Ben Greenfield’s Weekly Roundup: August 21

Welcome to Ben Greenfield’s Weekly Roundup!

In this weekly post, I share with you my most interesting discoveries of the week, including the latest news on the fronts of fitness, nutrition, health, wellness, biohacking, and anti-aging research. I also recap my upcoming events and special announcements so you can keep up with opportunities to learn, giveaways, discounts, and more!

New Discoveries

Want to Reduce Your Plastic Exposure? *This* ONE Change Matters More Than *Anything* Else (& It Starts Working in Just 7 Days) 🤯

Ever wondered if you could meaningfully cut your exposure to plastic chemicals without gutting your entire kitchen or bathroom?

A new randomized controlled trial suggests the answer is “yes,” and the biggest lever isn’t your cookware or your skincare; it’s your grocery list.

Researchers tested several strategies, including plastic-free kitchenware, lower-plastic personal-care products, and food sourced to minimize plastic contact, and found that diet had the broadest impact.

And get this: measurable changes showed up in just seven days.

Compared with the control group, participants following the low-plastic diet saw urinary levels of mono-n-butyl phthalate, an endocrine disruptor linked to reproductive and developmental harm, drop by 37.5%; monobenzyl phthalate, tied to hormone disruption and metabolic changes, drop by 53.5%; and BPA, which mimics estrogen and has been linked to metabolic and cardiovascular effects, drop by nearly 60%.

In other words, you don’t necessarily need to overhaul your entire house or live in a plastic-free bubble to keep your exposure in check. If you want to prioritize the changes that can give you the most bang for your buck, start in the grocery store and your kitchen.

A few practical steps you can take:

• Choose fresh, whole foods with minimal packaging whenever possible.
• Go for foods sold loose, in glass, or in other non-plastic packaging over heavily plastic-wrapped options.
• Reduce your reliance on highly processed, packaged, and canned foods, which the study identified as important modifiable contributors to plastic-associated chemical exposure.
• Store leftovers in glass or stainless steel when practical.
• Avoid heating food in plastic, especially when an easy alternative like glass exists.
• Don’t ignore products you put on your body either: switching to lower-plastic personal-care products independently reduced one phthalate metabolite in the study, even though food changes had the broader effect.

This doesn’t mean every trace of plastic is destroying your health, or that you need to obsess over eliminating every exposure. But it does suggest that a few strategic changes around the food you eat every day can measurably reduce your exposure surprisingly quickly.

Want to go deeper? Check out my related resources on microplastics, environmental toxins, clean food sourcing, water filtration, and reducing your overall toxic burden for more practical ways to clean up your daily environment.

Looking for Actionable Health & Performance Advice You Can Trust? Check Out My NEW YouTube Channel 🎥⚡

There’s a time and place for a two-hour deep dive with a fascinating guest, which is why my Ben Greenfield Life YouTube channel will continue to be home to the Boundless Life podcast, expert interviews, and long-form conversations.

But sometimes, you just want to know: What’s the protocol? What should I try? And how do I actually put this into practice?

That’s exactly why I launched a second, separate YouTube channel dedicated to the practical, educational side of health, longevity, fitness, recovery, and biohacking.

On the new channel, you’ll find:

• Step-by-step routines and protocols you can immediately experiment with
• Practical breakdowns of the latest health and longevity science
• Fitness, nutrition, recovery, and biohacking strategies
• The tools, experiments, and hacks I’m personally testing
• And behind-the-scenes routines, vlogs, travel, and day-in-the-life content

In other words, if my main channel is where you go to dive deep, this is where you go when you want to get straight to the tactics.

I’m adding new videos regularly—subscribe here if you want to stay in the loop, and let me know in the comments what routine, protocol, or health topic you’d like me to break down next.

Boundless Hits Streaming THIS September + How to Pre-Order the Film Now 🎬

The Boundless Live tour has allowed me to share Boundless: The Man Who Became Human on the big screen alongside my family. Now, the film is almost available to everyone at home.

You can now pre-order Boundless on Apple TV (and on Prime Video soon!), with the full streaming release coming this September.

Boundless isn’t just a typical film about biohacking, longevity, or pushing the limits of human performance. It’s about what I discovered after years of doing exactly that, and why faith, family, relationships, purpose, and ultimately the soul became far more important than another biomarker or optimization hack.

So if you weren’t able to join us for one of the live screenings, or you’ve been waiting to watch the film at home, you can pre-order it here.

If you’ve already seen Boundless at one of the live premieres, I’d love for you to drop a comment below and tell me what resonated with you most.

This Week in Health & Performance: What the Latest Research Says

🥩⏳ Can You Eat Plenty of Protein And Still Target Longevity Pathways? Research suggests that restricting certain amino acids may influence pathways associated with healthy aging, but that’s only half the story. As you age, adequate protein becomes increasingly important for preserving muscle, strength, and recovery. My approach to getting the best of both worlds? Periodically use a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) and daily intermittent fasting, then aim for roughly 0.8–1 gram of protein per pound on most other days while lifting weights and incorporating thermal stress and VO₂ max training (read more here).

🥓⚠️ Not All Processed Foods Carry the Same Metabolic Baggage: When researchers looked at different categories of processed foods and type 2 diabetes risk, processed meats stood out as particularly concerning. Think less about an occasional high-quality steak and more about frequently eating heavily processed options such as low-quality sausage, bacon, hot dogs, and gas-station-style meat snacks (full study here).

⏰💪 Intermittent Fasting While Bulking? It May Help Keep Fat Gain in Check: New research suggests time-restricted eating can still support gains in muscle size and strength during a calorie surplus while potentially limiting simultaneous fat gain. Participants consumed roughly 300–500 extra calories per day, suggesting that strategically limiting your eating window doesn’t necessarily have to get in the way of building muscle, even when you’re intentionally eating more (full study here).

🐑🦴 Better Than Collagen? Scientists Are Turning Sheep’s Wool Into Bone-Building Material: In a fascinating example of regenerative medicine, researchers have developed a biomaterial from keratin extracted from sheep’s wool that could potentially be used to support bone repair. It’s early-stage research, not something you’re about to find next to collagen powder at the supplement store, but it points toward an intriguing new use for a natural material that would otherwise often go to waste (read more here).

Key Takeaway: Longevity isn’t about blindly restricting protein or fasting harder. The emerging picture is far more nuanced: preserve muscle with adequate protein and resistance training, experiment intelligently with fasting, minimize heavily processed foods, and keep an eye on regenerative technologies that could change how you approach healthy aging.

Want to dive deeper? Click the links above to explore the research, and click here to follow me on X for all the latest health and performance news hot off the press!

Product Of The Week

::: This Isn’t Your Average Honey—Save Up to 31% Off + Get $75 in Free Gifts 🍯⚡:::

Honey is everywhere, but most of it is basically table sugar—great flavor, but that’s about all it does.

Mānuka is different because of one bioactive compound: MGO (methylglyoxal). It’s naturally occurring, measurable, and studied for supporting a healthy immune response and a normal inflammation response after exercise. That’s the spot most honey never earns.

Real Mānuka honey is surprisingly rare. The Mānuka flower has a short blooming season in remote parts of New Zealand, and authenticity can be an issue with products sold under the Mānuka name. Manukora addresses that with third-party testing and traceability, so you can verify exactly where your honey came from.

I’ll drizzle it over yogurt, stir it into a drink, or take a spoonful when I want a quick source of natural energy. It’s one of those rare foods that tastes like a treat but also brings some impressive bioactive compounds to the table.

Starting from zero? Grab the Starter Kit (a jar of 850+ Mānuka, travel sticks, dose spoon, guidebook, and a 1:1 nutrition call) starting from $64 here.

Visit Manukora through my link and use code BEN to save up to 31% off and get FREE gifts worth $75.

Podcasts I Recorded This Week:

Eat *This* If You Consume Seed Oils, Best Way To Combine Strength & Cardio, Peptide “Stacking” Rules & More! Solosode #504

How To Raise Your HRV By Giving Up Control, & The Myth Of The Perfect Health Routine, With Justin Roethlingshoefer