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Ben Greenfield is recognized as one of the top fitness, triathlon, nutrition and metabolism experts in the nation.
Ben coaches and trains individuals for weight loss, lean muscle gain, holistic wellness, and sports performance, both in Spokane, Washington, and Coeur D’ Alene, Idaho (at Human Wellness Solutions) as well as all over the world (online training from the website Pacific Elite Fitness).
Favorite Success Quote
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” -Robert Heinlein
Key Points
1.Avoid Damaging Your Body in the First Place
Often times, people will come to Ben with questions about how they can undo the damage they have done to their body by binge drinking, abusing drugs, or improper sleep and diet habits.
And while Ben does have tactics and techniques to help people reverse their physical damage, his biggest recommendation is to avoid abusing your body in the first place.
Instead of trying to find the perfect hangover cure, just drink less and stop destroying your liver.
Instead of trying to figure out how to fall asleep after a wild bender and copious amounts of cocaine, just avoid doing drugs in the first place.
You only have one body, so you need to start taking care of it now.
And this starts by cutting out detrimental habits now.
You need fat
Keep protein at moderate levels 0.7
2. Improve the Quality of your Sleep
One of the biggest ways that you can boost neurological performance, increase happiness, and skyrocket your energy levels is to become a master at the art of sleeping.
I know that it might sound counterintuitive with so many gurus and business experts telling you that you need to hustle and sleep only 3 hours a night.
But the science is in, and getting sufficient amounts of high-quality sleep is one of the most important factors in your success.
While we all know that we should eliminate screen time roughly an hour before bed, sleep in a dark room, and keep our room cold, Ben also recommends a few other hacks to boost your sleepy time.
The first is to purchase an infrared light and directly expose your skin to that light for 15 minutes before you fall asleep.
The second is to keep a dropper full of passion flower oil by your bedside. If you wake up in the middle of the night, hold the dropper full under your tongue for 60 seconds or so and you will find yourself immediately falling back into deep sleep.
Finally, if you are interested in experiencing lucid dreaming and falling asleep much faster, then try experimenting with Cannabidiol or CBD Oil.
This hemp extract is completely legal in all states and has no negative side effects the morning after.
3. Go with Your Gut
Something that most people do not realize is just how important their gut health is.
If your gut health is no optimized, you become more susceptible to disease, more likely to develop skin problems, and will suffer from lowered energy levels and brain fog.
Your gut is one of the most pivotal parts of your health.
And luckily for you, optimizing its health is not all that complicated.
For starters, go out and buy some oil of Oregano to help remove the bad bacteria from your gut.
Cut down on wheat and gluten intake for a few weeks and start doubling down on your consumption of healthy, fermented foods like Kombucha, Saurkraut, and Kefir.
Just by taking these simple steps, you will notice an immediate increase in your energy levels, immune system function, and overall sense of well-being.
4. Take Care of Your Brain
Your brain is one of your most important assets.
And unfortunately for you, over the past years and decades, you have been completely abusing it.
From sleep deprivation to EMF waves to gluten.
Nearly all of us have unknowingly subjected our brains to unhealthy toxins and substances that slow down our cognitive performance and mental acuity.
If you want to improve brain health starting today.
Here are a few things that you can do.
First and foremost, take Ben’s advice from earlier in this article and get better sleep.
This will have a tremendous impact on cognitive performance.
Second, eliminate the EMF waves that are present in your house.
Get on a wired internet connection and purchase a grounding device for your laptop to eliminate harmful EMF waves.
Once this is done, you want to focus on diet.
Optimizing your brain’s health through diet is relatively simple.
Cut down on wheat and gluten intake and increase the healthy fats that are eating like avocados, coconut oil, and eggs.
5. The Food Pyramid is Entirely Wrong
Our modern food pyramid was designed around economic incentives, not around what will make you the healthiest and happiest.
And as such, it is wildly out of whack.
If you want to live a healthy life, then you must abandon everything that you think you know about diet and literally flip the pyramid on its head.
You need to be getting most of your calories from healthy fats, vegetables, fruits, and a modest protein intake.
Wheat, grain, and processed foods should make up less than 10% of your diet.
Influential Books
Poor Charlie’s Almanac by Charlie Munger
A Philosopher’s Notes by Brian Johnson
