<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Confirming Pollan, PNAS study shows that fast-food chains mainly peddle corn]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Chris McMasters http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sat, 15 Nov 2008 06:20:26 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/1 Corn-fed debacle

I hope the next administration completely eliminates subsidies to fossil fuel based farming. This would benefit the environment, our health and reduce taxes.

Michael Pollan: props to you.

Chris McMasters

]]> Corn-fed debacle

I hope the next administration completely eliminates subsidies to fossil fuel based farming. This would benefit the environment, our health and reduce taxes.

Michael Pollan: props to you.

Chris McMasters

]]> Comment #2 by Delay And Deny http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:35:05 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/2 November Redux

I hope the next administration completely eliminates subsidies to fossil fuel based farming.

LMAO!!!

Har Har Har!!!

Obama is the Son of Corn!  His state and his backers the people that Pollan is talking about.

Now you expect him to "do something"!

Give me a break...try reading something before pulling the level in the voting booth....

]]> November Redux

I hope the next administration completely eliminates subsidies to fossil fuel based farming.

LMAO!!!

Har Har Har!!!

Obama is the Son of Corn!  His state and his backers the people that Pollan is talking about.

Now you expect him to "do something"!

Give me a break...try reading something before pulling the level in the voting booth....

]]> Comment #3 by Sam Wells http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:55:36 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/3 Maize

The fastest Olympic and marathon runners seem to come from Kenya. The diet of most Kenyans is corn porridge (mostly corn maize, maybe some beans, hot peppers, little meat). Ergo, corn is the best possible food for the body.

I have no clue about "corn carbon signature" but is sounds funky - chicken is chicken no matter if it eats bugs or corn, and beef is beef no matter is the cow eats corn or not. The part about processed and manufactured foods made from corn does make sense though.

Let's just say it is best to eat the real thing like the Kenyans do.

Onward through the fog

]]> Maize

The fastest Olympic and marathon runners seem to come from Kenya. The diet of most Kenyans is corn porridge (mostly corn maize, maybe some beans, hot peppers, little meat). Ergo, corn is the best possible food for the body.

I have no clue about "corn carbon signature" but is sounds funky - chicken is chicken no matter if it eats bugs or corn, and beef is beef no matter is the cow eats corn or not. The part about processed and manufactured foods made from corn does make sense though.

Let's just say it is best to eat the real thing like the Kenyans do.

Onward through the fog

]]> Comment #4 by Chris McMasters http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:26:05 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/4 Jabailo, did you proofread this post?

His state and his backers the people that Pollan is talking about.

Give me a break...try reading something before pulling the level in the voting booth....

Did you mean 'lever?'

Anyway, I said I hope the next administration stops subsidizing fossil fuel based farming. Do I expect them to? That's probably too much to hope for. I think they'll do more with regards to energy for electricity and perhaps fuel efficiency than with farming. We'll see.

Chris McMasters



]]> Jabailo, did you proofread this post?

His state and his backers the people that Pollan is talking about.

Give me a break...try reading something before pulling the level in the voting booth....

Did you mean 'lever?'

Anyway, I said I hope the next administration stops subsidizing fossil fuel based farming. Do I expect them to? That's probably too much to hope for. I think they'll do more with regards to energy for electricity and perhaps fuel efficiency than with farming. We'll see.

Chris McMasters



]]> Comment #5 by Chris McMasters http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:53:31 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/5 Hey there Sam

I appreciate your comments.

If you read Pollan's 'The Omnivore's Dilemma,' you learn that the chicken and beef we eat are affecting us differently because of what they have been fed. Our environment and our health is also affected (usually negatively) because of how they have been raised and treated. That is to say, chicken isn't always chicken nor is beef always beef.

Eating a cow raised on grass from a fossil fuel free pasture is much better than eating a cow from a confined area feeding operation where cows are pumped full of antibiotics and spend much of their time in their own feces. When you add to the equation that these animals are basically force fed corn, the story gets worse. For our health and the environment, it makes no sense to raise cows in factory farms unless, of course, you prioritize profit over health.

The corn that the Kenyans eat is likely not the same corn that we feed the cows we eat. We'd probably be a lot better off if we ate the corn the Kenyans do, not the corn our cows eat.

Check out http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ for an example of more sensible way to raise cows.

If you are interested in learning about the ridiculous way we process corn to create 'edible food like substances' check out Pollan's 'In Defense of Food.' http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

Chris McMasters


]]> Hey there Sam

I appreciate your comments.

If you read Pollan's 'The Omnivore's Dilemma,' you learn that the chicken and beef we eat are affecting us differently because of what they have been fed. Our environment and our health is also affected (usually negatively) because of how they have been raised and treated. That is to say, chicken isn't always chicken nor is beef always beef.

Eating a cow raised on grass from a fossil fuel free pasture is much better than eating a cow from a confined area feeding operation where cows are pumped full of antibiotics and spend much of their time in their own feces. When you add to the equation that these animals are basically force fed corn, the story gets worse. For our health and the environment, it makes no sense to raise cows in factory farms unless, of course, you prioritize profit over health.

The corn that the Kenyans eat is likely not the same corn that we feed the cows we eat. We'd probably be a lot better off if we ate the corn the Kenyans do, not the corn our cows eat.

Check out http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ for an example of more sensible way to raise cows.

If you are interested in learning about the ridiculous way we process corn to create 'edible food like substances' check out Pollan's 'In Defense of Food.' http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

Chris McMasters


]]> Comment #6 by Delay And Deny http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:22:44 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/6 The Rest Was Silence.

Anyway, I said I hope the next administration stops subsidizing fossil fuel based farming. Do I expect them to?

Sound of crickets chirping...

]]> The Rest Was Silence.

Anyway, I said I hope the next administration stops subsidizing fossil fuel based farming. Do I expect them to?

Sound of crickets chirping...

]]> Comment #7 by Chris McMasters http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:45:11 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/7 Are the crickets corn fed?

At least you improved your grammar on this one...

Chris McMasters

]]> Are the crickets corn fed?

At least you improved your grammar on this one...

Chris McMasters

]]> Comment #8 by Nickz http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:42:48 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/8 Corn-fed chicken & beef are really different!

Corn is very high in Omega-6 oil, and very low in Omega 3.  Pasture fed chicken & beef have close to a 1:1 ratio.

Both are Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), but they affect the body very differently:  a diet skewed to Omega-6 promotes inflammation, heart disease and cancer.

That's why fish and flax seeds are good for you, and why a corn-dominated diet is bad.

]]> Corn-fed chicken & beef are really different!

Corn is very high in Omega-6 oil, and very low in Omega 3.  Pasture fed chicken & beef have close to a 1:1 ratio.

Both are Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), but they affect the body very differently:  a diet skewed to Omega-6 promotes inflammation, heart disease and cancer.

That's why fish and flax seeds are good for you, and why a corn-dominated diet is bad.

]]> Comment #9 by waku2waku http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:15:23 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/9 As for the next administration working on this...

As for Obama working on this issue...I doubt it in at least the first two years of the administration. They have such a legislative heavy priority list that their hands will be tied on war issues, economy issues, energy issues, and cleaning up the government & lobbyist connections. I'd think he'd be willing to take it on if he thought there was enough legislative support and interest from the public in the subject. This is where the whole petition and letter writing from people reading this post would come in. Maybe if Schwarzenegger jumped on board as part of a bi-partisan healthy eating campaign of some sort.

]]> As for the next administration working on this...

As for Obama working on this issue...I doubt it in at least the first two years of the administration. They have such a legislative heavy priority list that their hands will be tied on war issues, economy issues, energy issues, and cleaning up the government & lobbyist connections. I'd think he'd be willing to take it on if he thought there was enough legislative support and interest from the public in the subject. This is where the whole petition and letter writing from people reading this post would come in. Maybe if Schwarzenegger jumped on board as part of a bi-partisan healthy eating campaign of some sort.

]]> Comment #10 by waku2waku http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:43:50 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/10 Getting corn out of cola

I've been doing some web surfing on high fructose corn syrup this past week (just saw King Corn this weekend), and I keep seeing the Corn Refiner's Association posting on several other sites about the joys of HCFS. For any cola drinkers reading and wanting corn to disappear from cola, I joined this campaign to encourage cola companies to use cane sugar or beet sugar instead of HFCS. Sign up at http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/dear-high-fructose-corn ...

Seeing many of the posts from my researching in favor of HCFS and from the corn refiner's association, one has to ask him/herself if HCFS is as good as sugar, why don't other countries embrace it like it is in the U.S.? The strange thing is that it seems like most cola companies instead use cane sugar outside of the U.S. In fact, I've come across some other sites with posts from when people discover Pepsi or Coke with cane sugar from Mexico being sold in U.S. stores because people seem to like that taste better.

It seems this really has to do with the corn subsidies and tariffs on sugar imports, which created the market conditions for high fructose corn syrup in the first place. I easily imagine that if these conditions were changed than we'd quickly see corn syrup disappear from processed food.

]]> Getting corn out of cola

I've been doing some web surfing on high fructose corn syrup this past week (just saw King Corn this weekend), and I keep seeing the Corn Refiner's Association posting on several other sites about the joys of HCFS. For any cola drinkers reading and wanting corn to disappear from cola, I joined this campaign to encourage cola companies to use cane sugar or beet sugar instead of HFCS. Sign up at http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/dear-high-fructose-corn ...

Seeing many of the posts from my researching in favor of HCFS and from the corn refiner's association, one has to ask him/herself if HCFS is as good as sugar, why don't other countries embrace it like it is in the U.S.? The strange thing is that it seems like most cola companies instead use cane sugar outside of the U.S. In fact, I've come across some other sites with posts from when people discover Pepsi or Coke with cane sugar from Mexico being sold in U.S. stores because people seem to like that taste better.

It seems this really has to do with the corn subsidies and tariffs on sugar imports, which created the market conditions for high fructose corn syrup in the first place. I easily imagine that if these conditions were changed than we'd quickly see corn syrup disappear from processed food.

]]> Comment #11 by paz http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:31:30 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/11 HFCS

is banned in many other countries.  A colleague of mine recently went to Australia, where one cannot find any high fructose corn syrup in anything.  It's illegal!  He claims it's because socialized medicine figured out how expensive it is to fix people whose bodies are so damaged by HFCS.  Preventive medicine!

]]> HFCS

is banned in many other countries.  A colleague of mine recently went to Australia, where one cannot find any high fructose corn syrup in anything.  It's illegal!  He claims it's because socialized medicine figured out how expensive it is to fix people whose bodies are so damaged by HFCS.  Preventive medicine!

]]> Comment #12 by iturnedgreen http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:42:16 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/corn-fed-nation/12 With a Side of Nitrogen

And if the public walking around like they're one giant corn chip with legs isn't bad enough - consider what the author left out from this paragraph:

Samples also showed heightened levels of nitrogen -- reflecting the huge amounts of synthetic fertilizer that gets dumped on corn fields every year.

The nitrogen used in this synthetic fertilizer was extracted from natural gas. So we're literally eating fossil fuels along with our corn. If you haven't read 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' yet, you really must for this and many other compelling facts and ideas.

]]> With a Side of Nitrogen

And if the public walking around like they're one giant corn chip with legs isn't bad enough - consider what the author left out from this paragraph:

Samples also showed heightened levels of nitrogen -- reflecting the huge amounts of synthetic fertilizer that gets dumped on corn fields every year.

The nitrogen used in this synthetic fertilizer was extracted from natural gas. So we're literally eating fossil fuels along with our corn. If you haven't read 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' yet, you really must for this and many other compelling facts and ideas.

]]>