You are what you eat – Corn (maize) anyone?

I was in 5^th grade when my father was transferred by his employer from West Germany to the United States on a one-year sabbatical to “learn about the American way of doing business”.   It was quite an adventure for us kids to experience a new way of life. 

We spent the first two weeks in a motel, in close proximity to my father’s employer.  We kids were elated because the motel had a swimming pool.  So most of our waking hours were spent in the water.  Mealtime proved to be a bit more challenging.  The motel had a restaurant, but the offerings were pretty much limited to serving breakfast, and then for lunch and dinner the menu offering consisted only of hamburgers and fries.  That became old really quickly!

The third night, we went to an off-site restaurant, where we ordered steak, potatoes, and vegetables.  When the food arrived, we noticed was how different the food was versus our expectations.  First, there was no sauce or gravy.  Then, rather than receiving peeled and boiled potatoes, these were baked, and the skin was still on them!  Eeuu, they eat potato skins here?  Were the potatoes even washed?  One could not tell by the dark brown, earthy-looking skin.  And what were these “vegetables” consisting of yellow-looking kernels?  

"That is corn, " (also known as maize) we were told by the waiter.  My father was aghast!  “But that is hog feed.  In Germany, we feed that to the pigs to fatten them up!  Or we make fuel out of it, bio-fuel.  But feed it to people?  Never!”

“Dad, since you only had coffee in the morning, did you know they also serve corn flakes cereal for breakfast at the hotel?  Is that pig food too?”  Corn flakes were completely new to us.  What is that strange stuff: it tasted like cardboard.  The waiter had demonstrated to spoon sugar on it, and then pour milk over the flakes.  Ugh!  Sorry, that was still pretty horrible and too disgusting for our taste buds.

We soon discovered that Americans were used to convenience and fast food.  Rather than taking the time to cook a proper, hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, cheese, and bread, it was more convenient to just grab a box of cereal (corn flakes with additives to make them more nutritional), pour them in a bowl, add sugar and milk and chow it all down in minutes.

Fast food again for lunch, hamburgers, and fries were much quicker to chow down than a properly prepared hot meal during the middle of the day.  Compare that to the midday meal break in Europe, which was two to 2 ½ hours, versus a paltry thirty minutes in the US.

In Europe, the smallest meal of the day was at supper time consisting of a light meal of open-faced sandwiches versus the biggest meal of the day, a heavy hot meal at dinner for the Americans.

Needless to say, we were elated, when we finally moved out of the motel into a real house, where we could cook “real people” food once again.

Fast forward a few years of living in the US.  I started getting constant migraine headaches.  Our family doctor said it was stress from school and work, in addition to getting used to living in a different culture.  He advised taking Aspirin and other pain killers for the headaches.  Once my headache became so severe, that my mother took me to the emergency at the hospital.  The doctor told my mother not to worry:  “It is all in her head!”  

It wasn’t until I was attending university and working at my part-time job, that a customer of mine (Gunnar Heuser, M.D. Ph.D.) commented that I looked unwell and did I have a headache?  Yes, I replied, I’ve had it for years.  He gave me his business card and said to make an appointment right away.  Turns out, he was a headache specialist.

The visit to the specialist was an eye-opener.  He told me to keep a diary of everything I consumed, when I consumed it, how I felt at the time, did I have a headache, where was the headache (over my eyes, on the top of my head, in the back of my head, my neck), when did my headache start, when did it get worse, etc.).  I was to come back in two weeks with the diary.

At the next appointment, the specialist and I went over the diary.  It turned out, due to my school and work schedule, I was consuming a lot of prepared, prepackaged, aged foods that were full of chemicals and preservatives.  He gave me a diet of bland, unprocessed foods to eat for the next two weeks, to try to reset my system from the various poisons (preservatives, food dyes, additives, etc) basically that were harming me.  I don’t recall exactly what all was on the list of bland foods, except plain boiled potatoes, rice, oatmeal cooked in water, carrots, peas, beans, bananas… no spices to enhance flavors.

After sticking to this tasteless diet for several days, all of a sudden on day 10, I noticed my headache was gone.  Poof, just like that.  It was glorious!  After months of having a headache, wow, no pain!  I was thrilled.

At my next appointment, my doctor told me that it takes about 2 to 4 weeks for your body to rid itself of toxins or things that cause one discomfort.  He gave me a list of what food items and preservatives give certain people headaches.  Many of the items were what I previously consumed:  especially readymade, prepared, convenience foods.  Soft, fresh cheeses for instance were fine versus aged, dark, hard cheeses may be a problem.  Cured, aged meats could be a problem, especially if the curing process also used preservatives.  I was especially dismayed that chocolate could cause headaches in some people.

I was instructed to start reading food labels, and to avoid preservatives, flavor enhancers like MSG (mono-sodium glutamate – this one definitely gives me immediate pain!), aged and preserved foods (like pickles).  Then I should slowly add back some of the foods that I previously ate.  I should keep recording what I ate, and when.  And in case, I got another headache, when it started. 

By tracking what I consumed versus when I started to get a headache, I was able to learn what foods to avoid.  Additionally, my doctor advised me, to vary my diet, eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, berries, and grains.  He said, that I could possibly eat some of the foods on the “bad” list in moderation. Since your body retains various chemicals in your body for about two to four weeks, you could possibly consume in moderation some of the trigger foods, as long as you keep it under the threshold which causes you discomfort.  Once you exceed the threshold within the 2 weeks: Boom, there you have a headache!  The old adage is true: you are what you eat!

Consequently, since then we eat a wide variety of foods.  And I have become an avid label reader.  It has been a real life-changer, and I rarely suffer from headaches anymore.  

This brings me back to the corn story.  You would be amazed at the number of convenience foods that contain corn by-products.  It has been noted that about 75% of processed foods contain corn or a corn byproduct.  So if you are trying to eat a varied diet, you might actually be consuming more corn and corn by-products than you had anticipated.

Here is a list of corn products, and products containing corn by-products:

Corn chips, tortilla chips

Corn flour

Corn gluten

Corn oil

Corn sugar (other names include Cerelose, dextrin, dextrose, Dyno, fructose, glucose, inositol, maltodextrin, Puresose, sorbitol, sodium erythorbate, Sweetose, Xylitol)

Corn syrup

Cornflakes (and other breakfast cereals)

Cornmeal

Cornstarch, also listed on labels as starch or vegetable starch

Crystalline fructose

Dextrins

Dextrose

Ethanol

Free fatty acids

Fructose

Grits

High fructose corn syrup

Hominy

Hydrol

Ketchup

Maize

Maltodextrins

Margarine

Modified food starch

Mustard, prepared

Sorbitol

Treacle

Vanilla extract

Vinegar, white distilled

Xantham gum

Zein

 

The list of prepared foods is long.  Even your favorite carbonated beverages and drinks like beer, whiskey, and some vodkas contain corn.  

Final Word & Warning About High Fructose Corn Syrup

According to Harvard Health Publishing, High Fructose Corn Syrup is a chemical that results in many liver complications.  Did you know that the liver is the only organ that can process High Fructose Corn Syrup? Therefore, High Fructose Corn Syrup builds up in the liver rapidly. The liver cells create fat via a process called lipogenesis.  The buildup of this fat in your liver will result in fatty liver disease.

So, please read your labels!  Make informed choices.

Moderation is the key, and finally, know what you actually consuming. 

Be well, be aware, be healthy.

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