Episode #171: “Living Beyond Organic” – Are Packaged Organic Foods Really Healthy or Just Marketing Hype?

Ben Greenfield (0:00)

In this episode, the new Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast host, our packaged organic foods, really healthy. Is an off season necessary? How hard should you train in the winter? Is aspirin healthy? What kind of calcium should you take? How a gluten-free diet affects menstrual cycles, and how to use beet juice for sports performance.

SPEAKER_3 (0:23)

Welcome to the Ben Greenfield fitness.com podcast. We provide you with free exercise, nutrition, weight loss, triathlon, and wellness advice from the top fitness experts in the nation.

So whether you're an Ironman triathlete or you're just trying to shed a few pounds, get ready for non-run-of-the-mill cutting edge content from bengreenfieldfitness.com.

Ben Greenfield (0:56)

Hey folks, it's Ben Greenfield, and I'm pretty excited right now, not just because Thanksgiving is two days away, and I get to eat a lot of turkey, but also because the brand new Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast host is with us today. We're changing up the format of the podcast, and I am pleased to introduce you to a guy with a pretty long name, Brock, what's your full name? I'll let you go ahead and spit it out.

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (1:31)

Well, this is all because of Facebook. Facebook and it's silly policies about making sure that you're using your appropriate name. And when your last name is Skywalker, you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get them to actually recognize the fact that that really is your name. So I ended up being Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker on Facebook, and yeah, it just sort of stuck now. Everybody decides they're going to use my entire name.

So that's it.

Ben Greenfield (1:57)

So everybody can meet Brock Jason Skywalker Armstrong. I will be calling him Brock for obvious reasons.

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (2:04)

That would be great.

Ben Greenfield (2:05)

But Brock is going to be really, really involved with the Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast. He is unfortunately a Canadian, right, Brock?

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (2:17)

That's true, right?

Ben Greenfield (2:19)

And where are you at up in Canada?

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (2:22)

I'm in Toronto. I'm originally from Edmonton, but I live in Toronto now. So not quite as much the Great White North as I used to be in, but it's still pretty cold up here.

Ben Greenfield (2:31)

And Brock is intensely interested in all of the topics, the fitness and nutrition and endurance sports and healthy lifestyle topics that we go through in the Ben Greenfield Fitness show. But Brock, how do you spend your day? What do you actually do up there in the cold frigid North?

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (2:51)

Well, most of the time, and this is how I pay the bills, I guess, I'm a web developer and an email newsletter developer as well. So I spend pretty much my entire day in front of a computer.

Now I stand in front of the computer. That's instead of sitting in front of the computer all day. But I also am a marathon coach. I work with a group called Team and Training.

It's part of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. So we run marathons all over the world and raise money for blood cancer research and patient services and stuff. So it's really fun, really fulfilling, and you get to travel a lot.

Ben Greenfield (3:25)

You know, folks, if you really want to get infatuated with and stock Brock, he does have a website. I'll put a link to it in the show notes, but it's basically frozenpuck.com. And he's kind of being humble because he's got a ton of different plates spinning. I noticed, Brock, that you even have your own Wikipedia page.

And you're quite the musician up there as well.

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (3:48)

I've had several former lives. I just turned 40 this year and somehow I've managed to gouge and cram a whole bunch of different lives into those 40 years. My first profession being a professional ballet dancer, and I broke my foot and was rehabbing that and ended up joining a band and traveled with a band called Captain Tractor for 10 years, and then decided to go back to school. And that's when I started the web development stuff and also got into marathon coaching and triathlon coaching.

Yeah, it's been an awesome life so far.

Ben Greenfield (4:23)

Yeah, yeah. Sounds like you really need to get busy and start accomplishing something with your life.

Brock Jason Armstrong Skywalker (4:27)

That's why I'm here.

Ben Greenfield (4:30)

As the new Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast host. Well, folks, rather than you listening to Brock and I chat about our lives, we'll go ahead and jump into this week's content.