The Rich Roll Podcast

Today I share one man’s journey into the depths of opioid addiction despair -- what happened, what it was like, and how he ultimately found a way out. His name is Dan Peres -- and it’s quite the story. Hardly a born media insider, Dan was an awkward, magic-obsessed adolescent. But his gift for the written word and shrewd eye for culture catapulted him to premature heights in the fast-paced world of glossy magazine publishing. At 24, he was covering catwalks in Paris as the European editor for W magazine. A few short years later he landed the coveted editor gig at Details magazine, the arbiter of all things cool and zeitgeist -- a post he held for 15 years. Along the way Dan nurtured a secret, seeking refuge in opioids to a salve profound imposter syndrome as he navigated the high-voltage netherworld of fashion designers, celebrities and media moguls. Like so many, it’s a relationship that began with a back injury and a prescription. A love affair that escalated to 60 pills a day, betrayal soon followed. A bes

Chances are you've heard the term Blue Zones, coined in reference to five hidden slivers of the world that boast the highest per capita populations of centenarians — people who thrive to 100 and beyond. Places where people forgot to die. This is the work of Dan Buettner. A true renaissance man, Dan is a National Geographic Fellow, longevity expert and world explorer with 3 endurance cycling world records to his name. A multiple New York Times bestselling author, he's a seemingly constant presence on the TODAY show, has appeared on Oprah twice and has been profiled on every respected global media outlet, from CNN to David Letterman. Over the last decade Dan has delivered more than 500 keynotes, including speeches for Bill Clinton’s Health Matters Initiative, Google Zeitgeist, and TEDMED. His TED Talk “How to live to be 100+” has been viewed over 4 million times. The Blue Zones Kitchen is Dan's latest New York Times bestseller. Technically a cookbook with over 100 recipes inspired by decades of research studyin

Now for something a little bit different. What it was like. What happened. And what it's like now. Moments shared. Lessons learned. And the growth that remains. For those new to me, 13 years ago found me utterly disconnected from my higher self. After many years lost in the throes of alcohol, I had managed the sober road to happy destiny for nearly a decade. And yet, on the cusp of turning 40, I awoke to find myself in an existential crisis. Stuck in a career that never served me. Unhealthy. Overweight. And totally blind to the path forward. Through a grace more powerful than myself, I found a way out. It's a journey that began with nutrition. Evolved through fitness. Matured through service. And ultimately has taken me to heights I previously thought unimaginable. It could be said that I reinvented myself wholesale. And transformed others' lives in the process. Along the way, I've experienced success and failure. High highs. Low lows. And growth at the cost of more missteps than I care to admit. Today I am g

Over the last few months, I've had the privilege of hosting conversations with an impressive litany of powerhouse women breaking paradigms across a wide swath of disciplines. Mel Urie has more than earned her spot amongst these powerful boundary crushers. And I for one am here to celebrate her. Devoted listeners will recall Mel’s first appearance on the show (along with fellow endurance fiend Danielle Grabol) a little over a year ago (RRP 421) wherein these two badass athletes discussed becoming the first two females to ever complete EPIC5 — a race I helped pioneer that involves completing 5 Ironmans on the 5 Hawaiian Islands in just 5 days. But then Mel had to go and just completely outdo herself (and embarrass the rest of us) by becoming the first female to not only attempt but to actually complete the fatally absurd ultra-endurance fever dream known as Uberman -- a 556-mile self-supported freak fest Outside magazine dubbed “The World’s Hardest Endurance Race”. Kicking off with a brutal 21-mile swim from th

The alarm goes off and from that moment forward, life is a harried rush. Commuting, coffee, e-mails, meetings and take out. Getting Jenny to soccer practice and Billy back from theatre. When you finally land home, you're too beat to move. So you crash on the couch and doze off with a pint. Rinse and repeat. We all do the best we can. But the pressures of daily life can leave us stressed and exhausted. Sedentary and stiff, our shoulders slump. Our spine rounds and our stance is lopsided. Without corrective action, we can't function properly. And everything we do -- including exercise -- only exacerbates the problem. Let's just say Sadie Lincoln can relate. When her career with a global fitness brand almost broke her, she knew something had to change.  Sadie and her husband Chris quit their jobs and downsized their lives to pursue an idea most said was bat shit crazy. Hence was born barre3, a fitness company focused not on weight loss but rather on body positivity and personal empowerment. What started out as a

500 EPISODES. Over seven years ago, I sat down in a damp and echo-y warehouse on the north shore of Kauai and hit record for the very first time. There was no agenda. No commitment to even record a second episode. And certainly zero idea that what began as a fun experiment would evolve into both a passion and a vocation. And yet here we are. Without fail, beginning in late 2012, I have uploaded at least one episode every single week, amassing over 1000 hours of conversation and a global audience that downloads this show more than 3 million times a month — in total, over 70 million streams and counting. The numbers are great, but they fail to capture what is truly meaningful: the opportunity to go deep and unfiltered with some of the most amazing people currently walking planet Earth; and in turn share their incredible wisdom with all of you. Today I give thanks for taking this journey with me -- a calling and a service I consider the best job in the world. It's been a privilege -- a great honor and a profound

A full blown epidemic in the developed world, diabetes currently afflicts an astonishing 30 million people in the US alone, despite the fact that 1 out of 4 don’t even know they have it. Even more bewildering, over one-third of all U.S. adults have prediabetes. That's more than 84 million people, 90% of whom are unaware of their condition. Not enough? Over the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed has more than doubled, with no end in sight. For purposes of clarity, 90-95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes are the Type 2 form. The good news is that Type 2 isn’t just treatable, it’s actually reversible -- often to the point of undetectability. And for those suffering from Type 1, certain diet and lifestyle changes render the illness more manageable than ever. To learn more about the nature of diabetes, how to avoid it and the many things you can do if you have it, I sat down with Cyrus Khambatta, PhD and Robby Barbaro MPH -- the team behind Mastering Diabetes, an online coaching platform for people li

Aging is inevitable. Everybody grows old. Everyone dies. We accept these statements as fact. But what if they're just stories based on history and our current understanding of biology? What if everything we think we know about aging is about to change? Across the globe, scientists are working on treatments and therapies that are designed to extend healthy human lifespans well beyond what we know today. At the bleeding edge of such breakthroughs you will find David Sinclair, PhD, one of the world’s leading scientific authorities on longevity, aging and how to slow its effects. Returning for his second appearance on the podcast, David is a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. He obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics at the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 1995 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at M.I.T. where, among other things, he co-discovered the cause of aging for yeast. The co-founder of sev

You might be surprised to learn that approximately 84,000 chemicals currently find their way into commercial products -- with over 1,500 new chemicals released annually. Despite evidence of health harms, most of these chemicals have not been adequately tested for their impact on humans. Nonetheless, many of them find their way into a vast and problematic array of skincare, beauty and cleaning products. Moreover, due to laws that haven’t been updated in 80 years, I was shocked to discover that the Food and Drug Administration -- the regulatory authority charged with ensuring the safety of such products -- doesn't necessarily screen product ingredients for safety. In fact, it provides very little oversight when it comes to what ends up in beauty products. Worse yet, the FDA has zero authority to recall products even in the event of a proven harm. When entrepreneur Gregg Renfrew learned that the US has not passed any major legislation about the safety of ingredients in personal care products since 1939, she beca

Meet Iliana Regan. A self-taught chef and author, Iliana has faced and overcome a litany of obstacles from substance abuse to sexual discrimination, ultimately prevailing to experience a special moment right now -- celebrated for both her culinary and literary accomplishments. At 15 Iliana landed her first restaurant gig washing dishes and never looked back. Leaning on the rustic experiences of her Midwestern upbringing (she was making mushroom tea long before Four Sigmatic was a thing), Iliana pioneered a unique locavore style of cooking dubbed 'new gatherer', plied daily at her Chicago restaurant Elizabeth -- notable for its homestead aesthetic, emphasis on foraged foods and deep connection to the natural surroundings. It's an approach that landed her a coveted Michelin star six years in a row. Jeff Gordinier, food and drinks editor for Esquire magazine (and former podcast guest), included Elizabeth on his recent list of the last decade’s 40 most important restaurants. Noma's René Redzepi, arguably the worl

Meet Rickey Gates. Both idiosyncratic and extraordinary, you may know Rickey as a distinguished ultra-runner. But peer just beneath the surface of his many athletic accomplishments and you will discover a thoughtful, deeply empathetic and uniquely expressive human. After nearly a decade competing on the national and international mountain, trail and ultra running circuits, Rickey took his love for endurance, storytelling, photography and design -- and fused them together to create an ongoing series of project-based, performance art adventures. Deemed "the rambling poet of the running world" by Outside magazine, Rickey is a true conceptual artist -- leveraging numerous mediums to communicate a personal and humanist perspective on the inner workings of society, self, nature and human potential. Notable ventures include his solo, unsupported run across America. The upcoming, exquisite and arresting feature film Transamericana that chronicles it. And his debut book Cross Country that travels inside Rickey's 3,700

A perfect companion piece to my recent conversation with Lauren Fleshman -- and in furtherance of better understanding the issues that swirl around gender, sport and fairness -- today I sit down with an investigative journalist breaking some of the biggest stories in women's sports. Meet Lindsay Crouse. A graduate of Harvard University, where she competed in both cross country and track and field, Lindsay is a senior staff editor and senior OpDocs producer at The New York Times. If you’ve been paying any attention to running news (or just big headlines in general) then you are already familiar with Lindsay’s work. At the epicenter of the conversation that surrounds sports and power, Lindsay is behind some of the biggest sports stories and opinion pieces in recent memory, with a particular focus on the role and state of women's distance running. Some of Lindsay's most popular pieces include How The 'Shalane Flanagan Effect' Works, which examined the former podcast guest and New York City Marathon victor's el

Meet Lauren Fleshman. One of the greatest middle-distance runners in American history, Lauren has a storied history of breaking both records and paradigms. After collecting state championships as a standout high school runner, she matriculated to Stanford, where she garnered 5 NCAA titles, 15 All-American honors, and a spot in the Hall of Fame. As a professional, her accolades include two USA Championships and five World Championship berths for Team USA. Nonetheless, Lauren’s career was also marked with devastating setbacks. She holds the painful distinction of most likely being the best American distance runner never to make an Olympic team, her competitive career repeatedly impaired by injuries that had her on crutches at the wrong four-year intervals. It's the hows and whys behind Lauren's hard knocks that interest me the most. Because it's these very misfortunes that underscore her philosophic perspective on running. Her take on human potential. Her belief in transformation. And, perhaps most poignant, he

A predominant theme of this podcast is the profound impact of nutrition on long-term well-being. Less discussed is the importance of hormonal health. Most would be surprised to learn that certain maladies -- including infertility, menstrual cramps, weight gain, hair loss, breast and prostate cancer, hot flashes, and many others -- have one thing in common: they are fueled or influenced by hormones hiding in everyday foods. The good (and surprising) news is that proper nutrition can also help restore endocrine balance, often with benefits that rival popular medications. To provide insight on how hormones wreak havoc on the body, and how specific diet and lifestyle changes can help alleviate years of stress, pain and illness, I'm joined today by my friend Neal Barnard, MD. Making this third appearance on the podcast (check episodes #242 / #296), Dr. Barnard is a pre-eminent authority on diet, nutrition and its impact on illnesses such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s. In addition, he is the

We equate the new year with potential energy. It's an opportunity to re-evaluate one's trajectory. A permission grant to chart a new course of self-discovery. In truth, every moment presents a window for reinvention. But January always provides heightened urgency to inventory how we spend our precious time, focus our intention and deploy our energy. Extrapolating on themes explored with Chadd Wright, today we balance out the warrior alpha-male vibe with some feminine wisdom, courtesy of Kelly McGonigal, PhD. A health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University who specializes in understanding the mind-body connection, Kelly is a pioneer in the field of 'science-help,' translating insights from psychology and neuroscience into practical strategies that support personal well-being and community connection. There’s a decent chance you caught her amazing 2013 TED Talk, How To Make Stress Your Friend. A viral hit with over 21 million views, Kelly makes the case that social connection is both a natural instinc

Meet Chadd Wright. Reared in the mountains of rural northwest Georgia, Chadd grew up obsessed with becoming a SEAL. But when the Navy discovered a rare but asymptomatic cyst on his heart, he was disqualified from entering BUDS. Undaunted, Chadd refused to give up, ultimately tracking down a surgeon willing to perform a procedure deemed too risky by every cardiologist he previously petitioned. Cyst successfully removed, Chadd went on to realize his SEAL dream, serving over the next decade as a Team Leader on multiple deployments to conflict zones across the world. He became a SEAL instructor. A Master Training Specialist. Chadd even served a stint as President Obama’s bodyguard. Along the way, he battled PTSD and traumatic brain injury. He faced his wife’s substance abuse issues. And he found God -- a faith in part born from a paranormal experience he shares in riveting detail today. Now retired from the military, Chadd has found new life as an elite ultramarathoner -- a spiritual quest for self-knowledge and

Welcome to Part II of our 7th annual Best of the RRP Anthology — our way of taking a moment to reflect on the past twelve months by revisiting the year's most compelling podcast guests. It's been an honor to engage with so many extraordinary people over the course of 2019. Reviewing the year in conversation brought powerful new insights -- a reminder that these evergreen exchanges continue to inspire and inform. For long-time listeners, my intention is to launch you into 2020 with renewed vigor. If you're new to the show, my hope is that this anthology will stir you to peruse the back catalog and check out episodes you may have missed. Links to the full episodes excerpted in this anthology are listed in the below show notes. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I appreciate you. I love you. You can also watch it all go down on YouTube.  Here's to an extraordinary 2020. Join me, and let's do this thing together. Peace + Plants, Rich

Welcome to the 7th annual Best of the RRP Anthology — our way of taking a moment to reflect on the year, express gratitude and give thanks for taking this journey with us. To be honest, I didn’t think we could top 2018 -- but we did. It’s been an incredible year. I'm deeply indebted to all my extraordinary guests. And unbelievably proud of the library we dedicated ourselves to creating over the last twelve months. To prepare for the year ahead, it’s critical to pause. To reflect back. Celebrate the victories. Take inventory of the missteps. And visualize the goals you wish to self-actualize in the months ahead. I believe in this process. And I feel strongly that 2020 holds the potential energy manifest your aspirations. It is in this spirit that we created a tradition of closing each year with a look in the rear view with a 2-episode compilation of clips excerpted from many of year's best guests. Consider these next two shows as a love letter. My way of saying thank you. I see you. I believe in you. And I bel

Growing up in the late 1970's there was no conversation around gender identity. You were either male or female. Period, end of discussion. Times have changed. The way we currently think about gender has evolved. Each day brings greater mainstream awareness to its non-binary nature -- and the innate fluidity of gender roles and identity. Take a moment to imagine the experience of being intersex -- a condition in which an individual is born with genetic variations on conventional sex characteristics. Now imagine trying to navigate the world from this non-binary biological disposition. This is the story of Kendra Little. Raised as a girl, at age 12 Kendra learned that she was born with something called androgen insensitivity syndrome, a variation of intersex that affects between 2 to 5 out of 100,000 people. The news prompted Kendra to isolate. Adopting a hormone protocol on the advice of her doctors, she remained a ‘girl’, proceeded to never discuss her condition with anybody and dove headlong into sports -- a

Today we’re going to talk about stress. In proper doses it’s actually beneficial, promoting resilience -- both physical and mental. This week’s guest has seen the perils of chronic stress first hand. A UK-based medical doctor, he found himself increasingly treating patients suffering from the downstream implications of living with this malevolence. It prompted him to ask, why is this happening? His name is Rangan Chatterjee, MD. He decided to find answers to this question -- and do something about it. If that name sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because you caught him on the BBC, starring in Doctor in the House. Perhaps you read his bestselling book, The Four Pillar Plan, released in the United States under the title How To Make Disease Disappear. Or maybe, just maybe, you caught RRP 376, our popular first conversation from July of 2018 that launched our friendship. For those unfamiliar, Dr. Chatterjee is a pioneer in the field of progressive, functional medicine. Widely regarded as one of the most influential