After watching King Corn, I want to call it quits and become
a vegetarian. To think about how much of our food has corn in it is mind
boggling to me. The worst part is there is not really a way to avoid it because
there is corn or high fructose corn syrup in almost everything we eat.
The researchers in
this documentary went to a specialist to have their hair sampled to see what
traces of food have been in their diet. They found interesting results
concluding most of their diet consisted of corn! It's not like they sat at the
dinner table and chowed down on ears of corn, but more so corn disguised as
food. Most of the corn grown either goes into ethanol production, cow feed, or
is turned into high fructose corn syrup. It's hard to find a food label of ingredients
that does not include high fructose corn syrup. Lately I have been checking the
foods I eat and it is pretty accurate. If my hair were to be tested there would
probably be a high amount of corn as well.
In addition to people
having high amounts of corn in their system so do the cattle that feed us. (Click link to find out more info about this: link)
Ranchers feed their cattle food that has high levels of corn. The cattle
"put on weight faster if you don't let them move," so they are kept
in confined spaces while they eat. Back in the day, ranchers let the cattle
graze and roam in the fields. This was more natural and healthier for the
cattle. Ranchers try to speed up the process so they can make more money by not
having to wait as long for the cattle to reach their full growth. This
unfortunately makes the cattle grow more fat than lean muscle. So not only is
the meat we eat corn infused, but it also has more “fat disguised as meat.” In
addition to hurting us as consumers, the corn feed makes the cattle unhealthy
as well. The cattle are overfed so they bulk up just to be killed and consumed
by humans… what a life!
This documentary was incredibly enlightening and will definitely
make me think twice next time I’m shopping at the grocery store. I will be
checking the ingredients of my food from now on.
I watched Food Inc and was also surprised at how much corn plays a part in the foods we eat. The development of high fructose corn syrup has really allowed for corn to be a staple in a large chunk of the foods we consume every day.
ReplyDeleteAnd without watching a documentary like this or talking about it in class, I would have no idea how much corn I actually consume because the corporations do such a great job covering it up! It's sad how much information is kept from us or disguised to mislead us.
ReplyDeleteI love corn, but after learning about the way food is processed I have been thinking twice about things I eat or where I buy my food. When you say how you will think twice next time you shop at a grocery store I completely agree with you on that after all the blogs I read and the discussions from class
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Laura...vegetarian is sounding better to me every day. Unfortunately, even that cannot keep high amounts of corn out of my diet since so many foods are made with corn syrup and corn products. Even though I've cut way back on meat in the past six months, I know my corn intake is probably too much!
ReplyDeleteI heard from somewhere else too that high fructose corn syrup is in so much of our food.
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