Corn: Grain or Vegetable????

For the longest time I thought corn was a vegetable. Contrary to popular belief, corn is a grain!!! Below are 6 Reasons Why Corn is Making Us Fat. It is quite disgusting to see what the farming industry can convince us to make an extra dollar.

Fructose is Metabolized to Fat

The digestive and absorptive processes for glucose and fructose are different. Unlike glucose, which the body uses, when one consumes large amounts of fructose it is a relatively unregulated source of fuel for the liver to convert to fat and cholesterol. Fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar. It is also known to raise triglycerides significantly.

Most Fructose is Consumed as a Liquid

The fact that most fructose is consumed in a liquid form significantly magnifies its negative metabolic effects. The devastation it has on our biology would be significantly lessened if it were consumed in solid food, but most fructose is consumed in soft drinks and fruit juices.

Fructose Does Not Stimulate Insulin Secretion

In addition, unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin, a hormone thought to be involved in appetite regulation, production. Because insulin and leptin act as key signals in regulating how much food you eat and body weight, this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased food intake and weight gain.

Fructose Has no Enzymes, Vitamins or Minerals

Fructose has no enzymes, vitamins or minerals so it takes micronutrients from the body while it assimilates itself for use. However, eating a small piece of whole fruit, which contains natural fructose, is not likely to be a problem for most people because fresh fruits contain the enzymes, vitamins and minerals that are needed for the fructose to assimilate in the body.

Corn is a Grain, Not a Vegetable

Corn definitely does not fit as a dietary staple and mainstay, primarily because it contains high amounts of sugar. When early Native Americans changed their diet to one based mostly on corn, they had increased rates of the following:

• Anemia
• Dental cavities
• Osteoarthritis
• Bone infections and other bone problems

Corn is Everywhere in the American Diet

Corn, and usually highly processed corn, has become a staple ingredient of the American diet. Cheap corn is truly the building block of the ''fast-food nation," as Michael Pollan writes in a New York Times article.

Not only is it in high fructose corn syrup, but animals raised for meat are often fed corn and other grains. Most meat in supermarkets comes from grain-fed animals. On the contrary, grain-free meats not only provide a better balance of omega fats, but also the animals are healthier and more humanely raised, and the risk of acquiring an infection from a healthy animal is very remote.