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.
There's nothing like a good piece of corn on the cob at your summer barbeque or your buttered popcorn to go along with your favorite movie, right? Or wrong?
What a lot of people want to know is...
Should corn be included in diet plans?
Although it has been estimated that about 60% of crops are genetically modified, this is only a conservative figure and the numbers are much more likely to be higher. The practice was implemented to produce a bigger crop so farmers and national revenues from the agricultural sector were higher. Genetically modified corn could now kill insects that had become resistant to pesticides.
Sweet corn, also called Bt-corn, has been genetically modified so that it secretes a poison that kills insects.
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.
Well, because the introduction of GMO (genetically modified organism) foods is still relatively new, we're in a way being used as "guinea pigs" in a massive experiment (Yikes!). In April 2007, Arpad Pusztai, from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, UK, announced that experiments had shown intestinal changes in rats caused by eating genetically engineered potatoes (and I don't know about you, but I'm not happy about anybody trying to mess with my intestines).
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.
Ok, so what if you're able to get non-GMO corn? (Which it is difficult to know which brands and items are GMO and which are not) where does corn fit into diet plans?
How Carbohydrates Affect 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 about microwave popcorn?
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.
How about air popped popcorn?
This is the better choice when it comes to pop corn. However, you have to only enjoy this snack occasionally because your body will not lose weight if you consume too much carbohydrates.
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.
There's nothing like a good piece of corn on the cob at your summer barbeque or your buttered popcorn to go along with your favorite movie, right? Or wrong?
What a lot of people want to know is...
Should corn be included in diet plans?
Although it has been estimated that about 60% of crops are genetically modified, this is only a conservative figure and the numbers are much more likely to be higher. The practice was implemented to produce a bigger crop so farmers and national revenues from the agricultural sector were higher. Genetically modified corn could now kill insects that had become resistant to pesticides.
Sweet corn, also called Bt-corn, has been genetically modified so that it secretes a poison that kills insects.
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.
Well, because the introduction of GMO (genetically modified organism) foods is still relatively new, we're in a way being used as "guinea pigs" in a massive experiment (Yikes!). In April 2007, Arpad Pusztai, from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, UK, announced that experiments had shown intestinal changes in rats caused by eating genetically engineered potatoes (and I don't know about you, but I'm not happy about anybody trying to mess with my intestines).
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.
Ok, so what if you're able to get non-GMO corn? (Which it is difficult to know which brands and items are GMO and which are not) where does corn fit into diet plans?
How Carbohydrates Affect Weight Loss
The role of carbohydrates in your diet plans
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 about microwave popcorn?
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.
How about air popped popcorn?
This is the better choice when it comes to pop corn. However, you have to only enjoy this snack occasionally because your body will not lose weight if you consume too much carbohydrates.
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.
About the Author:
Saleem Rana recommends you learn more about diet from the free information offered by renowned nutritionist Isabela De Los Rios