The Sweet Lie You’ve Been Told

Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.

Today at a Glance:

• You Need This Now More Than Ever

• Sugar and Sugar Substitutes: Weight Control, Metabolic Effects, and Health Trade-Offs

• Why Your Brain Has 47 Tabs Open (And How to Close Them)

You Need This Now More Than Ever
Ryan Holiday

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The world gives us endless reasons to be angry—broken systems, selfish leaders, rising costs, cruelty everywhere—but anger only clouds judgment and makes things worse. History shows real change-makers—Lincoln, Gandhi, King—chose restraint, sadness, courage, and love over rage, using calm resolve to steer through chaos. Stoics called this the “calm light of mild philosophy”: pausing before reacting, inserting reflection between stimulus and response, and meeting injustice with self-control instead of outrage. Today more than ever, we need that pause, that choice to breathe, to reflect, to act with clarity, because only then can we make things better.

🎬Action!

• When you feel anger rising, whether from an injustice, an insult, or frustration, pause before reacting: take a breath, count the alphabet, or look in a mirror, and use that space to choose a calm, deliberate response instead of an impulsive one.

Sugar and Sugar Substitutes: Weight Control, Metabolic Effects, and Health Trade-Offs
Dr. Peter Attia

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Humans are wired to crave sweetness because, for most of our evolutionary history, sugar signaled safe, calorie-rich food in times when starvation, not obesity, was the threat. The problem is that our genes haven’t caught up with modern abundance. Sugar isn’t uniquely fattening if calories are equal, but in real life, its unique effects of rapid blood sugar swings, low satiety, and powerful brain-reward activation make overconsumption far more likely. Form and context matter, too: liquid sugar hits faster than solid, processed foods drive stronger appetite than whole foods, and fructose has distinct metabolic quirks that can amplify cravings. Labels like “natural” vs. “refined” are mostly marketing, because biochemically, honey, cane sugar, or high-fructose corn syrup all break down into the same molecules. Artificial sweeteners complicate the picture: while they remove calories, they don’t always break the feedback loop of craving sweetness and may affect appetite, gut microbes, or long-term metabolic health. Some newer options, like allulose, show intriguing advantages, but overall, the story of sugar and its substitutes is less about good vs. bad and more about how form, dose, timing, and context shape their impact on the body.

🎬Action!

1. Time sugar strategically. If indulging, pair it with activity: post-exercise is when the body handles sugar best, while late-night consumption (especially without exercise) has the worst metabolic effects.

2. Don’t be fooled by “natural” labels. Honey, maple syrup, agave, and raw sugar all break down into the same glucose and fructose as refined sugar; their metabolic impact is essentially the same.

3. Favor whole foods. When possible, satisfy sweetness through fruit, which comes with fiber, water, and nutrients that blunt negative effects. You’re going to have a hard time overeating on most fruits compared to processed foods.

4. Be deliberate with sweeteners:

   1. Avoid heavy reliance on the “big three” (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin), which show neutral to slightly negative long-term effects.

   2. Prefer newer options like stevia, monk fruit, and sugar alcohols for modest metabolic benefits (noting sugar alcohols may cause GI distress).

   3. Use allulose when possible—it uniquely supports satiety and glucose control, though less suited for packaged foods.

5. Think hierarchy of choices:

   1. For beverages: regular soda → worst, diet soda → better, unsweetened sparkling water → best.

   2. For satisfying a sweet tooth: candy → worst, artificially sweetened desserts → mixed, whole fruit → best.
      (Caveat: Sometimes it’s better to eat a small portion of real dessert rather than a large portion of artificially sweetened dessert.)

Why Your Brain Has 47 Tabs Open (And How to Close Them)
Sol TV

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Your brain is like a browser with 47 tabs open—one replaying last night’s argument, another worrying about next week’s presentation, another still stuck on something you said in 2019—and all of them draining your mental energy. Just like too many tabs slow down your computer, these open loops slow down your life, leaving you exhausted by mid-afternoon. Research shows the average person checks their phone 96 times a day, but we “check” our worries far more often, with most of them never coming true. The brain opens these tabs thinking it’s helping, replaying the past to “solve” it, imagining disasters to “prepare” for them, but in reality, it’s just wasting energy. Since 85% of what we worry about never happens, and the vast majority of what does gets handled better than we expect, it’s time to stop letting these phantom tabs steal our focus and start closing them for good.

🎬Action!

1. Do a Two-Minute Brain Dump. When your mind keeps replaying the same thoughts, set a timer for two minutes and write everything down as quickly as possible. Don’t analyze or solve, just unload. This clears mental clutter and frees up energy for what matters.

2. Sort Worries Into a "Not My Problem Right Now" List. Create three columns: Can’t Control, Can Control Later, and Can Control Now. Whenever a worry shows up, file it into the right column. Only act on what’s in Can Control Now; let the rest go until it’s time.

3. Apply the 10-10-10 Rule. Before spiraling, pause and ask: “Will this matter in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years?” If it doesn’t pass the test, stop giving it your energy. Most worries fade quickly once you put them in perspective.

4. Build a Present-Moment Ritual. Choose a simple cue, like tapping your wrist while saying, “I’m here.” Practice it in calm moments (while sipping tea or walking outside) so it becomes a habit you can use in stressful times to return to the present and remind yourself, “This moment is enough.”

TOOL TIP

Blue Stacks: An app that lets you run any Android app on your PC or laptop. The website is originally geared towards mobile games, but it allows you to use any other productivity app (or anything else you can find in the app store).

FUN FACT

Identical twins don’t have the same fingerprints. You can’t blame your crimes on your twin, after all. This is because environmental factors during development in the womb (umbilical cord length, position in the womb, and the rate of finger growth) impact your fingerprint.

If you’ve found value in what I share, buying me a coffee is a great way to say “thanks” and help me keep doing what I love. Every bit of support helps me spend more time creating useful, thoughtful content for you. Thanks for being here—it means a lot! 🙏

Used by Execs at Google and OpenAI

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.