Emily Penton: "I Resolved My Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Mental Health Disorders, and Lost 120lbs!"

almost 4 weeks in I experienced this glimpse of Hope and it was just for 10 minutes but it was such a foreign emotion to me that I was just like what is this like what is this hope and joy like I just didn't know what that experience was I was like H that was cool and it happened the next day for 15 minutes and then it just kept getting uh more and more of a percentage of my day until April of 2019 so I started this February 24th 2019 April 2019 I had my last bipolar or manic episode and I haven't looked back I keep eating animal meat and animal fat and my psychiatrist who had been working with me for 8 years saw all my crazy he he said oh my gosh there's a light in your eyes and you're functioning welcome to the plant-free MD podcast with Dr Anthony chaffy where we discuss diet and nutrition and how this affects health and chronic disease and show you how you can use this to optimize your health and happiness both mentally and physically hello everyone and thank you for joining me with another episode of the plant-free MD podcast I'm your host Dr Anthony chaffy and today I have a very special guest miss Emily Penton who has a very very very uh Amazing Story uh coming to cornor diet and uh and her healing Journey Emily thank you so much for joining no problem thanks so much for making time for me I appreciate it you're very very welcome so um if people haven't come across you before can you please tell us a bit about yourself yeah um I actually came to this a little bit different than uh some people um I had debilitating mental illness um I had by bipolar disorder that had turned into Rapid Cycling near the end of 2018 um and I was hopeless um I was actually had to quit my job um I had worked as a therapist I have my Master's in clinical counseling and that didn't Bode too well for my career um whenever I was in Rapid Cycling every day um and so it became unethical for me to practice um because before I knocked it out on the out of the park on the days where I was functioning and then when I would reschedule my clients just didn't know that on my off days I was in bed with suicidal ideation and um just intrusive negative thoughts of my worthlessness um and then um I moved in with my mom at the age of 40 and I I mean it it leveled me like absolutely leveled me to realize that this was my life um and then um thankfully my brother uh reached out to me and he told me about the carnivore diet and I was at such a place of desperation that I would do anything to even get a just degree of wellness and I went February 24th of 2019 I went from eating ramen noodles and and donuts and pizza and soda and chips and beer and all the things to only eating animal meat and animal fat and I didn't stop I just I I remember the first day I called my brother and I told him everything that I ate and I said and I had a tablespoon of honey and he goes why and I was like I don't know I just did and he was like don't do that and so I didn't do that and so I just kept eating fatty animal meat like like uh ribe eyes and burgers and uh chicken with the skin on and ribs and fatty pork butt and breakfast sausage and bacon and and I just fed myself with animal meat fatty animal meat and then um I remember I was about I would say the end of the third week so almost four weeks in I experienced this glimpse of Hope and it was just for 10 minutes but it was such a foreign emotion to me that I was just like what is this like what is this hope and joy like I just didn't know what that experience was and um I was like H that was cool and it happened the next day for 15 minutes and then it just just kept getting uh more and more of a percentage of my day until April of 2019 so I started this February 24th 2019 April 2019 I had my last bipolar or manic episode yeah and I haven't looked back I keep eating animal meat and animal fat and my psychiatrist um who who had been working with me for eight years saw all my crazy he he said oh my gosh there's a light in your eyes and you're functioning and so he tapered me off of all of my psych meds very very slowly um and I my last psych Med was in September of 2019 um so it's been five years now and um I've been able to maintain uh this by continuing to eat animal meat and animal fat yeah well that's amazing and that's you know I mean like you said me you you saw a glimmer of hope in your own day and and hopefully that gives gives other people hope because it's it's mental health issues are a massive massive problem there growing burden you know I I I'm putting together a a lecture on the burden of chronic diseases the non-communicable chronic diseases and which obviously mental health issues are one of them and and the burden just from a from a cost perspective and treating this is you know it's it's in the the you know hundreds of of billions of dollars you know we're talking like worldwide right and getting to the trillions um and all these ncties like the top five non-communicable diseases so you have your Cancers and cardiovascular disease pulmonary respiratory diseases um mental health issues and diabetes that those those five just those five are going to account for over 13 trillion dollar in healthc care spending and costs by 20130 so it's absolutely phen astronomical you know what you know what this burden of diseas is so you know just changing your diet and having such dramatic benefits is is I don't know I mean there's really nothing nothing better you can say about that it's just amazing well and I didn't expect because you know that's the narrative that you're given with bipolar disorder is that you will be on medication for the rest of your life and at my most I was on 900 milligrams of lithium 80 milligrams of proac 80 milligrams of Aderall just to get out of bed every day like I would take 40 gr milligrams of Aderall in the morning and then 40 milligrams of adol at noon and then of course I had to have Ambien to sleep every night and I would was not functioning I I never was functioning in those those eight years that I was on all of these psych meds and so when I think about not only how much it cost for all of those medications but how much it cost my health my liver my body to process all of those toxins in that medication um it it was astronomical I'm sure yeah absolutely I was just speaking to someone the other day actually and they had they had a similar cocktail where they had all these these horrible horrible meds and they needed you know like a bunch of Aderall in the morning to wake up and then of course all the ambient at night it was that combination of ambient and Aderall again like this is I mean that's how people I mean what does that call it that speed balling or something like that you do you do Coke and then Coke and then drink yeah yeah yeah you know I mean that's that's that's almost what what we're doing here and and uh you know the amount of of uh perm you're pulling your body through just this Push Pull Push Pull sort of thing uh yeah like you say I mean like you're you're there but you're not really there you know you're not you're not functioning you're not able to enjoy your life you're just sort of a a walking zombie really yeah and the brain fog because somehow I got my masters in clinical counseling but um I I what I would do is I could I could push through for a semester like I could push through for a little bit and I could I could you know get things done and then I would crash um but for me it was very uh amazing whenever I I got that mental Clarity that did not come from caffeine did not come from Aderall did not come from anything else it just came from health and I was more mentally clear than I had been in like 15 years at the age of 40 and I was just like oh I was like this is how normal people think I didn't know I thought was just suffering and then you just get worse and then you get older and then your brain just doesn't work but I realized at 40 that I could have that mental Clarity yeah nice and so was this something that that Afflicted you throughout most of your life or did it come come later on as an adult yeah I can look back into um probably my my like teenage years pre-teen years um and and see just this um this like doom and this like just negative thinking um and very like intrusive thoughts um and uh it was this it almost like perpetuated the drama itself because I would see everything through the bipolar lens um like for instance somebody would say you know it's a nice day outside and I wouldn't hear it's a nice day outside I would hear it's a nice day outside why aren't you outside what are you doing you need to go clean the car you're so lazy and so I was constantly having this other narrative in my mind and I just thought that was reality so you don't know until you remove the bipolar lenses and you're like oh this is life this is this is what functioning is like this is what feeling good about yourself is and I I never experienced that until animal meat and animal fat well I'm glad you got there eventually so that's nice do you think that there was a sort of a slow like you said you were you were eating you know the pizza and the junk food and the beer and the sodas and things like that was that a staple of your diet throughout that time or did it sort of ramp up and and if it and did you notice it getting worse at any time because maybe it ramped up or just like a slow build on the uh the symptoms of your mental health issues um definitely a slow build I I never ate um healthy like I remember um my freshman year at College they call it the Freshman 15 and I gained the Freshman 30 because I was just like free I was out of the house and I was like I can have french fries whenever I want um and so I went straight into carbs um and sugar and then alcohol um you know right out of high school so um I I really never ate healthy I never even tried I never tried like to be vegan or vegetarian or eat healthy um and so th this was also very huge to me that somebody who was such an addict to sugar and carbs um like I I had to eat every like two to four hours like I was constant I even slept with a a jar of peanut butter on my nightstand so I could wake up in the middle of the night if I needed to and eat some peanut butter like was just there's obvious metabolic disorder um and so for me to just eat animal meat and animal fat overnight was a miracle that I was able to stick to anything um and it was because I was satiated I was so satiated on the the fatty animal meat yeah great and now and you said that was your brother that put you on to it yes yeah well that's good that's a good brother yeah did he um how did he come across it do you know um Sean Baker um he uh my my brother loved just the the loudness of Shawn Baker just being like eat a damn steak um and so got my brother's attention and then um my brother had irritable bow syndrome and uh it became like almost impossible for him and then of course he started eating carnivore and we were talking about him behind his back and we were just like oh my gosh he's crazy he's lost it um but he healed himself and then he found out about Amber o'hern um and he sent me her audio book um just the first chapter and all I did was listen to that chapter of her book and I knew like there was this knowing inside of me that if this worked for this woman at that point it was 10 years prior so now it's been 15 years ago for her if this worked for her the there's any chance that this will work for me um then I'm going to try it um and I needed that resolve because I didn't tell you this part but um three weeks in I was actually hospitalized and so a typical person would go oh I started this all meat diet and now um my my symptom was I had acute dysphasia where my throat just stopped swallowing I couldn't even swallow water and I had this knowing like I knew that I was supposed to continue eating meat I knew I had to go to the the hospital to find out what's going on but um they gave me an MRI and a lumbar puncture and um they diagnosed me with multiple sclerosis um and so a typical person would be like okay we got to stop we got to stop this all meat diet but I had this knowing and I realized that that is affected by inflammation and so if I can remove the inflammation in my body not only is that going to help my my bipolar disorder but that's going to help my Ms and so I didn't think in a million years it would resolve my Ms um I thought it would improve it and so I just kept eating fatty animal meat because logically I'm not scientific at all but if the milin sheath is made out of F and the myin sheath is deteriorated maybe eating fat would help and so I kept doing that um the MS got to the point where um I couldn't walk without an assist of device I had delayed and slurred speech and more significant brain fog than I ever had with the bipolar W um but I kept eating animal meat and May 9th was my last symptom of Ms and now I do CrossFit and um I'm lost 120 pounds um it's absolutely not what I would have expected but it was the best thing that ever happened to me hey everyone really happy to announce a new sponsor for the show for everybody down in Australia Stockman Stakes who are delivering highquality grass-fed and finished pasture raised beef and other meats flash frozen and vacuum sealed tood door something that I've been enjoying a lot of myself recently as well they also have a great range of specialty items such as high fat keto mints and carnivore beef and organs mints with liver kidneys and beef heart as well so use code chaffy today for free order of beef mints or another specialty gift along with your order at Stockman steaks.com Au and I'll see you over there thanks guys that's amazing um that well that's that's really scary that you know the MS you know came up sort out of nowhere obviously you're right you know this would this would scare a lot of people oh I did this and then you know you had that sort of reaction and so it must be because of the carnivore and and or just eating the meat and that would that would scare people off and then you know some people and then You' sort of be one of those people saying oh I tried this and it made me worse sort of thing but you stuck with it and you kept going through and it turns out that it wasn't the meat that was causing it it was something else it coincided with it and it was actually the meat that was helping so you know that's really great that it um that it you were able to push through that because that is very scary how long did it take before the the MS obviously got sounded like got a lot worse before it got better so it sort of peaked and then how long did it take to come down yeah well it's interesting because once I got diagnosed and I started researching Ms I realized that I've had symptoms for 10 years and I didn't know that those were MS symptoms um and and so it was there all along what carnivore did was carnivore pulled back the curtain and went this is what's really going on um and so I was great f for carnivore I was grateful that it got to that point where it was just like okay we're going to we're going to figure out what's going on here um but for for me um the symptoms would come and go um they're like in that that period of time and I would have like three days that I couldn't walk and then I would have one day that I could walk and then I would have two days that I couldn't walk and then I would have half a day that I could walk um and so I started eating this way February 24th of 2019 and then my last Ms symptom was May 9th so that's crazy fast wow but the benefit is I never took the medication oh um there you go they were they were pushing they wanted me to inject myself every other day and I just I kept telling the neurologist I was like I I hear you I said but I I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to gamble on this I'm going to gamble on this I'm going to treat myself I need you to monitor my Ms but I'm going to treat it and then he would do MRIs every I think at first it was every month and then it was every you know six months or whatever and the last MRI showed no Ms activity and I was just like what is this it's just crazy to me yeah that is crazy and it's that is a very amazingly quick recovery especially without medication and that what any recovery is amazing recovery because Ms just gets generally is Progressive and is H is not something that you're going to cure it's going to be something that maybe you can suppress depending on the K there's different sort of more and less aggressive forms of Ms but uh they tend to they tend to just get worse and you have you have uh very heavy medications that you need to just try to stamp these things down that have all these other consequences to your health as well and I've I've sort of gone away from saying side effects because someone some a doctor pointed out it's like there are no side effects drugs have effects and some of them you want don't want and so yeah so now sort of saying that as a consequence you have these other sort of sort of effects in your body and um and that make that that I think that's a reasonable sort of makes a lot more sense but Ms is is one of those ones where it's almost it's almost like you get that diagnosis and you hear someone say it's almost just like oh my God they got you know you know like the CW you know and so um I remember that when I was a kid my parents talking about that there was another parent at the elementary school that I was going to and they were saying oh my God no she'd been she's been diagnosed with Ms like oh my god oh that's so you know it was just like this basically she was that was it she was she had a had a you know U an expiration date you know yeah it was just going to she was going to get worse and she was like oh my God and her kids are so young like this is so sad this is devastating you know um and to be able to uh put that into remission and make that go away and then show on MRI not that just you feel better but that your MRI shows that you are better is absolutely amazing and hopefully other people come come to that I talk to a lot of people with Ms uh or people that know people with MS and you know try to say oh is this going to be okay and it's just like we you know it's uh I I try to encourage them and say you know at least give it a try you know it's not going to certainly not going to hurt and I've never seen an autoimmune issue not respond really well especially to like just red meat and water and so it's great to get your story of the what a rapid recovery that you had without medication at all yeah and I don't play like I I'm not just like oh it's my birthday you know I'm going to go have some cake or I'm going to go do this like no I came back from the pit of mental illness hell I am I don't play with that I'm not going back and then I couldn't walk like I remember having to go into my child's school to go uh I had to pay for his field trip or something and the the car line was there and I had to park and I had to walk with my Walker into my Sun School while everybody is sitting there watching me and I'm just like uh no I'm not playing I'm not experiencing this again so I never like cheated or like fell back into anything um it was that important to me but for me it was um it was just that that knowing that I absolutely have a chance at improving my symptoms I was I was never thinking I'm going to resolve this um but unfortunately um the neurologist that I had um just he kept kind of berading me like I remember crying when I would leave those appointments because he told me you're being Reckless with your health you're going to be in a wheelchair in 10 years and I was like whoa like really like that's that's your like pep talk for me yeah but he was yeah he was angry that I wouldn't take the medication that was the only conversation that he wanted to have m is take this medication take this medication take like there was no there was no oh my gosh I'm glad that your symptoms are resolved or I'm so glad that you know your MRI like I remember the first MRI what like to the second one it had he even said this out of his mouth your lesions have reduced by 50% and I was just like yay and he didn't even like wasn't even happy for second he was like I don't understand this and then I said well maybe it's the way I eat and he was just like no no like dismissed me no no you're eating completely different than I've ever seen before and you're getting completely different results I've ever seen before absolutely not related couldn't possibly be uh well that's that's really unfortunate so when you had when you had resolution and and you know you're fine now did he ever come around or was it just it just confrontational every time no it was confrontational every time and it got to the point where um to be honest with you I felt like am I like in a movie like am I am I talking to a real human like it was such a disregard like almost didn't even make eye contact with me um and the nurses would but then you could tell they were very reserved like they wouldn't like tell me uh like I would be like hey this this this this and this and I'd give them my progress and they' like okay okay thank you okay all right okay like like not even human not even just for like a second like hey guys let's celebrate this like you're my team and we're and I'm progressing and I'm talking like two years in I finally stopped after two years I stopped going to the appointments yeah because they were taking the MRIs and then they were taking my blood and everything I mean they only did the lombar puncture once thank goodness but um it's it's just like obviously I'm I'm in my own little world here um and they didn't want to have that conversation um and I don't know maybe they're not allowed to have that conversation maybe they're not allowed to like be happy that my symptoms are resolved I I don't know well it's it's it's a bit wild um especially two years you know and you seeing there's no relapse there's no no issue and like listen this is this is a thing um and and then yeah just nothing just no no budge is pretty is pretty disappointing I mean to say the least I mean it could be that they're looking this going like well this is this if this gets out this is going to ruin us all we're never going to be able to you know we're never gonna have to be able to Hawk our our drugs to every anybody anymore um and they did they did refer me to a nutritionist because they told they told me that I had a um what did they say a restrictive I think they called it restrictive and they said um we're referring you to a nutritionist and I was like yeah and so I was like yourself to like food as opposed to crap yeah okay yeah that's wow I I presume you you did not go to that appointment I did not they gave me the they gave me the they're like here go schedule it I'm like oh okay thank you yeah now get right oh slit my mind yeah yeah because I know what the nutritionist was going to say yeah go plant-base basically oh you're going to kill yourself and it's just like yeah how about how about I do the thing that actually worked and um and not listen to you um yeah that's really disappointing I'm really glad that you you got through that and and just didn't you know listen to them and their negativity and it didn't let you get didn't let them get you down um it's good that you I mean that's the thing you know you're seeing this and it's just working it's like why would I do anything else why would I take a whole bunch of drugs like you see on the MRI they still pushing the drugs even though you had a clear MRI yeah I mean what you must have been getting Kickbacks or something like that I mean that just Mak no sense it makes absolutely no sense that you would you would push that you know like you don't why why would you need to why would you need to put somebody on drugs if they're if they're in complete remission right I don't know I I don't get that I don't get that at all that's really disappointing um but yeah I'm glad you just left I mean just there no point going to see and it was it was very emotional for me because like it was one thing for me because mental illness was my whole life so I was just I was totally used to that this was a whole new ball game to like have you know not be able to walk and I remember I had that you know story of Micha Peterson um and she uh actually interviewed me on her podcast and so I remember sending her a message after one of my uh appointments with my neurologist and balling and I was just like he said I'm being Reckless you know but I was able to look at her situation and she had replaced her hip and like all of this other stuff but she took her health into her own hands and I was just like if Michaela can do this like I can do this and and so I almost had to really for my own path um through this because I I wasn't going to get a you know a pat on the back for me not taking the injections um but I had a knowing I knew that I was going to either Gamble and and be in a wheelchair or I was going to gamble and I was going to win and and so far five years um I'm I'm winning and I'm so grateful um and I just feel so good yeah yeah well that's I mean that's the only thing that matters like it's just it's so silly to me that says well this isn't what's supposed to happen so we just need to we just need to stay in this box this is like look stop why are you trying to keep putting a square peg in a round hole like what are you doing just like stop trying to force something that's not that's not supposed to go there um and that's that's the only thing that matters people you know it's someone someone pointed out the other day that um you know the that animals just know how to be healthy and they know how to live they don't need studies we have all these studies and these scientists saying oh this is what you should do and this is how you should do it and we're the only animals that have no idea how to be healthy right and and the difference between us and animals is that we have all these experts and stupid ass studies saying oh this is what you're supposed to do it just confuses people it just confuses the hell out of people just eat what the hell you've been supposed to eat eat what we we biologically designed to eat eat what's natural to eat in the wild and that's it it's to it you know and and it should be like that and um I think that does scare the medical establishment in a bit not necessarily doctors because I think do you know as on the whole on the whole like because most doctors actually do want their patients to be healthy they actually are concerned about health and these tools that we use are just the best things that they have that we have and they're like well this is what we have to do but they do care and if they find something else better they're like yeah I'm going to do that you know and uh that's most doctors that I know this guy sounds like like a little bit of a rat but you know there are most no doctors will say like well this is you know they see this and this this is working this what that's what they're going to do and more and more doctors are coming to this and wanting to put this forward for their patients and getting amazing results and so you know that's um that's the most important thing what happens for you what happens in your life okay well but I've got this study that says this well who gives this you you like you have a study that says whatever wants it to you do the exact opposite of that study and you get the you get the results you want you put this into Mission so it really doesn't matter what it says on that little piece of paper what matters is what happens to you oh anecdotes who give anecdotes are life that's real world experience as real world um as real real life people that's what's matter that that's what matters and um you know as Dr Baker says you know the plural of anecdote is data and you're getting more and more people having being more and more amazing results and like yeah sure this is but you have to have that first before you get the the spark of interest for people say hey let's put it into a study and let's let's show one way or the other and experimental data but at the end of the day if you don't have that experimental data and you don't have the all these other sorts of things if you do it and it works for you and your Ms goes away that is the only thing that matters because you know what nothing else is going to make it go away because nothing else we've tried has made it go away so just do it hey guys just want to take a second to thank our sponsor at carnivore bar I don't promote many products because honestly all you need to be healthy is to just eat meat for those times that you're out hiking road tripping or stuck at work and you want nutritious snack that is just meat fat and salt if you want it the carnivore bar is a great option so I like this product not because it's just pure meat but also because I want the carnivore Market to thrive as well and the more we support meat only products the more meat only products there will be available in the mainstream so if this sounds like something you'd like to get behind check it out using my discount code Anthony to get 10% off which also applies to subscriptions giving you 25% off total all right thanks guys yeah and I think we're so disconnected um in like you know animals they have instincts and they do what feels right for them but we get disconnected and we go oh but doctor so and so says this oh but my my my cousin says this oh but I read this study that says this and so we don't check in with our inner knowing you know our inner Clarity and um for me personally I I really got to be totally honest with you I thought this was just a fluke that just I just was this this one random outlier that I was able to resolve you know anxiety depression like bipolar disorder and then Ms like this is too crazy it it can't be that it was the the donuts and the pizza and the everything and then I started telling my story and I had people come out of the Woodworks and being a therapist I was just I wanted to help them and all the doctors are amazing in the carnivore Community but they can't hold people's hand to really like it's one thing to know this information but to apply is is a a different ball game especially for people who come from addiction like sugar and processed food addiction and they're already in mental illness um and so I started helping people um I actually got rid of the letters behind my name and I said I don't care what because my license wouldn't let me talk about it Insurance panels and Licensing Board didn't want me talking about food to my clients and I feel like I'm sitting there with my hands behind my back sitting across from someone with depression and anxiety and going I know what could help you but and they're like elbow deep in a bag of Doritos siping on a Big Gulp and I see it I see the problem so I just got rid of the letters behind my name I said just call me a coach I moved my whole practice online and when ever I started seeing results in other like hundreds thousands of people and I was just like this isn't just me this isn't just me like this is repeatable and I I literally have not had one person who has removed the the donuts and the pizza and everything and not had an improvement significant Improvement um in their health um I had I had this one client she um she was on her kitchen floor for almost a month um she would get up eat go back to the floor go to the bathroom back to the floor and she had just debilitating bipolar disorder and she couldn't even pick up her phone to like send a text or an email I mean it was just devastating and she was she was vegan she was vegetarian and um her boyfriend thankfully reached out to her and sent her one of my videos she started uh watching we started working together and um uh it's been over a year now and she actually just got um a sixf figure income she's working at a a marketing uh in a corporation and she just bought her first house um so I know that you can go from um just debilitating mental illness to healing and I thought it was just me but now I'm seeing that it's applicable for literally anyone on any level and it's that's why I'm never going to shut up about it because I love because because whenever I was a therapist it was like Groundhog Day like you have the same conversations oh okay you had childhood trauma let's talk about that okay all right I'll talk to you next week oh okay you have relational trauma okay you have and I went to a cooworker and I was like am I not doing this right H like they're not getting better and they're like oh no that's that's what we do like we just we hold space for them and I'm like no no like I want results like I want them to improve and so now as a coach I see more uh Improvement in them than I ever did as a therapist yeah well that's amazing and you as a as a friend of mine Dr Gary fi says you know once you see it you can't unsee it you you see these amazing results in people you you can't just stop you know and if you're if you're you know if you have any sort of conscious conscience whatsoever you know you see this helping people and massively helping people and just like whatever you were doing before you you have to incorporate this because it just it's just so powerful of a tool and that's you know that sounds like exactly what you did you said like look I can't I can't not do this anymore I can't just I can't just walk away from this that's really Brave uh walking away from well transitioning your profession and saying well I'm not a I'm not a therapist anymore I'm a coach and and transitioning this uh over um hopefully you still get to do you some of that the therapy sort I'm I'm sure that's gonna I mean that's obviously yeah it comes up it comes up yeah and so you know when you're talking in a coaching man you have all this training as a therapist that's very very conducive to being able to talk to people about these sorts of things and and show them that this is a good idea to do this but um that's very strange so you're absolutely flat out not allowed to talk about nutrition as a therapist is that in the rules like how does that work no because in the um the treatment plan you have to give them a diagnosis and then you have to say what objectives or what um tools you're going to use and there was never an option for me to say that I'm going to talk to them about their food um and so um it's it's literally like I would I would say think like practice for me to sit there and talk about food um and it just wasn't supported in the private practice that I was at um and so I was just like okay I I gotta go like I don't belong in this this field um and and I I'm not saying that there's not other therapists that could you know figure out a way to do that um but for me I knew I needed to not have a filter and I needed to just be able to tell people and that's when I started uh my YouTube channel um because I was just like all right just I don't care what you call me I got to tell you guys I gotta help um and be able to show people that it number one it's so simple like it's so simple this is not rocket science yeah no it is and that's yeah is is very simple it's very straightforward and you know as as I point out people it's not it's not easy it's not always no it is simple it's straightforward you stop eating this garbage you start eating what you're designed to eat your life is going to get better in a lot of ways and I mean for me it was easy because when I learned about you know these sorts of things I'm like yep don't want that crap in my body not doing that again and I just I just stopped right then but you know that that's coming from a different place you know I mean I learned firsthand like how harmful these things are and I said yep that's not going in my body ever again and um and so that and then I you know when some things would sort of come back in I would see the difference I would see how much worse I felt and it just you know really solidified my conviction that I was just like yeah this stuff is is really harmful and like you said you you're not playing around like yeah I'm not either I have no interest in this it's always funny when people say like well wait you never like you like you never you know have any of this stuff like what you about some cake or some cookie or ice cream was like no no none of that and what about like on your birthday what about like Christmas like what about the special occasions and it's that's like No And they're just labber gasted and I just I so I say like okay do you smoke meth they're like well no you know it's just like what not really what about on your birthday what about on Christmas your special occasion you know like really just never you just never smoke meth and they're like like okay all right fine you know and um yeah it's just like if you if you just that you just this is just not something that that is going to be a part of my life you know it's pretty easy to to not have it as part of your life you know if you if you do want to have meth on the on your birthdays and things like that there probably something that's sort of in the back of your mind and you know that's that's an issue that you need to deal with you know and U and probably do need to avoid these sorts of things and and and work on that addiction side of things which is actually a major problem you know people do have big food addictions and that's a big problem uh sticking to any sort of thing they they you for Comfort reasons if they're stressed out or something's happening at work or in their family and they might that that's that's a go-to that's an emotional crutch that people go to and I find that well ask you you know do you do you find what do you find in your uh patient population where if they're dealing with sort of those sorts of emotional Hang-Ups and and addictive sort of eating how do you approach that with your with your clients yeah um I actually um I start them off and I tell them to feed their Cravings like if they're you know wanting cake or they're wanting all of these things I say feed it because the Instinct for some reason is to starve it and to go okay well I'm gon to I'm going to restrict restrict restrict and I'm like no feed it feed it with fatty animal meat and then you're satiated um so you know it's almost like coming to the game like not with all of your equipment on on you know and you're just like okay I'm going to do this and you're like naked like no like you got to come like armed up armed up with some you know fatty ribeye or some some burger or some whatever but feed that with that um because that that is the what you're doing you're you're wanting to just Comfort yourself and so Comfort yourself but Comfort it with fatty animal meat and then it's a GameChanger because then it shifts and many people have said well I don't have the willpower that you do and I'm like did you not hear what I ate for 40 years I don't have willpower I had a tub of peanut butter on my nightstand I had snacks in my purse that is I am not miss willpower at all but once I was satiated with fatty animal meat I got food freedom I didn't care about you know eating every two hours every four hours I didn't I wasn't ruled by addiction and by Cravings I was satiated as long as I ate enough and and as often as I I wanted to I never was like At first I wasn't like oh I got to eat in this window I got to do that and now fasting is my superpower like I'm able to dry fast I'm able to to water fast like I and it's no big deal I'm not sitting here like oh I'm fasting like oh my gosh I'm just like you wouldn't even know it you wouldn't even know it whenever I'm fasting um and so I tell people to feed their cravings and then we get to talk about why are you wanting to comfort yourself with food food is not um gonna like comfort you it's it's literally um breaking down your coping skills let's go and figure out why you're suffering instead of just putting a Band-Aid of cookies on it yeah and that's and that's very important too is uh understanding the why behind that and and you know why are we going to this and and getting new habits as well and I like that you know going to yeah you you have a craving to eat something eat but just eat meat you know that's that's the right thing to do and um yeah or you know and getting something else that ENT entertains you or occupies you or gives you that dopamine hit or something like that that you need you know something productive and healthy or maybe unproductive but not destructive you know like you're watching trash TV or something like that you know just something something else that that may uh you know may give you that that something that you need to sort of take your mind off something horrible and and let you sort of move past it but uh yeah really like that yeah yeah yeah so um well the the weight loss side of things I know that that was sort of a just a side issue but it it is very impressive 120 pounds is is absolutely uh phenomenal so congratulations on that and um like you said you you were really just doing this for the mental health side of things but how did you how did you find the the weight loss side of things how quickly did that start at first or did that something that just has a side effect later down the track come around this is definitely something that I'm I I've found I'm not normal um with other people um but I I shed the weight like super quick um I I think I literally lost it in 10 months yeah wow um and and and it was like it felt like a pound a day sometimes um but it was inflammation um and I didn't realize like I look back at videos of myself or pictures of myself and um I just thought I'm from Southeast Missouri and that's what everybody looks like you know I I just thought that I was normal and I didn't know um until it started going away how much it was inflammation um and for me um I did didn't realize how much I couldn't function like I couldn't even bend over to um I'd have to take a break when I was um tying my shoes like I couldn't I couldn't just like bend over and tie one shoe and then tie the other shoe like I'd have to do one and then like do the other I didn't realize how much weight I had in between me and my feet um but it yeah it came off really fast um and then I was shocked how much I wanted to move after that um I wanted to go work out I wanted to go do things because I was just like oh my gosh I'm 40 years old and my body's working and my joints don't hurt and and it feels good to go out and work out um so that was that was really surprising for me um and I'm 5'8 and so I was at my most I was about 260 PBS um and so I whenever I lost the weight wa it was just like oh okay never mind this is who I am I didn't realize yeah well that that's amazing that's a that's a big uh big weight loss I mean that's you know me almost dropped your weight in half really you know it's um that's a that's a significant achievement and and it's just nice you know that this is that you're going for this for health and the weight loss comes as a consequence of Health a lot of people come to carnivore because they want the weight loss and they have these other health issues but the most important thing to them is the weight loss and then their health issues start improving and the weight doesn't shift as quickly as they want it to or it doesn't you know they see some like you and there just like that's what I want that's what I that's what I came here for well something's happening something's not working right and I talked to so many people that well not so many but you know a few people here and there because a lot of people do stick with it and eventually the weight loss comes but the one some people that don't stick with it they say there shame you know I stopped doing carnivore because I you know I needed to lose weight but um you know I wasn't really Shifting the weight but it was really shame because my autoimmune issues went away I came off my blood pressure medications like my you know mental health was better my brain fog went away I had a ton of energy I felt really good but you know it's a shame that carnivore didn't work for me it's like sounded like it was working pretty well to me and you that's why I always try to say is that that the health side of thing is the most important the weight is a consequence weight will come when your health is improved and there are a lot of reasons why you might not shift your weight early on because of hormonal reasons because you have depressed metabolism and a lot of other sorts of things medications people can be on all sorts of things so the most important thing is the health and if your health is improving and you're doing better then that's the most important thing and eventually these other things are going to get in in um in balance and then you're going to start losing weight as well it will happen but just you know Focus on the health so I'm glad that you had that sort of mindset in in that direction as well I mean you had you had pretty good weight loss in the first place anyway but it uh yeah definitely definitely helps when you have that as the priority of the health being the priority yeah and I was I was really pleased because I was worried about losing that much weight that fast but and getting like the saggy skin and stuff but I ate so much fat that I I think that somehow I mean cuz like not going to show you my stomach but I I was shocked that I didn't have to have like a surgery or something else but I prioritize the animal fat I mean I was just constantly and I was I was thinking about it for my brain and the side effect was that I didn't have like a lot of loose skin um and and so I I just push the fat you know I'm just like I I I know that people they'll be like oh I want to lose weight and so I'm going to do lean carnivore and I'm like H I'm like no like it's really important to get those nutrients that you get from the fat yeah definitely I mean it's it's an essential nutrient it's actually a group of essential nutrients essential fatty acids you have to have or you can get very sick and could even die essential fat soluble nutrients that you have to have or you can get sick and you can die so it's not really an option so well you have that fat so I well it doesn't necessarily have all the fat soluble vitamins and Omega-3s that you need it's just it's just stored energy it's not it's not necessarily all those things that that you're supposed to have and so yeah I find that as well you know some people say no no no I have to restrict I have to stay away from fat and all these sorts of things I I don't think that's the right way to go and I think that you're actually going to um you know uh shoot yourself in the foot a bit from a metabolic standpoint if you're restricting your eating you're you're going to limit your metabolism your metabolism is going to naturally go down that's how your metabolism is designed if you're less coming in has to go out because your body's trying to survive a famine that's what you're that's the input you're telling your body is that you're in a famine because what animal in the while doesn't eat when there's food available right and so if you're and they're hungry and their body's telling them hey you're hungry eat and there's no food coming in that means there's no food available that's what that means from a biological standpoint so your body just says right okay we're in a famine we got to shut this down and um you know so I think it's I think it's very important important to to eat a lot of fat and I do find as well that when people lose a lot of weight and they do it that way that they don't get the loose skin and um you know and sometimes too um I've spoken to other other people that have just short been like bariatric medicine for years that um if you lose weight in a healthy fashion even if it's quick generally the skin will tighten up with it but then if they gain the weight back and they lose it again and they gain it again and they lose it again soort after B round three or four then the the skin sort of the Skin Integrity starts to fade and and not be able to bounce back as well so the idea is you get on something like a plan for life and this is a way of eating this is a lifestyle this is this is something that you just do like okay this is the healthiest way that I can eat this is not just to get into a smaller clothing size and then you don't ever have to put on the weight again and you just stay healthy and slim and you just you keep your skin and that's that's probably the way to go absolutely absolutely right well Emily thank you so much for coming on it's been an absolute pleasure I really appreciate you taking the time and to tell to share your story which is absolutely uh heartwarming and uh hopefully will shine uh a lot of Hope for a lot of people in in some serious trouble and hopefully the right people get to see this if anybody uh knows anybody suffering from Ms bipolar uh sort of issues please do share this with them if you think it can help and let them know that there is something they can do um where can we find you and follow you and uh people want to talk to you and and uh uh enlist your coaching um Services how do they get a hold of you yeah um you can always find me at Emily pon.com um and then if you want to send me a message on Instagram it's inner Clarity system because we all need to find that inner Clarity that inner knowing um and so you can send me a message and um I might not respond right away but I will respond um as soon as I can lovely well I'll put those in the description and people can take a look down there and um and find all your stuff so Emily thank you so much it's been an absolute pleasure and I appreciate you taking the time thanks for all you do I appreciate it well thank you thank you everyone for joining please do leave a comment let let us know what you think if you have bipolar Mental Health issue or Ms or another autoimmune issue and uh please do leave in the comments what your experience has been with uh the cornivore diet or with dietary changes or if it's something you're thinking about and you want to ask questions there are a lot of people that like to help out in the comments too so leave your question and a lot of people can help with that and please do share this with anybody you think it could help and I'll see you next time hey guys thank you very much for taking the time out to listen to what I had to say if you like it then please like And subscribe to my YouTube channel on podcast and if you're on YouTube then please hit that little bell and subscribe and that'll let you know anytime I have a new video out which should be every week if not more and if you can share this with your friends that would help me get the word out and let me know that you like what I'm doing thanks again guys