A central theme of my podcast is the power of a plant-based diet to enhance the quality of life for both the individual and the whole. Over time, the show has grown to embrace a wider variety of themes—art, entertainment, cuisine, entrepreneurship, spirituality, sports, social justice, creativity, equality, and more—each guest sharing his/her respective expertise and experience. Some conversations traverse more than one field. Only a select few impart powerful, impactful lessons across several. ...
Oct 04, 2021•3 hr 32 min•Ep 632•Transcript available on Metacast How do you meld passion with purpose? What makes you committed to your cause? And most importantly, what does your podcast do? In addition to philosophizing these questions and more, in today’s edition of ‘Roll On,’ Adam Skolnick and I trade fitness updates, engage in typical ribald banter, indulge you with a cameo from environmental activist, UN Patron of the Oceans, and arctic swimmer, Lewis Pugh. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Aside from being my fortnightly sidekick hype beast and f...
Sep 30, 2021•3 hr 39 min•Ep 631•Transcript available on Metacast People ask me all day long for the secret ingredient to success and a comfortable way through personal transformation. My enduring answer: there is none. I believe in the individual potential for positive transformation. I’m also a self-help skeptic who greets most #lifehacks with profound hesitancy. There is a line between snake oil and efficacy—and that line is crossed more often than not. So if you struggle with self-confidence, making life changes, finding your purpose, or if the general ver...
Sep 27, 2021•2 hr 22 min•Ep 630•Transcript available on Metacast What am I here to do? What should I do with my life? What is my purpose? Today’s guest has devoted his life to helping people answer these important questions. Meet Jonathan Fields. Author of many a bestselling book, including How to Live a Good Life, Uncertainty, and Career Renegade, he’s the man behind the wonderful Good Life Project podcast and community, a sought after public speaker, father, and a dear friend and personal mentor of mine. He’s been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street...
Sep 20, 2021•2 hr 7 min•Ep 629•Transcript available on Metacast It’s time to grapple with the human rights issues ensuing in Afghanistan. To guide us in this important conversation are podcast alums Drs. Ayesha & Dean Sherzai. For those new to the show, ‘Roll On’ is typically our opportunity to shift focus from my traditional fare of evergreen conversations to instead hone in on matters of contemporaneous, time-sensitive interest. Today we do just that, but with a twist, spending the entire episode grappling with the very grave plight faced by the 18 million...
Sep 16, 2021•2 hr 49 min•Ep 628•Transcript available on Metacast In the words of today’s guest, global warming is not a science problem. It’s a human problem. When it comes to taking meaningful steps to redress the climate crisis, so many of us are left crippled. It’s a problem so huge, so existential, most people feel powerless to make a difference. But in truth, there are many substantive onramps to participate in the solution, and today’s guest is a wonderfully gracious, charitable, experienced, and optimistic cipher to explore these various paths. Meet Pa...
Sep 13, 2021•2 hr 28 min•Ep 627•Transcript available on Metacast Can art and happiness coexist? Is great art only forged through pain? And is suffering integral to creativity? These are just a few of the many questions explored in today’s colorful excavation of David Choe’s fascinating soul. I suspect many of you are already well familiar with this human and his art. Perhaps you watched his VICE special, Thumbs Up. You’ve seen him alongside the late Anthony Bourdain in Parts Unknown or the recent documentary Roadrunner. He’s also appeared on Howard Stern, Joe...
Sep 06, 2021•3 hr 55 min•Ep 626•Transcript available on Metacast We live in a culture where identity is inextricably linked to our careers—but who we are is not what we do. And work is not a substrate for identity. In addition to philosophizing on capitalism, hedonistic altruism, and rest as resistance, in today’s edition of ‘Roll On’ Adam Skolnick and I trade fitness updates, perform a virtual reality show & tell, answer listener questions, and more. Aside from being my bi-weekly sidekick hype beast, Adam is a waterman, writer, activist, and veteran journali...
Sep 02, 2021•3 hr 30 min•Ep 625•Transcript available on Metacast Parenting typical teenagers is no easy feat. Today’s guest parented two as they skyrocketed to bewildering fame—and kept them astonishingly grounded in the process. Today we explore the uncommon reality that is Maggie Baird’s life. A veteran actor, improv performer, and writer with a long list of screen credits to her name, Maggie is also a long-time vegan, animal rights and environmental activist, and the founder of Support And Feed, a non-profit that partners with restaurants across America (a...
Aug 30, 2021•2 hr 8 min•Ep 624•Transcript available on Metacast The relentless pursuit of pleasure always leads to pain. As the world evolves from one of scarcity to overabundance, we increasingly orient our lives around the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain—an instinct that has produced a myriad of unprecedented types of addiction, and consequently, the pain we so desperately seek to avoid. To better understand this conundrum, I’m joined today by one of the world’s leading authorities on the neuroscience of addiction, Anna Lembke, MD. If that name s...
Aug 23, 2021•2 hr 24 min•Ep 623•Transcript available on Metacast Melting ice caps. Raging wildfires. Record-breaking heat waves. The climate crisis is here, and we’re not doing enough about it. Suffice to say, no wonder Greta Thunberg is so pissed off. Aside from discussing burgeoning climate disasters, in today’s edition of ‘Roll On’ Adam Skolnick and I pontificate on the positives and pitfalls of perfectionism, arctic swimming, laundry done right and more, all rounded out with a cameo from renowned yoga instructor, endurance coach, and friend Ted McDonald. ...
Aug 19, 2021•2 hr 29 min•Ep 622•Transcript available on Metacast What if I told you that there was a Russian millionaire who wants to help you live to be 150-years-old? This isn’t science fiction—it’s ‘immortality science’. It’s the science of lifespan extension. The science of what today’s guest calls growing young. Meet Sergey Young, the exceedingly bright and optimistic chemical engineer turned investment banker turned venture capitalist committed to not only funding cutting-edge lifespan extension breakthroughs but also ensuring that such advancements are...
Aug 16, 2021•2 hr 59 min•Ep 621•Transcript available on Metacast We live in the most prosperous nation on Earth—and yet we’ve never been more unhealthy. 70% of Americans are obese or overweight. By 2030, 50% of Americans will be diabetic or pre-diabetic. Not only is chronic illness is killing us, it's bankrupting our economy. It’s insanity—and a reality that today’s guest lived, transmuted, and has committed his life to changing. Meet New York City’s next mayor, Eric Adams. At age 54, Eric woke up unable to read his alarm clock. Concerned about his vision and...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep 620•Transcript available on Metacast We love to celebrate Olympians as superheroes. It’s important to remember they are human beings. In today’s episode of the podcast, Adam Skolnick and I trade thoughts on Tokyo 2020, great white shark sightings, kaatsu training and more. For those new to the show, Adam Skolnick is a waterman, writer, activist, and veteran journalist best known as David Goggins’ Can’t Hurt Me, co-author. Adam writes about adventure sports, environmental issues, and civil rights for outlets such as The New York Tim...
Aug 05, 2021•2 hr 12 min•Ep 619•Transcript available on Metacast We tend to think of high-performance athletes as superhuman—a rare species with extraordinary strength and a preternatural ability to suffer. But if you ask today’s guest what distinguishes the elite athlete and everyone else, she’ll say nothing. For her, the secret to high-level performance isn’t about cutting edge training plans, coaches, or carefully honed nutrition. For her, it’s instead found in seeking out and celebrating the pain cave, that deep place of physical discomfort most go to gre...
Aug 02, 2021•2 hr 46 min•Ep 618•Transcript available on Metacast Imagine a day when alternative protein is no longer alternative. Welcome to the moonshot for meatless meat. When it comes to meat, the news is both good and bad. On the one hand, alternative protein innovation is at an all-time high, with ever more options stocked at grocery stores across the country. However, despite the cultural ascension and mainstreaming of all things vegan & plant-based, the unfortunate reality is that globally, meat consumption is actually the highest it’s ever been. And a...
Jul 26, 2021•2 hr 5 min•Ep 617•Transcript available on Metacast Insane feats of endurance. Space-traveling billionaires. Dystopian musical comedy specials. Record-breaking freediving depths. And of course, UFOs. Today is a little bit of everything, all of the time. Welcome to another edition of ‘Roll On’, wherein myself and my podcast co-pilot Adam Skolnick break bread on matters high-minded and mildly entertaining. For those new to the show, ‘Roll On’ is about stories that deserve a brighter spotlight, buttressed with a bit of show and tell, wins of the wee...
Jul 22, 2021•3 hr 47 min•Ep 616•Transcript available on Metacast What happens when one of—if not the—greatest restaurants in the world suddenly goes 100% plant-based? For perspective, out of the 132 three-star Michelin star restaurants around the world, not a single one is vegan. Suffice it to say, most would say such a move is tantamount to financial suicide. But Chef Daniel Humm—the world-renown chef and owner of Eleven Madison Park—sees it as the greatest purpose-driven, creative challenge of his lifetime. Like most restaurants, when the pandemic hit Eleve...
Jul 19, 2021•2 hr 56 min•Ep 615•Transcript available on Metacast Our time is defined by a crisis of consciousness and broken spiritual connection. Driven by a materialist, zero-sum approach to everything, we seek answers in ego, money, power and consumption. It’s an addiction that’s wreaking havoc on the planet—and ultimately leaves us empty. Short of a spiritual reconciliation or outright revolution of the heart, I fear for the future well-being of humanity. It is this terrain that today we tread with spiritual psychologist, historian, philosopher, and the w...
Jul 12, 2021•2 hr 17 min•Ep 614•Transcript available on Metacast For too long, talking about mental health has been a social taboo. Shame prevents confronting our struggles. The pressure of our daily lives exacerbates the problem. Compound that with society’s lack of mental health education and you create an epidemic of mental health disorders ranging from chronic stress and anxiety to loneliness and depression. PTSD. And of course, suicide. The solution to these problems is complicated. But it always begins with talking about them. Today we do just that. Int...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep 613•Transcript available on Metacast How do you stay committed to your goals when sh*t gets hard? There’s an entire industry built on answering this question—and a litany of #lifehacks meant to assuage intolerance for hard work and discipline. But if you ask today’s guest, he’ll tell you the answer is found in consistently doing what you feel called to do—and doing it for something greater than yourself. It’s about making friendships along the way. And seeing the process of pursuing your dreams as a privilege—not just a self-servin...
Jul 05, 2021•2 hr 15 min•Ep 612•Transcript available on Metacast A cornerstone of this podcast is the power of sport to catalyze personal and societal change, cultivate confidence, and ultimately transform lives. But what happens when sport breaks you? If you’ve listened to my conversations with Lindsay Crouse and Lauren Fleshman, you know this story is all too familiar within athletic institutions—particularly Nike. Today’s guest is busting this paradigm. Meet Mary Cain. Established as the fastest girl in a generation by the time she reached high school, Mar...
Jun 28, 2021•3 hr 39 min•Ep 611•Transcript available on Metacast Success in all forms demands mental fortitude—a capacity honed through consistently placing yourself beyond comfortable confines. When practiced with daily rigor, an increasingly sturdy mindset becomes a superpower—and the foundation for the purpose-driven life you aspire to inhabit. Welcome to another edition of ‘Roll On’, wherein myself and master of pen, keyboard and dictaphone Adam Skolnick explore the concept of mental fortitude in contexts athletic and political through the lives of two in...
Jun 24, 2021•3 hr 42 min•Ep 610•Transcript available on Metacast A mysterious artist on the cusp of breakthrough success walks away from it all. Beyond the public’s gaze, he spends the next decade pursuing purity, beauty and truths both personal and universal. Then, like a Jedi returning from parts unknown, the artist resurfaces as ‘The Spirited Man’. And this ‘Spirited Man’ goes by the name Van. Van Neistat to be precise. The elder half of The Neistat Brothers, it’s a name that will ring familiar to many, a name typically associated with a superstar YouTuber...
Jun 21, 2021•2 hr 29 min•Ep 609•Transcript available on Metacast How can you possibly excel as an athlete on a plant-based diet? Where do you get your protein? Don’t you need meat to be fit? If you’re a long-time whole food, plant-based enthusiast, chances are you’ve been asked these questions more times than you can count. For the rest of you, let’s put these questions to the test. My comrades for this inquiry are friends Matt Frazier & Robert Cheeke, here to testify on how to absolutely kick ass and take names as a plant-based athlete. The occasion for this...
Jun 14, 2021•3 hr 40 min•Ep 608•Transcript available on Metacast It's been over a year since we dipped our toes in the rippling currents of the spiritual deep end. To make amends for this grievous and much delayed pause, today marks the the welcome return of my favorite wizard and sparring partner when it comes to matters mystical, Guru Singh —here to resuscitate another round of Guru Multiverse. The master of the Kundalini arts, now presiding over Kundalini University, Guru Singh has paid many a visit to this show. For those newer to the podcast, Guru Singh ...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep 607•Transcript available on Metacast The godfather of integrative medicine and a true pioneer of health, today’s guest is a legend in the realm of mind-body healing. Meet Dr. Andrew Weil. Named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine (among a zillion other accolades), Dr. Weil is a New York Times bestselling author of 15 books, the founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, and a man who’s spent the last 50+ years studying and evangelizing holis...
Jun 07, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep 606•Transcript available on Metacast We all create imagined blueprints for how we want our lives to unfold—but what happens when things don’t go according to plan? Today’s guest knows a thing or two about managing pressure, prioritizing intention over expectation, and transforming disappointment into gratitude. Meet Olympic swimmer Katie Hoff. Dubbed, for better or worse, ‘the female Michael Phelps’ Katie is an 8x world champion that made her first Olympic Team at the ripe age of 15, the youngest member of the 2004 USA Swimming Tea...
May 31, 2021•2 hr 25 min•Ep 605•Transcript available on Metacast Striving to achieve a ‘balanced life’ on a daily basis sets you up for failure. Approach it instead from a long-term perspective. Aim for self-awareness. Go all-in on what lights you up. Along the way, be gentle with yourself. We are here to follow our curiosity, not mercilessly judge ourselves. Awareness is key. Shame is counterproductive. Welcome to another edition of ‘Roll On’, wherein myself and Lord of the podcast manor Adam Skolnick wane and wax on philosophical, spiritual, and practical i...
May 27, 2021•2 hr 20 min•Ep 604•Transcript available on Metacast How do you find purpose? What does it mean to live with intention? And why is it important to cultivate stillness? These questions are important. The answers are tricky. To solve these riddles to the human dilemma, you have to know where to look. Knowing Where To Look also happens to be the title of Light Watkins’ new book. Is it a sign or coincidence? The answer is up to you. In addition to being a good friend, a beautiful incarnation of the human form, a nomadic minimalist, and expert meditati...
May 24, 2021•2 hr 9 min•Ep 603•Transcript available on Metacast