Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - Mikhaila Peterson On SSRIs, The Lion Diet & Finding God

Episode Date: May 22, 2026

MONSTER episode with Mikhaila Peterson on the lasting damage people are getting from SSRIs, dating, faith, her dad Jordan Peterson’s current health situation, plastic surgery, and healing chronic illness with The Lion Diet.Thank you to our sponsors:ZEBRA: Use code "ALEX" for 10% off any order at https://yayzebra.comA'DEL NATURAL COSMETICS: Use code "ALEX" for 25% off first time ordersMASA CHIPS: Use code "ALEXCLARK" for 25% OFFPALEOVALLEY: Use code ALEX for 15% off your first orderGEVITI: Use code "ALEX" to get 20% off of your first purchaseJASPR: Use code "ALEX" to get $200 off your purchasePUORI: Use code "ALEX" for 32% off Puori Creatine+ when you start a subscriptionVOTE ONLINE:Our Guest:Mikhaila PetersonMikhaila's Links:Personal InstagramLion Diet InstagramWebsitePeterson Academy WebsiteMikhaila's PodcastFOLLOW ALEX:Instagram |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @realalexclark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@cultureapothecary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @yoalexrapz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @RealAlexClark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to ‘Culture Apothecary’ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. New episodes drop 6pm PST/ 9pm EST every Monday and Thursday.DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always talk to a qualified healthcare professional for any health-related questions or decisions.

I remember looking at my purse at one point and the zipper was open and seeing teeth. You'll see on side effects for SSRIs and psych meds may cause restlessness. That's the term they're using for acetygia. Everything I saw looked pixelated. Everything was terrifying. Everything hurt. Sound hurt. Smells were weird.

Panic and discomfort in my own body to the point where I was like, I kind of wanted to hold myself and rock back and forth. And this is what your dad has? Yeah. And he had two years of this. You hear about people having a week of this and keeping themselves. Do you think that there's millions of people who believe that they're mentally ill for life and really they're just chemically dependent? For sure.

So it's a physical inflammatory response causing mental illness. But the solution certainly wasn't medication that causes neurological damage long term. Why are millions of people being told that they're mentally ill for life when they may actually be inflamed, malnourished, chemically dependent, sleep deprived, spiritually lost, or reaction acting to the food that they eat every single day. Today's guest is one of the most polarizing and recognizable women in wellness and mental health conversations online. Michaela Fuller, or you may know her as Michaela Peterson.

Yes, she is Jordan Peterson's daughter. She is the co-founder and CEO of Peterson Academy, an online education platform built to make learning accessible, affordable, and ideology free. She also hosts the Michaela Peterson podcast and became internationally known after developing what's now called the Lion Diet, an extreme animal-based elimination. diet that she says helped reverse devastating autoimmune disease, depression, chronic inflammation, and severe psychiatric symptoms. But this conversation goes way beyond diet. I mean, Michaela and I get into what's going on with her dad lately and his health issues, antidepressant withdrawal, whether

SSRIs are creating a generation chemically dependent on medication, what acetygia is and feels like in the body and why more medical professionals are not warning people taking antidepressants about it, What chronic inflammation may be driving, like anxiety and depression, and whether some mental illness symptoms are actually metabolic symptoms in disguise. We also get into mold toxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, dating, levito, and of course, faith, her own faith journey, which is really interesting, and her mom and dads. Before we get started, please support the show by pausing, leaving a five-star review. This takes like five seconds to do.

It immensely helps us get bigger and better guests and to stay prominent on the charts. Please welcome Michaela Fuller to Culture Apothecary. One of the first things that actually peaked my interest into learning about big food and big pharma was Adderall. I was listening to this podcast and this girl was talking about how Adderall was like literal speed, but it was legal. And I had never heard that before. That was like the most shocking thing. I was like, what do you mean it's legal speed? How can we be prescribing it to people?

You know, that really melted my brain. And you've had your own experience with Adderall, right? Yeah. I was, so I had idiopathic hypersomnia, which is like a fancy word for chronic fatigue. And that started when I was about 14. And by the time I was 20, it was incapacitating. So I was sleeping 18 hours a day and I couldn't get out of bed. I've got an interesting story about Adderall because Adderall actually woke me up enough to start researching to try to get myself out of chronic illness. It helped me. But if I had known how to get out of chronic illness,

I wouldn't have used it, obviously. I stopped taking it. I took it from, for about, I think it was about three years, 20 to 23, six days a week. And yeah, I mean, it is chemically very similar to like methamphetamine, something like that. Definitely not something you want to give to kids and not something you want to take without being seriously informed that what you're taking is like speed. Like if you're an adult, maybe do whatever you want, but it's not this casual pharmaceutical. My experience, once I started getting healthier, was it completely ruined my sense of humor, like flatlined my emotions, obviously causes serious insomnia. I was on the long acting one, which there are fewer, like, types of them in Canada than they have

in America. They've got more types in America. But it, like, wreaked havoc on my sleep, my appetite, everything that speed would likely do. So I stopped taking it. It was one of the medications that, like, I'm appreciative of, honestly, because it woke me up enough to start researching. But I was on seven other pharmaceuticals, eating terribly. I didn't know that at the time and chronically ill, so it was just like another pill. But now that I know what I know, obviously, the pharmaceutical route isn't the way to go. You discuss that all the time on your show. What scares you more?

Kids on stimulants or parents thinking stimulants for kids is harmless? Kids on stimulants probably. The pharmaceuticals for children is such a nightmare. Like, Adderall is one thing. Psych meds, my gosh. Like, psych meds, I think, are the real issue. Not that Adderall can't be a segue into getting medicated with psych meds too, but children on any type of mental medication is completely nuts for developing brain. Yeah, talk about that.

You kind of just touched on that. But the personality loss associated with kids being medicated long term. I know this one girl, her name is Danielle Ganski. And her story isn't, like, it's severe, but it's not rare, which is the skis. part, but she was medicated for ADD when she was seven, but it was like almost like normal kid attention problems in class, like nothing that needs something like speed. And that kind of took her down the root of Adderall causing anxiety and causing these other problems and then being diagnosed with mental problems and then have being put on psych meds. And psych meds have like,

I don't want to say ruined her life because she has a life, but like she's really trapped on these physically dependent on them. And that's a story that is seriously common. There's a study talking about psych med withdrawal and after two years of a psych medication, and most people are on them for five years plus. After two years of a psych medication, 78% of people experience some sort of withdrawal. And that ranges from completely debilitating. So 30% of people can't stop taking them because the withdrawal is too debilitating to something minor like brain zaps. And, We call them brainzaps as if that's something casual, but no one really understands what a brain zap is. It's definitely not good.

But that's my like blurb on psych mess. I think those those are the danger that is very difficult to recover from. You and your dad have both talked about the pains and difficulties with SSRI withdrawal. Why are so many doctors in denial that SSRI withdrawal is a thing? I think, one, they're not taught about it properly in medical school. Two, classic withdrawal doesn't look like the worst. withdrawal they've been taught about. So we're very used to opiate withdrawal, which is like nausea, vomiting, sweating, like classic, classic drug withdrawal. That's not what psych med withdrawal looks like.

PsychMed withdrawal looks like severe versions of almost what you went in to get the prescription for in the first place. So you'll go, but it gets worse. So you'll use words like extreme anxiety, panic, depression, but then there are other neurological symptoms like, um, when it gets really bad acetygia, sensations under your skin, pain everywhere, sensitivity to light, to sound, to touch, to fragrances, to food. So that all comes. But when they go into the office, they go, oh, I've stopped taking my medication, or I've gone down, or they've been tapered down in two to four weeks under their doctor's recommendation. And between three days, two days, and two weeks later, they'll have this relapse. So it's diagnosed as a relapse in the office.

And they go, oh, this is just your original mental problem. This is what you're, why you need to stay on the medications when really it's a withdrawal, which isn't even the greatest word for it. Like, they call it protracted withdrawal for these lengthy withdrawals, but really it's neurological damage from brain adaptation to these psych meds that happens. It's so bad, it's hard to believe. So I think doctors don't understand because, one, they think it's the original mental problem. Two, people are in such distress when they're experiencing these symptoms. They're easy to write off as crazy. I mean, that's about it. What you just said is important. You mentioned how doctors sometimes will try to taper people off these drugs in like a month. And in some cases,

they've been on them for years. Yeah. And that's where you get people experiencing severe physical, neurological damage. Yeah. Pain and it could last the rest of their lives. And so you have Secretary Kennedy making this announcement that we need to be educating doctors on how to properly taper people off of these drugs. And then the narrative on X and online in the past week that we're recording this, Secretary Kennedy is trying to take away SSRIs. Can you speak to this what was actually said? So, is so unbelievably frustrating. Obviously, that's not the case. If anything, it's the opposite of the case. Now, he's looking into the dangers of these medications, which really need to be studied. But he's trying to stop doctors from rapidly tapering people. Because if you go in, they

go, first of all, you're prescribed the medication, and they go, this is because you have a chemical imbalance, and you might need to take this for the rest of your life. But if you do want to get off, they go, well, it's not addictive. So you can get off in two to four weeks. And that's not dependent on how long you've been taking it. That's for everybody. And doctors that really don't know what they're doing, we'll do that even for benzodiazepines, which they're like one of the only two medications that can kill you when you stop taking them. So this is really dangerous, these rapid tapers. And they often cause neurological injury because of the rapid taper. It's partly because of like long-term use causing neurological changes and then injury when you pull them out. Now,

some people experience these injuries while they're on the medication and that makes this a lot more difficult because then you're already injured. It's very difficult to pull out. But he certainly didn't say anything about taking away the medications. That would like, I can understand the sentiment on X saying that's a terrible idea because that is a terrible idea. Yeah. But that's certainly not what happened. Do you think that there's millions of people who believe that they're mentally ill for life and really they're just chemically dependent? For sure. I'm not part of the group of people. I know there are a lot of people that are like, well, mental illness isn't real because I've experienced it and I was not okay. And it ran in my family. So that's what made it easier to believe

that it was some genetic chemical imbalance because it hit my great grandpa, my grandpa, my dad, me and the symptoms were severe, severe depression. And by the time a lot of people in my family were 50, they spent the last 30 years on the couch. But what we've figured out recently is likely my family's response to mold, which is getting out there, but is really severe and manifests in psychiatric issues. So it's a physical inflammatory response causing mental illness, which complicates it for people. So the mental illness was real. but the solution certainly wasn't medication that causes neurological damage long term. I'm glad that you talked about your family and you're all's experience with this because I went on Glenn Beck's show in the last, I don't know, year or so.

And Glenn brought this up because, you know, he knows I talk about all the stuff with Maha and everything. He's like, okay, well, let me ask you something genuine. He said, you know, so many members of my family have had debilitating depression. I almost took my own life. You know, he went through this whole entire thing. And multiple members of his family had the exact same experience. And so he was like, how do you explain that? Like, don't you think there might be a genetic component or whatever?

And I don't remember what I said at the time. But now, if I didn't say this, I should have said this, I really think when you talk about families that are all experiencing the same thing, and you can speak to this better than me, but I really think that's typically a case of you're eating typically the same food. You're living in the same type of environment. You're doing the same things. I feel like there's something environmentally, whether that's food or, yeah, an exposure to mold or whatever that is affecting multiple people. I would say would be my guess. I, like, agree mostly with that.

Yes to the environmental part. Like, for my family, my great-grandpa who got hit, he grew up on a farm. So this was a long time ago. And then my grandpa who got hit was a high school teacher in northern Alberta. And then my dad who got hit was like a Harvard professor in Boston.

And then I got hit and I grew up in Toronto. Eating the same things. I mean, we're all eating. My great-grandpa was probably eating better than the rest of us. But we weren't picky with the diet. Like, I grew up eating the standard American diet. and that was like wreaking havoc on my health.

But I think for our family, it was this serious sensitivity to mold. And mold is common in like most buildings. The indoor air quality in America is not good. It's terrible, actually. It's a huge issue. And I think that's at the root of a lot of people who have these genetic depressions. That would be my guess. But like it's all, there's emerging research, tons of research into mold causing psychiatric illnesses.

Like I don't know why that's not commonly known because the number of papers internationally is astounding. You ever meet your kids teacher and just immediately think, this person hates joy? Like they walk into the room and all the fun is sucked right out. Passive aggression off the charts and you're like, how did you get into this profession in the first place? You're smiling like, yeah, thank you so much for everything you do. While internally you're like, this woman would report me to the government for blinking wrong. You know, half of life is just trying not to offend people, including with your smell. Most deodorant is basically a chemical weapon.

I mean, aluminum, synthetic fragrance, stuff you can't pronounce and you're just putting it directly into your armpits and lymph. system. That's why I only use zebra deodorant. It actually works, first of all, which is shocking in the natural deodorant world where half of them are like a suggestion. This one keeps you fresh, has unisex scents, and doesn't burn your armpits. It's clean, non-toxic, no aluminum, no fake fragrance. It's designed to support your body instead of shutting it down because sweating is normal, but smelling like a haunted locker room is not. So we need to be detoxing, and the best part is you don't have to think about it. You just use it. You don't smell weird, and your kids' teacher has one less thing to judge you for. Life is hard enough. You don't need your deodorant

working against you. Switch to Zebra Deodorant at yayzebra.com code Alex for 10% off. That's yayzebra.com code Alex for 10% off. I need to interrupt this episode with a formal apology to all of you because apparently I've ruined your lives. I've been getting messages. People saying, Alex, I can't stop. I'm hiding bags. My family is concerned. And I just want to say, well, that's not my fault. But also, I understand because I've been talking about Masa Chips since late 2022, before they were even a sponsor. I had the fact. founder on in 2023, like some kind of snack evangelist. Because when I believe in something, I'm not casual about it, I go full ride or die. And Masa deserves that. Because once you switch to chips

made with real ingredients, organic, niximalized corn, sea salt, grass-fed beef tallow, you physically cannot go back. You try a regular chip and you're like, what is this? This tastes like drywall dust, fried an engine oil. And now you're stuck? Because Mossa actually satisfies you. You eat it and you feel full, calm, stable, no bloat, no crash, no gross sluggish feeling. And your kids aren't bouncing off the walls from artificial junk, which honestly might be the biggest miracle here. So now you're hiding the chips. You've created a secret stash. You've become a person you don't recognize. And again, I'm sorry. But I'm also not because not only are these the best tortilla chips I've ever had. Their mission is to completely revamp the food system and I will

support that aggressively. So if you're ready to upgrade your family snack game, you've got to go to Masa Chips.com and use code real Alex Clarke for 25% off your first order. Fair warning, Masa makes their chips in small batches with real ingredients. So certain flavors do go out of stock frequently. I actually just restocked because it wasn't finally back and I wasn't going to miss it again. So grab your favorites while they're available. Go to masachips.com. Use code real Alex Clark for 25% off your first purchase. Also, look for Masa in sprouts, Wegmans, and Whole Foods for the first time ever. But remember, my discount is only on their website, Masa chips.com. Here's a thought. Maybe the secret to a healthier life is in another self-help book or some guy screaming about cold plunges on Instagram.

My simple hack is just one scoop of creatine every day. Creatine is one of those tasteless, rare things that actually lives up to the hype. Yes, it helps with strength and muscle. Yes, it helps with recovery. But what's wild is the research on brain function too. Mental clarity, cognitive support. This must be why I don't fall into the trap of conspiracy theories and cults. You are going to feel less mentally cooked by 3 p.m., which, let's be honest, most people

are feeling cooked now at 10.30 in the morning. So that's why I've been into Peory Cretine Plus. The reason Puri Cretine Plus first caught my attention is the clever combination of 5 grams of creatine, monohydrate, and 400 milligrams of torrine per serving. So why is that important? Well, both ingredients are known for their key roles in energy support during high intensity workouts, emerging research pointing to their potential in supporting cognitive performance and mental clarity. And it's not just what's in it. It's what's not in Piori Cretine Plus because the supplement industry can feel like a criminal enterprise run out of a strip mall. I'm always cautious with the my supplements, which is why I appreciate how Peoria publishes all their third-party test results for each batch of creatine so you can see them for yourself. Just scan the QR code on the bag. Peory is the only brand I found with the Clean Label Project Transparency Certificate, which means independent third-parties test and publish the results batch by batch. Also, Ivanka Trump says she won't go without creatine. So that tells you that this stuff has officially crossed over from gym bro culture into hot wellness girl culture. Use code Alex at peory.com. That's p-u-O-R-I-com to get 32% off

Peory-Createne Plus when you start a subscription. Go to peory.com, p-u-o-ri.com. Use code Alex at checkout for this exclusive offer. When did you realize that you had actual physical damage from antidepressants? So it took me a while. I went, I cut out a bunch of foods. I'm out of my doctor. in 2015, when I was on these eight medications, I had juvenile idiopathic arthritis, this chronic fatigue, extreme mental illness, and I was on a bunch of medications to stabilize, which weren't working. And when I was 22, I was like, if I don't figure this out, I think I'm not going to make it. And that wasn't, that wasn't me being dramatic about it because there are second cousins that have died at 30 from unknown autoimmune disorders. And I was in like that category of people.

that was on my dad's side as well. So I started cutting out foods. And three months into a really restrictive paleo diet, I could feel my depression lift. This was on the, this was on the psych mat. I was on Lexa Pro at that point. And I felt the depression lift and I was like, oh my gosh, I had been doing the diet to try to get my arthritis under control. I never even thought it would touch genetic depression. I thought that was just a chemical imbalance at the time. So that stopped. And I literally had the thought, I'm never taking another pharmaceutical again. And how many milligrams of Lexpro were you on? 20, but something funny about that, it's not funny, actually.

The reason hyperbolic tapering, which is like it's about a 10% reduction every, I want to say every month, but that should be double-checked. But then when you go down, so if you go from like 20 to 18, the next dose is a 10% reduction of that dose. So when you get to these really tiny doses, it still, it takes a lot longer to get off. And it turns out five milligrams of lexopro saturates something like 70% of your neurotransmitters. So you think if you go from five to ten, you're getting a double dose, but you're really at a 70% dose at five milligrams. And then you're at like 80% dose at 10 milligrams.

So the difference between 10 and 20 isn't massive, as massive as you would think just looking at dosages. But I figured out I had neurological damage after I stopped taking it over two weeks. I felt great for about two days. I was like, wow, I'm clear. I can think. Two days later, I started to try to reintroduce more inflammatory foods, and my food sensitivities skyrocketed. And for the first two years, I was attributing these weird neurological symptoms to food sensitivities. But my symptoms were like, like I said, sound, light, fabric sensitivity, extreme depression, up and down, insomnia, panic. and it got to the point of hallucinations of really dark and horrifying things. And I was like, well, it's my reaction to food because I was so unaware that rapidly stopping

antidepressants could cause the symptoms because they're unbelievable when you experience them. So it wasn't actually until my dad got hit. And he got hit with antidepressant withdrawal, but we didn't know what it was. But then when he was prescribed clanasopam, that just was. like the cherry on top of neurological injury. And when he started experiencing it, I was like, oh my gosh, I think all these neurological issues that we seem to have that we think are like food sensitivities are from the antidepressant withdrawal. Can you talk about what acetheia is and what it actually feels like in the body? I had like brief experiences with it in the midst of the severe

protracted withdrawal. So the mental state was almost like, I don't know if your audience has done shrooms, but it was almost like a psychedelic bad trip bad. It didn't feel like real life. Everything I saw looked pixelated. Everything was terrifying. So like looking at plants, I remember looking at my purse at one point and the zipper was open and seeing like teeth. Like everything was terrifying. Oh my gosh. Everything hurt. Sound hurt. Smells were weird. But the acathia part was like panic and discontas. in my own body to the point where I was like, I kind of wanted to hold myself and rock back and forth. And that's when if someone with acathia goes to see a psychiatrist or something and is like

pacing around and rocking back and forth, they go, my gosh, like you need antipsychotics or something. Like, this isn't right. It causes people and not physical discomfort that they want to crawl out of their skin. And it commonly, commonly causes suicidality, not because the person is upset about their life. Yeah. But because they're so physical discomfort. hurt that they can't stand it. And this is what your dad has? Yeah, that's what he has. And his is, his is complicated because he experienced this. It was horrible. He experienced this for two years. Actually, he experienced this while on clanazepam and recognized, oh, you know, something's happening that isn't good because of this clinazepam. And then he went to a bunch of really,

really uninformed doctors that really hurt him. And he had two years of that. And he had two years of which is you hear about people having a week of this and killing themselves. Like two years is insane, and he miraculously got out of it. And then it was re-triggered this summer. That would have been five years after taking a clanasopam pill. We had no idea that the neurological injury, like once you go through that first part of withdrawal, can reemerge. But for a lot of people, especially with benzodiazepine-induced neurological withdrawal injuries, it can be re-triggered. So his was likely re-triggered from mold exposures over the summer, the stress of his parents dying,

and then a couple of like supplements for like trying to relax. Didn't you give him, he ate something like Passion fruit or something? Passion flour extract. Passion flower extract is like it kind of like the equivalent of chamomile tea, like if somebody healthy were to take it. Because I was like, this seems risky, so I'll try some. and it was like, I can't even feel anything. But because it works on GABA receptors and his GABA receptors are damaged,

that triggered it. That was more recent. That was, and that was under, like, doctor supervision for supplements. It does look, I don't want to, like, get too enthusiastic about it because it's still a really bad situation, but he's having, like,

slightly longer windows during the day that have some relief, which he wasn't getting at all for a while. Now that all of those, like, well, passion flower extract. It's not like all of those things, but like passion flower extract has been removed. But since then, I wrote a website, it's prescribed dashharm.com to list all the research about this because doctors are so uninformed. And there's tons of research on acathia and psychmed injury. And I have maybe 500 people's stories on there about living with acethegia and things.

And this protracted withdrawal that lasts for like, we don't know how long. We don't know how long. But for unlucky people, like 10 years, maybe, it just lasts a long time. So you have to be careful with your nervous system for maybe the rest of your life. It's a catastrophe. So if SSRIs are this hard to get off of, why aren't we talking about them with the same seriousness as opioid withdrawal? Oh, I've been through opioid withdrawal. Like, opioid withdrawal was absolutely nothing compared to SSRI withdrawal. I was on OxyContin for my hip and ankle replacement because I had no cartilage.

in those joints and I couldn't sleep at that point. I was in so much pain. So I was on Oxycontin for about a year. Stoped too rapidly. It was horrible, like two, but it wasn't like two and a half years of off and on hallucinations and sensitivity to everything. It wasn't that. It was, it was bad. And Oxycontin is one of the worst ones for withdrawal. Why aren't we talking about it? I think because the withdrawal was hard to, was often misdiagnosed because it wasn't this classic like sweating, throw up type of withdrawal. And then I think it was also covered up by the pharmaceutical companies. This is the part that makes me really angry. Like you'll see on side effects for SSRIs and psych meds may cause restlessness. That's the term they're using for acetya, which is like, I don't know

what malevolent person came up with that. But restlessness is not equivalent to acetya. Like, acetygia is so uncomfortable, people kill themselves to escape it. Why do people get so angry when you bring this stuff up? I totally understand that too. I probably would have been one of those people when I thought that the antidepressants were helping me. Like, I thought, I'm incredibly mentally ill. And, like, thank God I have this solution that makes me more comfortable to be alive. Yeah, they're saying SSRIs have saved my life. Save my life, yeah.

And I, like, maybe, maybe initially. Like, I'm not even against that. The problem is they're not told that, one, it's not solving the underlying problem. it's creating this like numbness that doesn't doesn't even last long term. And then if you do solve the underlying problem, which is what happened to us, we figured out mold, we figured out diet, we figured out how to get rid of this severe mental illness, then you're stuck on this medication. That's what they're not told about. So there's pushback because the truth is so terrible. Like about 20% of the population is on psych meds and a huge percentage of those people have been taking them for over five years.

They're likely physically dependent on a medication. 30% of them maybe can never stop taking it. So admitting that that's a problem is a catastrophe to millions of people. We're prescribing kids as young as 7 Lexapro now. What do you predict for the next generation who is likely to spend their entire life on SSRIs? So I started them when I was, I've been saying, I've been going back and forth between 11 and 12. I was in grade 5. That's how I remember it.

And I managed to get off of them. but it was brutal. And if at the time I had known that my symptoms were caused because of antidepressant withdrawal, I likely would have gone back on them. What's going to happen to them? I don't know. I think I've seen great success with especially ketogenic diets and helping people get off of these medications. But it is really tricky if your entire development has been built around this medication.

I don't know if those people are going to be able to get off of them. without risking neurological injury. And obviously staying on them isn't ideal because they're likely causing neurological injury. It's a complete catastrophe. Yeah. A teenager comes up to you. They say, Michaela Peterson,

I am suffering so much with depression. What is your order of operations that you give them? Before you take medication, this is what you should do. I would immediately tell them to adjust their diet. And for someone who had severe, okay, say, say we're dealing with like anxiety, depression, I would say ketogenic diet right away, just switch into the ketogenic diet. The emerging research there is getting, is getting to be overwhelming.

It's still emerging, but every year that passes, there's more and more studies, especially on mental illness. So ketogenic diet, and if that's not enough, that's when I would suggest the carnivore diet or the diet I'm doing, which is the lion diet. Depends on the severity of symptoms. For people who have never been on medication, they might not need to go all the way to just eating meat to get their stuff. symptoms under control. Ketogenic diet might be enough. What's your opinion on the theory that

chronic inflammation is driving a lot of anxiety and depression? Yeah. I mean, I think that's a simple way of putting it, but yes, definitely. Like, all these triggers, which seem to be diet or mitochondrial dysfunction, I know you just had Chris Master John on. So that might be at the basis. There's some evidence that in people with mental illness, there's issues with their GABA, glutamate systems, but inflammation plays a huge role there. It's probably a little bit more complicated with neurotransmitters, but it generally looks like if you lower the amount of information and if you give yourselves an alternative source of fuel like ketones, you can get these mental problems under control. And the efficacy of a ketogenic diet for mental disorders is way higher than SSRIs,

even if you just look at PubMed and scientific studies. It works way better. So that's what I tell people to do. feel like the general public really underestimates or misunderstands how traumatic the benzodiazepine era was for your family? Oh, definitely. I mean, it's not possible to explain how bad it was. Well, is, honestly, how bad it is and was. I've had grandparents pass away from Alzheimer's, which is terrible. But they weren't, like, physically... And I also think a lot of that is preventable. But they weren't physically suffering. It wasn't apparent.

There were still smiles and things like that. That's not what neurological injuries. Like neurological injuries, it's the most amount of suffering. It's an amount of suffering you don't see as a human, I think, unless you've been in war. Like even in my mom had cancer. We were in the cancer ward. Also traumatizing. And people in there are really suffering.

but they're on morphine. They're like not suffering as much as these neurological injuries, which you can't treat with medication. So, yeah, people underestimate it, but it's because you don't come across this, I think, unless it happens to somebody in your family, and hopefully it doesn't. Is it hurtful the rumors online

that are saying that your family is covering up that your dad's just off the wagon? He's just in rehab. You know, he's an alcoholic. This is why he can't be seen publicly. I don't really care about it. those. The one that got me, there was a news article yesterday, about us covering up how IV stem cells caused sepsis. And then, I don't know if you've seen that one. That's been, it's so dumb. It's like hard

to fathom. But so I've had comments online. They're like, oh, you're just covering up the IV stem cell. I don't conspiracy. I was like, that's the stupidest conspiracy I've ever heard. I guess. They're saying your dad got stem cell therapy. And it caused sepsis and now he's sick. I feel like your family would just say that if that was what was going on. First of all, yeah. It's not like we're like part of big stem cell or something. I don't like I don't even know where it's coming from. Do they get to me?

Yeah. I think because I'm pregnant, this is very stressful. We're also pretty used to people saying stupid things on the internet. And I'm also and my family is very hopeful of recovery. So I'm like it doesn't really matter. And eventually dad will get through this like he has before and come back. and he can explain to people what's going on. But I don't know.

There's an endless amount of stupid people on the internet. You brought up Chris Master, John. Do you think that mitochondrial dysfunction explains a lot of this? Yeah. Now, the tricky part is, so it looks like being in ketosis gives yourselves an alternative source of energy, and that helps mitochondrial function. So that's possibly why, part of the reason why ketogenic diet works.

Mold wreaks havoc on mitochondria. Psych meds wreak havoc on mitochondria. This is all in the scientific literature. This isn't a, this is as much of a theory as peer-reviewed research allows. So, yeah, I think likely he's got serious mitochondrial dysfunction from initially being sick from mold and then being treated by these psych meds. The tricky part is there isn't like a pill you can take or an injection or an infusion. There's no way to fix this really other than trying to calm down your nervous system. being in ketosis, being careful with your nutrition, sunlight, sleep, you know, trying to be a healthy

person, and then hopefully your mitochondria can function better. But yeah, I think that's at the basis. It's just, it's, there's not like a solution, really. These blood work companies are often lying about the price. I keep seeing people say, oh, it's only $30 a month. No, that is not actually what you're going to pay. Here's what happens. You sign up, great. Then you need your blood drawn. Well, that's extra. You want to talk to a human about your results? That's another fee. You need supplements, separate purchase. You need real treatment like hormones or peptides. Sorry, not available. That cheap membership that you guys are thinking about doing for getting your biomarkers tested and all of your blood work actually turns into this expensive scavenger hunt

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Because if your house is making you sick, clean air isn't optional. It's survival. Why is your biggest piece of dating advice for people to take control of their health? Diet makes you look so much better. Like being unhealthy isn't attractive. Now you can get away with, like, Like, I had an autoimmune disorder in high school. I looked pretty normal except pale on the outside.

I didn't look like a sick person. And I was like, that's actually kind of nice. I would rather that than looking like how I feel on the inside. But I would do a diet for sure. And that's not just for looks. That's also for mental clarity, for stability in relationships. So you're not so irritable. Let's say you're a healthy person.

I would try, for sure, I would cut out the processed foods. This is likely what you're telling people. Like, just eat healthier. like eat meat, eat a varied diet. If you have any type of anxiety or fatigue issues, that's what I'd start saying, like cut out grains, maybe cut out dairy because sometimes dairy can be hard on people. Diet, though, changes your life. Do you think that people eating crap food can make them worse at sex? I mean, probably, yeah. It makes them worse at everything, right? Like it would make some irritable, makes them foggy, makes them tired, makes them overweight. So, yeah, a lot of it.

I mean, likely, yes. I mean, worse libido, worse hormone levels, worse confidence. Okay, okay, yes. Those. All of it. Yeah. Yeah. Is there a difference between romantic chemistry and nervous system dysregulation that people

mistake for chemistry? Yes. I love this. Okay, this is probably just coming from my experience because I haven't looked into a lot of the research, and I don't know what the research is for this. But I know that I used to mistake that butterfly's feeling you get as something exciting. Same. I think every girl below the age of what, 25. Like, I don't know, for me, it took a while to be like, that's not a good sign. But yeah, the butterflies, that's not great.

That's like adrenaline. Wait, so if you're on a first date and you're experiencing butterflies, that's bad. I think you could have some nerves meeting somebody new. But if you've met them, maybe let's skip the first date. Maybe let's go to like the second or third date. But I think there's a distinct difference. Just as somebody dating. I think there's a distinct difference between the, like, well, what you're thinking is chemistry. It's this romantic butterfly feeling. I like this person versus nerves. I don't know. I don't know. And the reason I'm saying that is because when I met my husband, I didn't really get the butterfly feeling. And I'm like head over heels in love with him. But at the beginning, I was like, I don't have that. So this isn't

what I'm thinking it is. Yeah, yeah. But then I've talked to a lot of people in long term relationships. and they're like, no, like, you're supposed to feel safe. What I got from him when I met him, which I found really shocking was, oh, like, I like your vibe. I feel really safe, which wasn't the same as the butterfly feeling at all. So I'm not really super convinced of that. I think the butterfly feeling maybe isn't good. I think what you want is a safe vibe. I think you're on to something with that.

Even though the butterfly feeling is fun. I experienced this exact same scenario with. who I'm dating now. So I know exactly what you're talking about. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. It was a huge change for me because I pretty much only had butterflies before that. And then I was like, oh, wow, you're really safe feeling. Oh, that's, maybe that's way better. Like maybe that's what I need. You only eat steak for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have witnessed this. It's steak and salt. And that's literally it. Do you even cook it in butter or anything? No. Yeah. There's literally nothing. Yeah. You've been eating.

this way for seven years? Eight. Eight years. And you call this the lion diet. Yes. And you really believe that it's healed you physically, but also mentally. Like I said at the beginning of the episode, when I first started getting my health under control, I did a very restrictive paleo diet. So a lot of meat, all meats, a lot of green vegetables, root vegetables, and like a tiny bit of fruit. And that really, that really transformed my health until I stopped taking psychiatric medications. And that blew up all of the sensitivities I had before, which were mostly, I don't want to say psychological, because it's something physical is going on, but that was what was harder to get under control. And that's when I eventually went to meat. And I went to just meet because I realized that

the higher carb foods were not making me feel good. And then I was eating meat and lettuce and greens for like a year. And I still wasn't feeling good. I had some arthritis. I had a baby. And my arthritis was back in a way. I'd been off medication for almost two years at that point. It was back in a way where if I got off the bed and put pressure on my hand, my wrist would buckle. And I was like, no, this isn't coming back. Like, I already had this under control. How do I get rid of it? I'll just go down to all meat, because I know meat isn't giving me flare-ups. And then I'll add more foods back in. And so that transition was horrible, just from meat and greens to meat. There was a huge transition, which was surprising because I'd been on a basically a ketogenic diet for a year or so before I did this.

And then when I tried to reintroduce foods, I tried it six weeks. I tried olives in olive oil that were preservative free. And I was like, olives are a health food. So this will be fine. Huge flare-up, mostly neurological. So severe depression, all those sensitivities I talked about, flared up. I got arthritis again. And I was like, okay, guess I'm just going to eat meat. And then five months into that, I felt better than I'd ever felt my entire life. So the lingering anxiety went away, which was kind of the last of all my symptoms to go away. And I was just, I don't know,

that's when I went on Rogan the first time, and I was like, this is, I don't know what I said. Maybe everyone should eat this way. I don't know what I said, which isn't, I don't think I quite said that, but I was pretty gung-ho about it when I first put everything into remission. And I've been on that since then.

Throughout the years, so this pregnancy in the first trimester, I had a really, really bad meat aversion. I'm going to have had three babies in the last two and a half years and I was like, I cannot do a meat version again. I'm just not going to eat, which you can't do when you're pregnant. But, so I was like, I've got to try adding some things in because I'm so miserable. So I tried to add in some arugula, like pan-fried arugula, some lettuce. I had some broccoli at one point.

I had frown in mango coconut ice cream. Yeah. Which after eight years of not eating anything was like the best. thing I've had in my entire life. And the good news was my arthritis didn't come back with those foods, which shocked me. And there's a confounding variable of my pregnancy, which can dampen down your immune system. So it's possible that that's why the arthritis didn't come back. But either way, my arthritis usually gets, before I was on the diet, it would get worse with any foods. So I think that was a step in the right direction. But eventually, I started getting, like, depressed enough

that I didn't want to continue. And I had a gallbladder attack. I think from, I don't know, eating a whole bunch of greens. You're supposed to get a gallbladder attack from saturated fats, but obviously that's not a trigger for me. But the gallbladder attack was enough for me. Like, I'm going to go back to meat again. And then my meat aversion went away, thank God. So how are you getting enough vitamins and minerals from all these sources? I mean, are you doing supplements?

Does that bother you? Supplements do bother me. For the first six years, I didn't do anything. I didn't take vitamins. vitamins were giving me neurological symptoms. And it turns out a lot of people who have injuries from psych meds can't tolerate specifically B vitamins. B vitamins induce flare-ups of these neurological symptoms. I don't think anyone knows exactly why. They're like B vitamins play a role in mitochondrial function and so maybe there's something damaged there and you end up with kind of an overflow of

B vitamins that causes discomfort and insomnia and agitation. Those are usually the symptoms. but no one no one actually knows recently though i've started like for this pregnancy and for my last one um philinic acid which is a form of folate and if you only eat meat for long enough your folate levels do get low so that's something you should keep it if anyone's doing it or thinking about doing it this is long term this was like six years into the diet but folate started to get low and for pregnancy that's like that's way too much of a risk so i started doing philinic acid injections they're also using that to treat autism and children. That seems to be somewhat tolerable. So that was a miracle because I've tried folic acid, couldn't do that. Methyl folate was horrible. I've tried all the different

forms and I kept getting these like insomnia reaction. And philinic acid seems to be fine. No explanation for that. But the other vitamins seem to be covered by just eating meat, which is shocking, really, to people. The other thing I've been keeping an eye on is B1 because now that I've been on this diet, basically for eight years, give or take, the like eight weeks of some greens that was recent. B1 is on the lower end. It's hard to take my vitamin level seriously because this is my third pregnancy in two and a half years and that just depletes you. But most people, no, most people who are long-term carnivores, their vitamins look good.

So this is what I don't understand. You and your husband both eat this way. One, I just, I can't even imagine what your food budget is because you're eating like four steaks each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Why only steak? Like, why aren't you adding lamb in or duck or chicken or fish or, like, other forms? So now I mostly eat Korean short ribs. When I saw you at the conference and I was having steak that, I haven't eaten steak like that probably since, probably for about a year and a half. I've been on a Korean short rib kick. So that's my diet is Korean short ribs. but not adding it.

I was on lamb for two years. When I got really sick from mold in Miami, I only ate lamb for two years because I couldn't tolerate the histamine and beef, which was miserable because I don't really like lamb. Before I was dieting, the only food. Well, I wouldn't like lamb either because you can't do any freaking seasonings.

That's what the craziest part is. I know. I love lamb chops, but I'm doing garlic powder and rosemary and thyme. You're like covering the lamb a little. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And yours is just plain. Yeah. It turns out Colorado lamb, though, doesn't have that lamby horrible flavor like New Zealand lamb does. Good news for the lamb haters out there. And no fish. I can do a little bit of fish now, but I don't because it doesn't fill me up. Things are weird once you only eat meat. Like, you're pretty sensitive to what you eat.

And fish is like, I feel like I could eat three or four pounds of fish without being full. And you can't do any type of egg, duck, chicken, nothing? I am super allergic to eggs. Like normal allergy to eggs. I, the allergy to egg is so bad that I haven't tried a duck egg. So I can't do chicken eggs and I do great on duck eggs. Really? What happens? Is it violent? No, I just throw up. Like, I'll immediately throw up if I have a chicken egg now.

Okay, that's kind of what happens to me. Yeah. Except the last time I had a reaction to that, I took a, I was trying to take a supplement for this like gut healing protocol I did after mold. And it had, it was like may contain egg white. And I was like in the bathroom ill for 12 hours. and I was like, it was like food poisoning level and I was like, oh my gosh, never again. So no egg.

And chicken makes me groggy in the morning. And I don't really like it after eating meat for so long. And duck, nothing dramatic, you know, chicken, fish, duck. Frog. I haven't tried frog. Be hard to survive off of frog, though. That's true. It's like such a small amount of meat.

Yeah. And you have three kids. They're not eating this way. No. What do they eat? Well, kind of. So my eight-year-old is on a. paleo diet. She's been on that forever. When she was little, I started her off on just meat.

So we did do like breastfeeding, breast milk, then meat till she was honestly about three, and then did one food at a time. And I was hyper paranoid about this because of all these health issues that run in my family that I was like, I want to be really careful that I'm not going to have a sick kid. Do you think you waited too long with her? Like, you know, didn't introduce peanuts and things like. No. No. She was. She doesn't have, so she lived with us in Miami and she got sick from mold. And that sprouted up environmental allergies, but she doesn't have any food allergies. She's extremely healthy kids.

She's a bit sensitive to like, if we go into a musty place, then she doesn't feel good. But that's about it. And she eats, like if she'll go to school, she's eight years old. So she'll go to school and it'll be the end of the year and they have junk everywhere for the last two weeks of school. And she's pretty good at knowing how foods make her feel now. but she'll have some food sometime. The only thing that she really cannot tolerate is anything with gluten.

And I think that comes from my mom's side where celiac disease runs. So that was actually like her primary care kind of regular doctor was like, don't eat gluten for her. It was really hurting her. And was she vaccinated? Were any of your kids vaccinated?

No. That's so fascinating. So who is the lion diet ideal for? People who have been medicated for a long time people with extremely severe psychiatric illnesses, people who are trying to get off of psychiatric medications, people with autoimmune disorders. Like, the lion diet is aimed towards the sick people that nobody can help.

Do women have to worry about what this is going to do to their menstrual cycle? I mean, it doesn't look like it, no. What impact? Like, if anything, it improved mine, like mine used to be painful and it stopped being painful. But I never had, even when I was on the birth control pill, I mean, I didn't really have, thank God, any repercussions from coming off of that or anything. Like, the only time that my period got weird was when I got, when I really moved to Miami and got sick for mold, and then my hormones tanked. Like, it was brutal. I had no idea what was going on.

And as soon as I figured out it was mold and moved out, I got pregnant. So, no, I don't think they have to worry about that. But also, I think that if they're not dealing with something that's really severe, like autoimmunity or mental illness, then there's likely no need to just be eating meat. They could probably try the carnivore diet to get healthy or even start with a paleo diet and see if just cutting processed food solves your problem. This is for like extreme cases. Yeah, it's an elimination diet. And the idea is hopefully what you can do is go down to just meat. Do that until your symptoms go into remission.

And this does seem to work for people. and then start adding foods back in and see how your body responds because it's very difficult to monitor what's impacting you in your diet unless you go down to one variable. But you do drink vodka, right? Yeah. So it's steak and vodka. Yeah.

That really discredits the whole thing. What's harder being sober-ish in public or only eating steak in public settings? But I feel like people kind of look at that and they're like, kind of wish I was doing that, like a little. Yeah, but how can you get away with drinking alcohol? So I didn't drink alcohol initially. It wasn't like a steak. alcohol diet initially. For the first two years, I didn't have anything to drink. And I drank a lot.

I drank an unhealthy amount when I was sick because honestly, being drunk was the only time I felt the mental illness leave a little. And obviously I was drunk. But it was like, oh, the overwhelming doom and pain and horror has receded. So obviously drinking is like, it's a night. thing to do. That was obviously not like long-term sustainable, but I drank a lot before I started to get healthy. I don't drink very much anymore. But I did figure out through trial and error that it doesn't provoke immune responses and it doesn't provoke these neurological issues. Now, I'd be careful if I was someone who was having neurological issues with alcohol, obviously, because it works on GABA. Like anyone who's been injured by benzodiazepines, I don't know if they

could get away with it. Yeah. But for whatever reason I can. So thank goodness for that. That's like the one vice. But I had a bad reaction. Like I can't drink beer. I can't drink wine at all. I had a bad reaction years and years ago when I was really early on on this when I was trying out alcohol to gin. And it was because it had almond extract in it. So I was like, okay. So I can have like vodka with nothing in it or silver tequila because it has nothing in it. Sparkling water. It's kind of a depressing drink, but like, no, it doesn't give me an immune response. And so I'm pretty happy about that. At least you have your sense of smell. You can smell nice things. That's true. That is very true. You don't miss it, though.

Like eating food? No, you don't. Not after a while. I don't know if you can convince me on that one. You don't. You don't. It takes about four weeks. The four weeks, six weeks maybe, are horrible. It probably would. It does feel like freedom after being in the prison of the neurological pain and suffering that you're in. Yeah. And it weirdly, ironically enough, it becomes freedom. Yeah. Although it all sounds like prison to me. I mean, it would be. It would be if I wasn't on it. If the alternative wasn't worse. Yeah. Yeah. For like, I wouldn't be doing this. Even when I started eating greens again in first trimester, I was like, I was ecstatic. I was like, pan fried arugula. I don't even know if people eat that. Amazing. Incredible. Like, wonderful. But then after about a

month of doing that. And like I said, confounding variables with first trimester pregnancy where there's a bunch of symptoms that go up and down. And the gallbladder attack, I was like, nah. And I don't miss it now that I'm not having a meat aversion. So yeah, you get used to it. And for chronically ill people, life is so awful that cutting things out of your diet and having life not be awful is just way better. You talked about the mold. You had breast implants, then got them removed after the whole mold debacle, right? Yeah. Okay, so have your views on beauty treatments, plastic surgery, Botox changed in the years, or stayed the same? No, I'm pretty pro that stuff. Why? Explain this.

I mean, I get so pissed off. This is the most controversial thing I talk about on the show. I don't know why. Everybody gets so mad. You know what? I had, I'm not going to get into what plastic surgery because I'm going to save this for my podcast, but I've had plastic surgery done. And I was never, I think because of all the trauma I went through. I wasn't that attached to what I looked like because I could see pain and suffering in my face and was like, I don't care if I don't see that anymore. Do you feel like part of you, it was a trauma response to get plastic surgery after going through what you went through

because you wanted to be a different person? Yeah, yeah, maybe. And I've thought about that, but I don't care, really. But yeah, possibly, for sure. When I was 20, I went to makeup school because when I was in high school and I felt so bad. I was so sick.

I used to do my makeup and be like, at least I can look okay on the outside. And so that's been ingrained for me from like a very young age. But no, I'm like, I'm not like classically conservative about these things. I think as long as it doesn't hurt you or make you diseased, it's not a problem.

Now breast implants are a bit tricky because some people seem to have extremely negative reactions to that. Well, anybody with autoimmune disease, you are almost guaranteeing you're going to have breast implant illness with breast implants. It seems to be that way, yeah. I'd be more concerned around the medication that they give you during plastic surgery than the actual plastic surgery. The other thing, like for me, I have had surgery so many times.

I've been pretty desensitized compared to the average person. Like, I had my ankle replaced twice. I had my hip replaced at 17. Like, I've been under general anesthetic. starting when I was eight for joint injections. Like I have had surgery. I probably had surgery one, two, and then was under general anesthetic four more times. So six times before I was 18. So it's just not as big of a deal to me, I guess. Do you get Botox? Yeah. That's never provoked an immune response either. Because you know, people are going to say that. They're going to say,

how can you be eating this way and doing all this? But then you're doing that, that's probably what's making you sick. That's what they're going to say. Well, I mean, that's silly because I was sick from age seven. I started getting Botox. I got Botox in my frown lens when I was 23 because I was extremely depressed and that was actually my mom's idea was like maybe you should try Botox. I tried Botox and it was like my whole face. I was glaring all the time. And it was like my whole face relaxed and I was like, oh wow. And I read a study recently that showed that you can kind of impact your mental state by doing that because holding yourself in certain positions increases some depressive symptoms. So if you're slouching, if you're glaring, if you're frowning, makes you feel different than if you're smiling. So not to be pro-Botox. I don't know how long I'm going to continue or if I'm going to continue Botox because I've seen a lot of people online be like, yeah, I did it for 10 years.

And then suddenly something terrible happened. Well, that's what happened to me. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. What happened? So I started getting it in my mid-20s, just very minimal amount, just in my forehead. because I was like, okay, preventative. I don't want my face to naturally settle into frown lines.

So I was doing that. And then in August of 2023, I had some Botox. And then a month later, I was getting my hair done. And my hair stylist was like, something's not right. Your hair is falling out like crazy. You never lose this much hair when I wash your hair. She's like, you need to go get your thyroid checked. So then I went and got my thyroid checked and then found out that I had Hashimoto.

and that, you know, Botox is probably making it that way worse. And not only was I losing hair, but that week that I had gotten Botox, I was severely sick, like flu symptoms for the entire week, which had never happened before. So it was like fever, chills, all of these things. So after that, in August 2023, I never ever have gotten it again because I was like, I wonder if the next time I get it, I'm going to have full-blown Botox poisoning. Yeah. Like my body just started rejecting.

At the exact same time, my body also started rejecting my eyelash extension. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay. My eyes were swelling up. It was the exact same month. My eyes were, it was like, my body was like no more fake stuff. You've probably screened your house for mold, right?

Well, yeah. I mean, I was in an apartment at the time. There was no mold. During this pregnancy, I had to stop. So I'm wearing, what's the company? I don't know. They're like cluster lashes that you can put on on the edges. Yeah, they look good.

They look fine. But I wore fake lashes for like eight years. I don't know how long, like getting my lashes done every two weeks, which is a huge time sock, but I was like, once you get them on. you look like a naked mole rat once they're off and just like, blah, why are my eyes so small? It takes getting used to. But this pregnancy, I kept reacting to them and they switched glues and eventually I was like,

can't do that anymore. So now I have like clusters at the very edge, which is honestly, it's way better. I like the clusters. And I don't seem to be allergic to this glue. But it's different than like having them on. Yeah, that happened to me. I had like bloodshot red eyes and burning. Burning, itching, constant itching.

It was horrible. Yeah, so I had to stop, so I haven't done that either. I can do lash strips, but, you know, there's formaldehyde in that glue. There's all kinds of bad stuff in the lash glue. So it's just, it's tough. Did you go to school with the orange girl? Be honest, or were you the orange girl? Just walking around like a traffic cone with lip gloss. We've all had a bronzer era that should have come with a legal guardian and a court date. Some of you never left that era. You're 34, and that's why I'm telling you about Adele Natural Cosmetics, because at a certain point you have to stop looking like you fell into a vat of Cheeto dust. Adele is a family-owned Texas-based company making actually clean, non-toxic makeup,

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It walks you through everything. Just handle it now so you're not explaining typos on the first date. I want to talk a little bit about your faith journey. In the last year, you announced that you believed in Christianity, but not like you do now, and that you now know that the Bible is true. Can you walk us through exactly what was stirring in your heart? When my mom recovered from cancer, she recovered in a pretty miraculous way. Like, I would qualify that as a miracle.

They did the surgery. Then there was a surgical mishap or whatever they call that that nearly killed her, and there was no way to solve it. She flew to the U.S. they did this experimental surgery. That didn't work. And she said when that was happening, God told me, this is coming from a non-religious woman.

God told me that he would heal me on my anniversary. And at the time, she was on morphine in the hospital, and I was like, that, okay, mom, you know, you're on painkillers in the hospital. And so she went to the U.S., the, they tried to fix it. It didn't work. She came home and on her anniversary. So this is three weeks later.

she's being monitored by a doctor, like, daily because she's dying from the surgical problem. It resolves on her anniversary. And the surgeons didn't know what to say, and the hospital didn't know what to say. And we were just like, well, that's really hard to explain, especially because mom, so she had, she'd been reading the Bible, doing the rosary. I'm not a Catholic. But, like, she's a Catholic. But whatever happened there, something happened.

And she changed. She got softer, less irritable. Like, there was an entire vibe between. And I remember looking at that being like, whatever that piece she has, I want. Like that, she's on to something. But I don't know how you can't force yourself to believe. Then I met my husband and he, he grew up, like, Protestant Christian. And he had this safe vibe.

And I was like, whoa, like, what's that vibe you have? Like, that's a nice, like, nice vibe. And I met his family and I was like, your family's got a really good vibe too. like what is this calm vibe that everybody has? So I started reading the Bible and things and was like, I'm saved. This is what Christianity is. And so I started talking about it back then. But then I think it was a year and a half later or something like that.

I had an actual like spiritual experience. It was dramatic for me. But like I guess my life is, I'm like come from a dramatic family. So maybe it had to be dramatic for me to like clue in. But I was shown like all the tiny ways in my life in which I was sinning, smaller things that you kind of just do without thinking about how actually bad they are. And I was shown how evil, even little things like that are. And something clicked.

Like that day, this is something I was stuck on it. I don't even know where I was stuck on it. Understanding the Trinity, I was like, how can three be one? And there was just like something in my head that was like, you aren't going to fully understand this because it's out of your capacity to fully rationalize this. This is the entire point of faith. You have faith because it's not quite explainable. And it just like, and then that was it.

And I was like, oh. And then when I started reading the Bible, which I had read before and I had been reading, it like started popping out, which people talk about. Like there were things. And I'd be like, oh, my gosh, I read that before, but I never like saw the words. Like a lot of the demonic stuff that I had read, I hadn't remembered or something. And I reread it and was like, whoa, there's a lot about this spiritual realm in here. Like, I hadn't seen that before.

And so that's how I changed from being like, yes, I believe, you know, I believe in the resurrection. Like, I believe to, like, I know. So that was a crazy experience. I tried to talk to my dad about that too. I was like, this is crazy. We're rocking around in a spiritual realm. What did he say? He kind of just looked at me and was like, hmm, you know.

Like, like, Michaela's gone off the rails again. I don't know. Where would you say your dad is at in his faith journey? It's really hard to say. He, like, he's not, he's not full-blown. But, like, parts of him are. So I still think, I mean, he certainly doesn't think about it the way I think about it. He's got a lot of rationality and intellectualism to contend with. What do you think people misunderstand about Jordan Peterson's relationship with faith? I think when they criticize him, they're not, first of all, even biblically, it's not, and in my experience, it's not just up to a person to be like, now I believe. If it was that easy, like, I don't think it's that easy. I think God decides when it's time. But I think when he gets criticism, they're not taking into the fact that he's one of the major voices behind this resurgence, I think, and in popularity of Christianity. Now, there's a number of voices behind that, like Bishop Barron's certainly behind that.

Like there are a number of people online talking about that. It doesn't solely go to dad, but he did, he did start talking about it a very long time ago and blowing it up from more of an intellectual perspective of the Bible. But I think, like, scoffing at people who aren't necessarily believers, like a Protestant or a Catholic is, a Christian classically is,

isn't even quite biblical because you can't just turn that on. Do you think your dad views the Bible as kind of like historic and interesting, not necessarily like living, breathing word of God? Like how do you think he views Scripture? No, no, no. I think he thinks of it as living, breathing word of God. Okay. Like I do.

I mean, he thinks when we're building Peterson Academy, he was like, we need to have this kind of ethos, underneath. Now, it's not a Christian platform. But like Western society, it needs to be the foundation. He's not as straight up about being like, you know, if I'm like, that person seems demonic. He's not going to be like, he's not going to agree with like that kind of more severe perspective. It's nuanced. I think it's really been confounded because he's been suffering so unbelievably much. And like I remember when I was sick with like arthritis, and things as a teenager being, I remember I was in so much pain. This was when I had my hip and ankle

replaced. And I remember walking to the diner, limping to the diner being like, if there is a God, it's not a good God. Like, how could they do this to me? And so I think it's just, it's so tricky for people suffering, not that Christians don't suffer too. What do you think about that now? I wasn't taking Satan into consideration, you know. So I like, that was obviously the wrong way of thinking about it entirely. And like, yes, there's horrors on this world. but we live on a fallen world and suffering is a part of life. And being a Christian certainly isn't going to stop the suffering, but hopefully it gives you something to lean on while you're trying to survive life.

Are you guys involved in a church locally where you live or what do you do? For the last couple of years, I've been watching a lot online, like much more than I've been going in. And that's partly because, as crazy as this sounds, I'm still really sensitive to buildings and a lot of churches don't have great air quality, and so I get hit and I can't get hit once a week. So I've been listening to the pastor that I liked from Miami. It's called the Cross Church.

It's really tiny church in Miami. But the pastor's like he's not political. He's not preachy. He's just like a good person. And that really speaks to me. I had an issue with Miami. We went to a number of churches and it felt like a lot of the pastors were performative. And I think dad's seen a lot of that too.

That's kind of what pushed them away a bit, which is like when you see somebody on stage and they're really like, they're kind of lying. Like it looks like someone's lying or performative, which is a big turnoff. But I've, but that's not a good representation, obviously, of Christianity. It's just unfortunate part of some people who are pastors. Yeah. I think a lot of that is like the prosperity gospel, which is not the real gospel. Yeah, yeah, that kind of thing. You know, you have really good discernment to pick that out, I think. Thank you. More than anything, what would you like to see the Trump admin and. and Secretary Kennedy work on next when it comes to health in Maha? Well, I cannot believe how much they have got done. I can't believe it. I thought I was going to be jumping up and down about psych med injury and dietary change for like 30 years. And it was just like, guys, the food pyramids upside down. Oh, okay, that's fixed. Great.

Don't have to jump up and down about that anymore, I guess. and then SSRIs and psych meds, this tapering schedules, killing people. And then it was like, oh, those guidelines are getting changed. A bunch of people are still screwed, but at least more people are going to be safer now. So what's left after that? For me, I would tackle indoor air quality issues. So in countries like Switzerland is a good example, all the houses are hundreds and hundreds of years old. But ERVs, which exchange indoor and outdoor air, are mandated in all these.

old buildings. So when you go in, it's not musty, it's not stale, there's exchange of air. It's that simple. And in America, we have these houses built with drywall, which is basically paper. So if they get wet once, they get moldy. And there's no indoor, outdoor air exchange. So you're living in a fish tank. So all that needs to change, like, yeah, mold awareness needs to happen. We need proper treatments, like all of that. What we need is indoor, outdoor air exchange and building codes. How does the air feel and smell in here? This could be a lot worse. This is actually pretty good. I have a Jasper running. Do you have a Jasper? Do you have an air purifier? Oh my, you should see our air purification system. It's like, it's industrial. We use IQ air. Like what we film in. People can't tell, you know,

just watching on YouTube or whatever. But this is, I mean, it's a garage. So. No, no, it's good. Yeah. I was prepared. I like usually will go to a podcast, get a bit foggy. But no, you guys is a good job. Woo! I've done. Mike from Jasper is going to love hearing that. Okay, tell us about your podcast, because You have a podcast, which is fantastic. What types of interviews do you do? How often do you release, all that? So the last two years have been pretty spotty with the pregnancies. I'm, like, more hopeful during this interview because we've had a couple of days where symptoms

haven't been as severe. They're still catastrophic, but, like, at least the trajectory is looking better. You mean for your dad? Yeah. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to come do this. I've just had no interest in doing anything. So my podcast has been super spotty this year. But I started re-releasing.

It's pretty focused on health. So kind of similar to what you do, but different. I'm like, I'm getting some weirdos on there. You like to go a little bit deeper. You're really for the intellectuals, I think, which makes sense for your family. My episodes are too, but you just, you go on to it as another level. I think I'm dealing more with beginners than you are. Yeah, I think that's right.

I think a lot of my audience is like hearing this stuff for the first time. And you're like, okay, these are for the season pros that are literally only eating meat and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I think that's right. You know? Like I just had one about mitochondrial. dysfunction and kind of skipped the intro part and was just like, well, you know, on a cellular level, what's going on? Which is kind of a selfish way of doing a podcast, really. But so I've, I think the majority of the episodes I've released are alternative health focused. Like my second

episode was on mold before I was like, mold isn't impacting me. Then it took like four years for me to be like, oh, the second episode I was about mold and that was my problem. And then I'll have some comedians. I do like political people sometimes. So it's kind of eclectic. A lot of of alternative health. And what's it called? Michaela Peterson podcast. And where can you listen? YouTube, Spotify, Rumble, wherever podcasts are. And where can people follow you on social media? They can go to Instagram. I'm Michaela Peterson on Instagram. My website,

Michaela peterson.com. And then if they're interested in any of these, like, Lyon Diet, psych med, like that's our mold exposure, I have a nonprofit called Fuller Research Foundation, and that's Fuller Research.org. And it lists. all these like other kind of ventures to spread awareness about these serious root causes of health problems. If you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally or spiritually, what would it be? I would say get the processed food out of your diet. It's transformative. People think, oh, I'll have like what, I won't be bloated. That's what people think. And like, no, you might cure a genetic mental problem. Yeah. Get the processed food. Stop eating.

processed foods and chemicals. Michaela, I've been wanting to have you on for years. So happy we could do it. I know we covered like a lot of stuff at a very short about a time. So it was a little bit wild. But there's so much that I wanted to hear your opinion on and get your take on and just kind of introduce you to my audience.

You've got to go back. She has so much good content on YouTube and everything, you know, in depth on each of these subjects that we covered. But I've always appreciated how candid your family is with the amount of attacks that you guys get. I think you guys are always truth tellers. You know, even when that could be humiliating or embarrassing or vulnerable, you guys are

truth tellers. And I think we need more of that. And you guys aren't trying to impress anybody. You're just trying to help people with the information that you put out. And I think that's a really noble mission that your family has. That was really sweet. Thank you. Thank you for coming on.

Thanks for having me. I think what makes conversations like this so powerful is that they force us to ask a terrifying question. What if a huge percentage of modern suffering isn't random? What if it is coming from SSRIs or the food that we're eating or even spiritual issues? New episodes come out every Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern, anywhere you get your podcast. Please leave us a five-star review on Apple or Spotify. Support Michaela.

Let us know which episode has been your favorite or which episode you love to send people. It just takes two seconds to do and it immensely helps the show. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to do. be taken as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding any questions or decisions related to your health or medical care. I'm Alex Clark, and this is Culture Apothecary.