Corn Is Technically a Grain, But Look Out For the Sugar

Native Americans taught the European settlers how to grow and prepare corn, which they ate as a breakfast cereal with milk and maple syrup. Corn is not a vegetable, it is technically a grain. It is the seed of a grass, like wheat. It therefore counts toward the recommended daily servings of whole grain. However, corn is very sweet and used as animal feed, corn syrup, cornstarch, corn oil, ethanol fuel and in the making of plastics and other non-food products. The corn we eat is "sweet corn" (white, yellow, or bi-colored), which has become even sweeter since scientists began breeding varieties with more sugar. Some "supersweet" corn also convert its sugars to starch more slowly after it is cut from the stalk, so it stays sweet longer. Baby corn is sweet corn that’s been harvested early and can be eaten cob and all. Popcorn is a special variety of field corn that contains a small amount of water inside a thick-walled casing; when heated, steam builds up until the kernel explodes – producing the popped corn we have all come to love while watching sporting events.
Corn is a high-carbohydrate food with lots of fiber (nearly 5 grams per cup of cooked kernels), some protein, B vitamins (notably thiamin and folate), a little vitamin C, and a handful of minerals (such as potassium, iron, and magnesium). Treating corn with lime (as is done with tortillas) make certain amino acids and the B vitamin, niacin more available to the body. But as a starchy vegetable (not), corn contains more than most other vegetables—about 110 calories in a medium–sized ear, or 175 calories in a cup of cooked kernels.
Yellow and white corn are similar nutritionally, except that yellow corn is rich in lutein and zeaxanthin—carotenoids that may help keep eyes healthy and possibly protect against cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Yellow corn also contains some beta carotene; white has none.
Corn should be kept cool and eaten as soon as possible—the sugar in starch gets converted to starch more quickly at warm temperatures. Boil, grill or steam corn. Don’t add salt to the boiling water, because salt toughens the kernels. Instead of butter, try rubbing with wedges of lemon or lime. Instead of salt, sprinkle with cayenne, dill or other spices and herbs.
Corn sweeteners, widely found in soft drinks and other processed foods are another source of sugar. High-fructose corn syrup, in particular, may raise triglycerides and have other negative health effects. Much of my research points to the development of HFCS as the trigger that set this country on a path leading to obesity and type 2 diabetes—back in the late 60s. Today you would be hard-pressed to find baked goods, candy, gum, bread and even pickled herring without reading high-fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. Some products only indicate corn syrup, but it is not the friend of those with diabetes or weight problems. When you go to a restaurant, you may want to ask for a substitute for corn - in the form of peas, green beans or mixed vegetables. Mediterranean vegetables are preferable to eating corn. I always get the substitute and appreciate the Greek restaurant owner’s willingness to allow for a healthier choice. Even the natural sugar alcohol called Xylitol is now being made from corn sources. You may need to bring a small magnifier to read these ingredients and then look out for the hidden sources of sugar.
Sugar is a major enemy to the health of young people and those already losing limbs, eyesight and suffering immune problems. Those schools removing their vending machines are finding fewer discipline problems, more focused students and their parents are not filling prescriptions for Ritalin. Over active children do not need mega doses of processed sugar—they are usually very active without any chemical additives.

Producing a healthier environment will take a massive effort on the part of the public and food producers. Taste is not the most important source of choosing healthy foods. Triglycerides came down when I used more cinnamon and ate more Omega-3 foods. I dropped my triglycerides from 1374 to 76 in two months. Living longer and healthier will not come easy to Americans addicted to parties with french fries, pizza, pop, candy and cake. Plan your picnics around fruits, vegetables, nuts, dark green salads, extra-virgin olive oil and apple-cider vinegar. Lemonade made with fresh lemons is the best beverage for preventing short-term memory loss. Try smoothies with cherries, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and plain yogurt with a little cinnamon and vanilla extract and you will be headed in the right direction.

Diabetes Defeated

It appears that a movement is underway in this country. People disappointed with the lack of progress in our health care are beginning to try something new. No prescriptions, just common sense and a determination to fix the problem. With improved eating habits and using the available monitors introduced to health-conscious people, many are measuring their successes with the determination of a scientist. They are not willing to accept the magic bullet of the pharmaceutical industry, nor do they accept the fear instilled in them by their doctors. Intelligent people are finding that eating healthy can prevent and, in some cases, reverse the effects of diseases - once considered incurable.
The latest issue of New Health Digest featured an article, "Diabetes Disappears" in their July-August 2006 publication. The article about DeWayne McCulley is one of inspiration for people who believe we can do a better job of improving our health.
McCulley went into a diabetic coma with a blood glucose level of 1337 — more that 1000 points above normal. The doctor said Dwayne didn’t have long to live. The type 2 diabetes was advancing and he was shooting insulin into his veins four times a day. He was offered medications that would slow the decline and was invited to group meetings where he could see others who shared his eventual fate of amputated limbs and debilitated health, ending in death.
Today, McCulley has normal blood sugar and a properly functioning pancreas and kidneys that respond properly to insulin secretions. What changed is his diet and lifestyle. What’s different is that instead of being on a declining path to death, McCulley is enthusiastically speaking and lecturing to church groups, support groups and individuals about how he found his path to wellness.
What saved McCulley’s life are not the procedures of industrial medicine but the precise discipline of an engineer and an understanding of biochemistry obtained while he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He had earned a degree in engineering and took classes in biochemistry. With an understanding of basic biology and the mind of an engineer, McCulley made meticulous notes of his symptoms and treatments and took notice of how and when his body felt better or worse. Little ‘accidents’ became momentous learning opportunities and knowledge accumulated into a re-engineering health project.
One day the kitchen cupboard was empty of his favorite cereal. As a substitute, McCulley prepared Brussels sprouts with some salmon. In his routine blood sugar check he noticed the blood sugar had gone down instead of up as expected because he had not had the prescribed carbohydrate/sugar cereal that was prescribed as a sugar balancing diet.
He called his doctor to ask how this could be. While the endocrinologist said this was an anomaly, the engineer’s mind kicked in, "Ah, this is a data point," McCulley recalled thinking, "I need to collect more data." He continued to eat a diet of Brussels sprouts, baked salmon, extra virgin olive oil and filtered water for the next seven days, monitoring sugar and the limit of this ‘anomaly’, his blood sugar kept going down and personal energy was maintained. While the doctor encouraged increased insulin, he accidentally reduced his insulin injection. When this was discovered, another data point was added to the engineer’s mind.
Against the advice of a medical edict that a diabetic’s life can be maintained by lifelong injections of insulin or he will die, McCulley continued his bioengineering studies, eating more green vegetables, fresh virgin olive oil, salmon and bottled water. He gradually lowered his insulin injections, while monitoring sugar levels six to eight times a day or more to monitor how blood sugar reacted to foods. "I did not really know what I was doing," McCulley said. "As an engineer, I was enthralled by the data that I was gathering from my body. I was fortunate to have a disease I could monitor."
After almost four months of monitoring his diet, sugar levels and reducing insulin, McCulley reached the zero point. He no longer needed industrially manufactured insulin to maintain his body’s sugar levels. "My endocrinologist was never happy or supportive of my self directed health maintenance." McCulley said. "He refused to accept the data I was collecting. When I stopped insulin all together, he said I’d be back on insulin in three months." Four years later, McCulley is happy, healthy and free from a life of external insulin injections. The institutional diabetes doctors still predict that it won’t last, that eventually McCulley will return to insulin injections because it is written that there is no cure for diabetes.
In his final visit with the endocrinologist, July 2002, McCulley was told that the reversal of his condition was an anomaly and that he should be careful not to tell other people as he would only be spreading false hope. In October 2005, McCulley self published his book "Death to Diabetes" detailing his personal story of investigation, discovery, experimentation and restored health and vitality. Today he visits churches, clinics, support groups and talks to anyone who is interested about how a disciplined healthy lifestyle can restore vibrant health, free from drugs and industrial interventions.
In the September issue of New Health Digest, they will publish an extensive review of McCulley’s journey from the injunctions of industrial medicine to the success of a disciplined, data drive, science supported, professionally monitored self-directed return to vibrant health and happiness. For a preview of the story you can visit McCulley’s website: www.deathtodiabetes.com.
In many ways my experience parallels that of McCulley’s, except that I was encouraged by my physician, Dr. Ralph J. Argen, M.D. to continue what I was doing and write a book, "Make Eating A Lifestyle Change." His encouragement along with the results of quarterly blood tests proved to me that this was a worthwhile effort. I continue to monitor my blood pressure, glucose, weight and overall energy while reading labels and preparing foods which reduce cholesterol, lower triglycerides and keep me away from prescription drugs. No blood-pressure pills and no cholesterol-lowering drugs - just eating healthy and enjoying sharing this information with those who dare to make a lifestyle change in what they eat and how they live.

Alcohol is a Carcinogen!

Life Extension’s November 2005 article on "Alcohol is a Carcinogen" reveals many facts little known to the general public. The problem of alcoholism has always interested me because I saw its destructive forces in my own family and friends. In my post-graduate work I took a course sponsored by the Alcohol Institute. We had the opportunity to learn first-hand the effects of alcohol on human functions and researched the many ways used to combat alcoholism. It had been associated with cirrhosis of the liver and brain cell damage. I had witnessed those conditions in family members and almost anyone can witness the effects that result in speech difficulties and control over the ability to walk and coordinate movement of the limbs as well as reaction time. So serious are the effects, that we tried to determine whether it was a disease, hereditary, or an acquired craving for a substance that caused serious problems in some while merely a social, cultural and traditional use in some families. Whatever the root cause of the drug abuse of alcohol, it inflicts a more insidious effect than previously known.
Epidemiological studies clearly show that those who consume large amount of alcohol have sharply increased risks of certain cancers.
Especially troubling are esophageal and brain cancers, both of which are increasing in frequency at an alarming rate. In women, even moderate alcohol consumption is linked with higher breast cancer incidence.
Most of the public is still unaware of the carcinogenic effects of excessive alcohol ingestion.
Despite its widespread use and social acceptance, alcohol is one of the 10 leading causes of death and injury in developed countries, according to the Institute for Alcohol Studies in Cambridgeshire, England. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that alcohol causes 1.8 million deaths worldwide each year, with the highest proportions occurring in the Americas and Europe.
"Alcohol was estimated to cause worldwide, 20 - 30% of esophageal cancer, liver disease, epilepsy, motor vehicle accidents, and homicide and other intentional injuries," the WHO noted in its 2002 World Health Report. An estimated 63% of US adults drank alcohol in the past year. Alcohol abuse occurs in approximately 6% of Americans, and may affect 10-20% of the population at some point in their lives. Untreated alcoholism has been estimated to reduce life expectancy by as much as 15 years.
In its 2000 Report on Carcinogens, the US Department of Health and Human Services listed alcohol as a known human carcinogen that can cause cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx , and esophagus. The risk is greatest among smokers and heavy drinkers. Cancers of the oral cavity and upper airway frequently go undiscovered until their latter stages, when the death rate is very high; surgical treatment of these malignancies can cause disfigurement and difficulties with speech, chewing, and swallowing. The Report on Carcinogens further noted that evidence suggests a link between alcohol consumption and cancers of the liver and breast.
South American scientists reported in 2003 that Chileans who are heavy drinkers (defined as consuming more than 402 grams of alcohol per week) are significantly more likely to develop hemorrhagic stroke, "a major cause of disability and death worldwide." The more than fourfold increase in risk was independent of other factors, such as high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, or liver disease.
The use and misuse of alcohol may also wreak havoc with the brain and the nervous system. Peripheral neuropathy—marked by pain, tingling, and loss of sensation and muscle strength in the extremities—is often the first sign of alcohol dependence. Alcohol can also have extensive and far-reaching effects on the brain, including contributing to memory lapses and cognitive impairment.
Clearly, alcohol is a major toxin that can contribute to cancer, stroke, and neurodegenerative decline. Guarding against the effects of this lethal chemical is crucial to promoting optimal well-being. Other conditions, such as infection with the hepatitis B or C virus, obesity, type II diabetes, or exposure to toxins such as aflatoxin or vinyl chloride, may increase alcohol’s carcinogenic effects in a synergistic manner.
Because men produce more alcohol dehydrogenase in their stomachs and livers than women, they metabolize more alcohol during first-pass metabolism than women. Women, on the other hand, rely more heavily on the detoxification capacity of their livers. Due to this gender-related difference, women are affected more profoundly than men by equivalent doses of alcohol, and are also more susceptible than men to the threat of developing fatter liver, and brain damage when they drink.
Because alcohol has substantial caloric value (7.1 calories per gram), it may displace ordinary nutrients in the diet, including antioxidants such as vitamin C, thereby causing primary malnutrition. Secondary malnutrition can occur later in the course of chronic alcohol use, when food is no longer properly digested and absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract.
My own observation of alcoholics was that they were usually addicted to smoking and were wrinkled and slurred in their speech. Many complain of gaining weight when they cease smoking and there may be a link between the consumption of alcohol and smoking. More recently we see that addictions such as drinking, smoking and gambling seem to have a strong connection and that is purely an observation I have made over a lifetime of experience with family and friends with these addictions.
There is so much more on the subject, but it is just too comprehensive for this type of presentation. For more information you can try the web site at www.lef.org which has listed at least 111 sources for the November, 2005 article entitled "Alcohol is a Carcinogen!" (A Little Known Fact).
As another observation, it is interesting to add that I have found that these addictive personalities are often connected with people who I have found entertaining, intelligent, successful, talented and driven to many fields of endeavor. This is not meant to encourage the abusive intake and addiction, but merely to point out that there is the "blessing and the curse" of the gifts they are given. I was always amazed at the connection - in those I have known and loved. Many of them died young and left loved ones well before their time. For this reason, I remain determined in my quest to help people find the facts on nutrition and healthy eating and I appreciate the many sources for the information I share with you through this medium.