BEN GREENFIELD | The Ultimate Daily Routine | Modern Wisdom Podcast 157

1. 0:00 – 0:59

   Carb backloading overview: stable energy by saving carbs for dinner

   1. BGBen Greenfield0:00

      I don't really have any appreciable amount of carbohydrates until the evening. So I'm typically in a state of fatty acid oxidation or, you know, mild ketosis most of the day. And, you know, unless you're a, like a two-a-day hard-charging athlete, there's no need for like two big carbohydrate boluses during the day, unless you got to maximize glycogen restoration after an early day hard workout. And with that strategy, I avoid a lot of, uh, glycemic variability, like a lot of glucose fluctuations during the day. I find I have more stable energy levels and cognitive levels 'cause our dinner time is usually like a big family dinner or a social time or going out to a restaurant with friends or whatever. I want to be able to, for the more social meal, actually indulge a little bit. I save all my carbohydrates for the end of the day. Yeah, and the release of serotonin in response to the carbohydrate feeding, which enhances your melatonin release at night so you sleep better too. So I just think as long as you pay attention to the rules, this whole idea of carb backloading is actually a, a pretty good strategy.

2. 0:59 – 2:41

   Setting the stage: podcast goals and the three-part routine focus

   1. CWChris Williamson0:59

      Ben Greenfield in the building. How are you, man?

   2. BGBen Greenfield1:03

      Hey. Good. I'm not, I'm not in a building. I'm actually outside in some farm road back behind my house, but, but, uh, yeah, I, I can only stay in a building for so long. The sun's, sun's out today, got a nice cool, cool wind whipping up over the plains, so I apologize if it sounds occasionally like I'm in a hurricane-

   3. CWChris Williamson1:21

      (laughs)

   4. BGBen Greenfield1:22

      ... but, uh, but yeah. Uh, we'll call it a building. God's, God's giant building outside.

   5. CWChris Williamson1:26

      That is where you are, man. Uh, so are you getting a little bit of walking in, keeping yourself moving in these times?

   6. BGBen Greenfield1:32

      Uh, you know, I walk a lot every day anyways. Any excuse I can get to walk, I just love to, love to move and get some sunshine and, yeah. You know, I spend a lot of time these days, you know, doing consults and, and calls sometimes indoors or, you know, doing a lot of writing. And so, if I can get outside, I'll do it.

   7. CWChris Williamson1:51

      I like it, man. We are not using the C-word today. The C-word is not being included in this podcast. (laughs) We are talking about-

   8. BGBen Greenfield1:58

      Thank God.

   9. CWChris Williamson1:59

      We are talking about some evergreen stuff. Your new book, Boundless, might actually be useful if people are in lockdown because it is one of the heaviest books I've ever felt in my life. So it would double up, double up as a weight or is it-

   10. BGBen Greenfield2:10

       Yeah, throw, throw some, uh, throw some blood flow restriction bands on and start to do some overhead presses with that bad boy.

   11. CWChris Williamson2:16

       Well, you could use it as a step to reach high objects if you needed as well, you know?

   12. BGBen Greenfield2:19

       You could, yeah.

   13. CWChris Williamson2:20

       Um, so today, I want to go through three main areas. I want to talk about your morning routine, I want to talk about your setup for working, and I want to talk about your sleep and your nighttime routine. So-

   14. BGBen Greenfield2:30

       Okay.

   15. CWChris Williamson2:31

       ... starting off, what does your current morning routine look like? I want the full Monty.

   16. BGBen Greenfield2:36

       The full Monty. All right. Well, in- interrupt me if I tend to rabbit hole too much.

   17. CWChris Williamson2:41

       Don't worry.

3. 2:41 – 4:19

   Wake-up strategy + gratitude journaling for direction and service

   1. BGBen Greenfield2:41

      But I, uh, yeah, I usually, um, you know, wake up without an alarm unless I got to catch a flight or something like that. I just find I naturally tend to wake sometime around like, it's usually like 5:45, 6:15, somewhere in there, and I just find that, that, uh, you know, waking naturally, I'm not opposed to some of these devices. You know, like I, I sleep on one of these chili pad things that keeps your body cool while you're asleep, which is great for enhancing your deep sleep and there's apparently a function on it where you can activate it to circulate more warm water to gradually wake you. I don't use that function. I'm nervous I might just pee my pants when the warm water turns on.

   2. CWChris Williamson3:18

      (laughs)

   3. BGBen Greenfield3:19

      Um, and then, uh, I have one of those sunrise alarm clocks for when I do got to set the alarm on that just kind of gradually bleeds sun into your room so you wake a lot more slowly, which I think is just wonderful for not, you know, ripping you out of a deep sleep cycle if you happen to be one, in one, uh, in the, in the morning. And, uh, so yeah, I wake, I, uh, roll over and then I do some gratitude journaling for the first few minutes of the day. I, uh, write down one thing I'm grateful for, I write down, uh, one person who I can help that day, whether it's like, you know, calling my mom or, or, uh, you know, helping the neighbor, uh, move something or, or even just like, you know, giving a bottle of wine to somebody who I know might need a, a smile that day. And, uh, you know, I j- I, I just really like that others-facing type of mentality to start the day 'cause I figure if I, you know, if I'm writing down one person I can help each day, that's 365, you know, good things I might do during the course of a year. So, I do that and then I, uh, I write down, uh,

4. 4:19 – 5:15

   Ayurvedic oral hygiene: tongue scraping and oil pulling (with practical tips)

   1. BGBen Greenfield4:19

      also any, any insights that I had from my, my dream cycles earlier in the night or, you know, and any just little encouraging words to myself that I, that I want to act on during the day. And then, uh, when I get out of bed, I'm, I'm kind of into, into the, the Ayurvedic, uh, concepts in terms of the morning routine, so I do a quick tongue scrape which takes just a few seconds with a little copper tongue scraper go from back-

   2. CWChris Williamson4:43

      What's the logic behind that?

   3. BGBen Greenfield4:45

      ... back of the tongue to the front of the tongue, just helps to c- to clean out some bacteria in the mouth that accumulates during the night of sleep, and then I also do, uh, uh, oil pulling. So I use, uh, coconut oil blended with some essential oils like clove and peppermint and, uh, swish that around in the mouth while I'm tooting around during the day, you know, taking a pee and getting things ready for the day, and that's also a really, really great, uh, oral hygiene tactic, again, borrowed from Ayurvedic medicine. And, um, so

5. 5:15 – 7:19

   Morning light control and caffeine strategy: sunrise simulation and receptor resets

   1. BGBen Greenfield5:15

      I, I then, uh, go downstairs into the kitchen and if, if I've woken pretty early or if I have been traveling a lot and I'm trying to kind of like reset my circadian rhythm to whatever time zone that I happen to be in, I'll usually wear those, uh, blue light-blocking glasses that people wear at night. I'll wear those in the morning 'cause I find that that reddish orange lens kind of does a good job simulating sunrise.

   2. CWChris Williamson5:39

      Mm.

   3. BGBen Greenfield5:40

      So if I'm flipping on lights in the kitchen or glancing at my phone or opening the computer or anything, it's a little bit more of a gentle way to wake up, kind of that same concept of not waking with an alarm clock.

   4. CWChris Williamson5:50

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   5. BGBen Greenfield5:51

      Uh, wearing these blue light-blocking glasses in the morning kind of gives you that really kind of sunrise-esque feel in the morning 'cause my lazy ass is not going to be out of bed when the sun's rising, so-

   6. CWChris Williamson5:59

      (laughs)

   7. BGBen Greenfield5:59

      ... I just kind of-

   8. CWChris Williamson5:59

      What's the, uh, what's, what's the brand of sunrise glasses you use?

   9. BGBen Greenfield6:03

      ... I use the ones made by, uh, Raw Optics. Uh, you know, the, the, uh, the owner of that company, Matt Maruika, he's a friend of mine. He's just, he's so steeped in light research and he's constantly retooling the lenses to block out specific wavelengths of light. Uh, and you know, a lot of these blue light-blocking companies, they know how to make a quick buck. You know, they'll import cheap lenses from, you know, uh, India or China or whatever and then mark up the price and sell them on Amazon, and he's actually doing a really good job with his lens technology. And, uh, so I, I use the Raw Optics, uh, brand. There's a few other good ones out there. I think, uh, um, what's the company? Uh, I've, I've blanking on their name. Blue, Blue Blockers, I think.

   10. CWChris Williamson6:43

       Okay.

   11. BGBen Greenfield6:43

       They do a pretty good job. And there's a, there's a couple of others out there but I use the Raw, uh, TrueDark. TrueDark is another one that does a good job. Um, so I use these, these Raw Red Lenses and usually I'll take them off, uh, typically after I've been up for about 20, 30 minutes or so. So again, I'm just kind of easing, easing from a light standpoint my body into the day. And then, um, uh, once I've spat out that coconut oil, I kind of rinse my mouth out 'cause you don't want to swallow it 'cause it's just like, it's accumulating bacteria and stuff in your mouth, so it's, it's, you're just like cleaning, you want to spit it out. So I spit it out in the trash can so that I don't clog the toilets with oil.

   12. CWChris Williamson7:19

       (laughs)

6. 7:19 – 13:19

   Tonic stack + daily bodywork: minerals, hydrogen water, vitamin C/baking soda, and mobility

   1. BGBen Greenfield7:19

      I, I learned that lesson the hard way. You don't want to spit it in a toilet or a sink, it clogs the plumbing, so you actually spit your oil into trash can, rinse out your mouth. Then I have a big glass Mason jar full of goodies. So I, I make myself a big glass Mason jar, uh, with some hydrogen tablets in it, 'cause hydrogen, there's a lot of good research from the Molecular Hydrogen Foundation on the, on hydrogen for its anti-inflammatory and selective antioxidant properties, and um, you know, I'm convinced by the research enough, uh, to, to do a big glass Mason jar of that at both the beginning and the end of the day. But at the beginning of the day I put minerals into that, so typically like a pinch of really good salt, like, uh, Celtic salt, or another one I've been using of late are these, uh, these, um, minerals that are harvested from these algal blooms and, uh, it's got like 80 plus minerals in it. It's called Quinton, uh, Q-U-I-N-T-O-N. It's, uh, like a, like a hypertonic plasma, so I, I put some of that in the water along with the hydrogen and then I do a two to one ratio of vitamin C and baking soda. There's a really great book that delves into all the science of vitamin C and baking soda called, um, Forbidden Healing, and I, I was, I was so convinced after reading that book about some of the effects on everything from, uh, from a, a mild change in pH to an increase in, in some immune factor compounds to just, just the overall physiological effect of both vitamin C and baking soda, that I just have, right there in the pantry, bulk ascorbic acid-

   2. CWChris Williamson8:51

      Mm-hmm.

   3. BGBen Greenfield8:51

      ... and, uh, and then just Arm & Hammer baking soda, which is naturally aluminum free. And so I got baking soda, I got vitamin C, I got hydrogen water, I got minerals, all in this big glass Mason jar of water-

   4. CWChris Williamson9:03

      Yeah.

   5. BGBen Greenfield9:04

      ... and I, I just suck that down. That's kind of my tonic. And, um, sometimes I'll throw a little apple cider vinegar in there as well, 'cause that has a really nice insulin-sensitizing effect at the beginning of the day and lends even more alkalinity to the drink.

   6. CWChris Williamson9:17

      Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

   7. BGBen Greenfield9:18

      So, so I have that, and then I, uh, I put on a, uh, a pot of hot water where I start the coffee, and I'll go back and forth. Some mornings I do coffee and then just because I don't want the, my adenosine receptors to, to get too, uh, too, um, insensitive to the adeno-

   8. CWChris Williamson9:36

      Yeah, too downregulated, yeah, yeah.

   9. BGBen Greenfield9:38

      ... adenosine, which, yeah, which makes me sleepy later on in the day. I don't do coffee every day 'cause I don't wanna, I don't want to, uh, to, to create a scenario in which I'm insensitive to adenosine later on in the day and can't fall asleep, because even if, even if you metabolize caffeine really well, if you're a fast coffee oxidizer and even if you, you not have a cup of coffee after noon, just frequent regular use of coffee without breaks builds up so much of these adenosine receptors, it just gets harder and harder as months go on, to fall asleep at night.

   10. CWChris Williamson10:07

       Yeah.

   11. BGBen Greenfield10:07

       So, uh, so what I do is I'll, I'll either do coffee or the other one that I'll do is, is cacao tea, which is lower in caffeine, or lower in caffeine, but it has like theobromine and some dopamine precursors in it. It has this real good kind of pick me up, feelgood effect.

   12. CWChris Williamson10:22

       Nice.

   13. BGBen Greenfield10:23

       Some people like yerba mate for that, but yerba mate makes me a little jittery, so, and I like the way cacao makes me feel instead. So I, I'll typically blend that with chaga, which is, which is wonderful. It's, it's, it's chock-full of melanin, chaga is, which can actually interact with sunlight to, uh, to kick off electrons and produce some free ATP. So any photons of light will interact with things like melanin. Uh, chlorophyll would be another example.

   14. CWChris Williamson10:49

       Mm-hmm.

   15. BGBen Greenfield10:50

       Uh, methylene blue, which is marketed now as a nootropic, that's another example. But because I, I'll, I'll tell you in a second, I go down to the office and I do some red light therapy.

   16. CWChris Williamson10:59

       Mm-hmm.

   17. BGBen Greenfield10:59

       I like, I like getting a little melanin or chlorophyll or methylene blue in my system before I go do the red light therapy, and blending this chaga with some cacao, uh, or doing the, the coffee, but the chaga with the cacao is really great if you're doing like red light therapy in the morning.

   18. CWChris Williamson11:15

       Just primes you for that-

   19. BGBen Greenfield11:16

       And then, uh-

   20. CWChris Williamson11:16

       ... primes you for that red light, right? Just before we move on, the, um-

   21. BGBen Greenfield11:19

       Yeah, you, you, you basically produce that extra ATP.

   22. CWChris Williamson11:22

       You were talking about, uh, ways to assure that your adenosine receptors don't get downregulated by spacing your coffee use. What have you found to be an optimal way to pulse that? Every other day? Three times a week? Twice a week? What?

   23. BGBen Greenfield11:35

       Well, in the book, I talk about how one tactic for people who just want to drink coffee every morning, you just do coffee for three weeks and then switch to a really, switch to a good decaf like Swiss Water Process Decaf or CO2 extraction decaf for about a week. Takes around six to eight days to reset those adenosine receptors. But if I'm just kind of doing it naturally, I just listen to my body. Basically, if I wake up and I don't feel a need for a little extra caffeine, I just don't have coffee. I do the chaga. So typically it comes out to about-...oh, two or three mornings of the week it's the chaga and the cacao, and the other mornings it's just a good cup of organic coffee.

   24. CWChris Williamson12:10

       Got you.

   25. BGBen Greenfield12:11

       Just, just organic black coffee. I don't do any calories, just because I don't want to take myself out of a fasted state in the morning. So, no, no MCT oil or butter or anything like that, just, just black coffee. And then, um, uh, while the, while the hot water's going for the cacao tea, or the chaga, or the coffee's brewing, I spend 10 to 15 minutes just doing body work, like foam rolling, um, uh, sometimes it's like the little vibrating balls, sometimes lacrosse balls. But I just, I take 10, 15 minutes every morning to do deep tissue work. So, whether or not I get a massage, I try to get a massage once a week, but even if I don't, you know, I figure by the end of the week, I'm getting a good 75 to 90 minutes of really good deep tissue work. Uh, and I, I just find it primes my body for the day. A lot of times I combine it with some breath work, uh, a little bit of inversion, so I'll, I'll hang from an inversion table or from some, from, from, uh, like some gravity booths. But it's kind of like my non-negotiable me time, for like 15 minutes in the morning. I'll usually listen to like a sermon or a really good spiritual podcast while I'm doing that, just to start off my day on a really positive note.

   26. CWChris Williamson13:18

       Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

7. 13:19 – 15:24

   Learning block + naked red-light therapy: a ‘zen den’ office start

   1. BGBen Greenfield13:19

      And, uh, and then once I've done all that, I'll g- I'll grab the coffee or the tea, and I'll head down to my office. And I'll generally spend about a half hour, uh, going through, uh, typically like research articles, science, uh, some of the feeds that I follow in, in, uh, you know, like, like health, exercise science, nutrition science, um, you know, some, some different Twitter feeds, some research journals. I just really like to learn at the beginning of the day. I find my body just soaks up and feels really primed to learn. So, I'm, I'm typically not doing emails or, or, uh, you know, social media and stuff at that time. I just kind of soak up some knowledge at the beginning of the day while I'm having my coffee or my tea. And, while I'm doing that, I use red light therapy. So, I've got these big, uh, these Joovv red light panels in my office that I flip on. So, as I'm standing there going through all the research, I'm just bathed in red light. I take off all my clothes and I just do like naked red light therapy, full body.

   2. CWChris Williamson14:16

      (laughs)

   3. BGBen Greenfield14:17

      And, uh, and that's for like 20 to 30 minutes. It's amazing. You get nitric oxide release, it, it stimulates, uh, the mitochondrial production of ATP. It's just this, this complete feelgood effect. It, it's a, an- and it's also very similar to, uh, to sunrise, again.

   4. CWChris Williamson14:32

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   5. BGBen Greenfield14:33

      So, I'm getting that big red light dose in the morning, which is great for circadian rhythm. And, um, you know, I, I like my office to be just like this total zen den. So, you know, I've got essential oils kind of getting diffused into the air. I got the red light therapy. I've got a little grounding mat that I stand on, so it's as though I were outside, kind of sucking up some negative ions from the surface of the earth. Same thing, if I'm standing on that in my office, I get the, the same effect. So, so that's just kind of my me time in the morning. And, I finish up all that, and you'll, you'll find if you guys, uh, use that tactic of baking soda, uh, with that glass mason jar, after about 45 minutes, that baking soda kicks in and you just go have this awesome, awesome dump.

   6. CWChris Williamson15:15

      (laughs)

   7. BGBen Greenfield15:15

      So, I, uh, I flip off the red lights after about a half hour and, you know, I just, I can tell right away, you feel the stomach gurgling a little bit. It's like, "All right, it's time."

   8. CWChris Williamson15:23

      Ready to go.

8. 15:24 – 19:07

   Morning movement choice: sauna/cold or sunshine walk, then family check-in + smoothie bowl breakfast

   1. BGBen Greenfield15:24

      And, uh, go upstairs and just have, have an amazing, amazing, amazing bowel movement. And then, um, you know, by then it's, it's typically around, you know, like, uh, 7:45 to 8:15-ish in the morning. And, I, I usually, before I jump into the rest of the day, um, you know, and, and kind of start work and everything, or have some breakfast, I like to do some kind of like a morning, um, some kind of morning protocol that makes me feel really good. I don't like to hit the weights hard or do like a big high intensity interval training session in the morning. So, usually for me it's either a, about a 20 or 30-minute walk in the sunshine, or a 20 or 30-minute sauna session. So, this would be after I go to the bathroom.

   2. CWChris Williamson16:05

      Yep, yep.

   3. BGBen Greenfield16:05

      You know, I'll, I'll do like a, a sauna plus a cold soak, you know, 20 or 30 minutes in the sauna, just the deep sweat. Um, again, I'll, I'll put essential oils in the sauna. Um, sometimes I'll put on like a topical rub, like any of these topical muscle creams that have things like, you know, cayenne and menthol and black pepper, 'cause they're just sweat buckets, I've found, if you, if you smear some stuff over your skin-

   4. CWChris Williamson16:28

      Yeah, I bet you are.

   5. BGBen Greenfield16:28

      ...before you get into the sauna. Uh, I'm using one called, uh, Prototype 8 by, uh, ATP Science right now, and I'll just like smear that on my arms and my legs, you know, put some, some really good uplifting essential oils in there like rosemary or cinnamon or something that's really kind of like stimulating to the brain, to get me all charged up for the work day. And, uh, do the sauna till I'm sweating really hard, then go, then I'll go jump in the cold pool or take a cold shower for about three or four minutes. And, uh, I'm either doing that or just like a long walk in the sunshine. And so, do all that, and then, um, uh, you know, I, I own a, a company called Kion, and we always have a call every morning at 9:45. So, I got to be done, showered, you know, ready for the day, you know, spend a little time with the kids and say good morning to them and hear about how they're gonna spend their day. They're homeschooled, so they're at home with me all day anyways. So, I just kind of check in with them, make sure they're all set for the day, and check in with my wife, make sure she's all set for the day. And then, I just make myself a, a giant superfood smoothie while I'm getting ready for that call with my team. And that, you know, the smoothie just changes every day, but typically it's things like, you know, for, for my base I just use ice, and then I'll put some stevia in there or some monk fruit in there for a sweetener.

   6. CWChris Williamson17:44

      Mm-hmm.

   7. BGBen Greenfield17:45

      And then, I just love to toss a bunch of, bunch of great stuff in there. So, for my liquid I'll usually use bone broth or, or kefir, or sometimes coconut milk. I, I make my own yogurt at home, uh, usually using coconut milk or goat's milk as a base. So, I'll put some yogurt in there. Uh, and then typically a few scoops of something like your greens. I'll put some collagen in there, uh, squeeze of a lemon or some kind of vitamin C in there.... and then I, I just blend all that up. If I want a little bit more creaminess, I'll put, like, half an avocado in there. Sometimes for a little bit of extra greens, you know, I, I grow sprouts at home, so I'll put some sprouts in there. And then I'll, I'll top it with just a bunch of goodies, like spirulina. Like, after I've blended it, I'll top it with, like, spirulina, coconut flakes, cacao nibs. But I, I blend the smoothie really thick, so I basically, like, eat it out of a bowl-

   8. CWChris Williamson18:36

      (laughs)

   9. BGBen Greenfield18:36

      ... almost like an acai bowl-

   10. CWChris Williamson18:38

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   11. BGBen Greenfield18:38

       ... with all these s-

   12. CWChris Williamson18:38

       Like a dessert.

   13. BGBen Greenfield18:39

       ... superfoods. Oh, yeah, it's amazing. It's so good. It's, like, the highlight of my day. I'm thinking about that when I'm doing my sauna or my walk, I'm already thinking about that amazing, amazing superfood bowl I'm gonna make at home. And so, I typically, I'll eat that while I'm on the call with my team, just chatting with my team, you know, hearing about what everybody's going to be up to for the day and, um, just touching base with, with the whole squad 'cause I'm running my company virtually for the most part, uh, because our offices are in Boulder, but I'm up in, uh, Washington State.

   14. CWChris Williamson19:07

       Mm-hmm.

9. 19:07 – 20:35

   Deep work window: distraction-free productivity with movement breaks

   1. BGBen Greenfield19:07

      And, they're down, you know, most of my team is, is down kind of around Colorado. So, I, um, I, uh, do that call, and then after that, from about 10:00 until around 2:00 or 2:30, I just, you know, no push notifications, no, no Twitter, no Facebook, no social media. I just work like a horse with blinders on for the next four or five hours, you know, kind of that deep work concept, you know, like Cal Newport's book-

   2. CWChris Williamson19:34

      Mm-hmm.

   3. BGBen Greenfield19:35

      ... where I'm just, you know, uh, whether I'm, I'm writing or working on a book or a series of articles or shooting videos, doing content, um, doing consults with my clients or people who have hired me to go over their nutrition or their workout plans with them or their, you know, their lab work, their blood work. Uh, sometimes, you know, I, I advise a lot of companies in the health and, and fitness space, so sometimes it's advisory calls for different businesses. Um, you know, e- every, every day kind of varies, but y- but for me, that kind of, like, 10:00 to 2:00 or 2:30 slot is just deep work time, just crush the day during that time, hyper productive. And, uh, I take breaks about every, uh, you know, it depends on, on the s- style of work that I'm doing, but every 30 to 60 minutes, I'll take breaks and, you know, do some pull-ups, do some kettlebell swings, um, you know, jump up and down on a trampoline. I ju- I just like to take little breaks just to keep my body moving, uh, during those, those, you know, four or five hours of work. But, uh, you know, generally once I've, once I've finished all that work,

10. 20:35 – 24:22

    Low-carb lunch + carb timing rationale: ketosis by day, carbs after evening training

    1. BGBen Greenfield20:35

       I, um, I come up and, uh, I, again, I have a home office, so I'll make myself some lunch. Lunch for me is just usually, you know, some good greens, like some more sprouts or really nice plate of greens with, uh, you know, I'm a big fan of the whole SMASH diet, like sardines, mackerel, anchovy, herring, or salmon. So, usually I'll do, like, some kind of really good omega-3 rich cold water fish, you know, some nuts, uh, some avocado, uh, usually another cup of bone broth, and I just have, you know, kind of like breakfast. I have, like, a superfood kind of salad type of thing for lunch. Uh-

    2. CWChris Williamson21:10

       But made up with fish in it. The superfo-

    3. BGBen Greenfield21:12

       Yeah, yeah.

    4. CWChris Williamson21:12

       ... superfood fish, yeah.

    5. BGBen Greenfield21:13

       Usually fish or nuts. Sometimes if we've had steak or chicken or whatever the night before, I'll use that as the protein topper. But again, I, I don't, I don't really have any appreciable amount of carbohydrates until the evening. I save all my carbs until the evening. So, I'm typically in a state of fatty acid oxidation or, you know, mild ketosis most of the day. And, you know, unless you're a, you're a, like, a two-a-day hard-charging athlete, there's no need for, like, two big carbohydrate boluses during the day unless you gotta maximize glycogen restoration after an early day hard workout. So, I find because I typically do my hard workout in, like, the later afternoon or early evening, as long as I've had carbohydrates the night before, my glycogen levels are pretty topped off anyways. And with that strategy, I avoid a lot of, uh, glycemic variability, like, a lot of glucose fluctuations during the day. I find I have more stable energy levels and cognitive levels. Um, and it also allows me to, because our dinner time is usually, like, a big family dinner or a social time or going out to a restaurant with friends or whatever, like, I wanna, I wanna be able to, for the more social meal, actually, you know, indulge a little bit, like have some red wine or some dark chocolate or some sourdough bread or some sweet potato fries or whatever. So, I save all my carbohydrates for the end of the day, which is also nice because since I typically am not doing my, my hard workout, like weights or high-intensity interval training or anything like that until the later afternoon or the early evening, that means that I'm very insulin sensitive after that workout. So, those carbohydrates very easily get partitioned into, you know, muscle tissue-

    6. CWChris Williamson22:51

       Shuttling them-

    7. BGBen Greenfield22:51

       ... and liver tissue.

    8. CWChris Williamson22:51

       ... shuttling them all into the right muscles-

    9. BGBen Greenfield22:53

       Yeah.

    10. CWChris Williamson22:53

        ... right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    11. BGBen Greenfield22:54

        Yeah, so they don't spend a lot of time in the bloodstream with my blood sugar spiked. So, it's just, it's a, it's a good scenario for me, you know, doing the easy workout in the morning, or the easy movement in the morning, no carbs all day, and then the hard workout later on in the day, then the carbs at night. So, um-

    12. CWChris Williamson23:10

        I like, um, for the people that are listening, I've been a big fan of carb back-loading for a long time. And back-loading carbs, for me, one of the main reasons that I like it is that it plays with the sacrifice/reward mentality that you have.

    13. BGBen Greenfield23:23

        Yeah.

    14. CWChris Williamson23:23

        You know, you're like, right, I, I, it might be nice to feel satiated with some slightly more starchy food earlier in the day, but as you, I, I can get through, I can get till 2:00. Right, well, I'll get my workout in. Now, it's 4:00. Oh, well, I've only got to wait until 5:00, 5:30. And then you've got your nice big starchy meal. You feel nice and full. And obviously you've got this change in insulin sensitivity. You've got the improved shuttling and partitioning of nutrients into the muscles. It seems like a real, a real kind of, uh, easy hack.

    15. BGBen Greenfield23:52

        Yeah, and the release of serotonin in response to the carbohydrate feeding, which enhances your melatonin release at night, so you sleep better too. So, I just think, I think especially for an active person or someone who's working out later on in the day and someone who's willing not to, like, stuff their face with random snacks and sugar earlier in the day, as long as you pay attention to the rules, um-... eh, y- you know, the, this whole idea of car backloading is actually a, a pretty, pretty good, good strategy. So, um, anyway, so I finish lunch and I'm a huge fan

11. 24:22 – 27:45

    Midday nap protocol: reishi, hyperbaric chamber, binaural beats, and post-nap ‘re-acceleration’

    1. BGBen Greenfield24:22

       of napping, huge fan of napping. So, I take a nap almost every day, for like 20 to 45 minutes and, um, I, I kind of protect that time quite a bit. I tell my team, like, "Don't schedule me any calls for about, like, 2:30 till 4:00." I just want that time to, to kind of, like, have that breather in the middle of the day and so, for, for me, you know, typically, uh, after lunch or with my bone broth at lunch, um, I'll have something that's kind of relaxing. Like, right now I like reishi mushroom extract. It kind of relaxes me, tones me down in the middle of the day, and I just slip away. Either, uh, and, and take a nap, uh, in the bedroom or I have one of these. Of late, what I've been using for my naps is I have a, uh, a soft shell hyperbaric chamber-

    2. CWChris Williamson25:08

       Mm.

    3. BGBen Greenfield25:08

       ... which just concentrates oxygen. So, I go in there, I'm under concentrated oxygen, flip on the oxygen mask and, um, I'll put on some really relaxing beats. I like, uh, the one I've been using of late is this, uh, this vagal nerve stimulator, an app called NuCalm. And, uh, that thing will just, uh, they, they say based on the research it'll simulate a full 90-minute sleep cycle in 20 minutes.

    4. CWChris Williamson25:31

       Wow.

    5. BGBen Greenfield25:32

       I don't know if that's true but, but I can literally just turn that thing on for 20 minutes and be dead to the world and feel amazing, and sometimes I'll cycle through it two times so I'm getting a full 40 minutes. And that's my go-to. The other one that I like is Brain.Fm. That's another really good app for just kind of checking away. So, I put on some good noise-blocking headphones, a good sleep mask. Uh, I like this sleep mask called Mindfold. It just blocks out all light. And I go dead to the world from, like, you know, 2:30 to 3:15 or so, and that nap just, like, I have a better workout later on in the day. I'm, I'm more present for evening activities. I just like, I'm a huge, huge fan of naps. So-

    6. CWChris Williamson26:12

       I find, uh, I find sometimes with naps, that I can f- I can suffer with a little bit of mood change afterward. I wonder if you've ever come up against that?

    7. BGBen Greenfield26:23

       Yeah. Uh, typically, I'll take a stimulant after my nap. Like, all, all-

    8. CWChris Williamson26:27

       Okay. Bring you back around a little bit.

    9. BGBen Greenfield26:28

       Yeah. Yeah, sometimes it'll be a touch of coffee, uh, sometimes I'll pop, like, some nicotine gum. Um, sometimes I'll use a nootropic, like I like one called Qualia Mind. Um, some- something that kind of, like, picks me up again, eh, in the afternoon, so, so-

    10. CWChris Williamson26:42

        Maybe that's, maybe that's where I'm going wrong. I, I mean, it's, I think my ability to go from hyped to chill to hyped again, just my ability to change that speed, to decelerate-

    11. BGBen Greenfield26:52

        Yeah.

    12. CWChris Williamson26:52

        ... and then recelerate is, is pretty tough. I mean, uh, you know, if you're-

    13. BGBen Greenfield26:56

        Yeah.

    14. CWChris Williamson26:56

        ... if you're having a conversation with a client and you're getting real hyped up, they're having a great day, you're having a great day, you're going backward and forward, is that mushroom extract that you mentioned sufficient to kind of bring you down? And Brain.Fm-

    15. BGBen Greenfield27:07

        Yeah.

    16. CWChris Williamson27:07

        ... a couple of binaural beats, is that enough to kind of take-

    17. BGBen Greenfield27:10

        Yeah. Yeah.

    18. CWChris Williamson27:10

        ... the ch- the, the sting out of what you've been doing?

    19. BGBen Greenfield27:12

        Yeah. That combined with the food in your stomach from lunch, I find just, it w- it works fine. And then, um, the, the other thing is that, you know, if, if you take a nap and you, you're putting some kind of stimulant into your system around 3:15, I typically don't go to bed till, like, 10:00 anyways, and I don't find that that interferes with sleep. The only thing I'm careful with is if it's, if it's coffee, I'm a little bit careful with that. So, if it's coffee, it's like four ounces of coffee, whereas, like, a micro dose of caffeine.

    20. CWChris Williamson27:37

        Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    21. BGBen Greenfield27:37

        But, but that's enough to just give me a little bit of a pick-me-up and kind of get me going again after the afternoon nap. And then, um-

    22. CWChris Williamson27:44

        Just to-

    23. BGBen Greenfield27:45

        ... I want-

12. 27:45 – 32:40

    Workstation and office ergonomics: standing desk, treadmill desk, balance tools, and ‘movement prompts’

    1. CWChris Williamson27:45

       ... just to circle back to your work schedule at the moment, can you just tell me about your desk set-up that you're using at the moment?

    2. BGBen Greenfield27:51

       Oh, yeah. So, like I mentioned, I have s- I have one of those grounding mats, uh, so that I'm, I'm getting a little bit of the mild anti-inflammatory effect that you can get from the, the negative ions, uh, from the ground. And then, I've got a, a standing desk, uh, and I just have a hand crank desk. I think m- mine's made by a company called Rebel Desk. Uh, Varidesk does, does really good desks too. And then, I've got, uh, a treadmill that I can walk on sometimes when taking calls.

    3. CWChris Williamson28:19

       Is that TrueForm?

    4. BGBen Greenfield28:20

       Yeah. I have the TrueForm treadmill just because I wanted a manual treadmill that could keep up with my... I've got really long legs and I also walk pretty fast, and I find that a lot of these manual treadmills for offices, they're, like, too slow and too short. So, I like that TrueForm 'cause it, you know, double as a workout tool anyway, so if we're gonna get a, buy a treadmill, might as well get one you can, you, you know, throw down some sprints and stuff onto.

    5. CWChris Williamson28:43

       Yeah. For sure. For sure. For sure.

    6. BGBen Greenfield28:45

       Plus, it, uh, the curved nature of the treadmill engages your glutes a little bit more, so-

    7. CWChris Williamson28:49

       Man, running-

    8. BGBen Greenfield28:50

       ... doing sprints on that thing is miserable.

    9. CWChris Williamson28:52

       Oh, yeah.

    10. BGBen Greenfield28:52

        The hamstring, glute, lower, just the whole posterior chain gets fried.

    11. CWChris Williamson28:56

        (laughs)

    12. BGBen Greenfield28:56

        Yeah. Yeah. It's impossible to, to run without engaging your posterior chain on that thing. Uh, it's actually hard to walk without engaging-

    13. CWChris Williamson29:02

        (laughs)

    14. BGBen Greenfield29:02

        ... the posterior chain as well. So, so yeah, I got the TrueForm, standing desk, grounding mat. The red lights I mentioned, but I'm only using those in the morning.

    15. CWChris Williamson29:11

        Mm-hmm.

    16. BGBen Greenfield29:11

        There's actually some evidence that you can, you can overdo it. Like, you can create excess reactive oxygen species if you overdo the red light therapy, so I just do that in the morning.

    17. CWChris Williamson29:19

        You said about 30 minutes-

    18. BGBen Greenfield29:20

        And then, um-

    19. CWChris Williamson29:20

        ... is that right?

    20. BGBen Greenfield29:21

        Uh, no, closer to, like, 20.

    21. CWChris Williamson29:23

        Okay.

    22. BGBen Greenfield29:23

        E- even if I'm in the office, you know, sipping the coffee, doing the research and stuff for 30 minutes, I only leave the red lights on for, like, 20 minutes. Um, and then, uh, what else is in my office? I said there's a, there's, like, an essential oil diffuser in there.

    23. CWChris Williamson29:36

        Mm-hmm.

    24. BGBen Greenfield29:36

        If I want to kind of be in a different position than just standing or walking, I've got a, uh, I've got a chair called the saddle chair, which kind of, it shapes like a pel-

    25. CWChris Williamson29:45

        Is it by Fully?

    26. BGBen Greenfield29:47

        I've got one by Salli. S-A-L-L-I.

    27. CWChris Williamson29:49

        Yeah. Got you.

    28. BGBen Greenfield29:50

        And then, I've also got a, a stool that's also in a pelvic-shaped position.

    29. CWChris Williamson29:53

        Mm-hmm.

    30. BGBen Greenfield29:53

        Uh, that one's made by Focal Upright. It's called a Mogo. So, there's no chair in my office at all. It's either the, the pelvis stool or the saddle chair-
13. 32:40 – 36:54

    Light environment + EMF minimization: incandescent/red lighting, hardwiring, and Bluetooth avoidance

    1. BGBen Greenfield32:40

       So, um, um, yeah, so the, let me think if there's anything else in the office that's interesting. I- I use, um, if I'm working in there at night, same thing up in the master bedroom and the master bathroom, like, I'm not a fan of LED lighting because even, like, these newer, like, so-called biological LEDs, they all produce, like, a- like, an imperceptible flicker that's a little bit irritating to the retina. And there's even some evidence that it may cause a little bit of damage to the rods and cones. And so, um, I use incandescent lighting. Incandescent light bulbs simulate pretty closely the natural spectrum that you get from the sunlight.

    2. CWChris Williamson33:16

       Mm-hmm.

    3. BGBen Greenfield33:17

       And so, all the cans in the house have incandescent light, but then I've got a, like, a, um, a lamp in the office for nighttime work that's a red incandescent light bulb. And then up in the bedroom and the master bathroom and my kids' bedrooms, it's all red incandescent lighting. So, it kind of looks like a nightclub (laughs) a little bit-

    4. CWChris Williamson33:36

       (laughs)

    5. BGBen Greenfield33:36

       ... when you- when you flip on the lights and go to the bedrooms at night, but there's no blue light. It's amazing. So, you- so you don't disrupt your circadian rhythm when you're getting ready for bed at night or you, you know, you flip on the lights to go take a pee at night or whatever.

    6. CWChris Williamson33:46

       Mm-hmm.

    7. BGBen Greenfield33:47

       It just keeps things, you know, really stable from a circadian rhythm standpoint.

    8. CWChris Williamson33:51

       Is there a particular-

    9. BGBen Greenfield33:52

       But during the day-

    10. CWChris Williamson33:52

        Is there a particular brand of bulb or lamp that you've got with that you just slot in?

    11. BGBen Greenfield33:56

        No, it's just I- I just grab- grab whatever's on Amazon. It's just all red incandescent light.

    12. CWChris Williamson34:00

        Okay.

    13. BGBen Greenfield34:00

        They're a little- they're a- they're a little bit more power hungry than LED lighting, but it's, you know, yeah, it's worth it to me, the extra whatever, you know, 20, 30 bucks a month for my electrical bill to- to go with incandescent. So-

    14. CWChris Williamson34:12

        Got you.

    15. BGBen Greenfield34:12

        ... um, so yeah, I use an- incandescent lighting and then red incandescent lighting at night. And, um, yeah, those are some of the biggies in the office as far as what I have. There's always, I got a kettlebell on the floor of the office, you know, always. So, I gotta step over. It's always top of mind. So, whenever I'm in there, you know, I'm always thinking, "Ah, I got to throw down some- some kettlebell swings." You know, a little pull-up bar in the door of the office I can hang from every once in a while when I'm walking in and out. You know, I got a little rule, I gotta do five pull-ups, you know, because I'm going in and out of there.

    16. CWChris Williamson34:41

        Every time you go through the door.

    17. BGBen Greenfield34:43

        Yeah.

    18. CWChris Williamson34:43

        Yeah, it's- it's such a good hack. I've got, uh, I'm currently opening up my shoulders to do some mobility for weightlifting, and I've just got so many resistance bands on the floor. It's like-

    19. BGBen Greenfield34:51

        Yeah.

    20. CWChris Williamson34:51

        ... if I don't pick them up to use them, I'm going to fall over them and hurt myself. So, I might as well, it's the same as you with your kettlebells. It's like, "Oh, God, I gotta step over it, I might as well use it."

    21. BGBen Greenfield35:00

        Yeah. Yeah, my office is just littered with shit like that-

    22. CWChris Williamson35:02

        (laughs)

    23. BGBen Greenfield35:02

        ... just to kind of- kind of keep me moving, moving during the day.

    24. CWChris Williamson35:05

        Yeah.

    25. BGBen Greenfield35:06

        And, um, then I've got, you know, I pay a lot of attention to not having a lot of non-native EMF like Wi-Fi devices, Bluetooth devices, you know, uh, uh, so everything's hardwired with ethernet cable, so I just have like CAT7 metal-shielded ethernet cable instead of the Wi-Fi. So, I'm just plugged directly into the router and the Wi-Fi is off. And then I've got these, uh, 'cause I had a building biologist come to my home and do like a walkthrough of anything that might be producing a lot of dirty electricity or a lot of- a lot of EMF.

    26. CWChris Williamson35:34

        Mm-hmm.

    27. BGBen Greenfield35:34

        And so, um, I put up dirty electricity filters in the office too. So, these just plug into the outlets and- and filter any power surges that might be occurring. And, um-

    28. CWChris Williamson35:45

        That's cool.

    29. BGBen Greenfield35:46

        ... and then, yeah, so no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth in these dirty electricity filters. And so I- I just feel better when I don't have a lot of signals bouncing around. That's also the advantage of a manual treadmill is a lot of people don't realize, like, treadmills produce a huge amount of EMF. And so, if you can have a manual treadmill instead of a- a motorized treadmill in your office or in your gym, I- I think it's a good idea from a health standpoint.

    30. CWChris Williamson36:09

        Got you.
14. 36:54 – 42:01

    5G concerns and ‘defensive’ supplementation: magnesium, NAD/sirtuins, and ketones

    1. CWChris Williamson36:54

       Uh, just you've touched on, you've touched on a topic there that I know a lot of people will be interested in. What's your thoughts on 5G at the moment? Is there any way that people can protect themselves as 5G phones get rolled out?

    2. BGBen Greenfield37:05

       (laughs) Um, well you can, you can go into your settings and just switch it back to 4G if you want but-

    3. CWChris Williamson37:09

       Will that work?

    4. BGBen Greenfield37:10

       ... 4G, yeah, 4G has issues as well. The, the problem is, you know, and, and Dr. Joe Mercola just wrote a great book called EMF'd on this, I, I interviewed him about it on my podcast is, you know, the effects on the calcium channels of the cell, you get a bit, you get a steep calcium influx into the cell which basically creates a net positive charge inside the cell when it's supposed to be a net negative charge, and then you get some amount of, of, uh, DNA unraveling from, from the, from the radiation, you know, the, the, the non-ionizing radiation. And then, um, you, you also get a little bit of effect in terms of down regulation of what's called your NF-kappaB pathway which is responsible for modulating a lot of your inflammatory processes. So, you know, the, the problem is that when, with 5G, not a ton of studies have been done on either its deleterious impact or the absence thereof, so it's one of those deals where, well, if no studies have actually been done showing its effects on the human body or rolling it out, you know, I'd, I'd rather wait until we see the studies. So I'm, I'm pretty careful with it. As far as what you can do to protect yourself, obviously with 5G panels being put up everywhere and, you know, the fact we can't escape it, I would say the best thing you can do is to counteract some of that calcium influx into the cell, just make sure you're supplementing with magnesium, you know, or, or y- you can eat organic produce that's grown in really mineral rich soil to get your magnesium but it's tough to, to get good organic produce grown in mineral rich soil these days. And I think magnesium is a good supplement in the evening anyways for nighttime relaxation so I just take magnesium every night, you know, keep your red blood cell magnesium levels topped off. That'll help with the calcium influx and then for the, um, for the DNA piece, the, the two things that, that can really help to repair the DNA are any sirtuins, you know, like resveratrol or, or you know, blueberry powder or taro stilene or cacao, you know, any of the things you might be working into, you know, like that superfood smoothie or whatever in the, in the morning anyways.

    5. CWChris Williamson39:08

       Mm-hmm.

    6. BGBen Greenfield39:08

       Um, and that really, really works well hand in hand with any NAD precursor, you know, like NMN or NR or even like NAD, you know, the occasional NAD IV, you know, like once a month just to keep your NAD levels topped off. NAD and sirtuins work hand in hand to help protect the DNA. And so that's, that's number two is do magnesium, make sure you keep your sirtuins and your NAD levels topped off. And then the third regarding that inflammatory pathway, the NF-kappaB pathway, uh, the best way to, to kind of modulate that and keep it active would be A, mild ketosis which we're getting from that kind of carb backloading type of approach, and then also, um, exogenous ketones actually can, can really help with that pathway so like, you know, using ketone esters or ketone salts especially if you're traveling, you know, airplanes, airports, hotel rooms, places where you can't turn the WiFi off or, you know, you're getting exposed to a whole bunch of other signals that might go beyond, you know, your phone whi- on which you might have the WiFi disabled or on which you might have in airplane mode. You can't control other people's so when I travel I, I really step up my, uh, you know, my, my supplementation with these ketones and kind of keep my, my ketone bodies even more elevated to assist with that inflammatory pathway. So that's another good hack.

    7. CWChris Williamson40:26

       I, I like it.

    8. BGBen Greenfield40:26

       But those are a few things, those are a few things you can do to protect yourself would be magnesium and, um, and then, uh, sirtuins, NAD precursors and, uh, and ketones. So-

    9. CWChris Williamson40:37

       I like it. I like it.

    10. BGBen Greenfield40:38

        ... yeah.

    11. CWChris Williamson40:38

        Does, uh, Kion do a ketone ester?

    12. BGBen Greenfield40:41

        Uh, no we don't. We don't. But there's some good ones out there like HVMN has some good ones. Uh, the company KetoneAid, they've got some good ones. All, you know, I, ketones are so interesting 'cause for me, they give me almost, uh, a buzz very similar to what I get from alcohol probably because of the, uh, something called 1,3-butanediol in, uh, in some of these ketone esters and when I'm like making cocktails at night, a lot of times I'll just, you know, when I normally use gin or vodka or whatever else, you know, then mix 'em with ice or lemon juice or bitters, I'll just use a little bit of ketones instead.

    13. CWChris Williamson41:13

        (laughs)

    14. BGBen Greenfield41:13

        And it's, and it's just... I actually just, just today, literally today at bengreenfieldfitness.com I published an article on like how to make amazing cocktails that don't have alcohol in 'em but that still kind of spin some dials in your brain and have this feelgood effect and, and actually ketones are one, one way you can do that. So-

    15. CWChris Williamson41:29

        That's funny.

    16. BGBen Greenfield41:30

        ... you can use them, you can use them as an alcohol substitute. Um-

    17. CWChris Williamson41:32

        I run, uh, I run, I run nightclubs. I wonder if I could sell some ketone cocktails. Uh, if I could throw some of those up I wonder how many people...

    18. BGBen Greenfield41:39

        Uh, you, you want to, you want to be careful and I should say this too, if you, if you mix ketone esters with alcohol, um, the byproduct is kind of similar to GHB and, you know-

    19. CWChris Williamson41:50

        Holy fuck. (laughs)

    20. BGBen Greenfield41:50

        ... that's, that's a little J rape drug. So you wouldn't want somebody like ordering a mocktail and then also getting a cocktail and winding up just like face down in their plate. So...

    21. CWChris Williamson41:58

        That would be-

    22. BGBen Greenfield41:59

        So yeah.

    23. CWChris Williamson41:59

        ... a bad look. That would be a bad look.

    24. BGBen Greenfield42:00

        Yeah. Yeah.

15. 42:01 – 54:05

    Evening flow into sleep: reactive work, workout, family dinner, wind-down, and sleep stack

    1. CWChris Williamson42:01

       Okay, so we're onto, we are onto the nighttime routine. Tell us about your nighttime routine. What's it looking like at the moment?

    2. BGBen Greenfield42:08

       Yeah, so, um, like I mentioned it, you know, I, uh, I take that nap and then after my nap I do a lot of my reactive work like emails, social media, you know, people needing to hop on last minute phone calls with me, all that shit that-... that's kind of like, not necessarily, that doesn't fall into the productive bucket, but it's kind of more reactive.

    3. CWChris Williamson42:28

       Yep.

    4. BGBen Greenfield42:28

       Like I save all of that for later on in the day, you know, 'cause I'd rather strike while the iron is hot when I have low amounts of decision-making fatigue or cognitive fatigue earlier in the day and do a lot of my productive work. So I wake up from my nap and typically, you know, there's another hour and a half or two of just, you know, kind of putting out fires, so to speak, right? Taking care of all the shit that would normally distract you earlier in the day and then once I finish all that, uh, I'll typically jump into a workout, you know. And for me, I, I just finished my, my Russian kettlebell RKC cert, so for me, for the past few months, it's been, you know, snatches, Turkish get-ups, goblet squats, you know, usually a lot of concurrent strength endurance training, so I'm mixing that up with like, you know, Airdyne, um, sprints, uh, rowing machine. Just, just, you know, a, a lot of, uh, kind of circuit-style work with the kettlebells.

    5. CWChris Williamson43:18

       Mm-hmm.

    6. BGBen Greenfield43:19

       And, um, uh, typically, it's something like that. Uh, since I just finished that cert up last week, I'm kind of getting back into just basic weightlifting, right? Push, pull, hinge, et cetera. So, um, so either weight training or high intensity interval training, uh, in the, in the afternoon or the early evening. Typically, I'm working out from about, yeah, kind of like the 5:30 to 6:30-ish range. Right around in there.

    7. CWChris Williamson43:47

       I remember a little while ago you mentioned that you'd s- pivoted from performance to longevity. So l- probably about a year and a half ago, I think. What's, where's your goals at now?

    8. BGBen Greenfield43:58

       Uh, definitely longevity, you know, 'cause for years, I was competing in Ironman triathlon and, you know, racing for Reebok and Spartan Training and, and, uh, now, um, I just want to feel good, you know. I want to be strong, maintain muscle. I s- you know, still, if anybody joins with me in a workout, you know, they tell me I'm a, I'm a pure masochist, but-

    9. CWChris Williamson44:19

       (laughs)

    10. BGBen Greenfield44:19

        ... you know, even my workouts now are nowhere near, you know, going out and crushing, you know, two hours out in the mountains, you know, and, and, you know, or five hours on the bike. Like you don't have to do any of that shit anymore. I'm working out like 40 to 60 minutes max, right?

    11. CWChris Williamson44:34

        Got you. Your condition-

    12. BGBen Greenfield44:35

        And, um-

    13. CWChris Williamson44:35

        ... based on, based on your Instagram at the moment, your condition looks to be even leaner than you were. Looks to be the leanest I think I've seen you.

    14. BGBen Greenfield44:42

        Um, I'm about 185 pounds, around 4% or 5% body fat.

    15. CWChris Williamson44:48

        That's quite lean, Ben.

    16. BGBen Greenfield44:49

        And, um-

    17. CWChris Williamson44:49

        That's quite lean.

    18. BGBen Greenfield44:51

        Yeah, but I'm naturally lean. Like my dad's the same way. My dad doesn't really even do much training and he's prob- you know, he's 60-something. He's probably like 9% body fat. So a lot of that's genetics.

    19. CWChris Williamson45:01

        Good genetics.

    20. BGBen Greenfield45:02

        You know, I don't, I don't really go out of my way to f- to like stay super lean, but, you know, my testosterone's fine, my thyroid's fine, you know. So as long as my endocrine system is, is working fine, I'm, I'm okay with just maintaining where my body wants to be at.

    21. CWChris Williamson45:16

        Got you, got you.

    22. BGBen Greenfield45:16

        You know, 'cause I, I def- you know, I'm a foodie. I eat a lot of food. I punish a lot of ribeye steaks and lard and ghee and liver and you have, I just, my body doesn't hold onto a lot of fat, honestly. It just, it's the way it goes. So anyways though, so, um, after, after that, uh, that kind of like early evening-ish workout that finishes up sometime around 6:30 or so, uh, typically after that, I'll make sure there's no more email fires to put out, no work that's left to be done. And then from about 7:00, 7:30 on, it's all family time. Like we have these wonderful like family dinners where we play board games and go over our gratitude journals and sing songs and, um, and, and just, just connect as a family. We all typically are gathering together and making the meal together and everybody's contributing and cooking and laughing and playing music. And so from like 7:30 until 9:00 is just like full-on family time, dinner time. We finish dinner and then we go play more music. I'll read to the kids or, or play them some songs on the guitar. Um, you know, we d- we, we don't really go out to restaurants that much, but typically, it's just like super duper focused and relaxed and fun family time, um, all the, all the way up until after 9:00. And then typically by about 9:30 or so, you know, the kids are tucked away. And then my wind-down routine, um, in addition to those red lights would be, you know, as we're making that family dinner and, you know, getting back into dinner, I've typically got, you know, the blue light blocking glasses on again to start to, you know, suppress any exposure to, um, to, you know, uh, large amounts of, of blue light. Um, I, uh, what else do I do? I mean, after-

    23. CWChris Williamson47:10

        How long are you aiming for with the, with the blue light blocking glasses? 90 minutes, two hours before bed?

    24. BGBen Greenfield47:15

        Yeah, it's usually about 90 minutes, two hours before bed. Unless I plan like, you know, whatever. If my wife and I want to have like, you know, like a, you know, a, a really intensive sex session or, or so- or something, you know, we plan being up 'til 10:30 or 11:00, you know, talking, having sex, stuff like that. Like sometimes I'll just like purposefully not do a lot to wind myself down-

    25. CWChris Williamson47:34

        (laughs)

    26. BGBen Greenfield47:34

        ... because I don't want to be tired. Um-

    27. CWChris Williamson47:36

        I get you.

    28. BGBen Greenfield47:37

        But, uh, but yeah, I also, um, I tend to have a pretty raging appetite even after dinner, so I'll typically do something with glycine, uh, or gelatin in it, which really just... So I make jello. I make jello with just like some, um, some gelatin that I'll mix with coconut milk and a little stevia. Sometimes I'll put a prebiotic fiber in there, which also helps with sleep, uh, like acacia fiber, and then I'll just put that in a food dehydrator for about a day and, you know, stir that up, keep that in the fridge, and I'll just give myself a nice kind of like, um, you know, like, like a, a two-inch by two-inch, uh, piece of jello-

    29. CWChris Williamson48:15

        Mm-hmm.

    30. BGBen Greenfield48:16

        ... at night. Sometimes I'll put a little bit of almond butter on that, little touch of sea salt, and, uh, that's like, that's my go-to dessert for keeping my appetite satiated. Gel-

Episode duration: 54:04