Cut From Steel

STILL AT THE COUNTER AT 100.

Jiro Ono was born in Japan in October 1925. He started working in the kitchen of a local inn when he was seven years old. Food has been his work ever since. He has spent more than nine decades around fish, rice, and knives.

Ono built his life around a small sushi counter in Tokyo's Ginza district called Sukiyabashi Jiro. In 2007 he became the first sushi chef to earn three Michelin stars. A 2011 documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, made him famous far outside Japan. In 2019, Guinness named him the oldest head chef of a three-star restaurant, at 93.

The film shows a man who does simple things the same careful way every day. He works with fresh fish and rice, and very little else. His standard never slips, even when nobody is watching.

Jiro turned 100 in October 2025. His son now runs most of the service, and Jiro admits his hands do not work as well as they used to. He told reporters he believes the best medicine is to work. Retirement is not on his list. At that birthday, he said he planned to keep going for about five more years.

Jiro credits his work. I would add that he spent a century around real food. You can start with your own kitchen today.

The Kitchen Habit Memory Researchers Want You to Drop

If you have been dealing with embarrassing memory lapses lately, this is worth a few minutes.

Not the dramatic kind. The everyday kind: forgetting where you left your keys. And the ones that bother you more: names, faces and dates.

The usual explanation

Most of us file this under age. Helen K. from Denver did too:

“I thought memory loss was just aging. Turns out I was wrong — and so was my doctor.”

That is the part worth sitting with. If the cause is not just the calendar, then it is not something you simply have to accept.

Where researchers are looking instead

Top memory researchers from the University of New Mexico point to one everyday kitchen habit and recommend you stop it right away.

It is one small change. According to them, it can strengthen your memory, sharpen your focus, and help you feel like yourself again, starting today.

Over 47,000 people have already made this simple change.

If you want to boost your memory and feel sharp again, here is what to stop doing:

==> See how to boost your memory starting today

THE FOOD THAT COMES IN A BOX

You probably did not cook much of what you ate yesterday. Breakfast came out of a box. Lunch was a sandwich in plastic wrap. Dinner might have come through the car window.

You are not alone. In 2025, the CDC reported that ultra-processed foods made up about 53 percent of the calories American adults eat.

I am not here to scare you off every snack. Convenience has its place in a busy life. The trouble starts when the box becomes the whole menu.

IT'S NOT AGE. IT MAY BE YOUR PLATE.

You know these foods even if the term is new. Packaged snacks, sweet drinks, processed meats, flavored cereals, and most packaged bread all count. Researchers sort foods with a system called NOVA, and these sit in the most processed group. They are made in a factory with ingredients you would never keep at home. Three findings should make you look twice.

01 / A faster slide

A Brazilian study followed 10,775 adults for about eight years. They started at an average age of about 51, right around where many of us are now. People who got roughly 20 percent or more of their calories from ultra-processed food showed 28 percent faster decline in overall thinking. Their planning and decision skills slipped 25 percent faster.

02 / An American match

A 2024 study in the journal Neurology followed 30,239 American adults aged 45 and up for about 11 years on average. Every 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food was linked to a 16 percent higher risk of memory and thinking problems. The same increase was linked to an 8 percent higher risk of stroke.

03 / The swap works both ways

The same study found the reverse too. People who ate more whole or minimally processed food had a 12 percent lower risk of thinking problems. Both studies are observational, so they show a link, not proof. Still, the link points the same way twice.

COOK ONE MORE MEAL

You do not have to become a chef. Cooking one more meal a week from real ingredients is a fine start.

You can also cook once and eat twice. Make a big pot of chili or soup on Sunday, then take it for lunch during the week.

I swap cereal for eggs at breakfast. Fish or chicken with vegetables replaces the frozen dinner. A handful of nuts or a piece of fruit takes the place of the chips. On tired nights, eggs, frozen vegetables, and canned beans still beat the drive-through.

Michael Pollan's old rule helps at the store. Skip anything your great-grandmother would not recognize as food. Shop the edges of the store, where the fresh food usually lives. You will be surprised how much of the middle aisle that rules out.

One last thing. Your brain was built on real food. Feed it some.

— Travis

Insider Member's Corner

6 free habits that feed a sharper brain:

You didn't put in 45 years to settle for beige.

01 / Kitchen · Shun Classic 8-Inch Chef's Knife

Shun makes the Classic in Seki, Japan, a city famous for blades. The knife has a VG-MAX steel core wrapped in layers of Damascus steel. It runs about $190. A sharp knife makes cooking at home far less of a chore.

02 / Drink · The Daiquiri

Forget the frozen slush. A real daiquiri is rum, lime, and sugar, shaken hard and served cold. At El Floridita in Havana, bartender Constantino Ribalaigua made Hemingway his Papa Doble with double rum and no sugar. Make it at home with fresh limes.

03 / Motorcycle · BMW R 12 nineT

BMW launched the original R nineT in 2013 to mark 90 years of its motorcycle division. Its replacement, the R 12 nineT, uses an air- and oil-cooled boxer twin of about 1,170cc. The bike is simple and built for a Sunday morning ride. Pack a lunch you made yourself.