When I first read aloud the conclusion to last week’s column, that eating “the way you should ... means limiting — severely limiting — your consumption of highly processed carbohydrates and high-fat foods,” the use of “should” sounded too holier than thou. So I deleted it.

What caused me to undo the deletion?

I decided that for the five minutes or so you take to read this column each week, I serve — regardless of your age — as your surrogate parent. And that parents should (there’s that word again) use any tone it takes, even a holier-than-thou-one, to steer a son or daughter down the proper dietary path.

No matter what your present age, I want you to remain healthy as you age, both physically and mentally. One of the reasons I am so adamant about you severely limiting your consumption of highly processed carbohydrates and high-fat foods is because eating even moderate amounts makes it far more likely for you to become overweight or obese.

And being overweight or obese now is bad for your brain as you do something we all must unfortunately do: get older.

In fact, research done at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami in Florida and featured in the June issue of the journal Neurology found that carrying extra weight as you age not only unduly ages the brain but it also makes you more susceptible to dementia.

Twice in a six-year span, the researchers studied the nearly 1,300 participants whose age averaged 64 years old. Initially, they recorded the subjects’ body mass index (BMI) and waist measurements and determined that according to the CDC’s interpretation of the numbers about 25 percent of the participants were healthy and about 25 percent were obese. Most of the others were considered to be overweight.

Roughly six years later, the measurements were taken again and the researchers gave the subjects MRI scans. In an article for Medical News Today, study co-author Dr. Tatjana Rundek explained that the research team found that the subjects with the higher BMI scores as well as larger waists “were more likely to have thinning in the cortex area of the brain, which implies that obesity is associated with reduced gray matter of the brain.”

You want to lose as little gray matter as possible as you age because the reduction of it creates the type of cognitive decline that leads to dementia.

Rundeck added that the connection between weight gain and gray matter loss was “especially strong in those who were younger than 65,” so strong that the researchers believe that having a BMI in the overweight or obese range and a waist measurement seen as unhealthy (generally listed as 35 inches or more for females and 40 or more for men), ages the brain by 10 years.

So what’s your surrogate dad going to tell you to eat in place of those highly processed carbohydrates and high-fat foods that add weight to your belly and years to your brain? He’s going to tell you to eat — and not even worry about occasionally overeating! — high-quality protein.

According to a researcher/writer your dad trusts like a brother, Will Brink, “Protein is the least likely macro nutrient to convert to body fat during overfeeding,” which makes it “exceedingly difficult to gain body fat [by] over eating protein.”

But Brink’s not the only expert who feels this way. Surely most of researchers who worked on the 50 studies used in a comprehensive review published by the International Journal of Exercise Science in 2017 have come to the same conclusion.

The review stresses that the old notion that consuming an excess of 3,500 calories leads to gaining one pound of weight is false. Co-authors Alex Leaf, MS, CISSN, who now writes for Examine.com, and Jose Antonio, program director and associate professor at Nova Southeastern University conclude by stating “Dietary protein appears to have a protective effect against fat gain during times of energy surplus, especially when combined with resistance training. Therefore, the evidence suggests that dietary protein may be the key macronutrient in terms of promoting positive changes in body composition.”

In other words, eat more protein and carry less body fat.

So stay away from that bagel or doughnut you often eat for breakfast. Opt for Greek yogurt or a four-or-five egg omelet where you discard all but one or two of the yolks.

Replace the bologna sandwich and chips you periodically pack for lunch with a protein shake and salad that’s heavy on leafy greens and tomatoes and light on croutons and dressing.

Stop ordering so much take out for supper and take the time to create a meal where a piece of fish, chicken, or even a relatively low-fat cut of red meat shares the plate with steamed or broiled vegetables.

Your belly and your brain will thank you. The one sooner and the other later.

And you’ll make your surrogate dad super proud.