This week, I'm excited to welcome Darin Olien to the podcast. He is an American author and podcast host. With a B.A. in exercise physiology and an unaccredited M.A. in psychology, he labels himself a "wellness expert", promotes "superfoods" and co-starred as well as produced the Netflix docuseries Down to Earth with Zac Efron in 2020.
Some questions asked during this episode:Stu This week I'm excited to welcome Dalin Olien to the podcast. Darin is a health and wellness expert, author, podcaster, and co-host of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix docuseries, Down to Earth. He's known as the Global Superfood Hunter, and founder of Barukas, the most nutrient-dense nuts in the World. In this episode, we discuss his philosophy around nutrition, the principles from his book, Super Life, and chat about the exercises that keep him in great shape. Over to Darin.
(01:20)
Hey guys, this is Stu from 180 Nutrition, and I am delighted to welcome Darin Olien to the podcast. Darin, how are you mate?
Darin
(01:28)
Hey, man. Stoked to be here with you. Hanging out on the deck. Ready to rip.
Stu
(01:36)
You look super comfortable, and I love the sunshine in the background as well. For all of our listeners that are not watching this through YouTube, Darin's sitting outside on a super comfortable reclining chair. Looks like you got a pool in the background, and the sun is shining on the hills. I would like to be where you are right now.
Darin
(01:54)
It's pretty great. And like we said before the recordings, very similar to Byron Bay.
Stu
(02:00)
It is, we are surrounded by nature, and blessed with a great climate as well, couldn't be any happier. But first up, for all of our listeners that may not be familiar with you, or your work, I'd love if you could tell us a little bit about yourself, please.
Darin
(02:17)
Oh man. Where do you begin? I think the early passions showed up when I was in sports, and going through awkward teenage times, and realized, "Oh, I have a lot I can do for myself." And started understanding that nutrition played a role in how I felt, and certainly at that time how I looked, because you're this insecure 16 year old. But really, the sports, and really trying to be the best I could in that. And that's where I really excelled, and realizing that exercise, and nutrition played a massive role. From 16 to 18, I gained 50 pounds of muscle, and was playing US football in high school, and college, and basketball, and track, and things like that. And then to cut through, playing college football is where I beat out a bunch of guys that on paper, should have beat me out, but my tenacity beat them out.
(03:41)
But then I got injured. Getting injured threw me into this contemplative place in college, where I was like, "Okay, what do I want to do with my life?" And these worlds collided, where I was injured, and I couldn't get better to play anymore. I turned my attention towards physiology, kinesiology, nutrition, and things like that, and realizing that this body, and this experience here was... And having a body was... Made sense to learn about it. I didn't really know what the career was going to be, but at least it started me getting excited. And then really cutting through. I learned more of... I went into rehabilitation, a little bit. And out of school. And then got into nutrition, and hooked up with some doctors. And then nutrition started becoming. And then functional food, before it was in term. I started formulating with stuff. And then the more I looked at incredible foods and compounds, the more I wanted to go and see for myself these foods, and how they were grown, and who was growing them, and where they came from. And that started what's termed as, the superfood hunting side of myself.
(05:19)
And then for a good 15 years, I was running everywhere. Learning from the business side of it too. From the business side of it, how do you actually take this novel thing, or this mushroom, or this adaptogen? How do I formulate with it? How do I help the business side of it? How do I work with these indigenous people? How do we make it scale? And then that came, I started formulating for some companies, and Beachbody became a big place where I could put my passion. I developed a lot of products for them. And then I think the excitement of, and also the reality of seeing the world in that way, it always became, it's not just about the food, or the supplement, it was about the environment. It was about the indigenous people. It was about the cultures. And so these worlds was coming together in all of these other passions that started. Cut to getting to do a TV show, getting to learn from experts in the environment. The world expands as you gain more knowledge, as you gain more wisdom, as you learn. Y
Stu
(06:57)
It's been a journey. It sounds like it's been a hell of a journey. And I think for our listeners as well, that haven't put the pieces of the puzzle together. If they've seen the Netflix docuseries, Down to Earth, they would get a better insight into you, and the shenanigans that you get up to, and all the stuff that makes your brain, or excites your brain as well. But I remember I watched that when it first came out, and I thought, "This guy looks strong, he looks vital. I want to know what he does," because I'm a child of the seventies, and the eighties. I was born in 72, so I'm 50. And a little bit like you, I'm driven to want to live my best life, because the world as we know today, it throws so many roadblocks at us. In terms of crazy Frankenfoods, and environmental pollutants, and toxins, and social media, and all this stuff that can side track us.
(07:55)
But we just get this one life, and we are exposed to this fantastic journey on a beautiful planet that offers so much. I love the fact that I'm talking to you, because you've done so much of the stuff that I would love to do, and find out all of the secrets from a lot of the elders around the world that have truly embraced the world in its natural state. For our listeners, you're the superfood hunter. You've written a book called, SuperLife. You've got a gazillion hours and pages of content and assets online, and they can dig deep into that. I think the one thing that I'd like to ask, and almost cut to the chase, and dive into the cliff notes is, how do you eat then, today, given the fact that you've got a myriad of experience, and you've probably tried, and tested, and experimented on yourself through a whole barrage of foods, and nutritional principles. What is your philosophy around nutrition look like right now?
Darin
(08:59)
Certainly, that's why I wrote SuperLife book, because it was so much of my philosophy. Even though they wanted me to write a book on super foods, I said, it's really the foundation of how you live. That's super important, and then you add things to it, or take away in the terms of, like you said, the toxins, and being aware of those things. The book has these pillars, but to summarize, on the one hand, the body is always seeking balance, and we're seeking balance. The ironic aspect of that is, are we ever? It's literally in a constant state of change.
For complete transcript and interview: https://180nutrition.com.au/180-tv/darin-olien-interview/