5HT: 5 Healthyish Things, including reactions to the new food pyramid and phone hacks

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This edition is coming to you post-heart surgery! All is well, and I’ll share a larger update soon. Big thanks so much to everyone who sent their well wishes, y’all are the best. ❤️

There are two phone hacks I’ve tried recently that I had to run 🏃 and tell you about.

1️⃣ Greyscale feature 

I’ve been using the greyscale feature on my iPhone, and it’s honestly been game-changing. Turning your phone to black and white is a surprisingly effective way to curb phone addiction. Research actually shows it can cut screen time by ~30-40 minutes/day! 😳

Why? Color is actually part of what makes apps feel so rewarding. Bright colors and visual alerts can trigger hits of dopamine, which is why scrolling feels addictive. Without those dopamine hits, scrolling gets… boring. IMO, the grayscale phone screen is a great first line of defense against doomscrolling.  

How to turn it on:

Voilà! 🪄

2️⃣ Cleanup app 

Clutter isn’t good for your mental health. And that includes digital clutter. Your phone is basically a tiny apartment you live in all day, and most of us are hoarding screenshots and blurry photos without realizing it.

I recently found an app via the Recomendo newsletter that helped me clean up 20% (!) of space on my iPhone. Seriously. Clever Cleaner surfaces duplicates, screenshots, and bulky Live photos. It also makes it super easy to remove: Swipe left to delete, right to keep. It’s also actually free—no surprise paywalls or subscriptions.  

Highly recommend trying both. 👍

One of my resolutions this year is to embrace that I get healthier every decade so I can be strong, sharp, joyful, and energetic for myself and my family. With that said, I'm often skeptical of longevity solutions where you'll never know if they really work until decades pass. It’s also human nature to want to see or feel effects, like now 😅. 

What I find really cool about Timeline’s Mitopure® longevity supplement is results go into effect in as little as four months. Earlier this month, I shared how clinical studies show Mitopure increases mitochondrial renewal by 39% after 16 weeks. Clinical studies also showed Mitopure can increase muscle strength by up to 12% in the same time frame.* Pretty impressive. 

What does that internal boost actually look like in the body? Here’s Timeline’s, well, timeline:

It’s longevity that doesn’t take that long to activate—and continues to compound system-wide wellbeing over time. So if improving your health span is also one of your resolutions this year, (but you don’t want to wait forever for results) consider adding Timeline’s Mitopure to your supplement stack. 

Plus, Timeline is being an extra awesome sponsor and offering 5HT readers 30% off your first order of Mitopure this January.

*Timeline’s clinical study showed that sedentary, middle-aged adults with an average BMI of 29.52 increased hamstring muscle strength.

The “75 Hard” challenge—75 days of drinking 8 pints of water, doing 2x 45-minute workouts, eating clean and reading 10 pages of nonfiction—made a massive comeback this month on TikTok and beyond. 

It alsooo led to the introduction of its subtler cousin, 75 Soft.

I’m always fascinated by programs like this that catch on. LMK if you’ve done this!

We got the Eight Sleep Pod 5 Core a few months ago. Given the way people talk about it, I was expecting it to be a life-changing upgrade. And I like it? 🤷

Basically, it’s an AI-powered mattress cover designed to regulate temperature—cooling or heating your side of the bed—controlled through a mobile app. I run hot, my wife runs cold (a classic pairing 😅), so being able to personalize each side is pretty cool, but I’d say it’s more of a luxury upgrade than, like, the sleep equivalent of GLP-1s.

You can also preset different temps for different phases of the night: Before sleep (ideally colder), during sleep, and as you’re waking up. My setup usually looks like this: I start at -8 (cool but cozy), gradually ease up to -3 overnight, and then let it warm to +0 in the morning. That part works well, and it’s nice not waking up drenched at 3am.

There’s also this cool feature—a thermal and vibrational alarm—that I recently tried (and a good friend swears by). I rigged mine to vibrate at bed time, so I know without having to check my phone that it’s time to close my book and head to sleep.

That said, it’s pretty expensive ($3K+ 😬). And while my sleep has improved, I wouldn’t say the difference is dramatic. At least not yet. My suspicion is that the most value shows up in a Texas summer. Let’s see.

Bottom line: If temperature swings, night sweats, or divergent sleep preferences are your main issue, it could be worth sleeping on it 😉, buuuut while I recommend the Eight Sleep, it’s ultimately a nice-to-have vs. a must-have.

Okay, so I got a lottt of pushback on my initial “this is awesome” reaction to the new food pyramid, both from 5HT readers and especially from LinkedIn followers. I genuinely value that. Sitting with the feedback, my view hasn’t flipped… but it has sharpened.

The version that feels right (right now) is that the direction of the new food pyramid is correct, even if the execution isn’t perfect. The core message—eat real food—is an important and overdue reset. But there are fair critiques worth taking seriously if we want this to actually improve public health.

The most compelling criticisms fall into two buckets.

First, the visual itself. The inverted pyramid is memorable, but it’s also easy to misread. Several smart critics pointed out that it visually suggests “go heavy on meat, dairy, and fats, go light on grains and plants,” even though the written guidance is more nuanced. That mismatch matters because most people will only ever see the picture. Legumes do feel oddly underrepresented, especially given how central they are to fiber intake and long-term metabolic health. 

Also, protein is probably over-represented based on the best science we’ve got (I’ve written about this before in 5HT). I don’t buy that there’s been a “war on protein”—sorry, it’s literally never been more popular, lol 😂. Ultimately, if the goal is clarity, the visual should work harder to reinforce—not contradict—the supporting guidance.

Second, and more importantly, is access. “Eat real food” is directionally right but structurally incomplete. Food deserts, school meals, cost barriers, time constraints, and even things like parental leave and breastfeeding support all shape what people can realistically eat. Yes, it is possible to eat healthy and spend less, it’s just not that easy. And expecting individuals to reject the world we’ve been dealt with isn't realistic or fair. (To be clear, I’m not saying the advice should be different—just that this is a critical thing to consider and actively support.)

A small but telling example: Thin Mint Oreos (which I ate this week and are, unfortunately, incredible 😅) are cheaper than most fresh fruit. That’s not because Oreos are that much cheaper to make. It’s actually because their ingredients are heavily subsidized, while pears are not. If we want real food to win, policy has to make it the easier option—through procurement rules, subsidizing the right thing, better labeling standards, and healthier school food programs.

FWIW, I still find it frustrating how quickly this conversation turned political. Some people on LinkedIn were not nice. Ultimately, food guidance shouldn’t function as an identity marker. When it does, people stop hearing the practical middle ground almost everyone agrees on: more minimally processed food, fewer added sugars, more fiber, more cooking at home. That’s solid advice—regardless of who’s in office. (Though yes, a less triggering name for the movement than Make America Healthier Again probably wouldn’t have hurt.)

Despite the flaws, I actually remain optimistic. We haven’t had a moment like this in a looong time. This pyramid is being seen, debated, memed, and argued over—and that messiness is often how norms shift. MyPlate has been the government’s primary visual since 2011, and while well-intentioned, it never felt galvanizing. If the net effect of this moment is even a modest nudge toward less ultra-processed food and less added sugar—especially for kids—I still see that as meaningful progress.

Directions: Copy and paste the below prompt into your AI platform of choice to plan an energizing morning routine.

👋 Who are you again? I’m Derek Flanzraich—founder of two venture-backed startups in Greatist (👍) and Ness (👎). I’ve worked with brands like GoodRx, Parsley, Midi, Ro, NOCD, and Peloton. I now run Healthyish Content, a premium health content & SEO agency (among other things).

Every Thursday, I share 5 health things I feel strongly about so you can live healthyish. (Disclaimer: I’m more your friend with health benefits. None of this is medical advice.) 

And oh, you also feel strongly about some health things? Hit reply—I’d love to hear it.