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| U.S.DA Photo by Keith Weller |
Hmmm. Corn is considered 'OK' for a gluten-free diet, but it's the source of a lot of problems. Think Frito-Lay Corn Chips. Corn syrup, for another. And yet, plain, organic, unsalted tortilla chips will fit nicely into a low-refined carb diet (not including Atkins, which prohibits corn initially, and then only in very small quantities later on). As well, corn meal is actually quite nutritious, and you could use it in a no-bake, low-refined carb pie crust, and get away with it. Why is that?
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| U.S.D.A. Photo by Bruce Fritz |
Well, we need to distinguish plain old corn, such as kernels of corn that are carnned, or used for popping corn, versus the refined corn products that are loaded with sugar, such as cornbread, or various frosted corn flake breakfast products, or fat and salt, such as various brands of corn chips. According to the USDA, plain corn registers much lower in carbs than amaranth, wheat and rice. I have found that plain tortilla chips, corn on the cob and plain pop-corn are fine on my no-refined carbs diet, and do not impact my weight at all--with the obvious caveats being that you don't want to eat too much of anything, and you don't want to eat too late in the day.
It's best to research foods for yourself. The founder, and former head, of Health Valley foods, since sold off, offers up a
corn page with his foundation website. A pretty comprehensive
overview of corn's nutritional value is available at LiveStrong.com. Here's a nice-looking
Mexican Corn Chili recipe that appears to be free of refined-carbs; you could omit the chicken bouillon, and just add more spices (i.e. salt), or some poultry seasoning to keep it natural.
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2 comments:
For those going unrefined, I think corn is great in small doses, but for those trying to lose weight or those that don't tolerate grains very well, it's not always a good idea.
I was a bit of a popcorn addict and I thought since I was popping the whole kernals with just a bit of olive oil, it was healthy, but it really kept me from losing weight. just that one change in my diet made a difference.
Most people don't realize that corn is actually a grain, not a vegetable. Since dropping grains altogether from my diet, I have lost quite a bit of weight and have a lot more energy.
It sounds like it works ok for you though, so keep sticking to what works!
**this is a really important point to remember: we eat corn on the cob as if it were a vegetable. Not so--the question I have, yet to be answered, is whether a no-refined carbs diet can tolerate any grains. I find I must have some grains, albeit whole grains (and by that I mean real whole grains, like a spoonful of plain, raw steel-cut oats, not whole grains baked into something else), to keep my digestive system in working order. That said, one can get the fiber one needs from a vegetable-only diet. More on this later....
---Dave, Factually Food
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