Where to start... Processed foods of all kinds are a foundation of the food system in the U.S. If you look at the ingredients on the processed food that you eat, chances are that either corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, or some other type of corn product will be somewhere on the label. The Corn Refiners Association would have you believe that high fructose corn syrup is "made from corn, it's natural, and like sugar is fine in moderation" (1). Some of this is true. The molecules in corn syrup have reasonably similar properties to sugar and are probably not much worse for you than sugar (2). The real problem is that this product has been highly processed, and perpetuates a system of food where our farmers are going bankrupt and our eaters are getting obese and diabetic. Corn does contain sugar, but high fructose corn syrup is not derived from a simple juicing process like sugar is. Corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are both made through an extensive extraction process involving the use of molds to ferment the sugar out of corn starch (3).
But this is not even the most troubling part of corn syrup. If you investigate the Corn Refiners Association web site (4), you will see that we find corn in many of the things that we eat or use daily. Why have we found so many uses for corn? Because we have an overproduction of corn. Corn is a commodity that defies the "laws" of economics. Economists would say that if too much corn is produced, and there is a larger supply than demand, then the price will fall, which happened. But economists would also say that when this happens, fewer farmers will produce corn because it has become unprofitable, which will cause the supply to lessen and the price to come back up (5). This, however, is not what happens with corn. When the price of corn falls, the government steps in and picks up the slack (6). The government pays the farmers money for growing corn to help them break even, and to prevent farmer bankruptcy. This creates a situation where the result of the price of corn dropping is an even greater production of corn. Uses had to be created, and were profitable to create, for this unrealistically low cost commodity.
So what does this have to do with high fructose corn syrup? This product and many others found in processed foods are a new found use for corn. This sounds great until you think about the farmers growing the corn and the $4 billion per year that the government spends subsidizing corn (6). Farmers are going bankrupt, and the government is spending lots of money so that we can eat highly processed corn in our highly processed food. We do not get the full nutritional value of the corn this way because it has been broken down, and we also add a good deal of fossil fuel use to our food system in the processing procedures.
So what do we do? Process our own food! Can your own food, make your own frozen dinners if you must, or just eat freshly cooked food. If you make a habit of buying the raw ingredients for the things that you eat, then you can have canned beans without corn syrup and salad without preservatives. Take the time to enjoy cooking food with your family. Make your own bread. These are all options, and you should find some that work for you and your family. My fiance and I now can some of our own food, and prepare many of our meals fresh. We don't yet make our own bread, but hopefully we will have time for that soon. You don't have to do it all at once! Try cooking one meal with your family, if it works make it a habit, if it doesn't try something else. Dig grandma's pressure cooker out of the cupboard and read the instructions on canning. Take the time to find something that you can do. If you aren't able to do this, then at least find out what is in the processed food that you do eat. Read the ingredients list. The first step to any of the changes that need to be made is awareness. We should ALL be aware of what we are eating, whether processed or fresh, cooked or raw, healthy or not. Know what you are putting into your body, that is the most important part.
My sister and mother and I canned beans this weekend. It was fun and pretty easy. There are some websites attached that explain how pressure canning works and how canning is done (7-11). Enjoy!
(1) -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl9vZYj-aJ4
(2) -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffhlkxaXJE&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL3D0A23DD7CFC488E
(3) -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup#Production
(4) -http://www.corn.org/
(5) -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
(6) -http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=corn
(7) -http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html
(8) -http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay53.html
(9) -http://www.simplycanning.com/#axzz1vRTZEfgr
(10) -http://www.canningacrossamerica.com/who-we-are/
(11) -http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_press_canners.html
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