“Drink the wine, Vishen. Stop obsessing about carbs. Don’t be a bubble boy.”
These words didn’t come from a friend who loves to party. They came from one of the men I respect most in the world: Ben Greenfield, longevity expert, athlete, and author.
And I don’t use the word respect lightly.
You can admire someone, follow their work, read their books, take their advice, even consider them one of the greatest minds in their field. But respect is different.
Respect is what happens when you see how someone lives when they aren’t performing for you.
And that’s why I respect Ben.
Longevity experts are a dime a dozen right now. I recently came back from Copenhagen Health Week, and everyone seems to be talking about peptides, mitochondria, glucose and VO2 max.
Ben knows all of that. But that’s not why I chose him as the first person I’ve interviewed for my channel in almost a year.
I chose Ben because of the man he is.
He’s a father who has raised two extraordinary young men whom I’ve personally gotten to know and respect. He’s deeply devoted to his wife and family. He’s a man of profound faith who talks about God and prayer as naturally as he talks about mitochondrial health. And he has trained his body to extraordinary levels of physical performance.
But there’s something else about Ben that fascinates me.
He lives in a way that feels strangely ancestral.
I remember walking with him through the cobblestone streets of Tallinn when suddenly Ben bent down, picked a weed growing between the stones, and put it in his mouth.
I’m thinking: Ben, a dog may have peed on that. 😂
Ben is thinking about the species of plant, its nutrients, and thousands of years of knowledge our ancestors had about the natural world.
That moment captures him beautifully. Ben understands cutting-edge science, but he also understands something many of us have forgotten: how human beings lived before we outsourced our health to technology.
Movement. Nature. Plants. Sunlight. Family. Faith. Useful stress. A little discomfort.
Ancient wisdom married to modern biology.
Which brings me back to his advice: “Don’t be a bubble boy.”
We’ve created this strange idea of health where we try to eliminate every possible stressor. Never eat the carbs. Never drink the wine. Never miss your sleep window. Never let your glucose spike. Optimize everything. Measure everything. Control everything.
But the human body was built to adapt. Exercise is stress. Fasting is stress. Heat and cold are stress. Our biology can become stronger in response to the right kinds of challenge — part of what scientists call hormesis.
And Ben’s larger point is one I think the longevity world desperately needs to hear:
Don’t become so obsessed with extending your life that you forget to live it.
Move your body. Get outside. Challenge yourself. Pray. Love your family.
And occasionally…
Drink the damn wine.
That’s why I brought Ben into my studio for this conversation.
Yes, we get into longevity, optimal exercise, supplements worth paying attention to, healthspan, and practices that have genuinely changed how I live. But underneath all of it is a much more interesting question:
What does it actually mean to live well?
Ben Greenfield represents an idea I increasingly believe in:
The goal isn’t merely to live longer. It’s to become the kind of human being worthy of a long life.
That’s why Ben is my first interview in almost a year.
In fact, this is the first episode of Extraordinary Minds, my new podcast — back after a long pause, and Ben was exactly the right person to begin with. More conversations are on the way, and you’ll find them all on my @vishen Youtube channel, so hit subscribe and you won’t miss the next one.
I think you’ll understand why I chose Ben when you watch it.
Watch my conversation with Ben Greenfield
Every Extraordinary Minds episode comes with a free action guide. Ben breaks his longevity practices into three tiers, from easy to advanced, you can grab your free guide here.
P.S. Ben and I kept coming back to one idea: your body was built for how humans ate and lived for thousands of years. That’s the whole thinking behind WILDFIT, which Eric Edmeades created after living with hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa.
We’ve just opened a new WILDFIT 90-Day Challenge, a live cohort that all starts together on Monday, October 12. If you’ve been waiting for the moment to transform your health and lose weight, this is it, but you’ll want to claim your spot before the cohort fills. Join the Challenge before it starts.
