December 27, 2022

Here we are: it’s the last week of 2022.

I know. Can you believe it? This year has flown by, at least for me.

It's been an unbelievable twelve months in many, many ways—and another one in the books with events, people, and work that consistently remind me and inspire me to be grateful for just how blessed I am to have folks like you in my life who are just as curious and driven as me – who I can help with what I discover, learn and am passionate about.

I rang in 2022 with a fresh rebranding from Ben Greenfield Fitness to Ben Greenfield Life…

I released my book “Endure” and completed my next book, “Boundless Parenting“…

I launched my Precepts series, which is near and dear to my heart and will soon become a book and video series…

I collaborated on articles and podcasts with a host of experts in the health, longevity, spirituality, and biohacking fields, who I am so lucky to learn from on a near-daily basis…

And most importantly…

…I grew closer to God, my family, and myself.

As I reflect on the past year, I can proudly say that the growth work that I've done has strengthened my goals for both BGL and myself and created objectives that will shape my (and yours!) future direction and focus for continuing to optimize life.

So in this final article to round out the year, I want to give the nod to the top 10 articles of 2022 that you happened to show the most love for (and I love them, too!). From fringe peptides to the latest workout and biohacking crazes to plant medicines and more, here are your favorite articles from the last twelve months.

Drumroll, please…

1. Everything You Need To Know About Peptides Part 1, 2, 3.

Despite having written several articles and published just as many podcast episodes about peptides over the last few years…

…I found that I continue to get questions about this topic nearly every darn day, with people asking what they are, where to get them, how to take them, whether they’re safe, etc.

Since peptide therapy is relatively new to the general population, and peptides aren’t technically FDA-approved or patentable, the questions are understandable. My confidence in sharing my knowledge as a trusted authority on the subject is the result of the immense amount of research I’ve devoted to peptides, along with my personal success and belief that they have the potential to revolutionize human performance.

There is a massive amount of information to cover when it comes to peptides, and my first featured article of 2022 is in fact a comprehensive three-part series. The first article focuses on the basics of peptides (which, admittedly, are not that basic), the second article goes over how to stack peptides for optimal performance, and the final article in the series answers your top eight peptide questions.

2. These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: 8 Of Ben’s Favorite New Biohacks.

On December 20, 2021, I turned 40.

And what more fitting thing to do on my 40th birthday than write an article about my favorite biohacks?

Yes, I really did write this article on my birthday, and it was the first article of 2022 to be published, on January 4th. I felt inspired to give you a quick update on the latest fringe/interesting/helpful biohacks that were “winning” in my daily routine at that time. They were, so to speak, the “winners” for me that in my daily experimentation with the new, the novel, and the cutting-edge, seem to be moving the dial quite a bit in the energy, recovery, and overall well-being department, including breathwork with the Othership app, “voodoo flossing” to combat inflammation, and winding down at the end of a long day with Delta 8.

Now, having just celebrated my 41st birthday, I can look back and say that every gadget, practice, and app on this list is still in my regular rotation. If you’re thinking of taking a foray into biohacking in 2023, this list is a good place to start. And since I'm constantly experimenting, I’ll continue to report back on what works and what doesn't.

3. 8 Simple Ways Mothers Can Find More Balance With Parenting, Careers, & Health.

There’s plenty that I’m looking forward to in 2023, but what probably has me most amped up, grateful, and contented is the release of my new book Boundless Parenting.

Leading up to publication, I spent two years interviewing parents who were entrepreneurs, pastors, educators, billionaires, and many others who have raised impactful, happy, and resilient children.

Now, while their backgrounds, occupations, and philosophies varied, there were really only two kinds of parents: mothers and fathers. I can't comment on being a mother, but I am a father of two twin boys, and as a result, I have witnessed my wife juggle everything that comes with parenting them on a daily basis and am in awe of how much grace, patience, intention, self-awareness, balance, and quite frankly, straight-up energy, it takes to be a mom.

So, in an effort to bring some attention to this topic, and also perhaps provide some much-needed guidance on how to balance motherhood with everything else in life, I invited my friend Lauren Berlingeri, the founder of HigherDOSE, to write this guest article (you can also listen to Lauren on my podcast here).

4. How To Live, Move & Feel Like A Pro Athlete: The 7 Best Workouts & Exercises That Most People Don’t Know About, But Should Be Doing.

As a guy who likes to try out a whole bunch of stuff and then borrow the best of the best from each, I can tell you with confidence that I don't necessarily perform the full gamut of workouts found in the books or training programs.

I have, however, thoroughly studied them all, and—in the spirit of the “80/20” principle and the idea of minimum effective dose—have implemented the specific moves and exercises from each philosophy that seem to resonate best with my body and give me the most bang-for-my-buck in the shortest time possible.

As I described in a recent Mark Bell Power Project interview, my modus operandi for learning new workouts, routines, and exercises is to simply stay abreast of new programs in the fitness/rehab industries, try them all by using myself as a bit of a guinea pig, borrow from the best, then figure out a way to weave the exercises and workouts that work best into my weekly routine in such a manner that I'm not spending oodles of hours at the gym or working out, but still keeping myself “put together” as a fully functional human.

In this article, I briefly share with you a few specific movements, workouts, and resources I’ve been implementing on the regular to keep my key postural muscles activated, reduce injury risk and joint pain, and help my body age gracefully while buttressing natural movement patterns.

5. How To Leave A Legacy: A 6-Step Model For Building Your Family Legacy, Values, Traditions, Mission Statement & More.

When it comes to creating and passing on family values, beliefs, and legacies to future generations, I believe that family traditions are the threads that bind a family together.

Because of this, my family—myself, my wife Jessa, and my twin sons River and Terran—recently had a transformative experience working with Rich Christiansen on building our Greenfield family legacy framework.

Also a former podcast guest, Rich founded a company called Legado Family, and he specializes in helping families not just to identify their core values but to create everything from memorabilia, traditions, rituals, and routines, based on those values. In a nutshell, as a former business branding expert, he helps families to “brand” themselves and create a family playbook and legacy in a similar way that a highly successful and organized corporation might.

In this article, Rich Christiansen walks you through the foundation of the Legado Family method of legacy-building. Whether you decide to work with a professional or not, I highly encourage you to consider taking time this year to clarify and formalize what's important to your family, both for now and for generations to follow.

6. Welcome To The New Ben Greenfield Life: What’s Changed & What You Can Expect In The Future!

You may have noticed a slight shift to the way things look around here at Ben Greenfield Fitness – *ahem* – Ben Greenfield Life.

Yep, you read that correctly…

…I rebranded in early 2022.

Despite the rebrand, you still saw me geeking out on optimizing the human machine, creating compelling nutritional formulations for my supplements company Kion, and continuing to invest in and advise companies in the health, fitness, nutrition, biohacking, functional food, and wearables spaces. However, I made it a point that I will no longer be pigeonholing myself solely into these health and fitness-related areas.

See, there are many, many other aspects of “living a good life” that I'm supremely curious about and that I want to explore by ramping up my own knowledge via immersion in books, research, conferences, and other forms of education; many compelling and interesting guests outside of the domains of health and fitness who I want to interview on my podcast; and many stages I want to stand upon to present inspirational messages that reach far beyond simply optimizing one's body and brain.

In this article, I tell you much more about those elements of the good life…and I promise that if you stick with me, you're going to experience everything that a magnificent and magical life on this planet has to offer, and much, much more.

7. How to “Hack” Biohacking: 9 Essential Health Fundamentals That Any Biohacker Can Master.

Over the last ten years, biohacking has evolved and continues to do so, as the newest technology and latest scientific advances reveal novel ways to track and attain health and performance goals.

This is fantastic news for the biohacking pros, but the avalanche of information out there can be overwhelming for newbies that are trying to figure out where to start.

What biohacking needs is a back-to-basics approach: a focus on “the fundamentals of health” that set the stage for optimal health, performance, and longevity as a byproduct, and creates a solid foundation on which you can build with more advanced biohacking techniques…

…and there was no one better to lay this out than Tim Gray, the UK's “Leading Biohacker,” a psychology specialist, and a successful businessman. After spending years healing his body from chronic health conditions through biohacking alone, Tim embarked on a mission to educate and empower the masses. As such, he created The Health Optimisation Summit, Europe’s largest health conference, which aims to provide people with the knowledge, tools, and resources to take their own health and performance to the next level.

This guest article, written by Tim, teaches you about all things biohacking, what it is and what it isn't, and the nine health fundamentals of biohacking to focus on, no matter where you are in your “health-hacking” journey. If you like what you read, you should also check out my two-part podcast episode with Tim here.

8. The Big Problem With “Plant Medicines” Part 1 & 2

On June 1, 2022, I reached one of the most important conclusions and subsequently made one of the most important decisions of my life.

I decided to stop using, endorsing, encouraging, extolling, promoting, praising, or otherwise having any involvement with the modern, trendy approach to so-called “plant medicines” – specifically when it comes to their use in an unsupervised, recreational setting or their use for getting “divinations,” “downloads,” “God experiences,” or anything else that involves intentionally using drugs to alter your consciousness with the goal of having some kind of contact with the spiritual world.

Admittedly, I'm partially responsible for fueling this trend. I've podcasted and written multiple times on the benefits of journeying with plant medicines. I've heavily promoted microdosing with plant medicines for focus, creativity, productivity, and social outings. I have owned multiple investments in ketamine clinics, cannabis companies, and psilocybin research laboratories. And there are plenty more ways that I've been involved in plant medicines.

Perhaps most interestingly, I have derived a great deal of benefits and personal insights and relationship enhancements, and creative ideas from “journeying” with plant medicine, which made this two-part article series difficult to write. Read it if you want the scoop on why I am no longer using or endorsing any type of plant medicine in the way I have in the past (while not swearing off their use in a very specific set and settings in seldomly appropriate scenarios, or for the purposes of microdosing), and the dark place that these influences can land you in.

9. Ben Greenfield’s Ultimate Supplement Guide: My Top 13 Must-Take Supplements, Supplement Timing, Dosing & More!

I'm often asked questions such as, “Do I need supplements?”, “Why should I take supplements?”, and “What supplements should I take?”.

After all, if you, like me, are leading a healthy lifestyle, I'll wager that you probably eat plenty of plants, prioritize sleep, hydrate with filtered (or, dare I say, at the risk of wearing my tinfoil hat, structured) water, and expose yourself to the sun as much as possible.

In other words, you, like me, are probably what I call a “healthy, woo-woo geek.” You are an intelligent, well-informed person who embraces your softer side of spirituality and prides yourself on being passionate about health, nutrition, science, and fitness.

I get it: life is already complicated, there is a dizzying array of supplements to choose from, and the expenses can add up fast, as can the clutter and confusion from eight billion bottles of capsules, tinctures, powders, oils, tablets, and packets in your pantry. Things can get complex fast, and no one—including me—wants to spend their precious time counting and swallowing pills.

This article presents you with some pretty compelling information (all research-based, mind you) to support the notion that supplements can indeed amplify the benefits of your healthy, woo-woo geek lifestyle, especially if you're a hard-charging, high-achiever like I profess to be. I also provide scientifically-validated reasons that supplements help optimize health, performance, and longevity.

Then I outline the exact supplements I take (which I also recommend to my family and friends) and give you a handy-dandy guide for proper dosing and timing.

10. What I Eat In A Typical Day: Ben Greenfield’s Average Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (Along With A Few Tasty Health & Biohacking Tips!)

What may be the most popular topic I'm asked about regularly—the topic about which people most want to know what I've learned—(newsflash!) diet.

This is for good reason, considering the recommendations out there for what to eat for weight loss and general health seem to change constantly, and even at a given time can be radically different depending on the information source.

Is fat bad?

What about coffee, soy, meat, and gluten?

Should you be counting calories?

What about fasting?

No wonder many folks feel confused and overwhelmed about what to eat on a typical day.

While I don't claim to have this entirely figured out, I have definitely gained a great deal of knowledge over the years, both from research and from playing around with my diet, about what foods help me function optimally, and maybe they’ll be able to help you, too. Since I am so often asked what I eat on a typical day, this article gives you a detailed rundown of my typical daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Summary

At last, 2022 has come and (almost) gone.

If I had known the scope of the change in my life over this past year in December 2021, I may have felt overwhelmed, but looking back now, I only feel overwhelming gratitude.

The rebrand to Ben Greenfield Life has reminded me that tremendous positive change happens if you focus on your vision and put your trust in it. The completion of Boundless Parenting has reminded me that perseverance pays off (I spent two full years interviewing parents for the book) and that I still have much to learn about parenting. The creation of my Precepts series has reminded me that when I share openly about the spiritual topics that are most important to me, I am serving as a channel of God's word.

As we close this year, here are the links to your favorite articles of 2022 again, with handy, short reminder names. What might be helpful is to save this list somewhere in your notes app so that when you have a few minutes, you can browse and read the articles.

1. Peptides: Part 1, Peptides: Part 2, Peptides: Part 3.
2. Ben’s Favorite New Biohacks
3. How Mothers Can Find More Balance
4. The Best Unknown Workouts & Exercises
5. How To Leave A Legacy
6. The New Ben Greenfield Life
7. Health Fundamentals For Biohackers
8. “Plant Medicines”: Part 1, Plant Medicines: Part 2
9. Ultimate Supplement Guide
10. What Ben Eats In A Typical Day

To say this year was a good one would be an understatement—it was momentous. And I have a feeling that 2023 will bring many more rewards. Thank you, sincerely, for being a part of the Ben Greenfield family this year. I am honored to be a part of your life.

Get in the comments and let me know the highlight of your 2022 year, whether it’s nutrition/fitness related, spiritually related, or something completely different. I look forward to reading your comments and stories from the past year and looking toward 2023. Leave your thoughts here!