The Hidden Health Epidemic Nobody Is Talking About (& 6 Ways To Protect Yourself From It)

Ben Greenfield (0:07)

I have a master's degree in Physiology, Biomechanics, and Human Nutrition. I've spent the past two decades competing in some of the most masochistic events on the planet, from Sealfit, Kokoro, Spartanagoji, and the world's toughest mutter, to 13 Ironman triathlons, brutal bow hunts, adventure races, spearfishing, plant foraging, freediving, bodybuilding, and beyond. I combine this intense time in the trenches with a blend of ancestral wisdom and modern science. Search the globe for the world's top experts in performance, fat loss, recovery, gut, hormones, brain, beauty, and brawn to deliver you this podcast. Everything you need to know to live an adventurous, joyful, and fulfilling life.

My name is Ben Greenfield.

Enjoy the ride!

Well, well, well, we are close to the new year, so I thought for today's show, I would really take a deep dive into probably one of the most important things that you can do this new year to enhance your health, both your physical health and your mental health and even your spiritual health. And now I'll let you wait with bated breath to hear exactly what it is that I'm going to cover on today's show. Now, before I do a couple of quick housekeeping items, they're not house keyed items, they're how I support this podcast. They're how you support this podcast. Every single episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness show is brought to you by my company, Keon. What do we do at Keon? We find ancestral nutrients like rock lotus extract and bitter melon extract and turmeric, and we combine these with modern molecules, things like sedol, merostoliate, and glucosamine chondroitin. We have one of the most pure, not one of the, we tested against 46 other coffees, the most pure, antioxidant-rich coffee that exists. We have a clean energy bar that is basically comprised of all the superfoods that I personally sprinkle on top of my smoothie in the morning. I had those created into a nutrient-dense, real food energy bar with a delicious chocolate-coconut flavor. Pretty much the bee's knees. Everything you need is over at Keon. K-I-O-N, that's how you spell the name of my company, Keon. You go to getkeon.com, ton of savings over there. We've always got amazing specials going on, wonderful articles, inspirational videos from yours truly. Everything's there. getkeon.com. getkion.com. This podcast is also brought to you by Onnit. And one of the cool things that Onnit has now is the Onnit 6 Kettlebell Transformation Program. Now, when it comes to something that I want to swing around to blast fat and build muscle, I could swing around babies or rocks or tree branches and logs or maybe some of those roosters my wife doesn't like anymore and keeps asking me to get rid of because she just wants the egg laying chickens.

Anyways, I don't do that. I swing kettlebells because kettlebells are pretty much the best way to get fit fast if you want cardio and strength simultaneously. And my good friends at Onnit have put together probably one of the best kettlebell courses that exists when it comes to you not needing to learn a bunch of complex moves, but just boom, get in, get out, zero decision making fatigue, and it freaking works. All the workouts are designed to help you lose weight and build muscle and move better and feel better. You can get it onnit.com/six.

Actually, I got one better for you. Go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/onnit. That's bengreenfieldfitness.com/o-n-n-i-t. That will get you 10% off of anything, including their Onnit six program, everything, their functional foods and their fitness gear, everything.

I like to say it like that. Anyways, go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/onnit.

Hey, I hope you're ready to get all sentimental. Not mental, sentimental. Two totally different things. This is another of my notorious solosodes in which I talk to you and try not to bore you droning on. I actually do want to talk about something kind of important today, and it's not about some of the stuff I've done solosodes on in the past, like diet or coffee.

Eating and coffee are both really great things, but I actually want to get maybe even slightly woo and talk about a hidden health epidemic that I think not a lot of people are aware of, but that we need to be paying a lot more attention to. And I'm going to tell you how you can kind of make sure for yourself that this bad thing is not going to happen to you.

I'm going to put show notes for you for everything I talk about, every recommendation I make, every book I mention, everything over in the show notes for today's show. You can get that at bengreenfieldfitness.com/friends. That's bengreenfieldfitness.com/friends, which actually gives you a clue about what I'm going to talk about today, because perhaps it's genetics, or perhaps it's because I was homeschooled K through 12 in rural North Idaho. But I'm an introvert through and through. I'm the guy at busy conferences who ducks away to my hotel room to escape and go recharge my batteries and be entirely by myself. I thrive on long walks, not with people, but by myself. Multi-hour hikes by myself. Long bike rides by myself.