By Saleem Rana

Most people naturally assume that corn is a good diets food, but you should be cautious in adding it to your 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.

What a lot of people want to know is...

Does corn have a place in diet plans?

Unfortunately, as much as 60% of corn in the United States is genetically modified. In fact, the numbers may be higher because it is hard to get solid statistics on such a controversial topic. This practice of genetic modification of corn began as a way to allow farmers to grow a bigger crop and make more money because the crops could now fight off insects that were resistant to insecticides.



Sweet corn, also called Bt-corn, has been genetically modified so that it secretes a poison that kills insects.

This may sound like progress--especially from the perspective of the farmer and the national income--but there is a reason to be concerned. The new foods may have long term effects on ruining 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.

Doctors frequently deal with patients who have irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive problems. GMO foods may be playing a significant role in this issue.

Assuming that you can get your hands on non-GMO foods, then does corn fit into good diet plans?

Weight Loss And Carbohydrates



The most important thing to be aware of is that your body processes corn as if it were a carbohydrate rather than a vegetable. This means that you should not consider meal with brown rice and corn as a carbohydrate and vegetable meal. Instead, it is more accurate to classify corn as a grain. Thus, a meal with corn should be counted as a meal with a serving of carbohydrates.

What role does microwave popcorn play in a healthy diet?

Even organic microwave pop corn is not healthy for you. The bag is lined with the same chemical coating that is used in non-stick cookware and the pop corn contains preservatives.

What about air popped popcorn?

This is the best choice, but it should only be eaten occasionally. Since pop corn is a grain, it is a carbohydrate, and having too many carbohydrates will not assist in weight loss.

Here is the main takeaway from the article: one, stay away from GMO corn; and, two, include corn as a grain and not as a vegetable when making diet plans.




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