Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Simplified
Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Simplified
My 80/20 version of Blueprint
Bryan Johnson is the self-proclaimed most measured man in human history. He has spent millions of dollars to optimize his health and has slowed his pace of aging by 9.2%. I’m a fan of the work he is doing - not only is he running an experiment the world can benefit from, but he has also started a movement around healthy living - Blueprint.
Blueprint is an algorithm that is “the next evolution of human” and allows you to “build an autonomous self” that takes better care of you than you could yourself.
Anyone who has been following Blueprint knows that Bryan Johnson’s personal protocol is extreme. He finishes eating at noon, goes to bed at the same time, wakes up at the same time, eats the same meals everyday, gets every part of his body measured, undergoes skin laser treatment, and so on.
But you don’t have to be extreme like him to follow many of Blueprint’s protocols.
Bryan Johnson has also spent millions in designing his Blueprint to optimize his health. The media has certainly harped on this sensational point.
But, you don’t have to spend millions to gain a lot of the benefits of Blueprint. You can follow a lot of it in under $300/month over what you’d otherwise spend on food etc.
This post is for anyone who wants to follow Blueprint but not to its extremes.
It’s for anyone who wants to follow Blueprint, but not spend millions.
It’s for anyone who wants to follow Blueprint but is overwhelmed by all the information.
And it’s for anyone who wants a simple guided way to optimize their health and feel their best self everyday.
In this post, I’m not going to discuss Blueprint principles around how self-destructive behavior is insane.
In this post, I’m going to discuss:
A simple guided way to follow Bryan Johnson’s Blueprint, focusing on lifestyle measures you can do on a daily basis.
My simplified rendition of his Blueprint protocol focused on:
Blueprint Diet & Meal Preparation
Blueprint Supplements
Blueprint Sleep
Blueprint Oral health
Blueprint Skin health
Blueprint Fitness
Blueprint Measurement
At the core of it, I don’t change much. But I’ve designed my own version of following his Blueprint in an easy, time effective, and palatable manner to me.
For comparison, you can find his entire protocol here.
Blueprint Diet & Meal Preparation
Green Giant
Bryan Johnson has a “Green Giant” drink upon waking up which consists of Spermidine, Amino complex, Creatine, Collagen, Cocoa, and Ceylon Cinnamon.
I’ve tried this drink and hated the taste of it, so couldn’t get myself to drink it.
What I do instead is I add all the ingredients he uses in this drink in other food items. For example:
I add the Amino complex, creatine, and collagen to my protein shake.
I get the cocoa powder and cinnamon in the Nutty pudding, which I’ll discuss below.
You can take Spermidine in pill form, but I don’t.
Obviously, try his drink if you wish. But if you hate the taste like me, simply add the ingredients to other meals, like I do.
Supper Veggie
At the core of it, Supper Veggie is the following ingredients: Lentils, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mushrooms. It’s seasoned by: Garlic, ginger, lime, cumin, olive oil.
I’ve tried making Super veggie his way (including the ground paste version which I did not like) but it took me a lot of time. So, here is my easy way of making his Super veggie in under 4 minutes of prep time:
Empty frozen organic chopped broccoli and cauliflower in a bowl and put in the microwave for time needed for them to soften up. It’s 40-50 minutes in my case - I put in 1lb of each. [1-2 minutes prep time]
Go to the gym while the vegetables get ready.
Back from the gym. Empty 2 cans of lentils he uses in another bowl. Add some cut mushrooms to this bowl. [1 min.]
Add turmeric, ginger, garlic, salt, cumin. Mix it up and put in microwave for 6 minutes. [1 min.]
Do whatever for 6 minutes. The dish is now ready to serve. Serve veggies in a bowl and add lentils on top.
My proportions serve 3-4 people.
Note: Bryan Johnson also seasons his Super veggie with Apple Cider vinegar but I just add it to water and drink it in the morning.
You can also find my Super Veggie veggie tweet form and some pictures:
Nutty Pudding
I use almost all his ingredients in Nutty pudding but I’m not OCD about the measurements. I’ve intuitively nailed down the quantities after making it 2-3 times. I also make one big batch which will last around a week for 2 people. Below is my slightly tweaked version.
Put all the following ingredients in a 72 oz Ninja blender:
A fistful of macadamia nuts
A fistful of walnuts
A cup of frozen organic raspberries and blackberries
2 spoons of pomegranate juice
2 spoons of ceylon cinnamon
2 spoons of ground flax powder
2-3 brazil nuts
1 spoon chia seeds
1 spoon hemp seeds
2-3 spoons of non dutched cocoa powder
4 scoops of protein powder you use
24 oz of almond milk (Bryan Johnson uses macadamia milk instead)
Blend for few minutes. Add some water if pudding is still too thick. The consistency shouldn’t be watery, however. Pour into containers and refrigerate. This will produce 2 of the glass containers in the picture below. Before eating, top it with berries if you wish.
As you can tell, I like his Nutty pudding a lot:
Blueprint Third Meal
He has a few different options for his 3rd meal, but at the core of it, it’s a salad or veggie dish with the following ingredients:
Spring mix
Arugula / Sprouts
Grape tomatoes
Avocado
Pecans, almonds, mustard seeds
Goji berries
Sweet potato
Chickpeas
Beets
Radish
Toppings: cilantro, lime, lemon, balsamic vinegar, mint, olive oil
Note on olive oil: Bryan Johnson is releasing his own brand of high polyphenol olive oil. High polyphenol content in olive oil does matter and for now I use Kosterina olive oil, which is a brand recommended by Peter Attia.
Basically, if you make yourself a salad with some or all of the above ingredients, you’ll be getting in all the goodies that Bryan Johnson consumes for his 3rd meal without having to prepare an overly precise fancy meal. Of course, if you want to be absolutely precise with your measurement for calorie or other reasons, then you can measure the ingredients too.
Blueprint Supplements
Bryan Johnson takes over 100 pills a day. You can find his list here.
I’m a little more skeptical of the evidence of many of the pills, so I personally do not want to experiment currently. If you’re curious to know the results of testing many of these supplements in the Interventions Testing program (gold standard for testing longevity drugs), I spoke to Dr. Richard Miller on longevity supplements that affect lifespan and those that might be hype. It’s my most popular podcast.
As of now, I take the following pills, which in my opinion, help with getting the important micronutrients:
Omega-3 Fish Oil (Rhonda Patrick recommended brand)
Creatine in my protein shake
Amino complex in my protein shake
Collagen in my protein shake
Organic Green banana flour in my protein shake
Blueprint Sleep Protocol
Most of Bryan Johnson’s sleep protocol can be followed by almost anyone and is a good one to implement:
He blacks out his bedroom using this film
You can also try to use nigh shades or an eye mask at the least
Same bedtime daily (this is hardest for me personally)
1 hour downtime before bed by hanging out with his son / reading
Blue light blocking glasses few hours before bed
Cool mattress like Eight Sleep
If you can’t do a cool mattress, then keep the temperature to ~67F
He uses an Ergonomic Neck pillow
Blueprint Oral Health
I follow Bryan Johnson’s oral health protocol, except the CoQ10 gel at the end. CoQ10 can be taken in pill form as well, and has some evidence that it could boost mitochondria, but don’t think it’s conclusive.
Brush AM and PM with fluoride free toothpaste
Tongue clean 1x a day using tongue scraper
Water pik AM and PM post brushing teeth
Floss AM and PM
Rinse mouth with tee tree oil
Blueprint Skin Health
Outside of the basic skin routine, Bryan Johnson is experimenting with microneedling and more. I think this is hard for most people to practice and many benefits might be attained through simply following the below adapted version of Bryan Johnson’s skin protocol:
Face Skincare: Wash with facewash, followed by face cream (morning cream, night cream)
Wear mineral sunscreen before stepping out in the sun
Blueprint Fitness
Bryan Johnson does full-body lifting workouts on weekdays, mixed in with high-intensity 3 days a week, and moderate intensity cardio (hiking, tennis) on weekends.
His full fitness routine here on YouTube and in this picture:
Even though all of his exercises are useful to implement in your protocol, I don’t think people need to necessarily follow his protocol to the tee and can design what works for them.
For example, I’ve written about my exercise protocol design here.
If your goal is longevity, there are 4 important workout buckets to focus on:
Weightlifting - Leg, back, and chest muscles. (3-4x a week)
High-intensity interval training (1-2x a week)
Moderate to vigorous intensity cardio like running, tennis, basketball (2-3x a week)
Stability training (10 minutes or more everyday)
Bryan Johnson allocates his time across the different exercise zones as such:
Blueprint Measurement
Blueprint measurement is extensive! It’s not for nothing that Bryan Johnson holds the title of the most measured man in human history. I think for most people this can feel overwhelming and also difficult to conduct in practice. My take on a more simplified measurement practice is:
Fitness and sleep tracker to measure your sleep, RHR, HRV
Comprehensive blood tests at least 1x / year, ideally 2x a year or more
Note that typically insurance in the U.S. does not cover many important markers in blood tests.
DEXA scan at least 1x / year
VO2 max at least 1x / year
For people older than 35, cancer screening 1x / year or every 24 months if on the younger side
One time genetic test to know your APOE status. APOE is a gene type and if you have 1 or 2 APOE4 genes, you are at a higher risk of Alzheimer’s. It is not deterministic of Alzheimer’s, but it does place you at a higher risk and knowing this status can help you take measures to prevent the disease.
Bryan Johnson does all of the above and lots more. Based on my research, the above tests will take you quite far on understanding your health far better than most currently do.
Blueprint Other
Bryan Johnson has a protocol for hair health as well - laser cap, microneedling etc.
It’s too hard for most people to implement and I’m not sure of the entire protocol he follows, so I won’t speak to it.
I’m sure there might be a few other things I’ve missed. But when it comes to practical lifestyle protocols in Blueprint, I have it covered, and it’s what most people can get started on right away.
I hope this was useful in simplifying Blueprint and can get you started on following your own version of Blueprint. I follow most of Blueprint’s protocols laid out here, adapted to suit me. Draw from these protocols, personalize them to suit your needs, and feel your best self everyday.
If you need more guidance on designing your longevity protocol, you can draw inspiration from my 2023 longevity protocol.
And if you found this post useful, please share it with your loved ones.
Lastly, kudos to all you wonderful people who want to optimize your health and longevity - I’m so excited to see this number growing!
To living longer,
[P.S. Check out my Live Longer World podcast where I interview scientists at the forefront of aging and longevity science.]