Image from Flickr user uuzinger shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Joe: Cutting out the Corn

You are what you eat. And here in the U.S., more likely than not, you are an ear of corn.

Throughout my childhood, the importance of avoiding high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was not lost in my mother. She was heaven-bent on passing this mantra on to me. And she did. But for years, I didn’t really understand why the stuff was so bad. “It’s just sugary stuff derived from corn …what could be wrong with it?” I thought. More importantly, what could be more American than a product derived from corn? Maybe high fructose hamburger syrup? Or high fructose personal transportation syrup? But even though I didn’t understand why it was so “evil,” I listened to my mother- however frustrating or confusing it may have been at such a young and impressionable age.

I avoided HFCS like the plague, but must admit that I had a soft spot for Oreos and Sprite- snacks available only outside of our property. Although I came by ‘health-conscious’ eating and living honestly, it wasn’t until I got to college that I became intensely interested in these ideas in terms of more than just personal health. Understanding the American food system is something I have found to be very beneficial to my own well-being in that it has inspired me to have a better relationship with the food that I eat. But back to the burning question…what is so wrong with corn-derived food products? The long and short of it is this: there is overwhelming evidence that the rise America’s obesity and type-II diabetes epidemics are strongly linked to the advent of sugar-alternatives (namely, high fructose corn syrup). Let’s not forget the adverse environmental effects of commodity crops like corn and soybeans. The lack of biodiversity that results is harmful to our natural world for a multitude of reasons- like a serious disruption of the land’s natural processes.

How did we get here? Well, the surplus of corn here in the U.S. is most certainly a result of former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz’s encouragement of farmers to plant commodity crops in the early 1970s. And here we are today, almost 40 years later, in a society that consumes ‘food’ likely manufactured using one, if not many, corn-derived products (if you could call products with shelf-lives longer than a year 'food').  The fact is that avoiding these corn-derived products is not easy. From your standard varieties of peanut butters and jellies, to the melatonin supplement you take when jet-lagged, corn products are everywhere. I’ll be spending the next 2 weeks eating a diet that is completely corn-free.

My jokes, however, will remain as corny as the Midwest.

Recommended enlightenment

• King Corn a feature documentary film by Ian Cheney & Curt Ellis
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• Corn-free Diet at PCC Natural Markets
• Corn Derivatives at Corn Allergens.com

Image from Flickr user wrestlingentropy shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Jimmy: Keeping it Raw

The past week I've been researching and contemplating a change in my diet.  After reading lots of articles and often contradictory evidence, I've decided to try a raw food diet.  A raw food diet means just what it says, eating primarily raw foods and avoiding processed and cooked food (warming food to 104 degrees is allowed).  Just how strict this is depends on who you ask, and honestly I can't imagine a "right" or "wrong" way to do this.  I've decided that raw foods should make up an ever increasing portion of my diet and to see how far I can go towards being a fully realized raw foodist.  Purists say 95-100% is necessary, but I have a feeling that may not happen for me....we shall see.  I plan to keep track of what I eat for the next two weeks as I wean myself off processed and cooked foods.  I found some good info on the web that should help, including these recipes I plan to try.

My wife recently went to the grocery store, before I informed her of my decision to "go raw", so this week will consist of weaning myself off non-raw food that we bought (we don't want to waste food, or money).  This is a good thing, as it will allow me to ease into the diet and pay close attention to my current diet so I can compare it to my "fully realized" raw diet...whatever that ends up being two weeks down the road.

Image from Flickr user visualpanic shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Justin: The Great Gluten-Free Fortnight

For the next couple of weeks, I will be following (or attempting to follow) a gluten free diet.  Any food that has gluten in it (i.e. ingredients derived from wheat, rye, and barley, as well as any gluten-containing food additive) will be off the menu.

Gluten-free diets are traditionally followed by people who suffer from Celiac disease or are otherwise allergic to wheat or gluten.  However, these conditions are merely one end of the spectrum.  According to a recent Roughage column here on IzzitGreen, as many as three out of ten Americans have some intolerance to gluten.

The problem for those who are afflicted by gluten-related ailments is that these days, gluten has found its way into everything.  Like corn-derived high fructose corn syrups and countless other unpronounceable ingredients, gluten-based additives are a common feature in foods that would otherwise seem to have nothing to do with wheat, rye or barley.  What I initially thought would be a relatively simple exercise in trading pasta for rice and couscous for quinoa is now much more complicated: any salad dressing, soy sauce or other processed or packaged food could be suspect.

Yet while the inconvenience is there, the benefits are possibly manifold.  Even if I don't end up discovering an intolerance to gluten, my temporary dietary realignment will force me to abandon many conventional processed foods and delve into a world of new foods that I never previously considered.  To me, that doesn't sound like such a bad affliction at all.