The Hidden Toxins Killing Your Energy — Darin Olien’s Home Detox Playbook

Summary

The Dan Buettner Podcast

Episode: The Hidden Toxins Killing Your Energy — Darin Olien’s Home Detox Playbook

Guest: Darin Olien
Date: December 4, 2025

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Overview

In this engaging episode, Dan Buettner welcomes Darin Olien—well-known wellness expert, author of SuperLife and Fatal Conveniences, and Netflix docuseries host—to explore the everyday toxins in our homes and how they silently sap our energy, disrupt hormones, and may negatively impact our health and longevity. Together, they break down the five most impactful, accessible steps to detoxify the home and reveal simple swaps and mindset shifts for living cleaner, longer, and with more energy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Darin Olien’s Origin Story

• Background:
  • Darin grew up in Waseca, Minnesota. An early football injury led him to study the body, health, and nutrition.
  • His career was shaped by personal adversity: “No better motivator than hurt or sickness.” (Dan Buettner, 02:46)
• Path to Superfoods & Planetary Health:
  • Traveled globally (e.g. Peru, Amazon, Andes) to find health-promoting, ancient foods—rooted in anthropology and relationships with indigenous people.
  • “The discoveries were coming by way of having breakfast, lunch, or dinner with the people.” (Darin Olien, 08:12)

2. The Power of Simple, Whole Foods and Adaptogens

• Undervalued Natural Foods:
  • Sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, maca root, turmeric, ginger, leafy greens.
  • Notable exchange:
    • Dan: “The carbophobes out there point to potatoes. Oh my God, simple carbs. But... they're actually a net positive as long as we don't, you know, chop them up and fry them.” (09:00)
    • Darin: “Resistant starch goes up. Good for the microbiome.” (09:17)
• Adaptogenic Herbs:
  • Definition: “Number one, they can do no harm...they help regulate, modulate, not stimulate.” (Darin, 14:13)
  • Examples: Maca (hormonal support), tulsi, chaga, reishi mushrooms.
  • Incorporation: Add to smoothies, drinks; results are long-term, not instant.

3. Personal Catalyst: Darin’s Father and Chemical Sensitivity

• Story:
  • Darin's father suffered from multiple chemical sensitivity, forced to retire due to pervasive fragrance and chemical exposure—“surround sound of toxins.” (Darin, 19:12)
  • “I thought it was in his head originally, but then...he would send non scented [products].”
  • His father’s decline and death drove Darin’s crusade to reveal the hidden toxicity of modern environments.

4. Invisible Dangers: Household & Personal Care Toxins

• Core Argument: The real threat is cumulative, low-level exposure to thousands of endocrine-disrupting chemicals—hidden in beauty products, clothes, home cleaners, and water.
  • “It's not one smoking gun. We're talking thousands a day.” (Darin, 26:14)
  • “Our motility, our ability to, for sperm to be active... is dropping.” (Darin, 25:04)
• Beauty Products: 99% contain fragrances or chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system; “If it smells good, don’t use it, usually.” (Dan, 23:09)

5. Actionable Detox: Darin’s Five Easy Home Swaps

1. Clean Your Water (27:33–29:15)

• "Filter your water... Good reverse osmosis filter or distillation. Boom. Clean it out." (Darin, 27:46)
• Avoid bottled water. Use glass bottles for family.

2. Food Choices & Washing (29:23–30:20)

• Prioritize organic; always wash “exposed” fruits/veggies (baking soda + vinegar soak).
• “Our buddy Michael Greger’s Dirty Dozen list... will shock you.” (Dan, 30:07)

3. Toothpaste & Oral Care (30:20–32:32)

• Avoid fluoride (a “neurotoxin”) and plastic packaging.
• Use products like Bite Toothpaste (in glass); baking soda is an effective cleanser.
• “If you're still in the world of Listerine... that destroys the microbiome of the mouth.” (Darin, 31:40)

4. Lotions & Deodorants (32:09–35:41)

• Use coconut oil or shea butter for moisturizer and sunblock (natural SPF 6–9).
• Avoid products with parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances.
• DIY deodorants: coconut oil, arrowroot; or trusted clean brands (Bite’s deodorant).
• “If it can’t go in your mouth, it’s a good indicator it’s not good on your skin.” (Darin, 35:10)

5. Clothing & Bedding (35:03–37:10)

• Favor natural materials (organic cotton, hemp, linen) over synthetic fabrics (polyester, nylon).
• Underwear specifically: avoid plastics; try plant-dyed and organic brands.
• Shoes: Wide toe box for foot health/balance.
• “If we make them live in tight shoes, [foot] muscles... atrophy, you’re going to lose your balance.” (Dan, 37:20)

Bonus: Home Cleaning Products & Kitchenware

• Replace chemical cleansers with simple DIY mixtures: white vinegar, baking soda, borax, lemon essential oil.
• Laundry: “I’m spending 7 cents per load!” (Darin, 42:34)
• Pans: Throw away Teflon (PFAS); use stainless steel, cast iron, or safe ceramics: “Absolutely. Full stop. It’s going in your food, your children’s food.” (Darin, 45:18)

6. Bigger Picture: Systems & Responsibility

• Global health threat: Toxins are not individually catastrophic but their cumulative effect is profound.
• Regulatory failure: “There’s no regulatory system. The FDA is not going 'Hey, prove to me what’s in here.' ... There’s a growing monster of profits over people.” (Darin, 52:02)
• Mindset Shift:
  • “We have to step in, become our own CEO of our life...It’s not our fault. The systems... have been marketed to us.” (Darin, 45:10)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “These systems that have been marketed to us, the God of that system is profit. This is dangerous. These are disruptive chemicals and we're constantly being exposed to them over time. It's not one smoking gun. We're talking thousands a day.”
  – Darin Olien, 00:06

• “If it can’t go in your mouth, it’s a good indicator it’s not good on your skin.”
  – Darin Olien, 35:10

• “We so want a result. But a lot of these adaptogens like maca... it’s not just take it and I feel it.”
  – Darin Olien, 14:10

• "You will build on an energy that you didn’t know you didn’t have."
  – Darin Olien, 46:57

• “If you want to live longer, don’t try to change your behavior because you’ll fail… in Blue Zones, it’s about shaping your environment so the healthy choice ensues.”
  – Dan Buettner, 18:01

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:06] – Introduction to hidden chemical exposure
• [02:00–05:30] – Darin’s health journey, formative experiences, and transition to health science
• [08:12] – Discoveries in Peru and the importance of food diversity
• [14:10] – Understanding adaptogens and their real effect
• [19:09–21:37] – Darin’s father's illness, chemical sensitivities, and the wake-up call
• [22:00–24:07] – Ubiquity of chemical exposure, beauty/care products
• [27:33–29:15] – 1st home detox tip: Water filters
• [30:20] – Washing produce effectively
• [31:00] – Choosing safe toothpaste/oral hygiene
• [32:09] – Skincare/home personal care swaps
• [35:03] – Clothing, bedding, materials, and foot health
• [41:20] – Safer home cleaning strategies
• [44:56] – Nontoxic cookware
• [45:10] – Mindset: Taking back power in your home
• [55:05] – SuperLife’s five essential health lessons
• [57:34–59:37] – Dan and Darin boil down actionable pillar habits for health and longevity

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Episode Flow and Tone

The episode is conversational, practical, and at times philosophically urgent—combining Darin’s eye-opening research and stories with Dan’s experience in longevity science. Both hosts emphasize empowerment rather than fear, stressing “small, easy changes” that can transform energy, health, and life expectancy.

• Dan’s tone: Analytical, lightly humorous, seeking practical clarity for his audience.
• Darin’s tone: Passionate, sometimes indignant at industry failings, but always focused on solutions and hope.

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In Summary

This episode is a home detox playbook: practical, evidence-backed, and peppered with lighthearted asides and personal stories. You’ll finish with actionable steps to eliminate the most common household toxins and remake your everyday environment to feel more energetic, protected, and aligned with the habits of the world’s healthiest people.

Takeaway:
Start small—clean your water, switch your toothpaste, swap out a lotion, wash your produce, and be intentional about the fabrics you wear. Each step is a win for your health and energy.

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Recommended Resource:
Pick up Darin Olien’s book Fatal Conveniences for science-driven guidance and simple solutions to cut down environmental toxins—“the best $20 you ever spend for an extra few years of life expectancy.” (Dan Buettner, 48:47)

Transcript

[Darren Olene]

Lemonade.

These systems that have been marketed to us, the God of that system is profit. This is dangerous. These are disruptive chemicals and we're constantly being exposed to them over time. It's not one smoking gun. We're talking thousands a day.

[Dan Buettner]

We've been marketed all of this convention convenient but ultimately poison. What can I do today? My guest today, Darren Oleen has done the research to identify all the substances in our lives that are damaging our health. And he gives us five easy things that we can do in our homes to get rid of these substances and easy hacks to mindlessly live a healthier life avoiding the things that are bad for us. Darren Olene I could not be happier than to be sitting across the table from you. Why? Because Blue Zones is all about shaping your environment so you live longer and you are in the absolute forefront of shaping our home environment so we don't die before we're supposed to. And I want to get into that but. And I know you're going to give people the five things we can do to shape our home environment so we don't die sooner. Which I don't know anybody who's really dived into this as you have and come out with very clear action item for the for the rest of us to do. But first, let's go to our common roots.

You know, I attribute most of your great success, your New York Times bestsellers, your number one Emmy award winning Netflix docu series, that's another thing.

[Darren Olene]

Yep.

[Dan Buettner]

We both have one of those. But we're also most importantly both from Minnesota.

So just briefly tell us about your bio, where, where you're from and. And all these wonderful accomplishments.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Wasika, Minnesota, which is about 80 miles of south of the Twin Cities. Yep. I actually started at Augsburg and then had a career ending back injury playing football. It was that wake up moment was like why don't I learn about this body? That seems to be failing me a bit. And University of St. Thomas had a great program where I went. Yep. We kind of tailor made a almost liberal arts version of health. So there was. I had kinesiology, exercise, fizz nutrition.

And also rehab. Did a lot of stuff there. So it exposed me. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I was fascinated with the body and most importantly I was hurt. So I was still trying to get better.

[Dan Buettner]

No better motivator than hurt or sickness. Right?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. And the regular pts and stuff were not getting me back on the field. Field. And so it was just a bummer moment. But it changed my life. At University of St Thomas, I studied that stuff. And then. And then the adventurous spirit kicked in. After 60 to 90 below wind chill temperatures at my last winter there, I was like, no way. Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

And then living in a cold plunge.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly. It's like, cold plunge. Come on. That was. That was our upbringing.

[Dan Buettner]

I just want to point out one thing already that's so counterintuitive that when bad things happen to us, we always think they're curses. And hear this bad thing happen to you at a very young age, which not only led you on a path of discovery, you've been fantastically successful. And who knows if you wouldn't have gotten injured. You know, you might. Not to say that this is terrible, but you might be an insurance salesman in Waseca, Minnesota, or something.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, I might have been stuck, you know, who knows? But that was quite a moment because I was just kind of following. My dad taught business, and so I kind of had a. Like, let's just learn about business. I was just kind of grabbing a major. But when I got injured, it was the moment of an interest and motivation coming together to study. And that, to me, was the first time from as long as I could remember, that I could bring together a passion, a need into a possible career. And that was early. I was 20 years old. And then the day after graduation, I had a motorcycle. My dad had a Harley. We had a trip planned the day after I graduated.

[Dan Buettner]

Wow. And sounds like motorcycle diaries.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. So me and my dad in the.

[Dan Buettner]

Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, exactly. I don't know if you read that for sure. I have. Yeah. And so it was a great father son moment. And I rode out to Boulder, Colorado, where I. I lived for seven years, kind of diving into physiology. I worked with a great physiologist, Dale Greenwald, back then and doing exercise rehab and got into that. Got into more nutrition stuff. And then I was kind of hitting my head on the ceiling of that. I studied psychology, was commuting back and forth from Boulder to Santa Monica. And then once I saw Santa Monica.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah.

[Darren Olene]

I was like, wait, what?

[Dan Buettner]

It's like the Boulder of a Los Angeles.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly.

[Dan Buettner]

And for you, you know, we also share this explorer background because early on you were traveling the world to find superfoods and compounds that would improve health.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. In Boulder, I started to really. I had doctors that I become friends with through the gyms, and they, like. I remember one doctor in particular. He'd come and really before the Internet was cranking, Right. So he would go to CU University and Come back with all these nutritional data and basically give me lectures. He just liked me. And on. On nutritional compounds of cinnamon and ginger and. And I was like, wait, what?

[Dan Buettner]

And medicines?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. Very, very powerful. And I started playing with foods. I started playing with, you know, date recipes and adding certain ingredients. And then I was doing triathlon. I did my first triathlon in Waseca when my dad was doing triathlons when I was 16. And so dad was always healthy and I was. So I was. Performance was always a thing and still being an athlete. So I started playing with these foods. And then after my father passed away in 2003, I said, Stop just messing around. Just dive into this a hundred percent. So I created a company and I just. If I'm going to really formulate or find ancient compounds or find ancient foods that can help people, let's go. It was. And I really say this not just because you're sitting here, but the Minnesota background. And then having all of my family from South Dakota and ranchers and, and farmers, I was like, innocently, I just need to go to the place of origin to see where these things are from. And really, this is 2003 and I was looking at supplements already going. Most of this is junk.

[Dan Buettner]

It really is.

[Darren Olene]

It's not tested. I was testing it myself through Covance and Mickelson Labs and doing all this stuff. I'm like, wow, the marketing story is convincing, can be accurate, but it's usually from a whole food source or indigenous source, or it's not when it's neutered and powdered. So that sparked an interest.

[Dan Buettner]

What are the natural sort of supplements, if you will, that either a. You found or are under celebrated as being really good for us, that the average person listening right now can go to their, let's say whole Foods or go to the Internet and easily acquire.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. Well, before I get to there, it's almost like I. I was realizing, anthropologically, it was like I was interested in the, in the people and where they're from and these and, and really, you'd appreciate this. Really. The discoveries were coming by way of having breakfast, lunch, or dinner with the people.

[Dan Buettner]

Where were you?

[Darren Olene]

One of my first adventures was Peru.

[Dan Buettner]

Okay.

[Darren Olene]

And the Amazon or the Amazon and the Andes. And they simply start asking questions. What is that? Well, it's a tuber. Like what. What is that tuber? And, well, it's a. It's called maca. And you're in the middle of nowhere at 14,000ft, and it's kind of the only thing growing. And then Come to find out, Peru's the, the potato capital of the planet, right?

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah.

[Darren Olene]

And they have a seed bank of every tuber known to man. So yeah, tubers, one of the best foods, I think most satiating foods in the world. But also as you know, sweet potatoes and purple potatoes and all of these things. The problem is we have such little diversity that we get exposed to. So those kind of things started.

[Dan Buettner]

The carbophobes out there point to potatoes. Oh my God, simple carbs. But I agree with you that potatoes, well, especially sweet and purple sweet potatoes, but regular potatoes, they're actually a net positive as long as we don't, you know, chop them up and fry them.

[Darren Olene]

Totally.

[Dan Buettner]

And make them into french fries.

[Darren Olene]

But then the, the resistant starch goes up. So if you cook a potato, even normal potato, and you cool it and then just heat it later, the resistant starch goes up. Good for the microbiome. Yeah, like incredible size.

[Dan Buettner]

It's a low glycemic food and literally.

[Darren Olene]

On the scale of being one of the most satisfying foods for us. So very efficient in terms of we don't have to eat a lot. It's very satisfying.

[Dan Buettner]

So why is that?

[Darren Olene]

Well, because I think because carbs are good and we need it. But also the resistant starch in there.

[Dan Buettner]

Is it important to eat the peel?

[Darren Olene]

Yes, very much so. And as we found out that a lot of the polyphenols and the anthocyanins and all of these things are on the exterior because those are antioxidants for the world, for the bacterias and fungus coming onto that fruit or veg. Right. Or in this case, potato. So but going back to what you, you said, you realize that, okay, there might be a Amazonian ginger that's exotic or whatever, but all ginger is still one of the greatest anti inflammatories in our cabinets.

[Dan Buettner]

But just, just to sort of bring it to a point here, what are the herbs and the roots that, that would like, rank order, the top five that have the, the, the strongest medicinal value and the best research behind them.

[Darren Olene]

Well, I think keeping it simple without going exotic from the Amazon or something, I would say turmeric, ginger, I still would throw leafy greens, kale, spinach, those kind of things. And you don't have to really, you can cook, you can add, you can powder, all of that stuff. Of course, testing. And because of the modern incon. Fatal convenience of it, we've got heavy metals, we've got things like that. So you need to be aware of certain sources. The thing that Got me so excited about showing up to another area, especially the Amazon. You come with. One of my first discoveries was maca.

[Dan Buettner]

It's a variant of potato.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, it's a variant of potato. It actually, when you pull it out of the ground fresh, it takes like, tastes like wasabi.

[Dan Buettner]

Oh my gosh.

[Darren Olene]

Right. It's very strong, very potent, very spicy. And it, it has been used indigenously for a very long time for regulation and support modulation of like an adaptogenic plant to help modulate the hormones. So for.

[Dan Buettner]

Can you get this maca?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

Where do you get it?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, there's. There's powdered maca all over. You can't eat maca outside the country because it's, it's. It's protected under the biopiracy laws of Peru, which China stolen actually. So there was a lot of stuff that China.

[Dan Buettner]

But if you get in the United States, how will you get interrupt?

[Darren Olene]

You can, as long as you eat it powdered. It's not something so they want to protect between.

Replication. I see, so. So you don't want to get it here and just.

[Dan Buettner]

Intellectual property issue. Yeah, something like that. Okay, so just getting down to specifics, we get online, we order maca powder. Why do we take it and how do we take it?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, so I mean, the indigenous people took anywhere from 5 to 100 grams a day. Having energy, regulating immune system function as well as hormonal function. So women, it seems to show that it helps with.

Modulating hormones for women as well as increasing potential testosterone for men. So yeah, you can order it online. A great company. I have no affiliation, but I know where their source is. Navitas, It's a northern California company.

[Dan Buettner]

Do you take it every day or.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, I do. I just had some in my.

[Dan Buettner]

You add it in a smoothie or.

[Darren Olene]

I just add it to like, I make a little cacao drink.

[Dan Buettner]

Okay.

[Darren Olene]

A little warm cacao drink. I add some guarana, which is a.

Amazon form of a stimulant.

That's my coffee. And then with the cacao, the theobromine, and then I add a little maca. And that's kind of like my morning one of my morning elixir. So yeah, you can, you can add it, you know, call it a tablespoon teaspoon. But over time, people don't realize that we, we so want a result. But a lot of these adaptogens like maca, just similar to the tulsi or chaga mushrooms, reishi mushrooms, like these are adaptogenic herbs.

[Dan Buettner]

Tell us what adaptogenic means.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. So adaptogenic means basically, number one, they can do no harm. Okay, so under the herbal.

Definition, they can't do harm. And they are there to help regulate, modulate, not stimulate. Right. So you're regulating the body. So if your body is under utilized in its immune system, a, a adaptogenic herb could help, or adaptogenic mushrooms could help modulate over time. But it's a, it's not. Just take it and I feel it. Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

And you don't want to overstimulate your immune system because then you get autoimmune diseases.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly. And if something is often running hot with an immune, it can actually pull it down. So adaptogenic herbs are modulating the cool thing about as without, so within, as they are expressed in the world, they're usually under some sort of extreme stress. So those modulations are happening for them initially to survive in their wild. So when we have this synergistic effect with those plants, they then help to regulate and modulate us, which is such an amazing thing alone that we can have this relationship with sort of harnessing.

[Dan Buettner]

Botanical wisdom to make our bodies run better.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly.

[Dan Buettner]

Every year, as the holidays roll around, I try to slow things down. You know, it's easy to get caught up in travel plans and presents. But what I've learned from studying the world's longest lived people is that the real gift is time spent together. Up in my lake home in Wisconsin, I'll light a fire, make a pot of sardini minestrone, and invite a few friends over to linger for hours. Maybe we'll even play a game of broomball on the ice covered lake. But we don't have a schedule. We don't rush. We tell stories and we laugh. And every once in a while, we'll catch our laughter echoing off the frozen lake. When I'm away during the rest of the winter, I like it that other families get to experience that same sense of calm. Hosting my home on Airbnb makes that possible. It keeps the place alive with memories and. And while I'm off exploring, it gives visiting family the gift of togetherness. Have you ever thought about how your home could do the same? You know, by hosting it, you can earn extra income that could go towards your next family trip. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host.

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You know, another great overlap. The Blue Zone thesis is if you want to live longer, don't try to change your behavior because you'll fail. I know you're an example of the opposite case because you're super disciplined. But most people aren't. Most people, they try diets, they try exercise programs, maybe they'll try a supplement regimen and they'll stick to it for a few weeks or a few months and then they forget about it or they run out of discipline. So in blue zones, it's about shaping your environment so the healthy choice ensues. And I generally talk about trying to set up nudges and defaults that make the healthy choice easy. You've written this fantastic book, Fatal Conveniences, about getting rid of the unhealthy choices in your house. And I have under celebrated or under focused on the toxins that surround sound us in our house. And I'd like you to start actually with how you got into writing this book and the story of your dad.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

If you don't mind talking, I know it's no.

[Darren Olene]

All good. Yeah. So when I was at University of St. Thomas, I get a call from my dad, several calls. But you know, this high functioning double master's degree professor, my mentor, who was like, I can't think, I have no energy. I'm like what's going on? He can. He goes, well, I've been working with these doctors. Seems as though I have what's called a multiple chemical sensitivity. I said, what the hell is that? He goes, deodorants, shampoos, I can't even wear my Harley T shirts because they off gas with azo dyes and colorants and everything else. And so carpets and carpet cleaner and paints and go down the list. So he'd send research, he'd send VHS tapes to me. And of course I didn't think he was. I thought it was in his head originally, but then after a period of time he would send me these kits when I was going to go back home to visit family. He would send me the non scented laundry detergent, the non scented shampoos and conditioners and the fragrance free everything. And so you can't be around me, he said, unless you bathe in all of this stuff because I can't sit with that. So cut to he was forced to retire from the University of Minnesota because he couldn't educate his wing of colleagues and students fast enough. Because he couldn't be around, he couldn't function. It sent him through depression and isolation and trying to find a cure within a world, like you said, surround sound of toxins. And then unfortunately that spiraled him into picking up the bottle after 30 years of sobriety. And then that that was the cause of his death. So now 30 years later, of course I write Super Life. I'm pushing, trying to help people get healthy and this, this growing elephant in the room of our modern day world is just getting stronger and stronger and stronger. So I, I needed to put my intention into this unpopular situation and, and I was inspired by him, clearly. And what I discovered was worse than I even thought. Right. So the personal care world.

On average, a woman is exposed to over 120 chemicals every day just by her normal morning routines and then reapplications and, and all of that, I'll just be brief. But all of that is fragrances that are not natural. So they lead to endocrine disruption.

And that, that is kind of a hijacking of our very, very delicate system of communication throughout our body. Like when you start to mess with the endocrine system that is the, the physical communication of your entire body.

[Dan Buettner]

Let's just go category by category. What are the, what are the worst beauty creams and aids to, to, to avoid?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. So I would stay away from anything that has these fragrances in it.

[Dan Buettner]

Any fragrance?

[Darren Olene]

Yes. Unless it has a disclosed essential oil that is different. So that's a different.

[Dan Buettner]

So you want to call out some, some of the worst.

[Darren Olene]

I don't really, I do in the book just because I don't want to throw anyone necessarily under the bus. But.

There'S, I'll put it this way, that 99% of the products that you, it would take too long to say every one of them, but 99% of them have some form of endocrine disruption. So you think about your.

[Dan Buettner]

So if it smells good, don't use it. Usually.

[Darren Olene]

Usually, yeah. So think about a Day, a normal day, you wake up, you're probably getting off gassed from your mattress and the material that your mattress is in.

So those are already affecting you. And clothing is a whole nother world because most of that is petroleum. Think of, most of your clothes is a synthetic form. Polyester, polyester, nylon, all of these things are a. Think of it as you're wearing a, a plastic water bottle. Right. Second largest polluter on the planet. Second. And so now you're wearing that. You have underwear that has plastics. And now we're, thank God we're starting to talk about microplastics. They're showing up everywhere.

[Dan Buettner]

But just to be a little disruptive, I mean we've been wearing.

Synthetic clothing for 50 years and we've been using these beauty products. Yet, yet life expectancies continues to go up. So do we. I mean has anybody done the study to, to isolate a group of people who don't use any of these natural products and people only use natural products to see if there's a difference in.

[Darren Olene]

Their health or no long term studies. As, as opposed. There's no, zero money in that. So I haven't seen any direct.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah, you certainly wouldn't fund that study.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. But the thing that the contribute. There's a lot of contributing factors, but our motility is dropping off the cliff. Our motility, our ability to, for sperm to be active and its ability to get someone pregnant. So men's motility is. And sperm count is dropping.

[Dan Buettner]

And what is the number one culprit there?

[Darren Olene]

Well, it's a multi, there's not one. But it's, it's everything.

[Dan Buettner]

Maybe we're just not eating enough beans.

[Darren Olene]

Well, we're not eating enough clean foods because you're getting, you're getting exposed to chemicals in your food. You're getting exposed to glyphosates and astrazeneca in your food.

[Dan Buettner]

Right.

[Darren Olene]

All of that stuff. Plus you're, you're spraying yourself in colognes, lotions, fragrances.

Shampoos, conditioners, all of those endocrine disrupting again, further supporting your endocrine system not functioning. The problem is an industry will always push back because it's not one smoking gun. We're talking thousands a day. Right. So we're talking getting hit from every. It is common sense. So I lay this out in the book where, listen, I. There's hundreds and hundreds of studies that we found that are pointing to. These are disruptive chemicals and we're constantly being exposed to them over time. Right. So proximity and duration seems to be the biggest culprits of success.

[Dan Buettner]

You know, I think the, the by the way, Fatal Convenience is a great book. I read it when it first came out not too long ago, and it really kind of opened my eyes. I, I, I do think there is a parallel study. There's this great organization called the Global Burden of Disease Study that has looked at data worldwide over the last, since 1990 or. And they found that air pollution shaves as much as five years off of your life expectancy. We never think of air pollution as a life expectancy inhibitor. But, you know, we always think, well, we got to get the right diet and we got to exercise enough, we got to take these supplements. But it turns out the contaminants in our, our environment inhibit our life way more than we think. And I think your Fatal conveniences signals that, whoa, if we really want health and longevity, we need to pay attention to it. But for my audience who likes what can I do today? I'm a new mom. Tell me what to do today to make my house more of a, a blue zone or more free of things that are short in my life or make my children unhealthy.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. So five things I would say go. Think of it. First off, from in to out water. Number one, half of the US Population is being exposed by pesticides, herbicides, and PFAS just from our drinking water. So filter your water. How do you filter a good reverse osmosis filter or distillation. Boom. Clean it out. Right?

[Dan Buettner]

Okay, so we need to put in under our sink or a countertop.

[Darren Olene]

And this is cheap. This is, this is a couple hundred bucks. Get a glass bottle now. You've just eliminated exposure from all of the tap. And then you're not re exposing it from microplastics of a pores. Get everyone in the family their own glass bottle. Boom. You've just cleaned up a huge amount of exposure. And if you can get at least a carbon filter on your shower to eliminate most of those heavier toxins from the water. And if you want to take a further investment, there is whole house filters that you can also get. So water, we need water both in and out. We're bathing it at all time. Or washing our vegetables. Use reverse osmosis water.

[Dan Buettner]

Wait, so you can get a countertop reverse osmosis filter?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So there's a great company I've used forever called Aqua True.

[Dan Buettner]

Okay.

[Darren Olene]

Puts on the filter. They also have an under the counter. Every six months, 100 bucks to get new filters. Now you don't have to Buy extra water. You don't have to run and run around with, you know, plastic water bottles heating up in the car. Like, yeah, you know, all of that stuff.

[Dan Buettner]

I think we now know we ignore them. But the perils of plastic bottles.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. Okay.

[Dan Buettner]

Water, number one, number two.

[Darren Olene]

And food. Food I do, you know, again, inside out. Do the best you can organic. And wash, wash, wash your vegetables, your fruits, your. Especially your fruits, the exposed fruits like the berries and, and the apples and the, and the nectarines and wash all of that stuff. Easy way to do that is in your reverse osmosis. Water. Add a tablespoon of baking soda, a splash of vinegar and let that sit and that will, that will percolate all of the chemicals off of the outside. Organic's best. But if you can't make sure you do this, if this is Michael Greger.

[Dan Buettner]

Our buddy, he's got a great list called the Dirty Dozen, which you can Google the dirty. It'll tell you the most pesticide laden fruits and vegetables out there and it will shock you. Okay, so we got water, we got food. What's the third?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, then the other one, I would start leaning into the bathroom because I would go toothpaste. Because it's in your mouth. Right. Get rid of fluorides and ultimately.

[Dan Buettner]

Wait a minute, doesn't fluoride combat cavities?

[Darren Olene]

It doesn't. There it is, a neurotoxin. And it's some amazing studies on children showing how neurotoxic it is and brain activity being exposed to this. And so another reason to filter the water. Scary stuff.

[Dan Buettner]

But what kind of toothpaste should we use then?

[Darren Olene]

So for me also environmentally, get rid of the plastic because the plastic's also getting into the liquid. I use a company called Bite Toothpaste. It's one little capsule, clean little capsule in a glass jar. You take that, chew on it.

[Dan Buettner]

What's in it? Bite.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. So it's all, how does it clean your teeth? It's all clean ingredients. So bicarbonates.

And uses natural mints, things like that. So it.

[Dan Buettner]

But does it fight cavities like fluoride does?

[Darren Olene]

Of course. Well, fluoride hasn't been shown to fight cavities.

[Dan Buettner]

There you note to self, we've been bamboozled for a half a century.

[Darren Olene]

And plus again along that same line, if you're still in the world of Listerine and, and using those kind of things, that destroys the microbiome of the mouth.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Darren Olene]

And actually can perpetuate further disruption. And you're doing a lot of carbohydrate digestion with damylase in your mouth. So it's really important to keep that. Okay. Balanced. So change out your toothpaste.

Continuing to kind of move from there. Start to look at the lotions that you're slathering. What goes on, your skin goes in. So again, those endocrine disruptors, those parabens, those phthalates, what, what products are we talking about? Yeah, so, well, parabens. Again, 99% of the products out there have parabens and phthalates.

[Dan Buettner]

Okay, what if, okay, I want to moisturize my skin.

[Darren Olene]

What should I. Shea butter, coconut oil. Okay. Simple coconut oil is, is a natural SPF as well. So 6 to 9 SPF full body, no problem.

[Dan Buettner]

Who knew That's a be just like you go to the food section of your grocery store and get coconut oil and you can use it as a sunscreen if you want.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly. And there's that is, that is, that.

[Dan Buettner]

Is a really cool hack right there.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly. Yeah. And there's great sunscreens that if you're going to be outside more, but they're, they're barriers like zinc, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide. Like you can put the white stuff, which doesn't transport into the, into the body. So if you need to block sun, I'm a big fan of. Get your natural, respect your own skin. Don't ever burn.

[Dan Buettner]

These sunscreens are overhyped. They're over marketed to us.

[Darren Olene]

They're dangerous. Again, people freak out with this stuff because there's real melanomas that are happening. But again there's cleaner, healthier forms. If you're susceptible to these things, again, you have to respect your skin, your heritage, your things like that.

[Dan Buettner]

How about deodorant?

[Darren Olene]

Oh, deodorant's a big one.

[Dan Buettner]

What should I use for deodorant if I don't want nasty chemicals?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, so you can make, you can make your own. You can also go back to shea butter, coconut oil.

[Dan Buettner]

Do you put that under your arms?

[Darren Olene]

Arrow root. Yeah. And you mix that up.

[Dan Buettner]

Okay, but let's just talk to the real world. The real world is used to going down the grocery store and buying some in a tube. So what's going to be super easy for maybe getting online? But what's, what's super easy for the average sort of American?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, there's a few, there's a few good companies. Again, the bite toothpaste actually makes a very clean deodorant.

[Dan Buettner]

How about essential oils for under the, under your arms?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, of course. I Mean, listen, you can use lemon. You can use lemon under your oil and that's it. Right?

[Dan Buettner]

Or lemon oil.

[Darren Olene]

No, just lemon. Just take lemon and literally use it. It's incredible. Antibacterial. Does it sting a little bit or doesn't it? What sting if you're, you know, shaving your armpits? Dan. I don't know. I mean it could doing that a while ago, but. But you could mix that into your coconut oil. All right. Your squeezed lemon and it's fantastic.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah.

[Darren Olene]

Or shea butter again, I love that.

[Dan Buettner]

Put a little bit on your bread while you, while you're doing it. It's probably pretty delicious.

[Darren Olene]

Listen, you should think that way. We all should. If you can't. If it can't go in your mouth, it's a good indicator. I love that. Then a good indicator. It's not good on your skin. Okay. So these things are really important. The other areas at least change your underwear out to natural organic hemp linen underwear like that. That is a. There's a few companies.

[Dan Buettner]

How about just going commando?

[Darren Olene]

You know, you could, you could go commando too, but you also have interaction with the next layer.

[Dan Buettner]

Oh, I see.

[Darren Olene]

You know, so if I know that I'm not wearing organic layers, my underwear is always organic. I help. My buddy Jeff Garner has been a plant dying fashion designer for 20 years film actually it's being released September 21st on Amazon called Let them be naked and he's created organic underwear under Prophetic, both women and men. There's a great company. Every. Everything I'm wearing right here is from an incredible company of three Argentinian brothers. But they have shops around and online shops that work directly with people all over the world using zero artificial dyes, all plant dyes. It's called industry of all nations.

[Dan Buettner]

So for those of you who can't see Darren right now, he's wearing sort of a tight button up shirt, kind of a light plum color T shirt and very stylish pants. And I'm guessing those are. Are those leather shoes?

[Darren Olene]

Those are the, the. These are faux leather.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah, they. Oh, that sounds like it might have some.

[Darren Olene]

It might be, but they're given to me so I didn't want to throw them away.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Darren Olene]

They look cool. From Vivo. Vivo barefoot.

[Dan Buettner]

Oh, cool. They sort of look like boxing.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. So it lets the feet wide and the toe box.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah, I have that on too.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, perfect. Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

A big fan of wide toe box. Even though they look dorky. That's the way we evolve with non constriction on our feet.

[Darren Olene]

Let your feet be free man. It. You'll change it, change your life.

[Dan Buettner]

By the way, you know, one of the top five killers of older people is falling down. And the reason we fall down is lower body strength and we lose our balance. And if we do not take care of our feet, if we make them live in tight shoes, eventually though your feet muscles are going to atrophy, you're going to lose your balance. More likely to lose your balance and you lower your life expectancy. So wide toe box shoes is a really great, really great way to go. Practice better barefoot.

[Darren Olene]

Barefoot.

[Dan Buettner]

But we're. I'm too much of a tenderfoot to walk barefoot anymore.

[Darren Olene]

Practice. Just practice.

[Dan Buettner]

I should.

[Darren Olene]

You should.

[Dan Buettner]

I'm too much of a wimp.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah. It just takes time and like this would happen when I was traveling a lot, running around. Once I was in an area, I would throw my shoes away and run throughout the Amazon because I would feel once I realized how much I was not feeling, I just started discarding my shoes.

[Dan Buettner]

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Talk about cleansers. That's the other household product. You know, we wash our dishes, we clean our floors, we clean our toilets, clean our windows. I, I'm guessing the cleansers most of us use is, are, are dangerous.

[Darren Olene]

Very dangerous, yeah. So easy. Here's some easy ones. Laundry detergent. Borax. Nice clean. Get a tub of that.

[Dan Buettner]

Well, can you buy Borax anywhere?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, yeah. Online.

I get tubs of it so I don't have to worry about it. Sodium bicarbonate.

[Dan Buettner]

Baking soda.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, baking soda.

[Dan Buettner]

What do you use baking soda for?

[Darren Olene]

So the interaction between baking soda and vinegar breaks up dirt. So yeah, that combination if I have nasty stains and something like I was just my dog beds the other day and the dog's just carrying it. So I, I, I pre soaked baking soda with vinegar and then washed it normally. So and then I'll add in Borax and then I'll add lemon essential oil. So that's I'm, I'm spending 7 cents of laundry. You know, just go figure it.

[Dan Buettner]

You know, we're so you bring up such a great point in Fatal Conveniences. The whole book is full of things like this. But we've been marketed all of this convenient but ultimately poison that we put on our bodies, used to clean our house, put in our bodies. And there's a much cheaper and more effective and safer way to, to, to do life, to do your surroundings.

[Darren Olene]

Exactly. And an all purpose cleaner. It's quite easy. I have a glass bottle with a sprayer. I add three quarters of it. Water Add some organic white vinegar and essential oil and now I'm cleaning my entire place.

[Dan Buettner]

Does that really work as good as bleach or these other Lysol or.

[Darren Olene]

I would say yes, but you might need some elbow grease. You might need to just work at it. So some of the stains you can go back to. Like if your toilet bowl. I dump again, sodium bicarbonate. I dump vinegar in there, I let it soak and we're pearly white again. And I also do that on clothing. Right. So whites. I use the same thing. I soak sodium bicarbonate.

[Dan Buettner]

Sometimes you put the vinegar in later or do you put, you put them.

[Darren Olene]

Both together and then if you really have. Or you can also, if something's really bad, you can, you can create a little paste of sodium bicarbonate. You can also use hydrogen peroxide. Get a tub, a gallon of hydrogen peroxide for 12 bucks. And so now you've got everything you need to clean your clothing, your entire bathroom, your entire kitchen.

[Dan Buettner]

And how about cleaning dishes? What do you use?

[Darren Olene]

My hands? No, But I use Dr. Bronner's dish soap. So I have a gallon of that I'm spending nothing on. I'm the opposite of the, of the marketed thing. And plus my dogs are there, I'm there, I'm.

[Dan Buettner]

How about if I have a dishwasher?

[Darren Olene]

All of these companies, there's some companies that are doing these little pellets. I think Myers is one M Y E R S. It's a great company. Clean Products.

Beyond Basics is another clean company doing, doing some incredible stuff. Pans are also another important one. Again, stay away from the, the PFAS or the non stick.

[Dan Buettner]

Do you go as far as, say, if you have a Teflon pan, throw it away? Yeah, absolutely.

[Darren Olene]

Absolutely. Full stop. It's going in your food, it's going in your children's food, it's going in everything.

[Dan Buettner]

So you're poisoning yourself and your family. If you, if you have a Teflon.

[Darren Olene]

Pan, some really, really, really bad poisons.

[Dan Buettner]

Wow.

[Darren Olene]

From my perspective.

[Dan Buettner]

And instead get either a titanium pan or what else? What other kind of pan?

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, there's some ceramics that can. Or just some good old fashioned real stainless steel.

[Dan Buettner]

Huh?

[Darren Olene]

You can cast iron. Cast iron's great. Yeah, cast iron is great too. Again, out of sight, out of mind. You go, you talk about the outdoor air pollution. That's a really big thing. PM 2.5 like all of these are very toxic. We live, you know, you have a dance, Dan, because you're going back to bring forward what we need. But at the same time, we're being hit with our modern world. Right. So we need people strong in the blue zones. We need them eating well and doing all that stuff. But we also have to avoid and change the systems that have. It's not our fault. The systems that are around us that have been marketed to us, we have to step in, become our own CEO of our life and go, oh, this is dangerous. I need to eliminate this from my. From my life. And then integrate and over time. Back to your original question. Over time, when you integrate, when you get rid of this toxin, this fragrance, this product, you will build on an energy that you didn't know you didn't have. Right. So as we know when.

[Dan Buettner]

So you're saying we're going to feel more energy. Not metaphorically.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

That's so interesting. So getting. Changing out your. What you put in your body, what you put on your body, what you clean your home with, what you surround your home with, you're going to feel more energetic over time.

[Darren Olene]

100%. Because this is, you know, and save money. Yes. I have most of my stuff in there are all DIY stuff.

[Dan Buettner]

You know, 10% of people listen. Yeah. You know, I'll make my own paste to take out stains, but 90%. And what I liked about the things that you've said so far, simple. Vinegar and water as a cleanser.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

Very, very easy. Everybody can go out and buy a water filter for a couple hundred bucks, and they're good for six months for their whole family. I like the vinegar and soda as a cleanser. Probably baking soda works just fine as a. For brushing your teeth.

[Darren Olene]

It's a Swiss army knife to have in the house. There's. There's so much that you can do with that. Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

And it's cheap, so. And the reason we don't know about it is because you can't make a lot of money off of it. There's no sense for a marketing campaign for a product that costs a dollar.

[Darren Olene]

Right.

[Dan Buettner]

And that works for almost everything. And.

[Darren Olene]

But this is where we take our power back instead of us being marketed to and just taking it as, this is what I have to have. And this is the smell I'm used to. So therefore, I'm going to wash my clothes and no, I'm going to reorient myself. And people, they can feel overwhelmed right now just listening to all this stuff. But literally, just take one thing and do that, just one thing. Get that water filter change out that next time you clean your house, you know, get the vinegar and.

[Dan Buettner]

Well, I'm going to start by recommending that people buy fatal conveniences because the book lays out the science very well and it gives you, it tells you exactly what you need to do. And that's the first stop, you know, spend, you know, 20 bucks or whatever it is. It might be the best 20 bucks you ever spend for an extra few years of life expectancy. And I really.

[Darren Olene]

It's not going anywhere. It's only getting more intense.

[Dan Buettner]

I, I just want to talk about conveniences in general because one of the things I've learned studying populations of longevity around the world is their lives aren't full of them.

[Darren Olene]

Right.

[Dan Buettner]

They still grow their own food. They a cook at home to get to their friend's house, they walk to socialize. They're not getting on Instagram and DMing people. They're walking next door and having a conversation with their neighbor. And I just wonder if you've thought about conveniences in the larger sense as it pertains to health and longevity.

[Darren Olene]

It's one of the things I think about all the time. I think of systems and largely all of this stuff is affecting every individual and it's from a system. And you know, in the industrial revolution we decided that profit is going to surpass every other goal. And we just need to realize that that still isn't in. In the system of how we believe progress is meant, but we are the victim of that. The thing that I revealed on so much of this stuff is regulatory bodies that really aren't regulating anything. And over and over.

[Dan Buettner]

What's a good example?

[Darren Olene]

Well, we expect that every food or food item or this, this pfas. So why has someone not tested this? Why is the fda, the usda, the FCC with the go off in the electromagnetic radiation of cell phones and WI fi and all of that other stuff, there's no person we. It's the wild west goes all the way back to the supplement world. Dan, you and I could put some yellow powder together, put a brand on it and sell it tomorrow.

[Dan Buettner]

I know I could make. I literally offered $2 million to create a blue zone supplement. Of course I said no because I don't believe in him.

[Darren Olene]

Right, so you could do that. Everyone's doing that. We can do all that stuff. There's no regulatory system. Yeah, the FDA is not going hey Dan, prove to me what's in here. Well, you don't have to. You can sell it tomorrow and only upon it causes a severe situation. Yeah, God forbid that then maybe when they knew that PFAS was in the blood of Everybody in the 70s and then in the 90s, then in I think 90s or early 2000s, they came up with the Toxic Removal act of PFAS. And I'm like, where is the regulatory body to begin with? Like, why this, this should have been tested. It should have been regulated, but it wasn't. And so then a new body comes up, but then yet it's not regulated again.

[Dan Buettner]

Yeah.

[Darren Olene]

So it's on us. So unfortunately, this modern world has us needing to make the choices ourselves. And we don't need to throw it to a lab and test. That's why whole fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, wash them, do your best, know your farmer. If you can grow your own food, grow your own food. If you can DIY your stuff in your home and just more simple rather than being marketed to, because very few of these things are, have been deemed safe. And that's what we need to get back to. So these systems are broken. In these systems, the God of that system is profit. And it's not the health and safety. And that's what looms over and over again in all of what I found. And what destroyed my dad's health hasn't changed and it's been. And it's just a growing monster of profits over, over people that we care about. And I just don't want to be a victim. I don't want my friends, my family, I don't want children. The mom's listening. It's really cheap to buy Pampers that are full of plastics. And it's one of the largest polluters in every landfill is baby diapers.

[Dan Buettner]

And that's the most vulnerable creatures and humans in our world are right on their permeable skin. We're putting all these chemicals and plastics for the first six months of their lives.

[Darren Olene]

Or there's a mycelium diaper out there.

[Dan Buettner]

Mushroom diaper.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, but it's, it's works really well. But also organic cotton. And you can just wash. Yeah, Rinse and wash and do that whole thing. But, you know, this is, this is where it's very obvious that profits are.

[Dan Buettner]

You know, very few mothers these days want to wash a poopy diaper.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah, but there's, there's choices. Yeah, but, but, but the plastic, you know, wrapping your child in a water bottle essentially is just not the greatest choice. And again, we're victim of these systems. But through our choices, through our actions of waking up to this reality, it is overwhelming when you pull the string on every one of these systems, from supplement world to Beauty care world to baby products to home products to clothing to electromagnetic fields, it's a freaking miracle that the body is so resilient that it still trucks on, but at a.

[Dan Buettner]

Certain point it's gonna flip the bird and give out. Now, I know we've kind of glossed over this entire chapter of your life. Before fatal conveniences, it was Super Life, which was a New York Times bestseller. And give us a summation of that. Very simply, the five biggest lessons that Super Life teaches us.

[Darren Olene]

The obvious one is the same thing that you talk about in the blue zones. Whole food, plant based. That's number one. The other two is really the balancing effect of whole fruits. It's the idea that the alkalinization of the body is balanced. Very importantly, we're not talking about blood alkalization. So by that buffering ability for whole food, rather than acidification or animal products, that your body stays in better balance and is able to fight. I talk about the microbiome way back then. I think that now you're way ahead of your time. Yeah, so. And that was a, that was from people around me that were doing incredible work around the microbiome and realized and, and some of the researchers were saying that the advancements of the microbiome are beyond anything that we can understand because we think of biology, chemistry and endocrine communication. But the microbes are communicating through light throughout the body.

And now I suspect that it's also through the endocannabinoid system, which I don't get into this book because it's more recent, but this is a system that's surrounding the Saran Wrap of the body, which is our fascia that has 10 times more.

Receptors in that system than we have cells. So that is very important for us to start to understand.

And then in terms of hydration, I get into hydration. It's one of the pillars again. But the re. The idea that I would do these workshops all the time and I would talk about total dissolved solids, and we could do meters of realizing and start to get a crude understanding that there's a lot of debris in water. So I said, listen, on the planet, if you have access to spring water and things, and it's tested and it's clean, then that's the golden standard, Right? But us, we don't have that. Right? So filter that water, add electrolytes.

[Dan Buettner]

Just in the interest of a succinct summation, I'm going to tell you 20 years of blue zones boil down and I want you to mirror me. So if you said, what did you learn from blue zones? Eat a whole food plant based diet. Know your sense of purpose.

[Darren Olene]

Yep.

[Dan Buettner]

Be very careful about the people you surround yourself with because you're going to mimic their behavior. So curate a group of healthy people around you and instead of exercise, move naturally. Figure out how to set up your life so you're nudged into walking. And don't let mechanical eyes conveniences engineer the movement out of your life. So those are the four sort of pillars for super life. Mirror me. What are the four. What are the four lessons from?

[Darren Olene]

Well, there's a lot.

[Dan Buettner]

New York Times bestselling book by the way.

[Darren Olene]

Yeah.

[Dan Buettner]

So I'm just asking you for the top.

[Darren Olene]

Hydration. Number one, most people are watering clean water filtered a lot. A lot. Yeah. To you know, shoot for at least a leader. Then move to two liters.

[Dan Buettner]

Okay.

[Darren Olene]

Movement. I will mirror what you said. Natural movement. Find joy in movement. I do love to initiate lifting heavy things when you can carefully because it enacts testosterone, growth hormone. All of that stuff keeps the lower body. Lower body needs to be strong and whole food. Plant based diet for sure. I am a huge fan of fruit. Right. Fruit before noon. Just. I eat a ton, a ton of fruit. Especially in season. Support your microbiome. Fiber first. Silver protein. These things are.

[Dan Buettner]

I love it. Those are easy. I mean those I get. And then, you know, a lot of your work gives us a scientific underpinnings of these and we do need the rationale to. But yeah, I love how you boil it down. You want to make sure your water is clean and drink at least a liter a day. Number two, you want to eat a whole food plant based diet. Number three, you want to move naturally but add lifting things once in a while. And finally fiber over protein. I love that one because we're in such a protein obsessed society right now and too much protein can very well be feeding cancer. Fiber feeds your microbiome which keeps you healthy.

[Darren Olene]

Bingo.

[Dan Buettner]

Bam.

[Darren Olene]

Bam.

[Dan Buettner]

Darren. Fantastic brother. My Minnesota brother.