What if food is doing far more than providing calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat? What if every bite is actually delivering information to your genes, cells, microbiome, and biological systems?

In this fascinating solo episode, Darin challenges the century-old idea of viewing food simply as fuel and explores what happens when we begin seeing food as biological information. From carrots resembling eyes and walnuts resembling brains to nutrigenomics, plant compounds, biophotons, structured water, living enzymes, and the microbiome, Darin dives into the hidden layers of food that never appear on a nutrition label.

He explores established research alongside emerging and controversial areas of science, explaining why the freshness, color, diversity, and wholeness of what we eat may matter far beyond its calorie count. Darin also reveals why "eating the rainbow" is really about consuming a wider library of chemical information and why feeding your gut microbes may be just as important as feeding yourself.

This episode will completely change the way you look at what's sitting on your plate.

What You'll Learn

  • Why Darin believes the calorie model leaves out some of food's most important biological effects
  • How nutrients and plant compounds can influence gene expression through nutrigenomics and epigenetics
  • Why Darin describes every meal as sending a "memo" to your DNA
  • What biophotons are and the emerging research around light emitted by living cells and foods
  • Why fresh, living foods may carry information that heavily processed foods have lost
  • The theory of structured or "exclusion zone" water in living foods
  • What happens to naturally occurring enzymes when foods are heated and processed
  • Why the colors of fruits and vegetables correspond to different families of protective plant compounds
  • How your food communicates with the trillions of microbes living inside your gut
  • Why dietary diversity and fermented foods may help create a healthier, more resilient microbiome

Chapters

00:00:00 – Welcome to SuperLife

00:00:32 – Sponsor: Bite

00:02:47 – The hidden clues sitting inside your food

00:03:22 – Carrots, tomatoes, and walnuts: coincidence or clues?

00:04:13 – Why we've been too busy counting calories

00:04:39 – Food is information

00:04:47 – Why the calorie model leaves out the bigger picture

00:05:14 – Your body isn't a furnace

00:05:48 – How food communicates with your cells

00:06:25 – Nutrigenomics: how food talks to your genes

00:06:53 – Every meal can influence gene expression

00:07:22 – What memo are you sending your DNA?

00:07:52 – The strange science of biophotons

00:09:03 – Why fresh food emits different light than processed food

00:09:37 – Where biophoton research stands scientifically

00:10:26 – Structured water and the fourth phase of water

00:12:00 – What processing may do to water inside food

00:12:37 – Sponsor: Manna Vitality

00:14:35 – The controversial theory of food enzymes

00:15:18 – What we know about enzymes in raw and sprouted foods

00:15:37 – The hidden information missing from nutrition labels

00:15:58 – Can the color of your food unlock your potential?

00:16:16 – Why "eat the rainbow" is chemistry, not mysticism

00:16:38 – Anthocyanins and the power of purple, red, and blue foods

00:17:27 – Color is the plant's natural label

00:18:20 – Every color sends your body a different message

00:18:50 – The problem with the modern "beige diet"

00:19:14 – You're feeding 38 trillion microbes, not just yourself

00:19:46 – How gut bacteria transform fiber into powerful compounds

00:20:25 – The extraordinary conversation between plants and your microbiome

00:21:05 – Why plant diversity matters for immunity, mood, and hormones

00:21:31 – The Stanford fermented food study

00:22:02 – What fermented foods did to microbiome diversity and inflammation

00:22:30 – Ultra-processed food, inflammation, and what's coming next

00:22:45 – Continue the full deep dive on Patreon

00:23:24 – Closing thoughts

Thank You to Our Sponsors

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Key Takeaway

"Food isn't just fuel. Every bite carries information—through nutrients, plant compounds, color, fiber, enzymes, and the interactions it creates with your microbiome. Your body isn't simply counting calories; it's responding to biological signals. So the question isn't only how much you're eating. It's what message you're sending your body every time you sit down to eat."

Bibliography/Sources: Food as Information & Nutrigenomics

  • Dutton, R. (2017). Hey, Hippocrates: Food isn't medicine. It's just food. STAT News.

https://www.statnews.com/2017/04/10/hippocrates-food-medicine/

  • Genes and diet in the prevention of chronic diseases in future generations. (n.d.). PubMed Central.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8900696/

  • Müller, M., et al. (2026). Nutrigenomics and the interface between diet and gene expression. ScienceDirect.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/

  • Nutriepigenomics. (n.d.). In Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutriepigenomics

  • Stover, P. J., & Garza, C. (n.d.). Food as exposure: Nutritional epigenetics and the new metabolism. PubMed Central.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6486241/

Biophotons & Structured Water

  • Bio-photons: The light in your cells, food & water. (n.d.). Watermatters.

https://www.yourwatermatters.com/

  • Biophotons may shed new light on body and brain activity. (2025). Psychology Today.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/

  • Pollack Laboratory. (n.d.). University of Washington.

https://pollacklab.org/

  • Pollack, G. H. (2013). The fourth phase of water: Beyond solid, liquid, and vapor. Ebner & Sons Publishers.

  • The legacy of light: Fritz-Albert Popp and the biomedical power of biophotons. (n.d.). Dr. Clark Store.

https://drclarkstore.com/

Enzymes, Sprouting & Traditional Diets

  • Characteristics of traditional diets. (n.d.). The Weston A. Price Foundation.

https://www.westonaprice.org/

  • Edward Howell, MD. (n.d.). The Weston A. Price Foundation.

https://www.westonaprice.org/

  • Germination: An alternative source to promote phytonutrients in edible seeds. (n.d.). Food Quality and Safety.

https://academic.oup.com/fqs

  • Howell, E. (1985). Enzyme nutrition: The food enzyme concept. Avery.

  • Nutritional and end-use perspectives of sprouted grains: A comprehensive review. (2021). Food Science & Nutrition.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fsn3.2477

  • Price, W. A. (1939). Nutrition and physical degeneration. Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.

  • Study on effect of germination on flavonoid content and nutritional value of different varieties of chickpeas. (2024). PubMed Central.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10787121/

Phytonutrients & Colors

  • Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: Colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits. (2017). Food & Nutrition Research.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5613902/

  • Anthocyanins as key phytochemicals acting for the prevention of metabolic diseases. (n.d.). PubMed Central.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6489379/

  • The therapeutic potential of anthocyanins: Current approaches based on their molecular mechanism of action. (2020). Frontiers in Pharmacology.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.01300/full

Microbiome, Fiber & Fermented Foods

  • From dietary fiber to host physiology: Short-chain fatty acids as key bacterial metabolites. (2016). Cell.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)30559-6

  • Stanford Medicine. (2021, July). Fermented-food diet increases microbiome diversity, decreases inflammatory proteins, study finds.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/07/fermented-food-diet-increases-microbiome-diversity-lowers-inflammation

  • The mutual effect of dietary fiber and polyphenol on gut microbiota. (2025). ScienceDirect.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/

Shape, Biomimicry & Botanical History

  • Cardenas, D. (2013). Let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation. e-SPEN Journal.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnme.2013.10.002

  • How do the 'three sister' plants work together? (n.d.). Soils Matter.

https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/

  • Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

  • Nutritional benefits of lycopene and beta-carotene: A comprehensive overview. (n.d.). PubMed Central.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9317578/

  • The six tastes in Ayurveda: How rasa creates true satisfaction. (n.d.). Art of Living Retreat Center.

https://artoflivingretreatcenter.org/

  • Three sisters farming: A model of regenerative agriculture. (n.d.). One Earth.

https://www.oneearth.org/

Ultra-Processed Food & Meat Research

  • Cleveland Clinic. (2018). Cleveland Clinic studies reveal role of red meat in gut bacteria, heart disease development.

https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/

  • Hall, K. D., et al. (2019). Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: An inpatient randomized controlled trial of ad libitum food intake. Cell Metabolism.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008

  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (2015). WHO report says eating processed meat is carcinogenic.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/11/03/report-says-eating-processed-meat-is-carcinogenic-understanding-the-findings/

  • International Agency for Research on Cancer. (2015, October). Carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat. IARC Monographs Volume 114.

https://publications.iarc.fr/

  • The detrimental impact of ultra-processed foods on the human gut microbiome and gut barrier. (2025). Nutrients.

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/1

  • Ultra-processed foods and food additives in gut health and disease. (2024). Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41575-024-00898-3

  • Ultra-processed foods, gut microbiota, and inflammatory bowel disease: A critical review of emerging evidence. (2025). PubMed.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

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