Conscious Junk Food Consumption – Can We Break Free From The Epidemic?

A chain of healthy eateries located in New York City (called, appropriately enough, The Pump -- Energy Food) dispenses tasty, guilt-free meals lacking all of the hallmarks of a conventional American diet. In other words, they steer clear of chemicals, preservatives, artery clogging fats, unnecessary sugars and/or other highly processed ingredients - you know, the stuff that mainstream eaters are generally addicted to. Perusing their menu, it's apparent that their lean protein offerings -- such as grass fed bison, organic tofu and chicken breast - are in good company with whole wheat pitas, steamed sweet potatoes, diverse veggie medleys and falafel sides. Right off the bat, you instantly recognize that they are NO Mickey D's. Of course, squeaky-clean eats generally require a bigger up-front investment (compared to junk food) and can be a tough sell in our culture given our conventional edible addictions and the fact that we are in the midst of recessionary times. The Pump has wisely chosen to spread awareness about their commitment to nutritious food offerings by highlighting the humor behind our culture's not so amusing food choices in their latest satirical promo (below).

Once the chuckling subsides and you watch their video a few more times to appreciate its finer points, it hits you like a ton of bricks - oh my God, they're RIGHT - why do we continue to pollute our bodies with foods that are anything but healthy?!? Burgers can't possibly be BETTER FOR US if they're slathered with Acai berry dressing but "new and different" always seems to trump "heart healthy" any day. Unfortunately, novelty combinations tend to be an easy sell in our culture (which would explain why Taco Bell continues to rake in tidy profits), but they rarely ever do our bodies any good. Chronic consumers of crap, we are magnetically drawn to any edible food item that is larger than life and glistening with cheese, bacon or other artery clogging condiments. Must salads and vegetables always be cloaked in a thick layer of butter, dressing or "Krap Brand Processed Cheese Food" in order for them to be palatable? Have we ever really given our taste buds a fighting chance to figure it what tastes legitimately good all on their own?

Do we really even care about better nutritional benefits? Continuing to dine on the same old calorie-dense "crap" does not a healthier body make. Pop-Tarts and Fritos may now be marketed as containing "whole grain", but they are still the same old wolves prancing around in sheep's clothing. In the video clip above, The Pump's logo - trailed by the words without crap -- offers a stark contrast to 12 different tongue-in-cheek pseudo-ads for everything from hyper-sugary cookie-laden breakfast cereal boasting The Crappy Cereal Coalition's new "healthy sugar" pyramid to Crap Flavoring Spray & Stick in such distinctive varieties as garden vegetable, bubblegum and garlic/herb. Definitely humorous but also dead-on. These items may have been dreamt up by a clever marketing team expressly for this campaign, but if you take a trip to your local Odd Lots type store, you'll see the real deal (or products eerily like them) cluttering the shelves of  discount marts and budget-conscious consumers gamely plunking them into their carts. What's truly sad is that the endless cycle of dietary-sabotage will continue for as long as we keep junk food purveyors in business, or perhaps until we can finally exercise common sense by treating our bodies as the temples that they really should be.