# Chris Van Tulleken: Why Your Breakfast Is More Dangerous Than Smoking

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/first-principles-7708985/chris-van-tulleken-why-your-breakfast-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/first-principles-7708985/chris-van-tulleken-why-your-breakfast-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking.md
Podcast: [First Principles](https://stenobird.com/podcast/first-principles-7708985)
Published: 2026-07-10T19:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN8105194504.mp3?updated=1776258281
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN8105194504.mp3?updated=1776258281
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/first-principles-7708985/episodes/chris-van-tulleken-why-your-breakfast-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking
Duration seconds: 1339

## Resource

What if your morning cereal is slowly killing you faster than a pack of cigarettes? Adrian Wells sits down with infectious disease doctor Chris van Tulleken, who ate nothing but ultra-processed foods for 30 days and watched his body and brain literally change on the scanner. 🎯 What You'll Learn: • Why ultra-processed foods make up 60% of American calories (and how they're engineered to hijack your hunger signals) • The shocking brain scan results that showed physical changes after just one month of processed eating • How people automatically eat 500 more calories per day when given ultra-processed versus whole foods • The simple way to identify ultra-processed foods in your kitchen right now 👤 Perfect for: lifelong learners and anyone passionate about personal growth who wants to understand what's really on their plate and how it affects their body. 📍 Chapters: [00:00] Adrian Wells introduces the processed food experiment [01:45] What counts as ultra-processed (it's more than you think) [03:30] The 30-day experiment: 14 pounds gained and brain changes [06:15] Why these foods override your natural hunger signals [08:45] The engineered addiction: how companies design cravings [10:30] Simple strategies to spot and avoid ultra-processed foods Van Tulleken's research reveals that ultra-processed food consumption links to increased obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease risk. But here's what makes this different: he didn't just study it, he lived it. The brain scans don't lie. This isn't about perfect eating or food shaming. It's about understanding how modern food engineering works against your biology, and what you can actually do about it. 🔔 Never miss an episode: Follow First Principles on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and turn on notifications. New episodes dr…

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## Transcript

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