Most people naturally assume that corn is a good diets food, but you should be cautious in adding it to your diet plans.
It's hard to imagine watching a good movie without some buttered pop corn or a great barbeque without corn on the cob, but it may be time to rethink these popular choices.
This question seems to be coming up more and more often...
Does corn help or hurt 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 has also been genetically modified (now called Bt-corn) so that it produces a poison which kills harmful insects. This means the farmer no longer needs to fight insects with insecticides.
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.
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 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 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.
Is air popped popcorn better for you?
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.
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.
It's hard to imagine watching a good movie without some buttered pop corn or a great barbeque without corn on the cob, but it may be time to rethink these popular choices.
This question seems to be coming up more and more often...
Does corn help or hurt 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 has also been genetically modified (now called Bt-corn) so that it produces a poison which kills harmful insects. This means the farmer no longer needs to fight insects with insecticides.
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.
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
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 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.
Is air popped popcorn better for you?
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.
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
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