Roasted Onion Dip (Homemade and Corn-Free)

I have always loved onion dip. You know, open the french onion soup mix packet and stir it into the sour cream and chill. Now that I know corn is a problem for us, I needed to come up with a new way of making onion dip. This is what I came up with and it is delicious. By the way, I was able to find all the ingredients at Kroger which is quickly becoming my go-to store for corn-free shopping. My local Kroger has more corn-free items than all the other stores in my area combined (including my tiny local food co-op). The store brands Naturally Preferred and Private Selection are proving to be very good brands for corn avoiders like us, too.

Roasted Onion Dip - Homemade and Corn Free

2 medium onions
1Tbsp. Pure Indian Foods ghee or Organic Valley butter
2 cups Daisy full fat sour cream
1 Tbsp. McCormick Organic onion powder

Dice and roast the onions. Coat the onions with the ghee and spread them in a pan. Roast in a 350 degree oven. I roasted them for 20 minutes, then stirred and roasted for 20 minutes. Continue until all are roasted but not burned. Let cool.

Stir roasted onions and onion powder into the sour cream. Chill. Enjoy.

You can serve this dip with Carr's Water Crackers or Kettle brand Lightly Salted Chips. Both are corn-free and available at Kroger. It's also nice with Bunny Luv carrot sticks, red pepper strips, broccoli or cauliflower florets, jicama, or homemade crispy crackers of your choice.

I would love to try this with mushrooms or roasted red peppers (maybe some cayenne pepper added in) or maybe a combination of several roasted vegetables for a brand new Roasted Vegetable Dip.

Take a look at Real Food Wednesdays for more great tips and recipes.

Fermented Vegetables are easy and fun

Trying to live life without corn required polishing my cooking skills and broadening my repertoire. If I didn't get into healing foods and the GAPS diet, I might never have discovered fermented vegetables. Fermented vegetables are another favorite new thing that I might never have discovered if not for evil corn. I've made pickles at home before but as vinegar causes a reaction for me and it is the main ingredient of all pickle recipes, I thought I had no choice but to live pickle-free. Then I found fermented veggies and I knew I had to master this process. I was shocked to find that it is a very forgiving process and quite easy to master. It is also addictive and exciting and hard to put down.

I've already told you the wonderful healing qualities of ginger root, but ginger is only one of many powerful healing foods. My first fermented vegetable recipe combines several of these: ginger, garlic, onion, carrots, and sea salt. I read Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Katz from cover to cover and it was very inspiring. After reading this book, I was so excited to get started and actually modified the very first recipe I tried. This man will make you fearless in fermenting, which makes the whole experience that much more satisfying.

Lacto-fermented (sometimes called cultured) vegetables also contain powerful probiotics for a healthy digestive system. This is especially good news for people that can't tolerate yogurt or other dairy ferments. Besides adding zest and interest to any dish, these homemade pickles actually help protect you from intestinal upsets and side effects of antibiotics. One spoonful of fermented veggies will also cure heartburn and derail sugar cravings. Vegetables that have undergone lacto-fermentation have been proven to contain more vitamins and minerals than the same vegetables in either raw or cooked states. They also help stimulate stomach acid aiding digestion hence the age-old tradition of serving vegetable or fruit relishes with high protein meals (cranberry sauce with turkey, sauerkraut with sausages, chutney with lamb, etc.). All condiments, salsas, chutneys, and jellies started out as fermented products and I intend to work up to one day eating only homemade fermented condiments. Just imagine getting beneficial probiotics into your children every time they use ketchup or mustard.

My favorite recipe is adapted from one in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and I tend to use her method for small ferments minus the whey (we have problems with dairy). Her recipe calls for exact amounts of ginger, carrots, sea salt and whey. I am a "wing-it" kind of cook so I start with about the same amount of grated carrots (4 cups) and then add a small amount of ginger, garlic, and about twice those of onions. I put all the shredded veggies in a bowl with one tablespoon of celtic sea salt and then I squeeze it and mix it by hand. (I put on disposable gloves for this because the sea salt can be abrasive and drying to my hands) The juice will start to flow and then you can pack it into a wide mouth quart mason jar. Put a 2 inch layer of veggies, pack it down with a large wooden spoon, then repeat until jar is full. Leave one inch headspace in the jar then cover tightly and check it after two days. If you keep it cooler in your house like we do, just place it near a lamp and cover it. I always set mine inside a 9 x 13 plastic container to catch any overflow (that does sometimes happen but it is no big deal). When you get ready to open it (and you won't be able to leave the first batch alone) make sure to open over the sink. The fermentation process can cause it to fizz over when you open it. Taste it after 3 days or so and put it into the fridge if you like the taste. (It should smell like pickles, not rotten cabbage.)

This is just the first ferment that I tried and I have loved every one I've made except for plain sauerkraut (and it was OK). The varieties are endless and you should make combos that sound good to you. I had only one failure so far and that was because I used a plastic lid. Some of my favorites so far:

• beets and daikon radish (about half and half)
• turnips and onions and caraway seeds
  
• cabbage with carrots, onions, red pepper and hot pepper flakes
• turnips and carrots (onions optional)
  
• brussells sprouts, dill weed, garlic and onion
• squash and zucchini with pink peppercorns
  

As you can see, the combinations are only limited by your store selection and imagination. Fresh herbs are a great addition, but sadly hard to find in my area. I intend to grow a wide variety of herbs and aromatics next spring. In fact, I am planning my garden around fermented vegetable combinations that I want to make. I didn't even get to make any cucumber pickles this year because I couldn't find any decent cucumbers and I can't let that happen again. Click here for more of my fermented veggie recipes.

A few uses for leftover juice from your fermented vegetables:

• use it in place of vinegar in salad dressings
• mix it with mayonnaise or sour cream (another ferment) for dip
• use a couple of TBSP to "inoculate" your next batch of veggies
• feed it to your pets to boost their intestinal health
• use it to rev up your compost pile (another ferment)
• feed it diluted to your houseplants 
• add it to broths or soups to kick up the flavor
• drink it to prevent dehydration when active

Further reading:
Small Footprint Family: Speed Pickles
Get Cultured: Probiotic Recipes from The Nourished Kitchen
Wild Fermentation Message Board
Natural Bias: A Great Source of Natural Probiotics

I'd love to hear any new fermented veggie recipes or combinations. As usual, this post is part of Real Food Wednesday where you are guaranteed to learn something new.

Ginger tea is an elixir of health

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I mentioned in my last post a new series: Favorite things I never would have learned if not for evil corn. Removing corn derivatives and food additives from our lives was a major upheaval and quite a learning experience. GMO corn and soy are ubiquitous in our modern food and pharmaceutical industries and it takes dramatic changes in shopping, cleaning and cooking methods to banish them. It was a long, hard road but it was not without its benefits. I would like to start a series to share some of the best things about our new way of life.

Ginger tea truly is an elixir of health. In our quest for flu medicine alternatives we discovered ginger tea sweetened with raw honey. What a discovery! It is now our favorite drink that just happens to be chock full of healthy benefits. We were able to treat head and chest congestion, nausea, sore throat, and cough using only ginger tea. We also found that it is delicious hot or cold. Even if you are lucky enough to survive cold and flu season unscathed, you simply must try some ginger tea. Our recipe is below.

Before making ginger tea, you will need to buy a fresh ginger root. I found fresh ginger root even in backwoods Alabama grocery stores so locating it should be no problem. If you have never tried fresh ginger, you may not know how wonderful it is. Growing up my mother only bought dried ground ginger from the spice section. As a result, I grew up secure in the knowledge that I hated ginger. The first time you cut into a fresh ginger root you will be rewarded with a heavenly fruity, spicy smell that is like nothing else. The next step is to peel the root which is much easier that it may seem at first glance. The easiest way to peel ginger is to use a spoon or the back edge of your favorite knife. If you are a visual learner you will appreciate this video from the Test Kitchen at Gourmet.com. If you are a new cook, you can find many instructional videos at the Test Kitchen to broaden your kitchen knowledge.


Hot Ginger Tea

• 2 Tbsp. fresh ginger root (finely diced)
• raw organic honey
• tea ball
• saucepan or boiler
• 4 cups filtered water

Peel and dice the ginger. Place it inside the tea ball and put the tea ball in the saucepan of water. Bring the water to a boil and then take off the heat. Allow the ginger tea to steep for at least 15 minutes. For stronger tea allow the tea to simmer on low for 15 minutes before removing from heat. While waiting for the tea to steep, put up to 1 Tbsp. of raw honey in each mug (to taste). Pour the steeped tea over the honey in each mug and stir to mix. Enjoy!


Iced Ginger Tea

• hot ginger tea (brewed strong)
• 4 Tbsp. of raw honey added directly to tea in saucepan and allowed to cool
• Glass pitcher of ice

Pour the cooled, sweetened ginger tea into the pitcher of ice. Allow to chill, then pour into individual  glasses filled with ice. Enjoy!

Ginger is a world-renowned digestive and treatment for nausea. A cup of ginger tea will help with morning sickness or even motion sickness. It's much easier to coax children into drinking a cup of hot ginger tea than to take cough medicine laden with dangerous ingredients. It is soothing to sore or dry throats and makes a great allergy medication with no side effects. Iced ginger tea makes a great alternative to carbonated sodas and everyone knows raw honey is infinitely better for you than high fructose corn syrup. Now you see why we are such die-hard fans of ginger tea. It truly is a health elixir.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop. Next post I will fill you in on another use of ginger when I share another item in "My new favorites" series: Fermented Vegetables.

Further reading about genetically modified foods:
Sugar Beets Spur County to Reconsider Biotech Food
Why I Still Oppose Genetically Modified Crops
Genetically Modified (GM) Crops Increase Pesticide Use and Fail to Alleviate Poverty, Reveals New Report
Shoppers Guide to Avoiding GE Foods

Sources for Raw Honey:
Really Raw Honey
Tropical Traditions

Weight gain is a symptom.

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This simple fact eluded my doctors for 20 years. Every doctor that I visited refused to believe that I wasn't doing something wrong to cause my weight gain. In the beginning, I knew that my eating habits hadn't changed but I gained weight anyway. I followed the doctor's orders but still gained weight steadily. As time went on, I did begin to eat more, but the weight gain started first.

We live in a fat-phobic society that just doesn't believe that weight gain is proof that there is a malfunction in the body. If the medical industry were to acknowledge and embrace this simple truth, imagine how health care could change. Doctors might actually cure people instead of simply treating symptoms.

It took me so many years to stop listening to conventional doctors' recommendations on how to lose excess weight. My health crisis proved to me that weight gain was one of the first symptoms of a much larger problem. I was allergic to corn but unable to avoid it without all the facts. My corn allergy always seemed like another random symptom until I realized that continual ingestion of corn every day in the form of food additives was killing me.

If any one of those doctors that I hired would have simply told me to avoid food additives, my health crisis would never have happened. I cooked every meal for my family anyway, I could have easily changed my modern cooking style to embrace traditional foods and pure ingredients. Instead, it took me many years of declining health and trial and error to figure that out on my own. I thought home cooked meals were healthier alternatives to fast food or junk food, but that wasn't true of modern cooking.

What is modern cooking and why is it so bad? Modern cooking is essentially taking a bunch of prepared ingredients and a few fresh ingredients and mixing them together to get meals (like most of the "chefs" on Food Network). I made casseroles from frozen vegetables, "processed cheese food" and white rice. I cooked in a crock pot using canned "cream of" soups, canned vegetables and grocery store meat. I made my own pasta sauce using canned tomatoes and garlic salt, serving it over enriched pasta. I made hamburgers and served them on prepared buns with frozen french fries. I made desserts using cake mixes and frosting in a can or prepared crusts and canned fruit. I made sandwiches using jars of condiments and deli meat on commercial bakery bread with a pickle on the side. I made breakfast biscuits using shortening and enriched flour and served it with eggs and bacon or sausage. I was busy in the kitchen making meals for my family and diligently avoiding snacks and fast foods. I just didn't realize that I was serving up a hefty dose of GMO corn with every meal. In my naivete, I never considered that the food on the shelves of my store could be harmful.

Now I am on a long journey back to health by cooking traditional meals and incorporating now rare health foods like grass fed liver, fermented condiments and raw dairy products. My family is getting healthier every day and, of course, we are losing weight.

For more information on nutrient dense, traditional foods check out Real Food Wednesday hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop. Learn something new every Wednesday, guaranteed.

Fermented Veggie Headstart

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I'm getting all my ducks in a row. I am hoping to get started on the GAPS diet after Saturday so I am getting ready as much as I can. I made two quarts of lacto-fermented vegetable mixes on Monday. I can't wait until I can try them. I didn't measure or follow a recipe but they are coming along great. I have been reading about lacto-fermentation enough that I felt comfortable with my process. I just shredded carrots, ginger, garlic, and onion in the food processor and mushed (technical term) it with my hands with added Celtic sea salt. I then packed into my quart mason jar and put the lid on tight. The other jar consists of cabbage, radish, turnip and tiny bit of carrot mixture and salt. It worked out great and is fermenting away in my office covered with a folded sheet.

I knew I would need lacto-fermented veggies for the GAPS diet so I wanted to get those going ahead of time. I think they will make a lot of juice which is what we want in the beginning. I think I will make some other mixes after Saturday. I keep saying Saturday because I will be driving the two hours to Whole Foods (the closest source of organic produce and butter) and also picking up my order of pastured meat and eggs at the farmer's market. (The irony of which you can't possibly appreciate unless you could see how many pastures full of cows and farms I pass in that two hour drive.)

Speaking of irony, I am currently paying for 20 acres of pine trees out in the country. We originally bought this land to have some room out in the country to do whatever we wished. Now that I am pushing to do what I always wanted (raise chickens and goats and cows and vegetables, you know, farm) I find out my husband has no intention of being a farmer (or farmer's husband). I never hid my intentions from him (in fact, I was very excited about it from the very beginning) so I don't know why he never shared his ideas about what we would do with the land. Apparently, he now wants to spend the next 5 - 10 years watching pine trees grow so we will get a "good price" for them when we cut them. We may be approaching an impasse.

His idea is to buy pastured beef, chicken, eggs, and organic veggies from other farms. Forever. My idea is to start small by trying to raise enough to feed our family at first. Once we get the hang of it we can expand our operation to raise enough to sell. I don't know if it will ever make me rich, but I do know that I want to guarantee my family access to quality foods. If you read the news, you can probably see the wisdom of trying to secure these foods for our family. Not to mention that the farm that I want to buy eggs from said that she won't have enough to meet demand. We have wonderful climate here in Alabama and a shortage of family truck farms (especially organic). Alabama farmers bought the whole "better farming through chemicals" method the county agents sold in a big way.

This GAPS diet is going to be more complicated than it looks on paper (and not because of the cooking). The pastured eggs, beef, pork, and organic vegetables are going to become too expensive. I can already feel the pressure, but I don't cave to pressure so well since I became ill. I have two teenagers that I fully intend to get well so that they can start their adult lives without the burden of ill health hanging over them.

Personal Heroes:

1. Sandor Ellix Katz is a fearless citizen of this earth sharing knowledge about the link between fermented foods and health. His book, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods started me on the path toward GAPS.
2. Joel Salatin is a farmer for the future of food in this country. He is spreading the word about sustainable organic farming as a profitable business. Check out his book,You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise if you have any inclination toward growing your own food.
3. Eliot Coleman has inspired me to try my hand at growing food throughout the year. After all, if he can do it in Maine under a blanket of snow, I should be able to manage something in Alabama (it probably won't even freeze but maybe twice all winter here). His book, Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long, is very informative even for a backyard gardener. He has a new book, The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses, that I can't wait to read.
   

Teach a kid to cook and feed him for a lifetime.

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I cook with my children every day. There are lots of reasons I think it is important but the main one is: Cook for a kid and feed him for one meal. Teach a kid to cook and feed him for a lifetime. You see what I did there? 8^) Yes, the kids also go to the grocery store with me and help me look up recipes and experiment with new spices. They really enjoy it. Really. You can ask them.

If you've read any of this blog you know that we are not healthy. We have been searching for answers for our health problems for many years with no luck. We recently swore off all packaged foods and starting cooking everything from scratch. You wouldn't think that would be controversial, but it sure was. My family is actually angry at me and currently not speaking to me. You may think my family is a bunch of kooks, but they are just normal people. I'm sure you're thinking that I must have been demanding or condemning or nagging about it. I actually went out of my way to make sure our new way of life would not inconvenience them by preparing our food and bringing it with us. I offered it to any who wanted to try it but didn't force it on anyone. Nothing worked.

Now, something you must realize is that our health has greatly improved since implementing this new way of life. We have lost over 30 pounds each in 6 months and my daughter and I no longer have asthma. It is glaringly obvious to anyone who sees us that our health has improved. So why does it bother my family so much? I don't think they want us to stay unhealthy. I'm pretty sure they love us, so I am stumped.

My family is not alone in thinking this way. Every time the subject comes up people look at us with horror. I have actually had someone say to my kid, "Poor thing, you don't get to eat ice cream?" First of all, what kind of moron thinks no one ever ate ice cream until it showed up in the freezer section of the grocery store?! AND, do people really think propylene glycol is a necessary ingredient in real ice cream, therefore we can't possibly make it? We have ice cream in the freezer all the time. OK, so sometimes we get lazy and go two or three days before making another batch.

For some reason, it is assumed that we don't eat tasty or fun food because we don't buy it already made. Or, they think I don't just deprive my kids but starve them as well. We eat macaroni and cheese (my son makes a killer bechamel sauce) , ice cream, waffles, hamburgers, french fries, burritos and tacos (my daughter is merciless with the chipotle but it is oh-so-good), pizza, pasta, bacon, etc. as much as we want. I don't restrict the amount of food that we eat at all. I guess I do deprive them though because they don't get to eat velveeta, fruit roll-ups, twizzlers, nabs, Cheetos or bubble gum. Of course, those items are marvels of modern science and not actually food so we don't miss them.

All in all, it has helped our health tremendously. We actually enjoy each other's company and learn something new every day. Cooking is so complicated when you think about it since it involves proper food handling and safety, selection of ingredients, differences of cooking methods, proper utensil selection, timing, selecting the right seasonings, and storage options for leftovers. It seems to me that cooking logically requires an apprenticeship rather than simple lessons. I feel like I am giving them the gift of a lifetime by teaching them to feed themselves well. Really, it is just a touch above child abuse to send your kids out their own unarmed with the most basic skills. What skill could be more fundamental than cooking?

GAPS in knowledge

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My children and I are starting the GAPS Diet soon. We are already starting to get everything together that we will need. I am anxiously awaiting the book that I ordered and I will order the supplements (probiotics, cod liver oil, butter oil) tomorrow. If you haven't heard of the GAPS diet then you most likely don't have serious digestive problems. We do.

I've read many articles and books and expert opinions about nutrition and digestive health. So many people are so sure that they know what constitutes the best diet for everyone. I have learned a lot in the last two years but I still have so many questions. I have decided to do this: Use the ideas that seem the most logical to me and trust what our bodies tell us as we proceed. We have already eliminated all foods that we seem to have trouble tolerating. I feel that we are no longer harming our bodies (by eating foods we can't tolerate), but we aren't actively healing either. The GAPS diet is designed to help us heal us do that.

I have assimilated a lot of information in a short period and have formed the following opinions:

• Americans are killing ourselves with food additives and we don't even understand the depth of the problem yet.
• Traditional foods and healthy fats are very important for longterm health.
• I'm not even sure we should be eating wheat at all, much less in the worthless refined and enriched form that we gulp down in America.
• GMO corn, soy, and canola are dangerous and should have been studied over generations before being allowed into our food supply.
• We shouldn't be eating vegetables that insects are too smart to eat. (example: GMOs that produce their own insecticide.)
• Meat is only bad for the environment when it is raised on feed lots in huge numbers. There are smaller farms all over this country that manage to raise pastured beef without harm to the environment.
• If you cook everything from scratch there is no need to restrict calories from sugar. Dessert is so labor intensive that there is no way you are going to "have something sweet" at every meal.
• Purified Water Enhanced with Minerals for Taste is the next big scheme by those gems that run the food industry. The "minerals" in this case just happen to be a desiccant, baking soda and a laxative. Can you conceive of a reason to add those three things to bottled water if you sell bottled water?
• The same family and friends that rant about how the government is screwing the "little guy" in this country won't even entertain the idea that food companies are putting harmful additives in our food for profit while the FDA sits by and does nothing.
• The new food safety "crackdown" is only going to make it harder for small farms to compete with the huge agribusinesses. When have you ever heard of pastured beef, eggs, or organic vegetables causing food-borne illness? Is it a coincidence that Tom Vilsack is the Secretary of Agriculture?

Remember, I said these are my opinions, not documented facts. Most of these ideas will never be proven simply because it would profit no big company to have them proven. I have been accused of being extreme in my views on diet and nutrition but I just use logic to try to regain health. By cutting out all prepared foods, I am hoping to "first do no harm". By taking in nutrients in the form of bone broth and cod liver oil I aim to increase the amount of nutrition I am able to absorb from my food. And finally, by ingesting high quality probiotics I hope to heal my gut flora so that I can properly digest food. It makes perfect sense to me.

It may sound corny,

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but you really are what you eat. I have been allergic to corn for a long time. I didn't know this for many years and still don't know if it is a "true allergy" or just a "sensitivity". I put those terms in quotes because I think it is ridiculous to differentiate. One means that upon ingestion of said substance you will die immediately and the other means you will die a slow painful death. What difference does it make what you call it if either results in death? I think people like to differentiate so they can minimize an intolerance for certain foods since death is not immediate. Why? Because someone with a limited diet is inconvenient but you can't bully someone to "just make an exception this one time" if it will kill them instantly. It does seem to be somehow socially acceptable to do so if the offending substance will only cause extreme distress.

This sounds crazy, I know. When I first realized this phenomenon I was completely flabbergasted. If you don't believe me just think about this: Haven't you ever heard someone say to a dieter at a family gathering, "Come on and have some dessert, one bite won't kill you!"? What about the current controversy over whether someone has a gluten intolerance or true celiac disease? Who cares? Call it whatever you want, the people with this condition suffer when they ingest wheat or other gluten containing grains. Do they really have to die instantly to make the condition serious?

I am pressured all the time to eat things that I can't tolerate because it will make someone else's life easier. I have a long list of things that I can't eat but the most restricting item on the list is corn. The reason it is so restricting is the same reason that it took me years to figure out I couldn't tolerate it. When I thought I was avoiding corn by reading the label, I was ignorant of some essential information. It is in almost everything in a can, box or bag in the grocery store. Corn can be listed under names like lactic acid or sodium lactate(try finding deli meat without this), citric acid (try buying a canned vegetable without this ingredient), maltodextrin, polysorbate, stearic acid, alcohol (try finding vanilla extract without corn), and iodized salt. Most people I talk to think they eat very little corn when they in fact eat corn every day at every meal.

Did you know corn is in white rice, table salt, canned tomatoes, white vinegar, sour cream, tuna, frozen vegetables, breads, and even fresh fruit or veggies that are coated with wax? Are you wondering what you could eat if you were allergic to corn? The answer is horrifying to most people. I can only safely eat fresh meat, brown rice and other grains, fresh vegetables or fruit (that are not waxed), dried legumes, sea salt and single ingredient spices. My family cooks all our meals from scratch now from staples that we drive two hours to buy or order online. There are three grocery stores in my area (40 mile radius) and one of them is a Walmart. None of the three carry any flour, pasta, canned tomatoes, beans or tuna, bread, cream or shampoo that is corn-free. I am able to buy beef and chicken from the small stores without corn added in the form of "broth" but all of the meat in Walmart contains corn now. I am trying to find the money in my budget to buy pasture-finished meat since I worry about all the corn that is forced into the conventional beef at the feed lots. (You do realize that the cows are force fed corn to fatten them up for slaughter, don't you?)

In case you are thinking that I am an oddball or freak and you don't have to worry about such nonsense, consider this: My daughter was diagnosed with asthma two years ago and used an inhaler quite often. My health was deteriorating rapidly in the last two years and in my search for answers I discovered a list of corn aliases. We were able to cut corn completely out of our diet for the first time in January 2009. Since January she has not needed her inhaler even once. It's a good thing she didn't need her inhaler since it also contains corn! Ethanol is the propellant of choice for Albuterol and low and behold, ethanol is made from corn.

Can corn be the cause of the asthma epidemic in America? I don't have the answer to that but I do have an idea how we can find out. Every kid that has been diagnosed with asthma could be put on a corn-free diet for two weeks to see if there is any improvement. As you have probably figured out by now, it wouldn't be easy but....what could it hurt?