July 17, 2021
Occasionally, I'm interviewed by magazines, other podcasts, authors, radio networks, etc., and occasionally, I also publicly release those interviews with the journalist.
After all, whatever you say in an interview can and will be used against you, right?
Just kidding. This interview actually went quite well and was recorded to be published in The Red Bulletin Innovator, by the Red Bull Media House, distributed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland plus digitally in several other languages online (including English). The interview with me is an 8-page opener for a special section about biohacking and the issue will be out in September. The interview was conducted by Andreas Breitfeld, a German biohacker and founder of the first biohacking lab in Germany, along with author Stefan Wagner.
In this episode, you'll discover:
-Is there such thing as a “perfect life”?…03:55
- In an ideal scenario, a perfect life would be defined by full mind, body, and spirit optimization
- Not fully attainable due to human nature not being perfect and living in an imperfect world
- Our fallibility can be a beautiful thing; keeps us humble and grounded and reminds us that we are mortal
- Problems spur progress
- Most people exist in a suboptimal state
- Many obstacles to living an optimal life today are things we weren't exposed to before
- Always learning new things and biohacks to optimize mind, body, spirit
-What is the meaning of life?…10:35
- Looking at things from a scientific standpoint, the meaning of life is “survival”
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs
- Ben subscribes to absolute truth, a higher power that cannot be fully studied and understood
- “Savor, enjoy God's creation while loving others; identify our calling and make a positive impact”
- John Piper: “We are designed to fully glorify God by being fully satisfied in Him.”
-Is your personal health the best expression of seeking the meaning of life?…16:35
- Focusing on your own health is the opposite of seeking true meaning in life
- Focusing on others makes your own health more gratifying
- Take care of your health in order to serve others
- Use biohacks in order to best serve those who depend on you
- Put on your own oxygen mask first; but don't dwell on all the technical details, help people!
-How to find the balance between optimal health and a worthwhile life…20:40
- Self-quantification (genetics, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep cycles); what can be measured can be managed
- Oura Ring
- Apollo
- Ben's Recommended Lab Tests
- Micronutrient blood panel
- Microbiome and metabolic test
- Urine and saliva test to see what is happening hormonally
- Stool test to see what is wrong with your gut for yeast, parasites, fungus, inflammation
- Food allergy test to see what food you should or should not eat
- Hair analysis mineral test
- Genetic testing
- Make serving others your prime focus in life
- Don't ignore the heart, the seat of human emotions/gut impulses
- Engage in The Spiritual Disciplines
- Self-optimization with the goal of “others optimization,” meaning of life
-Ben's “elevator pitch” to embrace biohacking…29:00
- Understand what problem you want to fix before identifying which biohacks to use
- Certain biohacks that work really well no matter who that someone is:
- Harnessing light
- Sunlight exposure with methylene blue or chaga mushroom extract
- Joovv light panels
- HumanCharger (use code BEN20 to save 20%) or Re-Timer glasses
- Clearlight infrared sauna
- Harnessing the electrical potential of the earth
- Walking barefoot or using Earthing sandals
- Swim in the ocean; minerals help conduct electricity
- Climb rocks, climb trees
- Sauna for heat
- Ice bath for cold bath
- The Body Electric by Robert Becker
- Healing is Voltage by Jerry Tennant
- Structured water
- Use salt and liquid minerals like Quinton and AquaTru liquid minerals the right way
-How to approach biohacks that aren't advocated by mainstream science…38:25
- Earthing documentary
- Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! by Clint Ober and Dr. Stephen Sinatra
- My New #1 Hack For Zapping Inflammation, Increasing Deep Sleep & Recovering Faster—Earthing (The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?), with Clint Ober.
- PEMF mats and pads
- Use self-quantification to identify what is and isn't working for you
- Many biohacks simulate what nature is already doing
-How to be a human guinea pig without harming one's self…42:20
- Blood glucose monitor
- Track sleep cycles and melatonin levels (use code BEN to save 5%)
- Sleep enhancing sounds
- CBD for sleep
- Weirdest biohacks Ben has tried:
- Build muscle using electrical stimulation
- Whipworms and tapeworms
- Ensure there's ample evidence of the efficacy of biohacks before using
- Don't try any biohacks you don't feel comfortable doing
-What will it look like when Ben is an old man?…46:40
-What to do when you're lacking the motivation to fill your life's purpose…50:20
-And much more…
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
– Red Bull:
– Podcasts And Articles:
- My New #1 Hack For Zapping Inflammation, Increasing Deep Sleep & Recovering Faster—Earthing (The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?), with Clint Ober.
- Sunlight Makes You Skinny & Blue Light Makes You Fat: 11 Ways To Biohack Light To Optimize Your Body & Brain.
- Why I Eat Tapeworms & Whipworms Every Two Weeks: The Fascinating World Of Helminthic Therapy.
- Sabbath Ramblings: The 4 Spiritual Disciplines I Practice Every Day (& Why).
– Books:
- Spiritual Disciplines Journal
- The Body Electric by Robert Becker
- Healing is Voltage by Jerry Tennant
– Gear And Supplements:
- Oura Ring
- Apollo
- Joovv Light Panels
- Human Charger (use code BEN20 to save 20%)
- Re-Timer Glasses
- Clearlight Infrared Sauna
- Earth Runners Earthing Sandals
- Morozko Forge Ice Bath
- Chilipad
- Structured Water Filter
- Blood Glucose Monitor
- BioBalance PEMF Mats And Pads
- Neubie Electrical Muscle Stimulator
- Wholetones
- CBD
- Sandman High Dose Melatonin
- Methylene Blue
- Four Sigmatic Chaga
- Sea Salt
- Quinton
- AquaTru Liquid Minerals
– Other Resources:
Upcoming Events:
- Ben will be speaking at the Ancestral Health Symposium in L.A. on August 12-14, 2021
- Las Vegas Keto Expo (October 15-16, 2021). Ben will be speaking at the Las Vegas Keto Expo along with 13 other keto experts. The first 300 guests to register here will get a free drink chip for the poolside party and a free t-shirt.
- Keep up on Ben's LIVE appearances by following bengreenfieldfitness.com/calendar
Episode sponsors:
–Organifi Green Juice: Now you can get all your healthy superfoods in one glass…with No Shopping, No Blending, No Juicing, and No Cleanup. Get a 20% discount on your entire order when you use discount code BENG20.
–Paleo Valley Beef Sticks: 100% grass-fed AND grass-finished. Keto friendly and higher levels of Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Receive a 15% discount on your order when you go to paleovalley.com/ben.
-Kion Refer a Friend: My personal playground for new supplement formulations, Kion blends ancestral wisdom with modern science. Ben Greenfield Fitness listeners, save 10% off your first order with code BEN10, and we'll pay you to send your friends to us!
–Thrive Market: Organic brands you love, for less. Your favorite organic food and products. Fast and free shipping to your doorstep. Receive a gift card worth up to $20 when you begin a new membership.
When the voice came on i was like “wait that gotta be Andreas” haha. good stuff. didnt see that coming!
Dear Ben, your recent podcast ‘Red Bull’ inspired me to write. My husband and I inspired to live a life similar to yours; unfortunately, we didn’t have your vigor to match, as much as we desired. However, we woke up every day vibrant and wanting to be our best selves, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
We moved to Venice, Ca in 2017 from Cleveland,OH and we were truly living our Happiest, “best selves”. My husband was extremely fit , emotionally and physically. He was at the top of his game, as a CEO of an AI software company, completely self-actualized. Maslow would’ve been satisfied. A very mindful, caring and intelligent human being.
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with espohogeal cancer in Nov 2020. We were blindsided. His ability to eat diminished and he needed a GI tube. Everything went downhill FAST…his diagnosis quickly metastisized into bone cancer. He was painfully bedridden by January… Demoralizing for him.
The cancer therapy at Cedars Sinai, which was supposed to make him feel better and give him progress made him feel sicker and was quite emasculating. His ability to eat was zero. He was once a very British, robust Alpha male reduced to a frail human being, in wheel chair/bedridden hard hit by cancer in 5 months. I cry every time I think of how little, so tiny his physical being became.
The next couple months were traumatic because life stopped.
Our existence revolved upon managing his day to day life needs, which was always unpredictable and challenging and so painful. Every day consisted of maintaining his bedridden ‘life’ with all the complications, his tube feedings, dosings, mentally dark days, dependent on a wheelchair, many appointments, bloody urine, dehydration, chemotherapy, not able to bathe himself, unable to stand in the shower, walk down stairs, fear of falling, the sickness…. really, managing the beginning of the end. We were in limbo for 5 months until he passed April, 2021. it was totally heartbreaking to watch, to comprehend and accept. When he found out that California was a right to die state, he was FINALLY upbeat. he didn’t want to exist the Way he did. I didnt blame him, either. So effing heartbreaking. wishing he was hit by a bus. When he told the doctors he was done and he chose to let his body give out until death, it was extremely difficult to accept and honor. He begged for death. My heart aches still, beyond belief. I savored EVERY Last moment I knew I had with him. I knew the clock was ticking…Holding his little frail hand and knowing that this was prob the last time I had with him, waiting for his last breath… Bitter sweet. I wanted him to have relief/peace in knowing that I supported his wish, his right to die that he begged for. It was so effing devasting to accept his choice to die and then to watch the process. Now, the aftermath of his death I’m absolutely lost. DEVASTATED. having a major existential crisis. Not knowing the point of all of this…. especially now that I know the fragility of the human existence. Now my life consists of worrying about my loved ones dying on me. My loved ones, my parents are 70 + and I know it’s.coming. hopefully, death will come swiftly. Not drawn out, painful and dehumanizing as Paul’s. I really don’t see the point in life…after childbirth and perhaps grandchildren, what’s left? Everyone we know and love will be dying.
Ben, please do a deep dive about death and grieving. You come across as someone whose baseline in every day life is that everyone in your life is healthy and happy and mostly, you wake up every morning with the hard choice of being your best self…making sure your family and their well being is optimized. Nothing debilitating. knowing everyone/your loved ones are healthy and happy. That’s your baseline
You’re not sidetracked/detailed by an unfortunate life event (THANK goodness!!)
Did you ever think what it would be like if your life STOPPED To care for a bedridden loved one? Watching them degrade physically and emotionally, until physically and Spiritually BROKEN? To the point where you, yourself can’t take care.of yourself… Being in limbo, not able to leave the house, let alone worry about how to optimize your own physical being? Then they choose to die. 59 is too young and he wasn’t ready. He said he wasn’t done, yet. To watch him realize that – that he was going to die soon, So heartbreaking..then to go through the process of his physical being degrading/dying…all so effing heartbreaking. He was so independent, so proud, so alpha male…he was.the American Dream, incarnate.
Then cancer stricken
The kinda existence he protested against and we which we all say, ‘ I don’t want to live this way if I end up in the hospital on life support…’. Yes, it got to that point and fast. And Before we could make serious life decisions regarding wills, trusts,.etc
Before we grasped what was quickly happening,
he was in ICU on the verge of death, the tipping point. He begged for his right to die and the process California allowed . The love of my life died before his time. I had the honor to be there for him, to the end. My heart and mind will never forget it. I’m cosmically imprinted for the rest of my life. And I’m 49 and having to restart life. What’s the point? What IS he purpose of life, REALLY? It goes beyond taking care the health of others. We’re delusional, justifying our existence via grandiose thoughts regarding our meaning of life when our existence is… just.
The audio on this page does not seem to be the interview with Ben, rather it’s a guy and a girl I don’t know talking. Am I missing something?
There is no LINK to the podcast! Please resend or post.