Taco Tuesday The Real Story
2nd Letter of The Month
October is a month that brings greater attention to cancer, and I believe awareness should include more than screenings and pink ribbons. It should also include understanding some of the everyday factors that may influence our risk over a lifetime.
Cancer is complex, and no one food, product, or exposure explains every diagnosis. But research has identified a number of factors that can increase risk, including tobacco, alcohol, excess ultraviolet radiation, certain infections, obesity, physical inactivity, air pollution, and exposure to certain cancer-causing substances in our environment and workplaces.
Some risks are outside of our control, such as age, family history, and inherited genetic changes. Others give us an opportunity to make more informed choices about what we eat, drink, breathe, put on our bodies, and bring into our homes.
As a health coach and author, this is where I like to focus: not on fear, but on awareness. Over the years, my research has led me to look more closely at ingredients and everyday foods many of us rarely question—from wheat and corn to the tortillas we serve on Taco Tuesday.
Throughout October, I want to share a few of these topics and encourage you to become a more informed consumer. We cannot control everything, but we can learn more about the choices that are within our control.
What’s Really in Your Tortilla?
As a health coach and author, I came to realize years ago through my own research that we need to look more closely at the everyday foods we often assume are harmless.
We hear a lot about wheat and concerns surrounding pesticide use, but I began asking many of the same questions about corn—especially the corn used to make tortillas.
Tacos have become a go-to meal for so many people. They can seem like a simple, wholesome choice, but how often do we stop to think about the tortilla underneath all those fresh toppings?
Traditional masa harina isn’t simply ground corn. It begins with dried field corn that goes through an ancient process called nixtamalization. Traditionally, corn was cooked in an alkaline solution made from wood ash or limestone, soaked overnight, rinsed to remove the outer skin, and then ground by hand on a volcanic stone into fresh masa.
That fresh masa had to be used quickly because there was no dehydration process. Masa-Harina-Guide https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E210US0G0&p=Masa_Harina_Guide+(1).p
Today, the basic chemistry remains similar, but production has become industrialized. Corn can be cooked with food-grade calcium hydroxide, soaked in large stainless-steel vats, mechanically washed, ground in high-speed mills, then flash-dried into the shelf-stable masa harina sold in stores.
But processing is only part of the conversation.
We also need to consider how the corn was grown before it ever became a tortilla. In conventional corn production, herbicides may be used to control weeds and other pesticides may be used to protect the crop from insects or disease. Some agricultural chemicals remain mainly on the outside of the plant or kernel, while others are systemic, meaning they can be taken up by the plant and become present within its tissues.
This distinction matters when corn is turned into masa. The traditional nixtamalization process can help remove a significant amount of material from the surface because the outer skin of the kernel is loosened, dissolved, and washed away. However, your guide points out that systemic chemicals—such as glyphosate, an herbicide used in some conventional corn production,may be present inside the kernel and therefore cannot simply be rinsed away.
That is one reason I encourage people to pay attention not only to how a tortilla is made, but also to where the corn came from and how it was grown. When possible, look for certified organic, non-GMO, or traditionally sourced heirloom corn
Nixtamalization can help remove substances found on the outside of the kernel because the outer skin is dissolved and washed away. However, the guide also discusses systemic agricultural chemicals that may be absorbed into the plant and remain within the kernel rather than simply washing off.
These concerns have become significant enough to enter international discussions surrounding GMO corn, glyphosate, and the corn used for tortillas in Mexico and USA.
Does this mean you have to give up tacos? Absolutely not.
It simply means becoming more aware of what you’re buying. When possible, look for certified organic, non-GMO, or traditionally sourced heirloom corn products.
The guide specifically recommends looking for USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified products, as well as artisanal brands sourcing native or ancestral corn varieties. And if making tortillas from scratch isn’t happening that day—and for most of us, it won’t always happen—there are easy options.
Choose an organic corn tortilla with a short ingredient list, or try a grain-free tortilla, such as one made with cassava or almond flour, if that better fits the way you eat.
A taco may look simple, but the ingredients still matter.
Ask where the corn came from. Ask how it was grown.
Pay attention to how your tortillas are made.
You don’t have to stop enjoying the foods you love. Sometimes better health begins with simply becoming more informed about what’s on your plate.
Want to Learn More?
If you’d like to go deeper into the topics of environmental exposures, cancer risk, and the body’s natural detoxification processes, visit my Books page and explore Toxic America Two or Toxic America: The Next Generation.
These books continue the conversation about the everyday substances we’re exposed to, the choices we can make to support our health, and why becoming an informed consumer matters.
Knowledge gives us the opportunity to make wiser choices—for ourselves and for the next generation.
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