by John Brittingham

Created on: December 31, 2008

Now I know the easy answer to this question is to say that Americans are lazy and they eat too much. I'm not so sure. The problem is only in part caused by a lack of exercise on behalf of those of us, myself included, who always answer that inevitable question with extra baggage or a few extra pounds. There is much more to this equation than most people know. For instance, did you know that the most common food item that you will find in any modern supermarket is... corn?

It's true, just read the ingredients of the foods you buy. The next time you buy a soda, be it a Pepsi or a Coke, if it's not of the diet persuasion, one of the leading ingredients is corn. In this case, it comes in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Doctors have been saying for years that it's bad for us. However, there is just no getting around it. Almost everything we buy in the United States, if it's sweet, it invariably contains corn syrup. Even our breads contain it because it helps the bread to brown during the baking process without making it too "crusty." The danger of HFCS goes well beyond simple obesity as well. The human body does not metabolize HFCS properly. It is known to cause fatty deposits on the liver to a degree normally only seen in alcoholics. Every year, the amount of table sugar consumed by Americans decreases, while the overall intake of sugars increases. The rest of the sugars we consume are of course HFCS and the implications to our health are disastrous.

The implications of corn in the American diet go well beyond HFCS. Corn is the largest cash crop grown in the country today, and not because it is profitable to the farmer. A farmer simply cannot support himself on raising corn. So why do they grow so much? The Federal Government pays incentives to grow corn. This is the only thing that makes it profitable. Because of this, the crop yield has grown and grown. The funny thing about all of this is that the corn that farmers are growing is not edible. That's right; you can't eat it. In order to make it edible, it has to be processed into various other products, such as HFCS. The reason it isn't edible is that it is full of starch. This is also the same type of corn that is fed to beef cattle.

Cattle are raised on farms where they are able to graze on grass. Then, once they reach a certain age, they are sold to feed lots. These feedlots are not much more than pastures filled with so many cows that they can't move and all the while, they have food in front of

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>