For many people transitioning away from the Standard American Diet, one of the biggest hurdles is letting go of corn. This is largely because it is so pervasive in everyday products. It shows up not only in obvious foods like chips, tortillas, and cereal, but also in oils, sweeteners, additives, medications, supplements, toothpastes, tinctures (grain alcohol), soda, cereals, and is relied on for products labeled “gluten-free.” Its ubiquity can make corn feel unavoidable, and its plant-based nature can make it feel safe, which is why it often remains in the diet long after other foods have been eliminated.
The Industrialization of Corn
From a Medical Medium® perspective, corn is considered a level two troublemaker food, alongside tuna and pork. Level one troublemaker foods include gluten, dairy, and eggs. While corn didn’t always create problems in the body, its role changed dramatically in the 1930s and 1940s when it became heavily industrialized and later genetically modified. The use of synthetic toxic pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides is what initially turned it into a food source for the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV). Later, when it was genetically modified, corn took on a toxic nature that further gave it the ability to feed pathogens such as EBV and shingles, and exacerbate health conditions.
If you have any sort of chronic symptom or health concern, eliminating corn from your diet will help you heal. If your interest is just staying healthy and avoiding getting sick, eliminating corn is in your best interest! Below, I’ve compiled key reasons why avoiding it can be supportive to healing, and why it earns its classification as a level two troublemaker food. Understanding how corn impacts the body can make the transition away from it feel far more manageable and empowering.
Here are 11 reasons why you should eliminate corn:
- It can be used to feed viruses, bacteria, mold, and fungus in the body, creating inflammation and triggering health conditions. Foods that feed pathogens strengthen them.
- Even non-GMO corn has the ability to feed pathogens. But that said, due to cross pollination between GMO corn and non-GMO corn fields since the 1970’s there are no more organic or non-GMO corn fields remaining.
- For children that have ADHD or autism, it is best to avoid toxic foods such as corn, canola oil, MSG, aspartame, citric acid, nutritional yeast, and natural flavors. This is because they create inflammation in the body.
- Feeds pathogens in the liver, it takes 90 days to exit after starting to take care of it
- Glucose from GMO corn confuses the body- it is missing central components to it the brain needs while offering toxic components that the brain doesn’t need or recognize
- Feeds pathogens residing in the gut. Strep, EBV, shingles, aggressive forms of fungus, causing chronic inflammation in the digestive tract. This leads to Crohn’s, celiac, SIBO, IBS, and colitis.
- Can lead to development of food chemical compound sensitivities
- Can interfere with the effectiveness of celery juice
- Can lead to brain fog from EBV feeding on corn by creating neurotoxins that travel to the brain
- Exacerbates thyroid conditions by feeding EBV which creates inflammation and strengthens the virus, allowing it to progress to the thyroid
- It is deeply intertwined with industrial and pharmaceutical production. If you are taking pharmaceuticals you are ingesting medical grade GMO corn.
Letting Go to Heal
If you’ve already removed gluten, dairy, and eggs but haven’t reached your health goals yet, or aren’t seeing progress as quickly as you’d hoped, removing troublemaker 2 foods is the next place to go. Moving from level 1 to level 2 troublemaker foods will help your body heal faster. Or if you are interested in preventing illness, removing these items will act as a safeguard. The more sensitive your digestion or nervous system, the less tolerance you may have for these foods, which is why even small amounts of corn can continue to hold people back.
Because of genetic modification, GMO foods contain components the human body doesn’t recognize. For this reason other GMO crops like soy, sugar beets, and rapeseed (canola) can pose similar challenges. Modern corn, in particular, no longer serves the body the way it once did. While eliminating it can feel difficult at first due to how deeply it’s woven into our food system, paying attention to how you feel when you reintroduce it, or remembering how it made you feel in the past, can be a powerful reminder of why it is in your best interest to let it go.
Recipes and Other Tools for Support
The good news is that eating corn-free is absolutely doable. There are many supportive alternatives available once you know what to look for. For example, arrowroot powder can be used in place of cornstarch for thickening, and there are excellent corn-free options for pasta, tortillas, taco shells, and chips. Brands like Siete offer many of these products, though it’s always important to double-check ingredient lists as formulas can change over time.
I have a growing library of corn-free recipes to help you feel supported and inspired in the kitchen. These recipes are genuinely how I cook for myself and my family day to day. If you want even more recipes such as salsa, tortillas, muffins, and the like that don’t use corn check out the recipe index on the Medical Medium® website.
For even more support with cravings, I recommend these sources:
- Cravings Shifter Therapy Shot: Listed in the book Medical Medium Brain Saver By Anthony William, this brain shot helps shift cravings on a physiological level. This is especially helpful when you are trying to change your diet for the better.
- Giving Up Your Favorite Foods- Is It Forever? In this blog, I offer more support on the topic of giving up troublemaker foods, based off of my own experience of supporting clients through this transition.
- Life-Changing Foods Expanded by Anthony William: In the chapter Food for Soul he goes over what cravings for sugar, fat, and caffeine mean, cravings triggered by detox, and how to coexist with cravings.
My Ultimate Clean Food Guide
To make this transition easier, I’ve created the Ultimate Clean Food Guide that compiles all of my favorite Medical Medium–approved foods. This is a FREE download with over 50 pages of products! I cover everything from burgers, bread, pancakes, to dessert, canned food, pre-made meals, and more. Everything that I recommend in this food guide is Medical Medium® friendly and free of level 1, 2, 3, and 4 troublemaker foods.
You can also explore my Amazon pantry, where are all my favorite snacks and pantry staples are in one place. If you’ve ever wondered how I stock my kitchen without troublemaker foods, these resources are a great place to start. If you would like to read further on corn and GMOs you can reference my blog on hidden everyday sources where I do a complete deep dive into this topic.
To your health and happiness,
Muneeza
