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Activism Real Food

Corn-Fed Equals Corn-Bred

Do you believe the kind of feed your meat eats has an effect on your health? Indeed, it does. The majority of the meat, eggs, and milk available for sale in stores comes from animals raised in the most unnatural of environments – on feedlots, near waste lagoons, owned by farmers who administer antibiotics, growth hormones, and steroids, and the animals are given some of the most unnatural feeds that they are not meant to consume; corn – among other substances, such as grains and soy.

So why do we really care if the meat we’re eating has been fed corn? An eye-opening expose of the agricultural, cattle, and dairy industries can be seen in the film ‘King Corn‘ and answers this very question. This awakening piece, originally aired on PBS’s Independent Lens, shows what happens when two curious friends decide to spend a year growing an acre of corn in Iowa because they want to find out why a good portion of our carbon make-up is comprised of corn. In the film’s beginning, the friends go to a University lab where a scientist takes their hair samples to analyze and determine the contents. The results are surprising: their DNA test reveals a carbon form comprised of corn. The film shows how over time the humble corn plant, which started as an import seed brought from southern lands, mutated into the genetically engineered, ubiquitous substance that fills nearly every food and drink sold in stores and restaurants across our land.

According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “Before farming and the industrialization of America, humans almost exclusively ate vegetation (fruits and vegetables) and animals that ate vegetation (wild game and fresh fish). Nuts were occasionally consumed and honey was sparsely consumed. Interestingly, current research has demonstrated that this pattern of eating is anti-inflammatory, disease-preventing, and therapeutic for various diseases depending on the level of progression”.

We have been told by medical sources and affiliate communities for years that lean, low-fat diets are the healthiest to eat. We have even been brain-washed into thinking that eating red meat is unhealthy and should be avoided. Americans consume more meat now than ever before in the past, and the demand continues to rise. Besides processed, junk foods which have become a prevalent part of the Western diet, much of this excess saturated fat which medical professionals refer to comes from sedentary animals on factory farms who are fed inappropriate diets. Meat and meat products are healthy and necessary to consume from animals who are raised sustainably and fed grass and hay. “Lean meat consumption can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, improve satiety levels, increase caloric expenditure, and improve insulin sensitivity,”as reported by Cordain L. O’Keefe JH Jr., the Mayo Clinic (2004). On the other hand, those who continually consume obese and fatty meats, which make up the majority of choice on the marketplace, will continue to have issues such as heart disease, obesity, and the feeling of always being hungry.

Grass-fed meat and meat products provide the proper amounts of high protein, low fat, low caloric and essential fatty acid balance for optimal human health. Anything besides that combination will eventually lead to a decline in health. It is important that when we refer to the negatives or the benefits of meat and meat products we are specific to naturally-raised meats fed grass diets or the industrial variety raised in artificial conditions – because eating one or the other will render quite opposite effects. Some reports convey that modern meat has become leaner by volume than in the past, and health professionals claim that eating meat is now considered more healthful than previously believed. But these reports fail to take into account that most meat comes from factory farms where the quality of meat technically qualifies as “obese” meat, or meat than causes health issues to occur when consumed.

If all the meat we consumed in our country came from clean, sustainable farms where animals were treated humanely and were fed the proper diet, we would see a monumental shift in environmental damage and health problems alike. The problem is, there are many individuals who believe that eating meat is harmful, and have not been able to grasp the entire picture of what has been occurring. The more factory meat we produce, the more we demand it. The meat lacks proper nutrition and protein, and contains far too many calories and fat, which translates into malnourished bodies that crave more and more carbohydrate content, leading to obesity. Eating truly sustainable meats from animals that are fed proper diets, and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables promotes health, correct weight, and good environmental balance. We would eat less meat if our meats came from truly natural, healthy environments.

This over-consumption of obese meats and meat products is one of the driving forces behind our nation’s health ills. It takes education, perseverance, and action to reverse these problems. It’s time to lose our ignorance about this subject once and for all. To learn how you can do something about it and put and end to atrocities such as industrial farming, visit the following web sites:

World Animal Foundation

Farm Bill

Sign a petition to stop factory farming:

The Petition Online

Land Stewardship Project

WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals)