Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Education, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Do you ever feel like you're drowning in health advice? Eat this, not that. Take this supplement, but only after popping this other one first. Here’s the good news: Most of it doesn't matter. In Eat Your Ice Cream, renowned physician Ezekiel Emanuel shares six simple rules for living longer — and gives you permission to ignore pretty much everything else. The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out our interviews with Russell Foster, Tim Spector, Casey Means, Kelly McGonigal, Chris van Tulleken, and Eric Topol. Follow Rufus on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, subscribe to our ⁠Substack⁠, or send us an email at podcast@nextbigideaclub.com. The best way to support the show is by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. Learn more at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠, and use code PODCAST for a super secret discount (spoiler: it’s 20% off). Today’s episode is sponsored by Factor. Head to factormeals.com/idea50off and use code idea50off to get 50% off your first Factor box plus free breakfast for one year. We’re also sponsored by Shopify. Start your $1/month trial at ⁠⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠⁠.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rufus Griscombe and I'm Caleb Bissinger and this is the next big idea.
0:05.0	Today, six simple rules for living a long and healthy life. Caleb, I don't think that you and I can be accused of being perfect specimens of health.
0:34.6	Yeah, I would never accuse you of that.
0:38.6	Okay, fair point.
0:39.8	I cannot be accused of being a perfect specimen of health,
0:42.0	but I have made some progress, thanks in large part,
0:45.7	to conversations that we've had on the show.
0:48.3	Yes, conversations with folks like Tim Spector,
0:51.5	Casey Means, Eric Topal.
0:53.7	And now Ezekiel Emanuel, better known as Zeke.
0:58.9	Zeke is an incredible guy.
1:01.1	He's an oncologist.
1:02.5	He's the chair of the Medical Ethics Department at Penn.
1:05.8	He worked in the Obama White House.
1:07.2	He's one of the chief architects in the Affordable Care Act.
1:10.0	And he's got this great new book out called Eat Your Ice Cream. Love that title. His view, contrary to the health
1:17.5	optimization bros, who we'll talk about, his view is that wellness shouldn't be difficult.
1:23.3	It should be an invisible part of your lifestyle that yields the maximum health benefits with the least
1:29.0	amount of work. And to that end, today he's going to share six rules, easy rules, that will
1:34.3	help you live longer and better without too much effort. You know, what I love about Zeke in this
1:39.5	conversation is that he's kind of a rascal. There's a sense of joy and mischief and rule-breaking in this
1:45.9	conversation that frankly agrees with me. What Zeke delivers is just a no-b-s set of guidelines
	...

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