Commercial Break: Processed Food vs Whole Foods -- Inside Of You

One day me and some dancing buddies were waiting in line at an IHOP talking about cancer. Because, you know, what else would some twenty-somethings talk about while waiting to fill ourselves with sugary-fried goodness? 

I remember my buddy Dustin saying, "at the rate we're going, we basically should pick the cancer we're gonna have." A really upper of a statement, but after seeing the video above, it's hard to NOT think we all are kinda destined for some great cancer lottery. Also, Dustin is one of the coolest people ever, in this or any other lifetime.

I don't know about you, but I can't afford whole foods everytime I go out shopping. A lot of people in my tax bracket are faced with the option of either keeping the lights on, or eating a meal that doesn't come wrapped in a fast-food baggy.

The video above shows us a great deal of what our food has become, mostly artificial. What is more interesting is artist, Stefani Bardin's matrix pill video. Her study was conducted with Dr. Branden Kuo at Harvard University. Aptly titled M2A [mouth-to-anus], this pill wirelessly filmed all the grimy deeds our digestive tracts must endure.

While watching this pill travel on it's poop-tastic voyage, I couldn't help thinking about all the late-night meals I've eaten after, say, working diligently on a blog all day. Worse even, were the things I shoved in my face as a child. 

[Allow me to tangent for a second]

The cry isn't coming from a terrorist hub in Pakistan. It's not coming from protesters or religious fanatics. The cry is coming from inside. We are treating our tum-tums [as my sister would say] like guinea pigs, hoping that our physiology will adjust faster, than we can chew. And we're not even chewing half the time.

There is another argument brewing in the comments section of Scientific American. One of the commenters points out that the study is biased. I agree. The video doesn't show scientific data of what occurs when either food is absorbed into the blood stream. Nor does the video show a variant in meals. There are a lot of high-fat and high-sodium foods out there that aren't processed. We are assuming that artificial/processed foods equals "bad" and whole foods equals "good."

Are there actual good artificial food substitutes that could help curb our growing obesity epidemic? Butane is in a fair amount of artificial foods, but salt is a staple in most whole foods. Both chemicals have been used in harsher products and even chemical warfare. Where do we draw the line?

It is important to have debate over videos and studies like this, because if enough people critique this hard work [which I appreciate] -- future studies will get better. Future studies will be more thorough. However, it is obvious that Ramen noodles, just ain't for me anymore.

Anyway, if you're interested, check out more of the TEDx Manhattan videos. They are independent of the regular TED talks and are currently featuring an on-going season of food discussions. At the very least they promote and provoke a dialogue. And you can't be against that right? Well, if you're cancer. Are you cancer?

Source(s):

Natali Morris' Twitter

Scientific American

TEDxManhattan

Youtube