We hope the new word ladder puzzle for today's mentalfloss.com Brain Game Wednesday Wordplay challenge won't upset your stomach:

By changing one letter in each step to form English words, and leaving all other letters in their original positions, convert FOOD into SICK in the fewest possible steps.

F O O D
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
S I C K

Here is a 5-step SOLUTION.

A 5-STEP SOLUTION:

F O O D
H O O D
H O O K
H O C K
H I C K
S I C K

Did you come up with a different sequence of words? Feel free to share your solution with us in the comments below. Thanks for playing!