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My husband has taken to calling me the Corn Queen after my subsequent manic food label reading frenzy.

After reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I learned that essentially, the addition of corn in some form of processed sugar — or as a staple in the diet of the animals we consume — has successfully put to use all the corn over-production that is going on across the U.S.  I love farmers, but this might be a stretch even for me to support this corn-crazed dietary system. I learned about corn-filled food creations like yogurt, bread and cereal which I didn’t think contained corn until reading the ingredient labels and seeing all the versions of corn syrup that make the convenient-food-world go’round. I hadn’t recognized that corn can be listed on the ingredients label as High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) or plain corn syrup. Often it is called other things like sucrose, dextrose, fructose and is responsible for many more, unpronounceable, unnaturally created ingredients.

Mostly, the lesson I learned was about recognizing the need to provide food for our growing children from sources that are nutrient-dense:  simple foods that are delicious because they are fresh and not processed, packaged or prepared with 10+ tablespoons of sugar. The interview with Barbara Stitt’s, formerly of Natural Ovens, educated me on the concept that Plain Jane style food is delicious, affordable and will promote well- behaved kids because they feel good fueled with real food.

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It all began with my bookclub that meets on Thursday nights.

This time around, we read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, considered light reading for the two food scientists in the group. The appalling revelation in the book is how much corn is part of our diet — as well as the diet of the animals we eat — and a main ingredient (in its various forms) in the processed foods that we eat.

I admit, I learned just enough to be considered dangerous.

The bookclub host served up a corn-free meal for the group (no easy task) and I had a lengthy conversation with a member who lives in the city and raises chickens for their fresh eggs.  One bookclubber confessed that she was going to start feeding her dog a raw diet - just fresh, natural people food- because she had learned that most kibble has ingredients that can cause skin problems and allergies in dogs. That’s when I realized she was feeding her dog better than I was feeding my children!

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A new study came out this week that said that 1 out of every 5 four-year-olds in America is obese. (That’s a little over 18 percent of the kids who participated in this ethnically-diverse sampling, and children of color are at an even higher risk.)

In an article on CNN.com, researchers pointed out that kids are now becoming overweight even before they run across vending machines, soda pop, and the serious junk food binges that many teens and pre-teens get into.

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This week, it was reported that mercury is contained in half the tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup in our food– yes, that’s the sweetener that has replaced sugar in much of the stuff Americans consume every day. From catsup, juice and strawberry jelly to Coca-Cola, this substance laces uncountable items lining our grocery store shelves. And here’s the kicker — reportedly, the FDA knew about it and sat on the information. (This, coming on the heels of the news that the peanut butter factory behind the recent salmonella outbreak has a long rapsheet of health violations.)

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With the economy melting down like a not-so-delicious chocolate lava cake, my husband and I recently came up with some ways to cut back on our expenses. These suggestions might not work for everyone, but they have helped us to save money in the last month or so:

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OK, I’ll admit it: Halloween scares me. The sheer amount of candy, sugar and neon dyes my son consumes in one night is enough to give me the shivers, because I know what’s coming next: crazed, wild-eyed, uncontrollable behavior. Although it still hasn’t been proven conclusively, I am convinced that too much sugar, along with all the food additives, worsens behavior. And I don’t think I’m alone in this — what parent hasn’t seen their child bouncing off the walls like a superball after eating a pack of Skittles? (You may have also heard about the study that came out last year in England that said that kids’ hyperactive behavior, especially those with ADHD or ADD, increases when they consume common food dyes and additives.)

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