Happy Monday! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Today marks the first day for our Guest Blog series. We will have additional guest authors/bloggers who will make an appearance on CornFreeLifestyle between now and the end of April 2012. Every blogger will share their own unique experience of dealing with corn allergy, food allergies, the state of our food supply, finding safe foods and any other topic that strikes a personal chord in their lives. Please comment and share your experiences, you never know how your experience can help someone else struggling with the same or similar issue. Without further ado, I would like to welcome Lisa K., also known as Ms. Violets from Hubpages, to the CornFreeLifestyle family.
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The Myth of Good Food
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by Lisa K., MsViolets
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I was recently talking to the mother of one of my daughter’s schoolmates. She was treated for breast cancer last year and talked about her recovery. Knowing what I know about food and it’s connections to illness (from allergies as well as hormones and additives) I asked about diet changes. She laughed and told me her doctor’s not into that. Besides, when she came to America, she gave up all that bad food and started eating like an American.
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She went on to say that we complain too much about GMOs and chemicals. Food is food. Americans tend to take for granted that we have such good food available. Where she comes from, they mostly eat vegetables and rice. They don’t have a lot of dairy or meat. In fact, she proudly drinks milk every single day and makes sure her daughter does, too.
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I admit it. I cringed inside as she began talking about how lucky we are to have access to milk and easily packaged meals so that her family was able to eat tasty meals every day when she was undergoing treatment.
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I know we’re lucky to live in a country where food is readily available, and most people have homes where heat and running water are a given, as is access to a corner grocery store. We’re blessed to live in a country where schools provide hot lunches for children who otherwise would go hungry. But we sometimes forget that the easily accessed ‘good food’ isn’t always that great. The thing is, despite the plethora of ‘good food’ here in America we have the highest cancer rate of all developed countries. When people move to America from other countries, their risk of developing cancer can increase up to four times what it was when they were eating a traditional diet.
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I used to think our food was ‘good’ too. I used to be happy to open a box and add water to whatever freeze dried meal appealed to us for the evening. I’d add some frozen vegetables, snack on brightly colored yoghurt and thought it was fairly healthful. There were 4 food groups on the plate, and after my daughter was born the grains were whole and the sugar was limited. She still got sick. We all did. Not with cancer, just with mysterious debillitating symptoms. As we went on rotation and elimination diets to track down her triggers, I discovered my own corn allergy. And then I discovered a whole lot more than I ever wanted to know about our food supply.I learned that in European countries, many of the additives and food colorings we consider a staple in our children’s foods are actually banned in children’s food. European parents refused to buy neon yoghurt, multi colored sugar cookies and vibrant crackers. The same companies that sell those rainbow colored concoctions in the United States have alternate, less colorful versions for the European market.
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I learned that fresh produce is not so fresh. In fact, frozen produce isn’t waxed or treated with growth inhibitors such as Chlorpropham, the way ‘fresh’ produce is. These growth inhibitors are applied directly to produce, are absorbed by the fruit or vegetable and do not completely wash off. They are ingested.
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And then there’s corn. Genetically modified to make it’s own insecticides in the early 90′s; and to withstand heavy applications of the chemical glyphosate (more commonly known as the herbicide “Round Up” sold by Monsanto), corn is a staple in the American lifestyle. Used to make everything from the starches that put aspirin into pill form to the drywall in the livingroom to the coating of wax that protects fresh apples from easy bruising, corn derivatives infiltrate our lives in ways we can’t begin to predict.
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At first, as my discoveries began, I thought that corn itself was the issue, since it was showing up in everything. But I was wrong. It’s not just that corn derivatives are everywhere I look and some places I don’t, the real problem is information. Until I had reasons to start digging deeper, I had no way to know how many corn derivatives I was exposed to. As consumers, none of us are given the information we need about what, exactly, is in our food supply in order to correctly track down food related reactions or chemical exposure. We trust that we are getting exactly what we expect when we look at a product and it’s ingredient list, and the truth is that most food we find at the grocery store has been modified, treated or grown in unexpected ways. No wonder allergies are spiralling out of control. No wonder the cancer rate is on the rise. No wonder our children are struggling with higher incidents of Allergies, Asthma, ADHD and Autism and healthcare costs are on the rise.
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What has changed? Not just the way our food is packaged, but the way it is grown, handled and stored. When we eat a conventional apple we’re eating insecticides, herbicides, and genetically modified material from corn or soy derived wax. When we drink punch we’re ingesting a variety of sweeteners (mostly derived from corn), and petroleum based food dyes. Eating with the seasons is a mystery to most Americans, only slightly improved by the availability of farmer’s markets, where farmers patiently explain over and over again that melon doesn’t grow locally in December, Pumpkins will be back in September and apples may be available nearly year round, but the varieties change every month. We think we’re in control of our diet, but we have lost touch with our food supply.
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Here in America, we’re used to shipping in produce from anywhere. This is where part of the mythical ‘good food’ comes from. Our supermarkets claim surplus, abundance, and wealth. We’re used to looking at apples, bananas, and eating bread and cheese and flavored chips year round, day in and day out. We’re used to treating our taste buds to whatever we get a hankering for, and ignoring our bodies. Unfortunately, our bodies refuse to be ignored. This ‘good food’ is full of preservatives and flavor enhancers, wax coatings to prevent bruising and over ripening, citric acid washes to extend shelf life, and artificial colors to improve aesthetic appeal. More heavily processed foods are good for our taste buds, but take quite a toll on our health. Although Genetically Modified Food advocates claim that there is no evidence that GM food is directly harmful, there are plenty of studies that indicate otherwise and call safety into question. Food waxes and growth inhibitors might seem safe in minute amounts, but the more things they’re in the more exposures we have. And pesticides, herbicides and insecticides are a huge concern in both genetically modified and conventionally grown crops.
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Listening to this woman talk, and knowing what I’ve learned the hard way over the past few years, I don’t think the readily available ‘good food’ is nearly enough. We need to limit our exposure to potentially dangerous substances, which means we need to know what’s in our food even when we don’t think to ask. We deserve transparent labeling so we can make informed decisions, if and when we choose to.
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Maybe, as adults, it’s something we’re willing to compromise on. But as I look at my kids I can’t help thinking they deserve more. They deserve the knowledge they need to grow strong and healthy, and to someday raise strong, healthy grandchildren for us to spoil. They deserve Good Food that is worthy of capitals. Ironically, that means redefining ‘Good Food’ from tasty and seasoned concoctions to the unprocessed, old fashioned garden produce and unrefined grains that are a staple in underpriviliged areas. Good food is something our great grandmothers would have recognized during each step of the growing and packaging process. It can be again, but only if we choose to demand labels and information.
