A 25-year-old startup founder shares his high-protein smoothie for gut health, energy, and longevity

• A health startup founder starts his day with a high-protein smoothie for energy and gut health.
• The blend of nutrient-dense fruits, supplements, and whey is packed with antioxidants.
• The combo of protein and fiber is key to staying full and focused for long workdays.

A 25-year-old startup founder said he starts each day with a nutrient-packed protein smoothie.

Max Marchione is the cofounder of Superpower, a personalized health testing app that raised $30 million in funding earlier this year, backed by celebritiess like Steve Aoki and Logan Paul.

"Health is becoming a status symbol," Marchione told Business Insider. "Twenty-somethings talking about their biomarkers, it would not have happened three years ago, but that is the defining young culture nowadays."

Running the company is no easy feat: Marchione works seven days a week, putting in more than 12 hours a day.

That means his self-care routine is precisely dialed in.

Marchione says he has always taken an unconventional, even contrarian approach, exploring beyond what mainstream medicine recommends.

As a teen, he was an early adopter of fitness wearables like the Oura ring, and got into blue-light-blocking glasses and mouth taping — trends that, despite some mixed evidence, have become incredibly popular in wellness today.

He's also a big fan of peptide injections, such as the "Wolverine shot," a compound called BPC-157. It is not FDA-approved. He began taking it in the hopes of accelerating his recovery after suffering a soccer injury.

But one constant in his health routine is much simpler: a daily smoothie.

Marchione's smoothie recipe

As his first meal of the day, it packs in 50 grams of protein and 20 grams of fiber in 400 total calories.

The recipe includes fruit rich in antioxidants, plant-based compounds that research suggests help mitigate the cellular damage of aging. It also helps him get enough fiber, a crucial nutrient for gut health. Fiber helps nourish the microbiome in a way that may help prevent illnesses like heart disease and cancer as we age.

Combined with protein (the primary building block for muscle), fiber helps improve fullness after eating and supports balanced blood sugar.

Marchione's full "smoothie stack," which he published on his website for other people to try, includes ingredients for gut health and energy, like:

• Blueberries: full of fiber and compounds called flavonoids that promote healthy aging. Marchione opts for wild blueberries (frozen for convenience), which are smaller, darker in color, and denser in nutrients.
• Whey protein: widely available and fast-digesting, whey is often considered the gold standard of protein powders. Marchione uses whey from goat milk, which can be easier to digest and higher in minerals like magnesium.
• Collagen: a type of protein that makes up connective tissue and supports healthy joints, skin, and hair. It's often sold as a supplement powder.
• Colostrum: a supplement from the milk of cows that have just given birth, so it's especially full of protein, vitamins, and antibodies. It's sold as a supplement powder.
• Taurine: an amino acid that supports healthy energy and metabolism, has been linked to potential antiaging benefits through research. It's available as a supplement in powder form or pills, and is often added to energy drinks.
• Cacao powder: an antioxidant-rich compound that's a less processed version of the beans that make chocolate — all the benefits, without the added fat and sugar.
• Acai: a rainforest berry full of fiber and even more antioxidants.
• L-Glutamine: an amino acid that supports digestion and the immune system. It's sold as a supplement in powder and pill form.

This is a very high protein smoothie. The sweet spot for total daily protein intake to build muscle is about 0.7 grams per pound of body weight daily, studies suggest. For a 140-pound person, a single serving of Marchione's smoothie would be more than half the recommended amount in that range.

If he's loading up on extra protein in the smoothie, he adds digestive enzymes to make the protein easier to absorb.

"I find that if I don't do this, I have brain fog from too much protein at once," he wrote on his website.