A white flag of truce in the “perpetual diet wars”

Today is Sunday, and I’ve read that many humans like to spend much of this day cleaning their house.

Fortunately, I’m a hound and my dog bed doesn’t need any cleaning. But I have decided to clean and freshen up this newsletter. If you’d like to read more about that, read my offer for you below.

But before we get to that, I want to tell you what I promised you yesterday — a bit of simple but encouraging diet research that’s highly relevant for healthy and long life. Let’s dig in.

A white flag of truce in the “perpetual diet wars”

What's the news: Ultra-processed foods make you eat more and gain more weight - everything else being equal.

Why should we believe it? This news comes from a study out of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which looked at 20 weight-stable adults.

The researchers broke up the study subjects into two groups. They gave one group ultra-processed food for two weeks, then unprocessed food for two more weeks.

They treated the other group the same, except in the opposite order — unprocessed food first, then ultra-processed.

The results were dramatic. The ultra-processed and unprocessed diets were matched for presented calories, sugar, fat, fiber, and macronutrients. And yet:

• The subjects ate 500 more calories per day on the ultra-processed diet

• The subjects gained an extra 0.9 kg (2lbs) during the two weeks of ultra-processed food

• The subjects dropped 0.9 kg (2lbs) during the two weeks of unprocessed food

Why this is a big deal: As the researchers put it in their paper, "the perpetual diet wars” between factions promoting low-carbohydrate, keto, paleo, high-protein, low-fat diets have created a lot of confusion in the public mind. People don’t know what to eat and what not to eat.

But there is a single, simple rule for healthy eating, and this study shows it.

So what specifically can you do now: Ultra-processed foods tend to be ready-to-eat or ready-to heat. Think soft drinks, chips, candy, ice-cream, sweetened breakfast cereals, packaged soups, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, fries.

Avoid those foods like the tempting poison that they are. Instead, replace them with whole foods, and watch your weight drop, your health improve, and your longevity prospects spread into the future.

Today's offer: Help me shape the future of this newsletter

I have been writing Long Youthspan for one week now. I've learned several valuable things about longevity along the way, and I've been able to share them with you.

I'm also looking at ways to change this newsletter to make it better.

One change I've decided to try is to switch from writing every day to writing once a week. This will allow me to go deeper into individual topics, and link several recent longevity breakthroughs to give you a more actionable package.

This newsletter goes out because of you. So I'd like to give you opportunity to shape Long Youthspan for the future, and make it more useful and valuable for yourself.

If you'd like to do that, hit reply to this email and let me know:

• What questions you have about longevity

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Thanks for your feedback and for reading Long Youthspan so far. Woof.

About that picture of my cousin Dennis

The photo I showed you above is my cousin, Dennis the dachshund.

Back in 2015, Dennis became a bit of an international celebrity. It definitely inflated his ego a lot.

Dennis had put on an outrageous amount of weight — 56 pounds, as much as four miniature daschshunds — thanks to a constant diet of Whitecastle hamburgers and other ultra-processed foods.

After going on a diet of normal dry dog food, Dennis dropped 44 of those pounds and got down to a svelte 12 pounds. It took a little more than a year.

But then the ego trip started.

International news outlets started covering Dennis's remarkable transformation. Like I said, his head grew as his weight dropped.

No matter. The story of my cousin Dennis is worth remembering.

And if the next time you feel like reaching for some irresistible ultra-processed foods, you think of Dennis’s photo above and you stop yourself, then let me know. I'll pass on the good news to Dennis himself.

That's it for today. Thanks again for reading. I'll be back in your inbox, not tomorrow, but next Thursday, with a more in-depth issue of Long Youthspan.