Corn is Everywhere

This week in class we read a couple chapters from The Omnivore's Dilemma. In the chapters that we read, the main focus of all three was corn. The author, Michael Pollan talks about different places that corn is found from something as obvious as corn itself, to something I didn't think had corn in it; meats from different kinds of livestock. That just shows that we really might not know what enters our bodies. I learned through these chapters that livestock are force fed corn because it helps fatten them up quicker. That makes it easier for farmers to slaughter and sell them at a quicker rate than before. If the farmers can sell more cattle quicker, they can earn more money faster than if they just let the cattle eat grass and fatten slowly.

What surprised me even more was how much corn was in the meals that his family had ordered from McDonald's. He wanted to calculate to see how much corn was in each of the items that they had ordered for dinner. The sodas had the most corn from the high-fructose corn syrup that makes the drinks sweeter and the french fries had the least amount of corn in them. That surprised me because wouldn't the french fries be covered in corn meal and then fried in corn oil? Even the milkshake had more corn in it than the french fries.

This reading really opened my eyes to what I put into my body. I may not make any changes right away, but I'm really curious. This has made me wonder how much corn I am actually consuming a day and whether or not it could be bad for me. I am definitely going to be more careful the next time I order McDonald's.