Corn

[CatTreats]

Something I've been meaning to ask. Assuming it's non-GMO / organic, etc., why is corn so bad for you? I know it's a grain, but unlike other grains, it's completely edible and actually tasty when raw. I remember very well when I went to the midwest, we would gather fresh corn from the field (it was organic) and just eat it. Sometimes with butter and salt, but it didn't even need it. And it was raw. A couple of weeks before I went paleo, I enjoyed a few "ears" of raw corn from a neighbor. So corn just stumps me. Usually the idea for me is that if you can't eat it raw (like grains), it's not going to be good. So what's the case with corn?

[goodsamaritan]

I eat baby corn sometimes... rare treat.
And adult organic corn you can eat fresh off the stalk immediately after picking. 
Our organic farmer had us taste his in his farm.

[CatTreats]

I eat baby corn sometimes... rare treat.
And adult organic corn you can eat fresh off the stalk immediately after picking. 
Our organic farmer had us taste his in his farm.

Yeah, we would pick the corn off the stalk and then eat them back at the house.
So what exactly is the issue with corn? I know corn syrup and other corn products are bad, but is just raw corn bad because it's almost always GMO?

[goodsamaritan]

If it is GMO corn I wouldn't eat it.

[CatTreats]

If it is GMO corn I wouldn't eat it.

So organic, non-GMO corn from someones farm/yard would be okay to eat raw? There's no issue?

[goodsamaritan]

I don't know about the "no issue" thing because corn is not a staple food for me.

I don't feed my own kids cooked corn as a staple food because I feel it is too hard to digest, it usually comes out as still corn in the poop.

Maybe there are others here who have tried raw corn as a staple food.

[CatTreats]

I don't know about the "no issue" thing because corn is not a staple food for me.

I don't feed my own kids cooked corn as a staple food because I feel it is too hard to digest, it usually comes out as still corn in the poop.

Maybe there are others here who have tried raw corn as a staple food.

Okay. I wasn't really looking to make it a staple or even eat it much at all. It was just something I had been wondering about for a long time.

[eveheart]

Both The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and The Perfect Human Diet by the Jaminets give good scientific explanations as to why corn is not an ideal food. Even when we eat meat that has been raised on corn, the negative effects of corn can be found in our cells.

My own non-scientific brain tells me to avoid corn because grains are not idea human foods. In addition, even the ancient varieties of corn in the Americas were not natural foods, but highly-domesticated versions of a seed-bearing grass.

With so much going on in the human body that cannot be seen, why risk eating a food that has a negative impact? I can't tell any immediate difference when I eat corn, but my daughter gets migraines when she eats any corn or any meat which has been fed corn.

[CatTreats]

Both The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and The Perfect Human Diet by the Jaminets give good scientific explanations as to why corn is not an ideal food. Even when we eat meat that has been raised on corn, the negative effects of corn can be found in our cells.

My own non-scientific brain tells me to avoid corn because grains are not idea human foods. In addition, even the ancient varieties of corn in the Americas were not natural foods, but highly-domesticated versions of a seed-bearing grass.

With so much going on in the human body that cannot be seen, why risk eating a food that has a negative impact? I can't tell any immediate difference when I eat corn, but my daughter gets migraines when she eats any corn or any meat which has been fed corn.

Thanks for the reply. I would also get pretty bad health effects when eating grain-fed meat. But I just wasn't sure if it was the other grains doing it, or the fact that the corn was GMO.

I agree all grains are unnatural. But it was just a question that I always had. My idea of what's probably good for you was roughly "if you can eat it straight from the source, and it tastes good, it's probably not bad for you" where dairy would be the exception. Corn was the only other one I could think of where I'd enjoy the flavor of it completely raw, but for some reason it's not healthy. So I just wanted to ask about it because there was never much of an explanation that I could find besides "they're grains and almost always GMO."

[eveheart]

I agree all grains are unnatural.

When I said that corn was not a natural food, I was referring to the fact that the grain of the corn plant cannot self-sow. The tightly-closed husk first must be removed by human hands. Corn did not exist before the dawn of agriculture: there was no original plant that you would see today and think that it resembled corn. If you want to see the original grain that was developed into corn, google teosinte (the original grain) or zea mays.

My idea of what's probably good for you was roughly "if you can eat it straight from the source, and it tastes good, it's probably not bad for you" where dairy would be the exception.

I'm not the Paleo Police, but I think the basic definition of paleolithic diet deliberately excludes field-agricultural products and processed foods.

[Matt51]

Corn is dangerous, unless it undergoes  nixtamalization.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization
Look at this picture of pellagra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellagra
When the Spanish found corn in the new world, they did not understand how important it was to treat the corn with something like calcium oxide (lime).  People around the world who do not treat their corn, still suffer from pellagra. Mexicans have it right, if you are going to eat corn, it should be processed. Which means cooking the corn in lime water. So then corn is not raw, and not paleo.
Just because it tastes good, does not mean it is good for you. Small amounts are not apparently harmful, but it should not be a large part of one's diet.
I think Mexico banned GMO foods, so buying Masa Harina (lime processed corn meal), from Mexico (not Mexican brands made in the US) would be the best bet.

[goodsamaritan]

Scary sh*t.  Thanks for posting Matt.

[RogueFarmer]

Aajonus didn't think there was much use in corn except I recall he said something about raw sweet corn having an enzyme that is helpful in digesting raw meat. Raw sweet corn strait off the stalk is like candy so... Stock think the whole plant tastes like candy, in fact it's so nutritious for herbivores that cows, goats, sheep and horses can all potentially kill themselves if the overindulge after eating less delicious fare. Corn is one of the most suitable plants for grass fed dairy in the hot dry summer months and into the early fall because it keeps on growing when other grass lignifies in the heat.