Gary LeBlanc is a Toronto entrepreneur, author and speaker — and, by training, an engineer. That word matters to him, because he refuses the label everyone else in his city wears. He does not call it biohacking. He calls it life engineering.
The distinction is about time horizon and risk. Biohacking, as he sees it, is too often the short game: big interventions, big risks, quick results. Life engineering is the opposite — high on the safety scale, built to last. His test is simple and worth stealing: when I’m 80 or 90, I want to be doing directionally the same thing. If a practice fails that test, it is not for him.
He is one of the people who built Toronto’s disproportionately large sauna-and-cold-plunge scene, and his read on why it took off is sharp. It rode the sober-curious wave: when you remove alcohol you remove socialising, and the sauna and the ice bath became the new places to connect. Young, fit people turning up for healthy parties — a habit that became cool.
He founded EverMe and wrote a book on becoming superhuman, and he has spent twenty years filtering thousands of papers for what actually holds up — because, as he puts it, even the smartest people cannot easily find longevity information they can trust. He is also working to get these practices treated as a corporate perk, a way around insurance systems that cover none of it.
But the part of the conversation that stayed with us was not about longevity at all. When Marek explained why he had held back at the start of the quest — so that Aleksander could own the expertise — Gary’s response was immediate: “What a gift at 18 to have this mentality.” His wish for the two of them was the simplest anyone gave: be present, off camera. You can’t recreate that.
Life engineeringCommunityTorontoThe long game
Toronto · July 2024
A Toronto rooftop, July 2024
Where we met
This was one of the few interviews Marek shot alone — Aleksander already home, Carmen joining in London in two days — and it is all the warmer for it. We talked on a rooftop above the Toronto skyline, and in Gary’s apartment, with his dog Luna interrupting on cue every time anyone moved. It moves between the practical (why Toronto, why the long game) and the personal (fatherhood, presence), and it is one of the most brotherly conversations of the whole trip.
Toronto
Over the years
Helped build the city’s outsized sauna and cold-plunge community.
EverMe & the book
His work
Author, speaker, and founder — twenty years filtering the research.
The rooftop
July 2024
The interview — Marek travelling solo, Luna supervising.
“What a gift at 18 to have this mentality — and to be exposed to it through you.”
— Gary LeBlanc, Toronto
On the quest
In Toronto
Toronto, July 2024. On the rooftop above the city — one of the few interviews Marek shot on his own.
In his words
Be present, off camera
“I’d wish for you and your son to connect and be present in every experience off camera. It’s such a gift. You can’t recreate that.”
Gary LeBlanc · Toronto, July 2024
When I’m 80 or 90, I want to be doing directionally the same thing.
Gary LeBlanc
Take away alcohol and you take away socialising — so these became the new ways to interact.
Gary LeBlanc
We always think we’re doing our sons and daughters favours by making things easier. We’re not.
Gary LeBlanc
It’s not a single discipline that gets longevity moving. You need the silos talking.
Gary LeBlanc
In his own words
Straight from the interview
From the rooftop and the apartment — why he renamed the whole thing, why Toronto, and the advice he actually cared about giving.
Why “life engineering”
He is an engineer, and he wanted a word that means lasting and safe rather than fast and risky. Under the biohacking umbrella, he says, are people genuinely gambling for short-term gains. His own bar is the opposite: only practices he still wants to be doing in his eighties make the cut.
“High on the safety scale, and built to last.”
Toronto · from the interview
Why Toronto
His explanation for the city’s outsized cold-plunge scene is social, not scientific. It rode the sober-curious movement: strip out drinking and you strip out the way people gather, and the sauna filled the gap. Fit young people showing up for “healthy parties” — connection with a habit attached.
“It’s become the new way to interact with each other.”
Toronto · from the interview
On fatherhood
The heart of the interview. Hearing that Marek deliberately stepped back so Aleksander could own the field, Gary named it a gift twice over — and turned his own wish for them into the least productive, most valuable advice possible: stop performing, and be present in it while it’s happening.
“I catch myself all the time not being present, in this need for productivity.”
Toronto · from the interview
The one thing he has done every day for 23 years
The Superhuman Smoothie
Gary’s daily non-negotiable, and the clearest single habit anyone took away from the whole quest. Published here with his permission.
Twenty-six ingredients, before lunch
Gary LeBlanc · Toronto
The idea is not a superfood. It is biodiversity — more different plants in one glass than most people manage in a week, taken early, so the rest of the day does not have to be perfect. Gary has done it every day for twenty-three years.
7 minutesEvery two daysAll organic23 years running≈26 ingredients
“It’s 26 ingredients, all organic. I get everything I need — I get that biodiversity. Eight different vegetables. Five spices. Five seeds. Then my berries, then the protein and the probiotics.”From the Toronto interview
What goes in
Makes two days’ worth — about 1.5 litres
Eight vegetables
2 handfulsSpinach
1 handfulKale
1 cupBroccoli florets
1 handfulRed cabbage
1 stickCelery
½Cucumber
½ smallRaw beetroot
1Carrot
Five spices
1 tspTurmeric
a pinchBlack pepperIt is what makes the turmeric usable
1 tspCinnamon
a thumbFresh ginger
¼ tspCardamom
Five seeds
1 tbspChia
1 tbspGround flax
1 tbspHemp hearts
1 tbspPumpkin seeds
1 tspSunflower seeds
Berries
1 cupBlueberriesFrozen is fine, and keeps it cold
½ cupRaspberries
½ cupBlackberries
Protein, fat & the gut
1–2 scoopsProteinWhey or plant, 25–50 g
½Avocado
100 mlKefirOr one probiotic capsule, stirred in at the end
The rest
1 tspRaw cacao
500–700 mlWater or unsweetened plant milk
Seven minutes, once every two days
Order matters more than technique — hardest first, live cultures last.
Hard vegetables and the liquid go in first — beetroot, carrot, celery, cucumber — and blend until there is nothing left to chew.
Then the greens and the cabbage, in handfuls, until the colour turns.
Seeds and spices next. Grind the flax or buy it ground, or it passes straight through.
Berries, avocado and cacao last, on a short blend, so it stays cold and thick.
Kefir or the probiotic goes in at the very end, off the blender, so the blades and the heat don’t kill it.
Two big jars: one for today, one sealed in the fridge for tomorrow.
The counts, the method and the seven minutes are Gary’s, from the interview in Toronto; the named items and quantities are our build of his structure, so you can make it tonight. When Gary sends his own list it goes here verbatim.
And what it actually gives you
Plant diversity
Twenty-six plants before noon
The single strongest dietary signal for a diverse gut microbiome is the number of different plants you eat, not the amount. Most people struggle to reach thirty in a week. This gets you most of the way there before lunch.
Fibre
Fuel for the bacteria
Seeds, greens and berries bring soluble and insoluble fibre. Your gut bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids, which are part of how a healthy gut lowers inflammation elsewhere in the body.
Polyphenols
The colour is the point
Anthocyanins from the berries and red cabbage, sulforaphane precursors from the broccoli, carotenoids from the carrot and greens — the compounds plants make to protect themselves, which our cells read as a signal to switch on their own defences.
Protein
The pillar he cares about most
Gary’s whole argument is muscle: it is what carries you through the weeks after a fall, and it regulates blood sugar. Protein at breakfast is the meal most people skip, and the easiest one to fix.
Fats
Omega-3, and absorption
Flax, chia and hemp bring plant omega-3; the avocado brings the fat that lets the fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids in the greens actually reach you. Without a fat in the glass, much of the goodness passes through.
Spices
Small amounts, real effects
Curcumin from turmeric — with black pepper, which multiplies how much you absorb — for inflammation; cinnamon, associated with steadier blood sugar; ginger for digestion. Cheap, and used daily rather than occasionally.
Probiotics
The pair that works
Live bacteria without fibre have little to eat; fibre without bacteria has nobody to feed. Putting both in the same glass is why the kefir goes in last, off the blender.
The real reason
It removes a decision
Seven minutes every second day, and breakfast is solved for two days. Gary’s point is not the ingredients — it is that a system you never have to think about is the only kind that survives twenty-three years.
Nutrition, not medicine. If you take blood thinners, thyroid medication or anything affected by vitamin K or grapefruit-type interactions, or you are pregnant, run the list past your doctor first — a glass this dense is a real dietary change.
Gary is a life engineer, author and founder of EverMe. Find him at garyjamesleblanc.com and on LinkedIn.
From the conversation
Gary LeBlanc, in his words
Video interview
The video interview is coming. Recorded interviews go live after the launch of the film & series Live Beyond.
From the conversation in Toronto, July 2024 — on a rooftop and in Gary’s apartment, with his dog Luna making regular appearances. Lightly edited for readability.
On Toronto’s cold-plunge scene
Gary LeBlanc“It’s disproportionately large here, that community. Cold plunges became popular recently, and Toronto’s a hotbed for it. A lot of what you’re seeing is leading-edge lifestyle intervention becoming a habit — and it’s become cool. It followed the pace of that non-alcoholic, sober-curious movement. One of the things you take away when you take away alcohol is socialising, so these became the new ways to interact with each other.”
On life engineering
Gary LeBlanc“I’m an engineer, and I’ve been using “life engineering” for a long time, because it encompasses a lasting solution. Under the umbrella of biohacking you have people literally biohacking — short-term, playing the short game, taking big risks. Life engineering I see as high on the safety scale. When you look at how you want to invest your time, the lasting effect matters: when I’m 80 or 90, I want to be doing directionally the same thing. Maybe certain things trail off, but directionally the same. A lot of biohackers are playing the short game and taking big risks.”
On the Superhuman Smoothie
Gary LeBlanc“You have to manage your calories and your nutrition in a very predictable way. So I do my superhuman smoothie. It’s 26 ingredients, all organic. I get everything I need — I get that biodiversity. It’s like eight different vegetables. I have five different spices — the classic ones, turmeric, cinnamon. Five seeds. Then I have my berries, then obviously the protein and the probiotics. I’ve created a system that takes seven minutes once every two days, and I produce enough smoothie for two days. That gives me the biodiversity of having 25 to 28 ingredients before lunch. By dinner, I’ve had about 40 different foods. Apart from managing your calories and just eating well, I think biodiversity is everything. I’ve been doing the smoothie for 23 years.”
On the long game — and insurance
Gary LeBlanc“None of these practices are typically covered by insurance. You have your paramedical — chiro, massage — but everything more epigenetics-related isn’t covered. We’re in talks about how it could be seen more as a perk: instead of needing everything tied to double-blind, placebo, pharma, companies invest in it strategically, without the insurers having to cover it the old way.”
On why he stepped back for Aleksander — and what Gary made of it
Marek Piotrowski“For the first month I didn’t want to go too much into shooting. I wanted my son to know more than me, so he could feel it was his field, his expertise. It’s not easy when you have parents who achieved a lot — it’s pressure for a kid.”
Gary LeBlanc“And especially travelling with you, for him to find that he has ownership of something — I think it changes the whole trip. We always think we’re doing our sons or daughters favours by making things easier. We’re not really doing them favours. What a gift at 18 to have this mentality — and to be exposed to it through you is a massive gift. There’s nothing more important than this.”
On connecting the field
Gary LeBlanc“It’s not a single discipline that gets longevity moving forward. We have to change habits, change medicine, change insurance — it’s everything, almost a game of whack-a-mole. There’s a line in Team of Teams about how the weakness was being stuck in silos. You need the interdisciplinary people talking, to find connections you wouldn’t find otherwise. That’s an awesome opportunity — to connect everybody.”
His wish for the quest
Gary LeBlanc“Honestly, what I’d wish for you and your son is to connect and be present in every experience — off camera — because it’s such a gift. You can’t recreate that. It’s the journey you always want to take with your dad. You’re doing it now, and it would be such a shame not to be present. I catch myself all the time not being present, in this need for productivity, always having to be doing something, learning something. So that’s what I’d wish for you guys.”
More passages from the full interview will be published here.
Continue the quest
More minds on the quest
Gary LeBlanc sits in Creating the Movement (community, book, connecting the field) and Longevity Basics (the long-game lifestyle). Read him next to Cory Goldberg, from the same Toronto leg.
