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Aug. 30, 2018 - The Joe Rogan Experience
01:55:15
Joe Rogan Experience #1164 - Mikhaila Peterson
Participants
Main voices
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joe rogan
54:06
m
mikhaila peterson
56:59
Appearances
j
jamie vernon
01:46
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Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
Five, four, three, two, one.
And we're live?
Yes.
Hello.
unidentified
Hello.
joe rogan
What's happening?
mikhaila peterson
Not much.
I'm excited to be here.
joe rogan
I'm excited to have you here.
Your father speaks very highly of you.
mikhaila peterson
That's good.
joe rogan
What is it like to have Jordan Peterson as a dad?
Is it weird?
Do you have to check yourself constantly?
Make sure you're on...
On steady ground and not saying anything ridiculous?
mikhaila peterson
No, not at all, not at all.
I didn't realize it was weird until I went away to university and then kind of saw like just was away for a while and then when I came back to the house especially because the house is full of like paintings and masks and statues and like 32 different paint colors and I came back and was like oh maybe he's a bit eccentric.
joe rogan
No, he's definitely eccentric.
We were talking off air about what it was like to watch your dad become famous.
And become famous in his 50s, right?
unidentified
Yeah, like 54, 55. That's when he became famous.
joe rogan
Before that, relatively unknown, respected professor.
One issue with this one transgender bill, the preferred pronouns bill.
And then, boom!
Off to the races.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Is that strange?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, it was super weird, especially how the media was portraying him and how what was actually happening at the events wasn't what was being portrayed in the media.
So that was weird to watch.
And then people recognizing him on the street is strange.
Yes, it's been weird.
joe rogan
When you say what happened in real life was not what was being portrayed, like what was different.
mikhaila peterson
Mostly what he was saying.
So most of what he said is on film anyway.
So you can go to YouTube and see what he's been saying.
There's not some secret that's going around.
But what's been portrayed has been so much more negative than what he's actually said.
Or they'll take sound bites and just weave a story that isn't quite true.
Which I didn't...
For some reason I... Now it looks silly.
But for some reason I just thought that what the media was portraying was honest.
joe rogan
Always.
Yeah, me too.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, and it's not.
joe rogan
Well, they're writers.
There's a real issue today.
I've talked about this before, but the issue is clicks.
It's not just about what's the facts of the story.
It's about these publications are struggling to stay alive.
And one of the only ways that they can get people to click on stories is salacious headlines, make things really click-baity, and that's what they focus on.
And they focus on negative aspects that are going to get people riled up.
They have to have an angle.
And I've talked to people who are writers who will write something, and then I'll talk to them, and I'll say, hey, man, this is not what we talked about or what happened.
And they said, I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't even write that.
The headline was completely written by the editor.
So the editor came in, changed it all up, Change this, switch, put some dot, dot, dots out of things, you know, so cut off sentences so that they seemed more, you know, just more controversial than they really are because they didn't allow the counterpoint of, you know, sometimes you say something and then you say, or it could be this.
Well, the or it could be this part is cut out.
You know, they do things like that just to stay alive because I think I mean, really big publications, whether it's the New York Times or the Boston Globe, big publications are struggling for their life right now because people don't want to buy newspapers anymore.
And getting people to read things online is very difficult.
And you have to do something salacious.
You have to do something that's enticing for them to click on it.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I guess, but wouldn't you say that's just driving them down?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, I would.
Yeah, they're fucked.
It's a bad place to be.
And I think it's, you know, it opens up the door for alternative media.
But some of those alternative media sources don't have journalistic integrity either.
So then it becomes a real issue.
That's a problem with a lot of online news shows.
They take a very obvious editorial spin as well on the news.
And if you just read or watch their show, you would go, oh, well, it's this way.
Because these guys are saying it's this way.
But it might not be that way.
There's no real objective source.
It's very hard to find a good objective source.
I mean, sometimes I count on the New York Times.
But there's been some things that I've read from the New York Times that I know are not accurate.
mikhaila peterson
Oh, I think they had a terrible article about Dad in June or something.
joe rogan
Well, he didn't make it any easier on himself by using that forced monogamy argument.
unidentified
Term?
No.
joe rogan
Yeah, enforced monogamy argument or term.
Even when you understand it as a psychological concept that it is a culturally enforced idea, I still don't think that applies to incels.
I don't.
mikhaila peterson
No.
joe rogan
I don't think it makes any difference at all.
And he and I discussed it on the podcast.
I'm like, you're not.
Just because you say it's a good idea and the culture agrees that it's a good idea for people to be monogamous, I don't necessarily think that that is going to help these guys at all.
mikhaila peterson
I don't think we know what's going to help those guys.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, obviously they're all individuals and their situations vary.
But what we're talking about for people like, what the fuck are they talking about?
There was a quote in the New York Times where this woman was asking him what to do about these incels, which are involuntary celibates.
And one of them had driven a car into a crowd of people and killed a bunch of people because he was frustrated because he couldn't find a mate.
And your dad suggested that culturally enforced monogamy would be perhaps a solution for that.
And then a bunch of people went crazy saying that women should sacrifice themselves and fuck these guys so that they don't drive cars into crowds.
Everybody made a mistake.
I don't think there's an answer for those guys.
I really don't.
Those kind of articles, the editorial articles and opinion articles, it's a different thing than reporting on the news, right?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I thought, I thought, so honesty was always a big thing in our house and was like, don't lie, because if you lie, eventually the lie will surface and it'll be so much bigger than the hell you get from telling the truth.
So I kind of just assumed that the media did that.
Yeah, the world just worked like that.
joe rogan
Yeah, nope.
mikhaila peterson
No.
I know that now.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So you and your dad are both on this wacky diet.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
You're both on this wacky carnivore diet.
And this is probably one of the most controversial things in relation to food today.
When people discuss diets, you know, there's a lot of people that are vegetarian or vegan or trying ketogenic diets or paleo.
But when you say carnivore, that is one of the ones where people just universally seem to step back, roll their eyes.
Most people don't think it's a good idea.
They don't even know why they don't think it's a good idea.
And then you tell them about people like you or my friend Chris Bell, who has similar autoimmune issues, and he's had two hip replacements.
He's only 36. And I think he had both of them done by the time he was 30, right?
Pretty sure, because he's had them for quite a few years.
Massive joint pain, all sorts of issue.
And you got a hip replacement.
How old were you?
mikhaila peterson
17 and an ankle replacement, 17. That's crazy.
It's a rough year.
joe rogan
That is crazy.
So your whole life you've had arthritis issues?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So I started walking kind of funny when I was two, according to my mom.
And she brought me to the doctor and they said she's just having growing pains or something.
When I was seven, I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
And I had like 37 joints affected.
And then I was put on immune suppressants in grade four.
So I was actually the first kid in Canada to be put on this biologic called Enbrel.
So I was on Enbrel and methotrexate forever, like leading up to the hip and ankle replacement, and they did help reduce some of the pain, but I still ended up with no cartilage in my joint and hip, my hip and ankle, when I was 17. And this is just from the effects of arthritis and the inflammation and swelling and just chew the cartilage up?
So I wasn't even particularly swollen.
I didn't have a very like inflammatory, visually inflammatory arthritis.
So my rheumatologist who'd been at SickKids for 20 years said that I had the worst arthritis she'd ever seen.
So it was very severe.
It wasn't particularly like swollen.
My joints just disintegrated.
joe rogan
Wow.
And what do they think causes something like this?
mikhaila peterson
They didn't know.
So it was eventually, after the hip and ankle replacement, the diagnosis was changed to juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
So it was literally like, we don't know.
joe rogan
Wow.
And how did you go from these medications, pharmaceutical medications, to getting into this carnivore diet thing?
What was this path?
mikhaila peterson
Well, okay, I'll give you a background of the path.
We were very, like, science-oriented, especially Dad.
So even though Mom kind of wanted to delve into diet and was like, we should go sugar-free or stop eating, you know, whatever, make sure you eat whole grains, like, all that stuff, we never gave diet a chance because there was no scientific evidence for it.
So, I basically got sicker and sicker and sicker.
And I ended up, by the time I got to university, I ended up with arthritis.
I was severely depressed.
I was on antidepressants as well.
I had idiopathic hypersomnia.
So I was sleeping about 18 hours a day.
My whole body was itchy all the time.
That started when I was about 14. And so that was when I started university.
And then my diet just got disastrous in university and I was like drinking all the time and eating like pizza and beer.
And I gained like 30 pounds in the first year and ginger ale.
Anyway, I gained about 30 pounds in the first year.
My mental health declined even further.
And I didn't really know what was going on.
And then I started getting skin issues.
So I started getting rashes, cystic acne.
And I was like, okay, I can deal with like four really awful health problems, but I can't deal with things affecting my skin on top of that.
There's too many things.
I went to dermatologists and they basically told me I was anxious and like causing these rashes by itching.
So that was the dermatologist's opinion, which was very unhelpful.
Anyway, I spent a lot of time.
I was eventually prescribed Adderall for the hypersomnia.
So I spent all my time Googling, reading papers, trying to get a background on skin disorders.
And eventually I came across this celiac disease rash online.
And that's what I had.
It looked exactly the same.
So I cut out gluten.
I read a whole bunch about the effects of gluten on the gut and thought, oh, there's actually some evidence that gluten isn't good for people.
Why aren't people being told this?
Why didn't my doctor test me for celiac disease?
Because celiac disease couples with autoimmune disorders all the time.
They test type 1 kids for celiac disease.
But for some reason, they don't test kids with arthritis for celiac disease.
unidentified
So I cut out gluten, and that kind of helped.
mikhaila peterson
Maybe like 20%, but it was hard to tell because it was the summer.
I was like, maybe I'm just feeling better from the summer.
My rash kind of went down, but it was still there.
And then, so September 2015, my mom dragged me to a naturopath, and they gave me this sheet of foods and, like, try this elimination diet.
And I looked at the sheet and thought, this doesn't make any sense.
Like, why can I eat lemons and not oranges?
And why are almonds on there, but other nuts are off?
So I thought, okay, if I'm going to do an elimination diet, which I didn't believe in at all, I'll cut down to what I considered safe foods.
And I had no idea what I was doing.
So I just thought, okay, vegetables are pretty safe.
I'll get rid of nightshades because people talk about them being bad.
joe rogan
Nightshades.
What is nightshades?
mikhaila peterson
Nightshades like tomatoes, eggplant, those kind of foods.
For some reason, I just knew that they were- I feel like literally everybody has heard them referred to as nightshades.
joe rogan
No.
Have you heard them?
jamie vernon
I've heard the term, but not...
I couldn't tell you what it was.
I wouldn't have been able to say it was tomatoes and eggplants, I don't think.
joe rogan
Maybe it's just Canada.
I don't think it's Canada.
unidentified
Is it a Canadian thing?
I don't think so.
joe rogan
No?
unidentified
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
Let the YouTube comments decide.
joe rogan
Definitely don't let them decide.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
It's like calling demons for help.
Anyway, go ahead.
mikhaila peterson
Anyway, I cut down.
So I was eating mostly like green vegetables.
I was still eating rice at that point because I thought everybody eats rice.
Rice is safe and meat.
But I cut out like dairy, most grains, soy, sugar, processed foods.
And then in the next month, my joints got way better and my skin healed and my skin never healed.
Like, for a couple years, I'd always have these flare-ups.
It never went away.
And that was just on a, like, relatively low-carb diet.
Just, like, just less...
I don't know.
I was still eating rice, right?
But it was still mostly meat and vegetables.
And I thought, okay, maybe there's something to this.
And then I made...
Almond flour, gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free almond flour banana muffins.
And I ate a bunch of those one night and I woke up and the next day my wrists were sore and I thought...
Okay, maybe.
That's weird.
And then I had a bunch more of the muffins because the muffins were good.
And then I went away to a cottage that weekend and I couldn't walk because of my knees.
And I never had flare-ups that badly.
Like I used to get, my shoulder was always sore when I slept, so I took Tylenol 3 at night for sleeping.
And my wrists were stiff, but I never had like a flare-up, like I couldn't walk.
So that was that weekend.
So then I went back to the diet and got really strict with it.
And then things were better, like my skin was better.
I lost, this was weird, I lost five pounds, which wasn't a lot, but I went down three pant sizes.
So it was all bloating that I didn't realize was bloating because it never fluctuated.
So that was the first month.
And then 2015. And then I started trying to reintroduce foods because I was having cravings and I missed going out to eat with my friends and everything.
So the first thing I tried to reintroduce was Sour Patch Candy because I was having really intense sugar.
Don't look at me like that.
I was having really intense sugar cravings and I looked at the package and I thought, okay, no one's allergic to sugar.
There's no dairy.
There's no gluten.
There's no soy.
This will be fine.
And I really wanted to eat them.
And I had those.
And the next day, my whole body was itchy again.
It was like mosquito bites everywhere.
Itchy.
So I thought, okay, maybe that was a bad idea.
So I waited a couple weeks and I tried to reintroduce almond butter, organic almond butter, because I wanted something fast, protein fast.
And then I had abdominal cramping, diarrhea, then this itch came back.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So for the next year...
Well, I'll slow down.
We've got some time.
So that was the almond butter.
So then I waited a while and I felt pretty good.
And this was November 2015. And then I started feeling really good.
And I went off of my antidepressants.
And I had been taking antidepressants since I was in grade five.
A really high dose of an SSRI, which had been very helpful.
joe rogan
Did you wean yourself off and did you do it under a doctor's supervision?
mikhaila peterson
No.
I didn't trust...
joe rogan
You didn't wean yourself off?
mikhaila peterson
I weaned myself down.
So I went down to half, and then I went to a quarter, and then I went to an eighth, and then I stopped taking it.
joe rogan
Over how long of a period of time?
mikhaila peterson
It was nothing, really.
joe rogan
Over two weeks?
mikhaila peterson
It was two weeks, yeah.
I didn't have withdrawal symptoms.
I think maybe I was lucky that way.
joe rogan
And so your diet at this point was?
mikhaila peterson
So at that point, I was eating rice occasionally, but it was mostly like broccoli, salad, chicken, beef, fish, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper.
At that point, I was also eating pears and apples.
So it was kind of like paleo, kind of.
Very restricted paleo, dairy-free.
joe rogan
And so you're feeling good, you're off your medication, your joints feel better, no more rashes.
mikhaila peterson
No more rashes, yeah.
So everything seems to be improving.
I was shocked when the depression lifted because I thought, that runs in my family, that's familial, we have some sort of...
Brain chemistry problem.
That can't possibly be diet.
I thought the skin, maybe that was diet because of this gluten link.
And then maybe because of the celiac gene that I got tested for, maybe the arthritis was part of that, but I never thought mood was associated with it.
So that was a surprise in November.
Anyway, I went off of the antidepressants and then about a month later, I tried to reintroduce soy.
And this is when things started getting really weird that year.
So I was having...
joe rogan
Why are you reintroducing things if you're having all these positive benefits?
mikhaila peterson
I was having cravings like crazy, and I would miss eating out.
And I thought there were probably like four or five foods I was really sensitive to.
And if I could just figure out what they were, I could eat pretty normally.
I didn't realize, like I didn't know what was going on.
joe rogan
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
If I had known, I would have done it much differently.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
But I tried to reintroduce soy because at that point I still thought soy was a health food.
So I ate a huge meal of like edamame beans and bean sprouts and miso soup that I made myself.
So it was gluten-free and soy sauce and tofu.
I literally ate soy in every form and I had The same kind of reaction with almond butter.
I had immediately got bloated.
I had diarrhea within maybe 20-30 minutes of eating it.
And I thought, okay, that sucks.
I guess I can't eat soy.
And then about four hours later, my legs got itchy.
And then my whole body got itchy.
And I was like, okay, that sucks.
Clearly, I'm reacting to soy.
And then the next morning, the depression came back.
And it came back like that was the worst depressive experience I've ever had.
I was medication free and it came back in the morning and I got in the shower and I just like I bawled in the shower and thought how could I be so naive to think that my horrible autoimmune disorder and the depression and everything was caused by food like what an idiotic thing to think how could I be that hopeful and then I had to remind myself okay no We're good to
go.
This is when it gets weird.
So that night, I went over to my parents and I was just like, I don't know what's going on, right?
And they're like, well, do you want to take a car back to your apartment?
I said, I don't think I can drive.
Like, I can't.
I just can't think.
I don't know what's going on.
So my brother drove me home and I was like on the verge of having a panic attack for no reason, right?
It was just like my heart rate was increasing.
I was trying to find my keys and I turned around to look at my brother In the car and his head was a like a kind of a demon this I know how this sounds but he had like a demon head for about a second and a half and he looked at me and then he turned and then it was my brother again.
So I was standing at the- So you're hallucinating?
For like a yeah about a second and a half.
joe rogan
Any other hallucinations?
mikhaila peterson
That year yes before that no.
joe rogan
That year?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah after this.
I'll get into it.
joe rogan
So you ate soy and started tripping?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, two days later.
I know how it sounds.
That's how it sounded to me too.
joe rogan
Have you found comparable stories online?
mikhaila peterson
So obviously I did as much research as I could possibly do.
To soy?
No.
To gluten?
To people who are schizophrenic from gluten?
Yeah.
There are people with celiac disease who have schizophrenia induced by gluten.
So I found that, but I didn't find anything for other foods.
joe rogan
But does schizophrenia include hallucinations?
mikhaila peterson
Rarely visual, but I did find a case study of a woman who was seeing demons from her celiac disease gluten.
joe rogan
Now, when you say you looked over and you saw your brother and his head was a demon head, like, describe it.
mikhaila peterson
Like...
No, I found...
joe rogan
Vivid?
mikhaila peterson
No, it was like, you know when it's really dark in a room, and I don't know if you've experienced this, but it's really dark in a room, and then you kind of see things in the dark?
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
mikhaila peterson
It was more like that.
It was dark at night, and it was like I was so anxious.
joe rogan
So you're so distraught, you're a mess, and maybe you just caused yourself to have this idea.
Well, something happened.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I mean, and I saw it.
Like, I can remember what it looks like, but it wasn't a vivid demon or something.
It was like, but it was there.
joe rogan
Okay, so you're freaking out, basically.
mikhaila peterson
So I'm freaking out, so I'm like, okay, that's not good.
So I find my keys, and I go upstairs, and then I went into my bedroom, like, shut the blinds, turned on all the lights, and then, like, smoked as much weed as I could possibly smoke to try and calm myself down, and then hid under the blankets all night.
joe rogan
I would think that would be the worst thing to do after you see a demon.
mikhaila peterson
You'd think that, but then if you smoke, I've had that comment before, but enough, and it calmed me down.
joe rogan
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
So then I spent the next couple of weeks basically stoned because I didn't know when it was going to end.
I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't find anybody on the internet who had had the same experience as me.
And then about two and a half weeks later, it started going away.
And so...
joe rogan
When you say it, you mean the depression?
mikhaila peterson
Depression, the arthritis.
It wasn't just the depression that came.
That's just the worst.
joe rogan
And had you adjusted your diet?
mikhaila peterson
No, I didn't go back.
I mean, I didn't eat soy again, but I went back to the initial diet I was eating.
joe rogan
So essentially, just this one meal, this one great meal of soy threw you off for a couple weeks, radically.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, like almost four, like three weeks.
But after two weeks, it started getting better.
But the symptoms were like, so this deplorable, the itching started, I had bloating, and then the depression came back.
And then about a week later, my skin started breaking out.
Maybe 10 days later my arthritis came back.
So I wrote all my symptoms down every day because I was going crazy and I didn't know what was going on and I wanted to write it down to see what was going on.
joe rogan
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
So then it started lifting and I started feeling better again.
And I was like, okay, thank God that's over.
And then waited a while, things were good again, my symptoms went away.
And then over the next year, I tried to reintroduce foods over and over and over again.
And I was making like I tried whey protein powder.
And that did nothing ever got to as bad as that soy experience.
But I had a number of other experiences where it was the worst depression I've ever experienced.
And It was on the verge of seeing, like, I don't know, seeing faces in things.
joe rogan
Okay, so you're having all these health issues.
How do you get to the carnivore diet?
mikhaila peterson
So, I decide, about a year later, I decide, hey, maybe I don't want to keep cycling in and out of all horrible autoimmune and mental problems.
Maybe I'll just stick with the original diet.
And then I got pregnant.
And so, then my autoimmune symptoms flared again.
joe rogan
During the pregnancy?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, like right away.
As soon as I found out I was pregnant.
It was like before I found out I was pregnant that my autoimmune symptoms came back.
So my legs were itchy again.
My joints were stiff.
My skin was breaking out.
My anxiety was back.
And it was hard to tell, well, what part of this is pregnancy and what part of this is an autoimmune disorder.
So throughout my pregnancy, I cut down on all the carbs I was eating.
So I cut out fruit.
I cut out sweet potatoes.
I went down to meat and greens.
And I think dad was on here one time and he was on a meat and greens diet.
So that was during that part.
So we're both on a meat and greens diet.
Mostly because we didn't realize you didn't need greens to survive.
So we were eating meat and greens.
And then...
joe rogan
Did you say mostly because we realized you didn't need greens to survive?
mikhaila peterson
We didn't realize only meat was an option.
unidentified
You hadn't realized.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
We hadn't realized that.
We didn't know that.
So it was meat and salad.
And it was a very simple salad with like olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, cucumbers, lettuces, spinach.
Pretty simple salad.
And then meat and fish.
So we did that for about a year.
And then I had my daughter...
And then I didn't get better.
So then I found out, okay, so these symptoms aren't really pregnancy related.
It's just me now.
And for some reason I've lost the tolerance to these foods I used to be able to eat.
joe rogan
But you're just eating salad and meat.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
And I'm still having autoimmune symptoms now.
joe rogan
The same symptoms that you used to have back when you were eating everything?
mikhaila peterson
Not nearly as bad.
Not nearly as bad.
Like my fatigue wasn't back.
My anxiety was manageable without medication.
joe rogan
But you hadn't achieved the levels of health that you had when you were eliminating things from your diet earlier.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Like I reached a really good point and then I got pregnant and I couldn't reach that point again.
joe rogan
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
So then, this is 2017, so it's like November and I'm getting really frustrated about being itchy.
I'm just randomly itchy again and randomly arthritic.
joe rogan
And you're just eating meat and vegetables.
mikhaila peterson
Just meat and salad.
Yeah.
And I thought, okay, maybe I just have an autoimmune disorder and I can't control it with diet anymore.
Maybe I'm just stuck like this.
And so I googled, like out of desperation, I think I googled allergic to everything food-wise, something like that, into Google.
And I found this story about Charlene Anderson, who's been mentioned a couple times, and she'd been diagnosed with Lyme disease and has been eating nothing but red meat for 18 years.
And there are pictures of her family online.
And I thought, okay, I know I'm not.
I think I googled allergic to everything except meat.
joe rogan
Uh-huh.
mikhaila peterson
So I found her.
Then I found that Sean Baker episode you did, and he'd been doing it for two years.
And I think that night I thought, screw it.
I literally have nothing to lose here.
I'm only cutting out salad.
So that's when I switched over.
That was December.
And then I switched over and the itching got better pretty quickly, like within the first couple of days.
But then my digestion just got totally screwed up.
So like bloating and diarrhea every time I ate.
And after about a week, I thought, okay, this is a bad idea.
Obviously.
joe rogan
Bloating and diarrhea every time you ate meat.
Just meat.
mikhaila peterson
Just meat.
And salt.
unidentified
Jesus Christ.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So I thought, this is a bad idea.
Obviously, this isn't working.
My body doesn't like it.
So I reintroduced salad again.
It was literally lettuce, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
That's what I reintroduced.
And I woke up the next day and the itch was back and my joints were stiff.
And I thought, okay, if I have to choose between itching and arthritis or diarrhea, I'm going to choose the diarrhea.
I was in a rough place.
joe rogan
I guess.
unidentified
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
So I stuck it out and at six weeks of just doing this, the bloating went away, the diarrhea went away, and everything started to improve.
So that was mid-January.
But I was still pretty skeptical because I thought maybe the reason the carnivore diet worked for people was because they just accidentally cut out everything that wasn't working for them.
Processed foods, sugar, grains, all that.
So I tried to reintroduce olives, like organic olives in olive oil.
That was February.
And then I had this itching, came back with the depression.
My skin broke out.
And it was minor in comparison to like soy.
joe rogan
So you think, essentially, to give us the cliff notes, you're allergic to everything.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's fucking crazy.
mikhaila peterson
It's crazy, but then here's the thing.
I started this blog, so the blogs don't eat that.
And I started this blog because I thought, if for some reason there's someone else out there like me, and they're Googling these things, it'd be nice for them to know that they're not alone.
And I've found other people like this, who are equally as sensitive.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
I mean, look, if you exist, there's probably quite a few people that have that issue.
It makes sense.
It makes sense that we all have different tolerances and we all have different allergies.
Some people are allergic to cats.
Some people have no problem with peanuts.
Some people eat a Brazil nut and they die.
We know this.
So this is one of the problems with diet is that people want to think that a diet that works for them works for everybody.
And it doesn't work that way.
And people want you to follow their diet, no matter what it is, whether it's vegan or paleo.
People are very ideological with that.
They would love for you to do exactly what they're doing so to reinforce what they're doing is correct.
There's a lot of pushback against this carnivore diet idea.
But I don't...
I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that someone like you might actually really be allergic to everything.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I mean, I was, like, very sick.
And from coming from that place to now, I can see how sick I was, and it was like, I was dying.
I was on a whole bunch of medication.
joe rogan
Did you ever do anything with probiotics?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
I can't tolerate probiotics.
joe rogan
You can't tolerate them?
mikhaila peterson
No.
So the original idea was heal my gut, repopulate with bacteria that maybe I'm missing, and then maybe incorporate more foods.
joe rogan
Right, so what happened when you tried to do that?
mikhaila peterson
Same autoimmune flare-up.
joe rogan
Okay, but this is the same autoimmune flare-up that you got when you ate salad?
mikhaila peterson
No, not quite.
joe rogan
Not quite as bad?
mikhaila peterson
Not.
It was different.
It was, like, with salad, there's more of the arthritis and, like, body pain, and then...
joe rogan
With probiotics, what'd you get?
mikhaila peterson
Mood issues.
So, like, really volatile.
And itchy.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
So I still got the itch.
Yeah.
So I think it was I probably had leaky gut.
And so the probiotics were just going everywhere.
joe rogan
One of the things your dad brought up to me when he was here was emulsifiers.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And then I started reading up on it after he discussed it with me.
And it's something I never even considered before, but fast rising yeast and all these different Emulsifiers that they put in bread and various foods, they're terrible for you.
mikhaila peterson
Oh my god, yeah.
joe rogan
Terrible for your stomach and they're so prevalent.
They're everywhere.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
Soy lecithin?
It's in everything.
joe rogan
It's in everything.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then I started really paying attention to it and I've read several articles on it and a couple of studies.
It's...
It's crazy how this is something that's never even discussed and it has all sorts of negative effects on your gut and your gut lining.
It's awful.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, combining that and then it looks like grains aren't so good for people.
Combining that and grains, it's no wonder people are ill.
joe rogan
Some people.
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
Some people.
Most people, though, if you look at, like, obesity or...
joe rogan
I wouldn't go most.
I would say some.
I'd say most people are sedentary.
That's one of the primary issues.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, but I don't think that's the issue.
joe rogan
What do you mean?
mikhaila peterson
I mean, okay, say, I mean, I guess I'm not a great example, but I mean, people start gaining weight if they're lucky when they're middle-aged, if they're unlucky when they're around 25 and they start gaining weight.
I don't think it's from lack of exercise.
I think it's from diet.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think diet has a lot to do with it.
Yeah, for sure.
But it's also lack of exercise.
mikhaila peterson
I don't know.
I'm not convinced.
Because people who've gone on to this carnivore diet especially lose that weight.
joe rogan
Right, but there's a lot of people out there that are not overweight that don't follow the carnivore diet.
So how do you explain that?
mikhaila peterson
Well, I'd like to see anybody above the age of 50 who's on a standard American diet.
joe rogan
Well, what is a standard American diet?
I mean, if you're saying, are they eating terrible?
mikhaila peterson
No, I just mean standard American diet.
I mean, do they watch what they eat?
joe rogan
I mean, these blanket statements are a real issue.
And that's one of the reasons why your diet is fascinating.
It's because, like, you know, I don't think you can make blanket statements when it comes to people and diet.
You know, I think there's some people out there that are goddamn food dumpsters.
You can throw anything in there and they're fine.
mikhaila peterson
There are definitely people closer to that.
My brother is pretty, well, he's not so good with lactose, but he's pretty stable compared to me anyway.
joe rogan
Well, you know Michael Phelps, that Olympic swimmer.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That guy eats like 10,000 calories a day and several pizzas.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I know.
I read about him.
joe rogan
Fucking jacked.
He has no problems at all.
He's not fat.
But that's an issue of enormous expenditure of energy.
I mean, he's constantly exercising and his body has ridiculous calorie requirements.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Caloric.
So, I mean, it's hard to say, but I think sedentary lifestyle is a giant part of it.
Most of what people do is what we're doing right now.
Most of what people do is sit down.
mikhaila peterson
But is that because they don't feel like running around?
Because some people, like people who exercise, generally you have to put in a little bit of effort to make yourself go exercise, but a lot of people who are overweight and sick don't have enough energy to do that.
joe rogan
I don't know about that.
Some of them maybe, but I think some of them just don't have discipline.
There's an issue with that as well.
There's also an issue with momentum.
You're not used to doing it.
It's not a part of your life.
It's not something that you're accustomed to pushing yourself.
There's been many, many, many, many, many, many, many days where I didn't want to work out.
I just didn't feel like I had the energy, and I just forced myself.
And I think there's very few people out there that know how to force themselves.
That's a learned skill.
That kind of discipline and focus.
You have to have real rigid requirements of yourself where you don't allow yourself to back out of things and you don't allow yourself to slack off.
And I don't think people put those kind of requirements on themselves as if it is a daily principle of life, like what you must get done.
You must brush your teeth, you must exercise for 45 minutes.
And if you did that, I think you'd be healthier and happier and your body would perform more smoothly.
And if you require your body to do things like that, I think it rises to the occasion.
There are very few people that have that kind of discipline.
So because of that, they come up with excuses.
And excuses are a giant part of the problem.
It's not simply a physical health issue.
There's also mental aspects of it.
And discipline's a big one.
I just know way too many people who are weak mentally.
And I can't just chalk it off to only their physical, the way they physically feel.
Because I felt like shit a hundred times.
And then I worked out and then I felt way better.
It's just a fact of life.
That's real.
People don't know how to do that.
And if you're used to doing this, get in your car, sit down, drive to the office, sit down, go to the lunch, sit down, go to the board meeting, sit down, get in your car on the way home, sit down, get home in front of the TV, sit down.
Then go to the gym?
Fuck off.
They don't have any energy.
Their body's like, I don't have it in me to do this.
And I don't believe that.
I don't believe that.
I think a lot of it is the mindset.
mikhaila peterson
So I partly agree with that, but because, and I know I'm like, I was a very sick individual.
joe rogan
You're in a different case.
You have real, legitimate, diagnosed physical issues.
This is a very different thing.
You have a severe autoimmune disorder.
I mean, listen, you get your hip replaced and you're fucking 17. That's crazy.
You don't hear that.
This is a different...
I'm talking about the average fat fuck just sitting around being lazy.
That's really what it is.
It's like, I'm sure a lot of it is diet and a lot of that diet affects their physical health.
But there's been many, many people that have just put their foot down and said, enough.
I'm going to change my life.
And they don't take any excuses and they feel way, way better.
Diet is most certainly a part of that.
But there's also a discipline aspect.
And these things are not mutually exclusive.
They exist together.
They're all together.
And they work symbiotically.
The way your mindset affects the choices you make with your diet.
And the mindset also affects the choices you make in terms of whether or not you require yourself to exercise.
And I think these are critical aspects that people like to gloss over or they like to make excuses about.
And they get very angry if you don't accept those excuses.
And that's a sign that they're trying to enforce this standard and this idea and push it on you and give themselves an excuse.
It's one of the reasons why they get angry.
It's one thing if someone has a legit physical issue like you do, but there's a lot of people who do not.
They just have poor diet choices.
They have a sedentary lifestyle.
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
I kind of agree.
I just, from like my perspective, I've seen my dad and he was very like, you can see from the videos from 2014 before he started going low carb and everything, he was carrying about 50 extra pounds.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
And he didn't exercise.
And he didn't have enough energy to exercise.
That's not true.
But it didn't look like that.
joe rogan
That's not true.
He just didn't do it.
mikhaila peterson
No, I don't believe that.
joe rogan
But when you say he didn't have enough energy to exercise, did he walk around?
mikhaila peterson
Well, yeah, but you can drag yourself through things.
joe rogan
And you can drag yourself through an exercise routine.
You can.
But you most certainly can.
You most certainly can.
You don't have to do a lot.
You just have to do something.
You walk up hills.
You jump a little rope.
You take a little tiny kettlebell.
You do a couple cleans and presses.
You do a few push-ups.
You do a few sit-ups.
You get your blood pumping.
You're moving.
You're alive.
You're exercising.
To say you don't have enough energy to exercise, that's crazy.
Can you walk to the refrigerator?
Then you can exercise.
I'm not saying that you have to run marathons.
You can exercise.
And everyone should fucking exercise.
mikhaila peterson
I agree.
Everyone should exercise.
joe rogan
But don't ever say.
These people are so crazy.
They want you to believe.
I don't have the energy to exercise.
God damn it.
Everyone does.
If you're alive, you can exercise.
mikhaila peterson
I believe that.
I've been there.
I know I'm a different case.
But I've seen my dad there.
And then here's the thing.
Once he fixed up his diet, once he went to this carnivore diet, he's exercising now.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
Sure, he's got less weight on his body.
He feels better.
mikhaila peterson
And he has energy.
joe rogan
That's wonderful.
He could have exercised then, too.
He would have felt shittier, for sure.
Wouldn't have felt as good as he's feeling now.
But to give people this excuse, I don't have the energy to exercise.
That is crazy to say.
Can you walk to the fucking refrigerator?
Yes.
Well, you can exercise.
You don't have to do anything crazy.
Just walk around the block.
There's 80 year old ladies who take yoga with me.
They're fucking really old.
And they're in there.
They're going after it.
They could easily say, I don't have the energy to do that.
But they don't.
It's a mental attitude.
They make a decision.
mikhaila peterson
I agree.
There's a lot of it's discipline.
You're going to get people who just want to exercise.
joe rogan
Yeah, but you don't have to kill yourself.
You don't have to go to a CrossFit class and try to do the workout of the day.
You don't have to go nuts and do clean and presses with 150 pounds.
You don't have to do that.
But you have to do something.
Just get your blood moving.
Your body has requirements.
It wants to move.
It really does.
And when it does, you feel better.
But people like to give themselves this excuse.
I do not have the energy to do this.
unidentified
Whatever.
joe rogan
If you decide that, that's true.
But if you watch a motivational video, there's a hundred of them on YouTube, thousands even.
Go watch one, you'll get fired up.
You're like, fuck it, I'm going to jump some rope.
You jump some rope, you do something.
Just do some push-ups, do something, do some bodyweight squats.
You'll feel better.
But it's also like learning that, learning that and having that as a part of your daily life.
It has to be, you know, again, I'm not talking about someone like you who's in the throes of this autoimmune disorder where you're getting your hip replaced at 17. I'm not talking about someone with like serious degenerative illness.
I'm talking about just a regular person who's overweight.
You can do it.
There's a lady who's like 450 pounds that takes yoga with me.
She's enormous.
She's in there.
It's probably really embarrassing.
Very hard to do.
And she's in there.
Anyone can do it.
We can do it.
And again, I'm not saying do what Michael Phelps does.
I'm just saying just do something.
Gotta do something.
We have fucked up lifestyles.
The lifestyles that people have are just...
The human body is not designed to sit down all day and it's certainly not designed to be stuck in traffic and be in an office and just be fluorescent lights and just sitting there.
In front of a fucking computer monitor, watching your soul get sucked through the LCD screen.
It's crazy.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
joe rogan
I think we've got to be really careful with just the way we describe things.
It's like, say, I don't have the energy to do something.
Fuck off.
Stop.
mikhaila peterson
I don't know.
I believe it still.
That was good, but I'm still not convinced.
joe rogan
You're still not convinced?
mikhaila peterson
Well, I think you change your diet.
joe rogan
It helps.
mikhaila peterson
And then you can exercise.
joe rogan
Well, you can exercise without changing your diet.
There's a lot of people do.
mikhaila peterson
They do, yeah.
And partly that's discipline.
joe rogan
Yes.
mikhaila peterson
But partly that's being able to.
I'm still, I don't know.
You haven't convinced me completely.
joe rogan
So what do you think is holding them back?
mikhaila peterson
Well, I think if you're carrying around extra weight, like quite a bit of extra weight, and you say, I don't have enough energy, there's something serious going on that isn't just, oh, I have a few extra pounds.
And I don't think we know exactly what that looks like.
But a lot of that has to do with energy.
I mean, Dad was sleeping.
He was sleeping for two hours a day in the middle of the day, and he was impossible to wake up.
He couldn't wake up.
I had to, like, shake him and...
joe rogan
Right, but your dad told me he was on a standard diet of, like, sandwiches and pasta and things along those lines.
So you have that big insulin dump.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
But, I mean, most people who don't have enough energy are.
And a lot of those people don't realize, like, we were eating whole grains.
We didn't know that whole grains were just grains.
We thought that whole grains were healthy.
So I was having sandwiches for lunch because I was having cheese and bread, and that was protein.
joe rogan
Right, but your dad has autoimmune disorders as well.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Pretty significant, right?
mikhaila peterson
Well, the depression was the main one.
That was very significant, yeah.
joe rogan
It's hard to also figure out what is depression.
You say you had depression.
To a person who doesn't have depression, like myself, I hear that and I go, okay, what does that mean?
Does it mean you feel bad?
What does it mean?
Does it mean there's a thick, wet blanket over your life that you can't get out of?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, it means there's a couple of things.
It's impossible to think of when you're not depressed.
But the closest I get to is if you're in a really, really stressful situation and a whole bunch of things go wrong at the same time, that stress you feel is kind of like a really, really mild version of being depressed.
But being depressed is like if you look at something, the colors seem muted.
You don't get joy out of anything.
joe rogan
Like this color of the sky?
mikhaila peterson
Reds, like just colors.
Everything's in gray scale.
Kind of feels like you're walking through molasses.
And then you have a whole bunch of anxieties pop up all the time that are like worst case scenarios of everything in your entire life that won't happen.
But that's all you can think of all the time.
That's partly anxiety.
But it's hell.
Like, having arthritis, I would choose arthritis a million times over than this depression.
It just wrecks you.
joe rogan
So what leads you to the carnivore diet?
This lady has been living on it for 18 years.
You read about her and that she's still alive without eating.
mikhaila peterson
And her Lyme disease gone and she looks great.
This is a before and after picture.
She looks great.
joe rogan
And is she taking vitamins as well?
mikhaila peterson
Nothing.
joe rogan
Nothing.
mikhaila peterson
Beef and salt.
joe rogan
Right.
So this is what you hear.
So this anecdotal story is what leads you to give that a try.
mikhaila peterson
Well, I thought, yeah.
This is 2017. So December.
joe rogan
December.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So not quite a year.
joe rogan
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
So I switched over and then I had these transition symptoms.
joe rogan
Diarrhea.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
That was basically it.
Some craving.
joe rogan
It's bold to hang in there with six weeks of diarrhea.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, but the alternative was like anxiety and itching and arthritis.
joe rogan
Well, you were also probably at the end of your rope, right?
Where you're like, Jesus Christ, I can't even eat miso soup.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
There's nothing.
I was like, I don't care about salad.
I've already given up everything I love.
Just take it away.
And then after six weeks, it got better.
And then I reintroduced olives and that went badly.
And I thought, okay, I'm done with the reintroductions.
I'm just sticking with meat.
joe rogan
Your dad said he's going to try to reintroduce mushrooms.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
We'll see how that goes.
He seems to be weirdly sensitive too, like in the same category as me.
But instead of getting arthritis and all these other things as well, he just gets the depression, which is the worst one.
joe rogan
Well, he said he introduced something to his diet and he didn't sleep for like 24 days.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's not even possible.
He would be dead.
mikhaila peterson
No, that's what it felt like.
I had the same thing.
We ate the same thing.
I think it was sulfites in apple cider in a stew I made.
I don't know what it was.
I think that's what it was.
And yeah, and then it was the itching came back, and the doom came in, this depression came in, and then that's weird and it hasn't happened very many times, but I got stuck with insomnia.
And it felt like we weren't sleeping.
joe rogan
So you slept like a little bit and you wake up?
mikhaila peterson
Probably, yeah.
It does know what it felt like, but I'm sure, you know, it's not physically possible to stay awake for that long, but I didn't feel like sleeping.
joe rogan
What's the world record that someone's ever stayed awake?
I think it's only like 10 days.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I think it's 11, 10 or 11. Yeah.
joe rogan
Something along those lines.
mikhaila peterson
God, why would he do that?
Was it just a test?
jamie vernon
11 days and 25 minutes.
joe rogan
25 minutes?
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
At that 26th minute, that dude went down hard.
Wow, that's crazy.
So obviously your dad must, unless your dad stomped the shit out of that world record.
mikhaila peterson
No, I'm sure he was sleeping, but it didn't feel like that, and it wasn't very much.
joe rogan
It's just crazy, that one thing.
Do you remember what it was that he reintroduced to his diet?
mikhaila peterson
It wasn't a reintroduction.
We were just still eating apples at that point, and it was a cider, and it had sulfites added, and I looked at it and thought, whatever, it's like parts per million sulfites, it'll be fine.
That was the only thing that was new.
joe rogan
So do you think that as you get onto this elimination diet and you start taking things out...
You get more sensitive.
Yeah, you get more sensitive.
So it's like one of the things that I noticed in a big way is when I cut sugar out of my diet.
If I have sugar now, like if I go crazy and have an ice cream sundae, I hit a fucking wall so hard where I can't even get up.
I have to sit down on the couch.
It takes like an hour or two for it to get out of my system.
So for like an hour, I just sit there and I'm like, oh God, I feel like shit.
And then two hours later, I'm like, okay, it's done.
It's passed.
unidentified
That's it.
mikhaila peterson
It's two hours.
joe rogan
Yeah, about two hours.
mikhaila peterson
It's like 24 days for me.
joe rogan
Yeah, I believe you.
I believe you.
But for me, it's just for two hours.
I mean, and again, I'm not depressed for two hours.
I just feel like I have a brick in my stomach and I feel like I'm on a tranquilizer.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So most of the, that's how I lived a whole bunch of my life.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
mikhaila peterson
The tranquilizer, like the idiopathic hypersomnia.
It was like I was falling asleep during exams.
I drove home on the highway one time when I was 22 and I was falling asleep at the wheel and I was like, oh my God, like I can't stay awake, passing out.
And I like moved over into a lane and a truck came by and honked at me and I was like, oh my God, I'm going to die.
And then I went on Adderall.
joe rogan
Whoa.
mikhaila peterson
I was like, I need to stay awake or I'm gonna die.
unidentified
It was terrifying.
joe rogan
Did you get off the Adderall?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, yeah.
I'm off of everything.
And the Adderall, so I stopped taking the immune suppressants when I cut out gluten just to see how my arthritic flare-ups would go, if anything would happen.
Then I got off of the antidepressants November 2015. And then my fatigue lifted in January 2016. So I got off the Adderall right away then.
I was taking a lot and it was great when I was in that feeling like I was on tranquilizers.
It was great, but once you don't need it, it's kind of awful being on that amount of amphetamine all the time.
joe rogan
I know so many people that are on that shit.
It's so disturbing to me how many people are taking that and they talk about their productivity and they're always...
mikhaila peterson
It makes you feel like you're being productive.
I don't know if it actually makes you more productive.
And it just destroys your short-term memory.
joe rogan
Does it?
mikhaila peterson
Destroyed mine.
I was taking a lot though.
I was on 40 milligrams a day in the morning.
The long release.
joe rogan
It's one of those things I've always thought about trying.
I'm like, hmm, maybe one day.
mikhaila peterson
If you have energy, I don't think it gives you a kick like if you're exhausted all the time.
It's just kind of unpleasant and it makes you like weirdly antisocial.
joe rogan
Okay, so you haven't been on this diet for a year.
What has the change, once you got over the diarrhea, what has the change been like?
mikhaila peterson
So the arthritis and the autoimmune stuff went away fairly quickly when I was still having diarrhea.
That went away.
The mood started to pick up six weeks into the diet.
And then in May, so I'd been December, January, March, April, May.
So five months into it, I had a huge improvement.
So things just got better and better every day.
And I finally got to the point where I was pre-pregnancy.
So since May...
I would say it's still getting better.
joe rogan
So it's only been three months that you've been okay?
mikhaila peterson
No, I've been okay since January, but my mood went from like a eight to like a nine and a half like great in May.
So I was feeling good after I started after this first six weeks.
But then things got a lot better in May.
It seems to be just improving.
joe rogan
Now, what kind of blood work are you getting while you're doing all this?
Are you going and getting tested for nutritional deficiencies?
Because one of the issues that many people who are nutritionists or who are studying biology have with this carnivore diet is that Just meat is very deficient in many, many nutrients.
It's very deficient in vitamin C. It's deficient in several things that we think that you need in order to live.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
Well, I did get blood work done because people were asking.
And not because I particularly trust blood work because my blood work was always pretty normal.
I was always low in zinc and vitamin D since I was a kid.
joe rogan
Even when you had severe arthritis.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, everything was normal.
I had no blood markers and I was like dying.
joe rogan
What about for inflammation?
mikhaila peterson
My white blood cell count was high.
That can be a sign of like infection.
So that was high.
My vitamin D and my zinc were low.
That's what showed up.
joe rogan
But that wouldn't be normal, right?
If you went and you got your blood tested and they showed you have a high white blood cell count, they would go, there's an issue here.
mikhaila peterson
It wasn't abnormal enough to have caused the problems I was experiencing.
joe rogan
But how different was it from the norm?
mikhaila peterson
White blood cell count?
Well, I had white bloods, raised white blood cell count, and I had white blood cells in my urine.
That's a little weird, because that is generally like, well, some sort of bacterial infection, which I didn't have symptoms of.
So that was a little weird, but that was never focused on from the doctors.
joe rogan
Why not?
Well, that seems like that's an issue.
If normal people don't have that, and you have problems that normal people don't have, I would say your blood work is not normal.
That's not normal.
mikhaila peterson
No, but I mean, I was on all the medications they could put me on, and they never looked at diet, so I was kind of at a standstill.
joe rogan
Right, but when you said that you don't trust blood work, and then...
mikhaila peterson
Well, I did get it done, mostly for the blog so that everybody could see I wasn't dying.
I can pull it up.
joe rogan
Okay.
That was one of the issues with Sean Baker.
Sean got his blood work done and one of the things that people noticed is that there's quite a few issues there.
And one of them was very, very low testosterone, which is crazy because he's a gorilla.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's a big six foot five, 250 pound dude.
So it's like, well, he doesn't look deficient in testosterone.
Like what the hell's going on here?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I don't have testosterone readings.
joe rogan
He also said that part of that might, you know, he and I have gone back and forth about this.
He said part of that might have been had to do with taking the test when he had done like a very heavy weightlifting workout the day before.
Like he'd done squats and deadlifts and all kinds of stuff.
And so maybe broke his body down a bit.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Which kind of makes sense.
mikhaila peterson
Well, it would be nice for a medical professional to take some of these groups of people doing this diet and just do a study so we could actually get some information.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
Instead of, like, everything's anecdotal.
And I put my stuff up, but just because, so I can show it to you, but everything is normal.
Everything is normal.
My ferritin is slightly, slightly elevated.
What is ferritin?
Iron.
joe rogan
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
So that's slightly elevated.
joe rogan
Because you're eating a lot of red meat.
But that's not bad.
mikhaila peterson
Not necessarily.
And it was still like my doctor said.
He didn't care.
It wasn't elevated enough.
joe rogan
What about vitamins?
mikhaila peterson
So for vitamins...
Vitamins, my zinc is still low.
My vitamin D is still low.
It hasn't recovered.
It's been like that.
It's been like that forever.
Well, it's hard in Canada.
Like I have some pictures on Instagram and I'm green because there's no light for like six months.
And then I'm outside all summer.
So I'm probably deficient.
I think that has something to do with the autoimmune disorder.
I tried supplementing with really high dose vitamin D and didn't see any benefits.
And I don't take supplements anymore.
The high dose vitamin D. I tried once when I was 21 for about a year and then again when I was doing the low carb diet.
joe rogan
But what about now when your issues with vitamin D are in your blood work?
mikhaila peterson
I just got my blood work back.
So I was doing no supplements so that I could see what happened.
joe rogan
Also, I probably wouldn't recommend a high dose of vitamin D. I would just recommend supplementing with a normal dose of vitamin D. I think I'm just going to wait and see and get tested in a year.
mikhaila peterson
I'm not too concerned and see what happens because here's what's interesting.
When I went to the low-carb diet, my B vitamins were low.
So this was during the pregnancy.
I got this first test and my B12 was fine, but everything else was low.
Follate was low, B1, B3, B6, and biotin.
We're all low on the low carb diet.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
And my naturopath said, maybe you have a microbiome problem.
Whatever that means.
joe rogan
Whenever someone says my naturopath said, I just go, oh.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
What else did they say?
You need a crystal in your pocket.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Keep a crystal with you at all times.
mikhaila peterson
You know what?
They were there telling me to cut out gluten for years and I was like, what do you know?
joe rogan
Right.
Crazy person.
unidentified
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
I could have probably stopped some suffering.
joe rogan
You need to put a dream catcher on your wall.
Put a dream catcher above your bed.
That'll help.
mikhaila peterson
Anyway, this new micronutrients test, vitamin D and not calcium, vitamin D and zinc are still low, but all my B's have gone up.
So none of my B's, folate is still borderline, but it was deficient before, and all my other B's have gone up to normal.
What about vitamin C? Oh, vitamin C was always normal.
Vitamin C hasn't changed at all.
joe rogan
That's fascinating because that's one of the ones I think people are deficient if you are on this diet.
mikhaila peterson
Well, I did some background reading because I thought people died of scurvy if they didn't eat vegetables, just like everybody thinks that.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
But it turns out vitamin C and glucose compete Right.
So if you don't eat glucose, you just don't use as much vitamin C. Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
And I haven't been supplementing, but my vitamin C is totally fine.
joe rogan
Yeah, Sean Baker sent me something about that, something along those lines, that some of the vitamin C that you're taking in is competing with glucose and that you need far less of it and it's far more effective.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
So there is some vitamin C in beef.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Are you choosing to eat grass-fed beef or do you care?
mikhaila peterson
So initially, I tried to get rid of all the variables because I didn't know what I was reacting to.
So I was eating grass-fed, antibiotic-free, all that stuff.
And now I'm eating, mostly I try to stay away from the antibiotic and hormone meat, but I'm eating grain-finished because it's just so much cheaper than grass-fed.
And I have no problems with it.
joe rogan
How would you know whether or not beef has antibiotics or hormones in it?
mikhaila peterson
You just trust the labeling.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
That's it.
But I've gone out to eat in restaurants where I'm sure the meat's lower quality and I haven't had an autoimmune flare up with that.
joe rogan
So when you go out to eat, you know, one of the things you posted the other day was that you had a steak that had pepper on it.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I had pepper on Monday.
joe rogan
Pepper, like ground pepper?
And you're freaking out?
mikhaila peterson
I was freaking out on Monday, yeah.
I was like, I don't know what happens.
unidentified
Wow.
mikhaila peterson
It's okay.
I'm fine.
But yeah, I was freaking out.
I was stressed out for the whole day.
But it's like, first of all, these flare-ups don't happen instantly, so it gives you enough time to freak out about if they're going to happen for a couple days.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
And then it's like a month of an autoimmune disorder and depression and brain fog and not being able to think.
It's horrible.
So yeah, I'm freaked out, but I'm okay.
The one thing I found really helps, the only thing I found that helps these reactions is an infrared sauna.
If I get in there like once a day and sweat...
joe rogan
Only an infrared one.
What about a regular one?
unidentified
Um...
joe rogan
Do you know?
mikhaila peterson
Honestly, no, I don't know.
joe rogan
You don't know.
So the idea just to elevated heat, temperature, whether it's infrared or not...
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I don't know if it's...
I've just read all the benefits of infrared.
But I haven't...
joe rogan
What are the benefits over a regular sauna?
mikhaila peterson
Wow.
There's like longevity studies from Finland.
joe rogan
Those are done in a regular sauna.
mikhaila peterson
That's a regular sauna.
joe rogan
Yeah.
The ones that are done that show the decrease in mortality of 40%.
mikhaila peterson
That's a regular sauna.
joe rogan
It's a regular sauna.
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
What about mitochondrial health?
joe rogan
Why don't you Google that, please?
There's a study.
Maybe Rhonda Patrick has it up on her website.
Because I asked her whether I should get a regular sauna or an infrared.
And she said the studies that were done were done with a regular sauna.
Wow.
But she said the real issue is that your body's producing heat shock proteins.
So whether it's infrared or regular, the real issue is your body's in this extreme 170 degree temperature, produces these cytokines and these cytokines?
Cytokines.
And your body is reacting to this incredible temperature, and this is what produces this anti-inflammation effect.
I would think for someone like you, with arthritis in particular, anything that reduces inflammation would be a great benefit.
mikhaila peterson
So sauna would be awesome.
If I'm reacting, sauna makes me feel 20% better.
Like a lot better after I get out.
If I'm not reacting, I don't sweat as much when I get in, and it's nice, but it's not a huge relief like it is when I'm reacting.
joe rogan
It's giant for me.
I mean, I don't have the autoimmune issues that you have, but boy, for me, it's just, it's a game changer.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
I get in there for 20 minutes, half hour, and I get out of there.
It's just like, everything just feels better.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
And it hits me, like, about 20 minutes after I get out, I get this mood up.
It's just like, ah.
joe rogan
Once your body, I think that what that is, is your temperature normalizes, and your body temperature normalizes after you're out of that heat, and then everything's just like, ah.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, no, it's great.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
It's great.
joe rogan
Have you done cryotherapy?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Similar feeling, right?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, not as good, I don't think.
joe rogan
No.
mikhaila peterson
But similar feeling.
It's better actually for pain.
So my ankle replacement still gives me problems because it's an ankle replacement.
So I've done cryotherapy for that, and that works better for pain, I think, than the sauna does.
joe rogan
Now, what do they do when they replace your ankle?
Do they cut off the bottom of the joint and recap it and put something else there?
mikhaila peterson
So they cut off, yeah, they cut off the bottom of the tibia.
It's a big bone.
Tibia.
And then they replace the top of the talus.
It sucks.
And I got it done in 2009 when the ankle joints weren't as good as they are now.
So now I'm left with this like old ankle joint and I'm 26. So I have to get it looked at because it's giving me problems.
joe rogan
Are you gonna get another one?
mikhaila peterson
Oh god no I hope not.
I think they're just gonna try and fix it.
joe rogan
Get some super dope carbon fiber new model.
mikhaila peterson
I know.
They don't have that.
Nobody's like making anything cool.
joe rogan
No?
mikhaila peterson
No.
joe rogan
It seems like they're constantly improving that.
I mean...
mikhaila peterson
That's what it looks like on YouTube, but that's not really what it looks like in real life.
joe rogan
No?
mikhaila peterson
No.
I was like, maybe I could just get a new foot.
I could get a better foot, right?
joe rogan
I don't want a new foot.
Do you want a new foot?
unidentified
Well...
joe rogan
Some robot foot?
unidentified
Maybe.
joe rogan
Go to the nail salon, like, what the fuck is this?
mikhaila peterson
Depends on the robot foot.
joe rogan
You'd be down for a robot foot if it took away all your pain?
mikhaila peterson
Oh my god, yeah.
If I could run again?
I can't run with an ankle replacement.
joe rogan
What about your hip replacement?
mikhaila peterson
My hip replacement's fine.
joe rogan
I have friends that got a hip replacement and they said running's out of the question.
It's out of the idea.
There's no way.
You can't run.
mikhaila peterson
I could run on the hip replacement.
joe rogan
Really?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I can limp along with my ankle, but the hip replacement gives me no problems.
It's great.
joe rogan
But I thought that the load that is placed on the hip is not...
mikhaila peterson
I don't think they recommend activities like that all the time.
joe rogan
All the time.
mikhaila peterson
But even like an elliptical, that's pretty low impact.
And I can't do that because of my ankle, but my hip is fine.
joe rogan
Have you ever tried a VersaClimber?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
We have one out there.
mikhaila peterson
I don't even know.
unidentified
What is it?
joe rogan
It's an angled, like a beam with handles on it.
And you do this.
Phenomenal cardio.
It's amazing.
Works your core because you're at an angle, so you're kind of planking almost a little bit while you're doing it.
mikhaila peterson
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
That might work better.
joe rogan
Yeah, you do sprints with it and then do like Tabatas, like 20-10s.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Like 20 seconds on, 10-second break, 20 seconds on, 10-second break.
Phenomenal.
unidentified
Hmm.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's one of the best exercises in terms of cardio.
mikhaila peterson
Huh.
I stopped, so...
joe rogan
Can you do a bike?
mikhaila peterson
I can't really do anything with this ankle.
Wow.
Yeah, it's a huge pain.
I'm going to need to get surgery.
I think I'm getting something done in January.
joe rogan
And what are they going to do?
mikhaila peterson
So basically bone has grown into the joint.
unidentified
So it's basically fused.
mikhaila peterson
So I just don't have any movement.
And it kind of hurts.
And it doesn't hurt like it hurt when I needed it replaced, but it hurts.
So they're going to go in and clean out all the bone and pray that that works.
unidentified
Jesus.
mikhaila peterson
So that's what my January is going to be.
joe rogan
Does this make you think that, like, if you got on this diet when you were younger, you could have avoided all this shit?
mikhaila peterson
This is why I'm not very pleased with the medical community.
joe rogan
Well, how do they know?
I mean, they didn't know back then.
mikhaila peterson
But they could have said, I don't know, they could have looked at the celiac thing.
Then I would have at least been clued in that gluten was a problem and maybe just removing that would have been good enough.
joe rogan
Well, it seems that the amount of research that they would have to do, I mean, think about how many different things you had to look at to come to that conclusion, the time you had to spend.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, like three years.
Yeah.
joe rogan
And Canada has public, I mean, you have public health care, right?
So it's weird, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're not as motivated.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
It's not ideal for people with very special problems.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
It's good for general public.
joe rogan
And it's great if you don't have money and you need to get taken care of, but they have a lot of people coming in and out, right?
It's constant.
mikhaila peterson
I'm getting the surgery done in North Carolina.
joe rogan
Wow.
Just fucking turn your back on Canada, huh?
mikhaila peterson
I could wait around for like three and a half years for a surgeon that's not as good.
joe rogan
Yeah.
jamie vernon
On this infrared thing, I'm finding very interesting stuff.
I remember reading what you said, but I'm not finding that.
What are you finding?
I found a Ben Greenfield, I think it was a transcription of a podcast he did with Rhonda, and something else very similar, which is information from Dr. Joel Kahn, that says only sunlight and far infrared saunas have been shown to increase core temperature for effective detoxification that says only sunlight and far infrared saunas have been shown to increase core temperature for effective detoxification because They want it around 130 degrees.
You can be there up to 45 minutes or so.
And I guess you can't unless you can withstand it in a regular heat one because it's heating the air around you, not light heating your body.
joe rogan
Ah, interesting.
So the infrared one is heating your body in specific rather than you being in the heat?
jamie vernon
Correct.
joe rogan
Ah, interesting.
jamie vernon
So you can do it longer, and that's where the benefits...
joe rogan
How much longer?
How long are you supposed to do it for?
jamie vernon
It said at least 30 minutes.
joe rogan
But that's what I do anyway.
jamie vernon
I don't know the difference.
joe rogan
So infrared sauna is good if you're a pussy.
jamie vernon
That's where I didn't want to say that, but hey, maybe that's what they're saying.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Well, it seems like you get more benefit with less suffering.
That's what it would seem like.
Probably.
Because you could do it longer.
jamie vernon
I think that's what they're getting at, but yeah, I don't know if that's the reason why.
I don't know if people have to just quit after 20 minutes and they can't get to the 30. Well, people do, man.
joe rogan
It does get uncomfortable, but if you get the same benefits and you could avoid the discomfort, why wouldn't you do that, right?
mikhaila peterson
It's just uncomfortable right before you start sweating and you're like, oh, I'm really hot.
And then you start sweating and it's not as bad.
joe rogan
There's a new company that's making an infrared sauna that you work out in.
It's got a chin-up bar in and it's got all these resistance cables.
jamie vernon
The other part of this too, which is I'd have to go more into science, is that I don't know, is that the LEDs, like the infrared light, can penetrate your skin, whereas the heat maybe can't.
Because it's just heat.
It's heating up your skin.
It's not...
Infrared is literally a wave.
It's a light wave.
It's a different kind of...
mikhaila peterson
It invigorates your mitochondria.
It works at that level.
joe rogan
So maybe the studies that they did in...
What was it?
In Norway?
jamie vernon
Finland, I think.
joe rogan
Maybe they just didn't have infrared there.
jamie vernon
Maybe.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Because those Russian banyas, they do the regular saunas.
They use regular saunas and they go hot, cold, hot, cold.
And they've had some pretty awesome benefits of that.
jamie vernon
There might be something to that, because dentists are using light now to harden fillings, so that's pretty new.
joe rogan
Science!
She blinded me with science!
Fascinating stuff.
It is all very fascinating stuff.
So sauna definitely helps you, either way.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, and I think, like, I've read some studies on it working at a mitochondrial level.
I don't know anything about it.
There's something to it, and it, after about half an hour, is the only thing that's helped.
I've tried, like...
I tried everything to get rid of these reactions faster like detoxification things or mostly just different weird different sort of detoxification things and nothing's helped except the sauna.
They still last for as long but they're not as awful.
joe rogan
So I was telling you that this guy Kevin Bass who is a PhD and a scientist and he contacted me and I contacted him.
Put on my glasses so I can see better.
And we went back and forth about this online.
And so he sent me a bunch of stuff, what he thinks.
And one of them is nutrient deficiency.
And that...
Immunosuppression from nutrient deficiency.
The idea is that maybe in having less nutrients and having less...
Dietary immunosuppression via deficiency might be helping you.
And he said basically crazier things have happened and that you reported still having symptoms when you get sick, even on a carnivore diet.
And he said that it shows that the carnivore diet is a symptomatic treatment.
It's not because she's removed the offending antigen.
mikhaila peterson
What?
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
I don't even know if I understood all that properly.
joe rogan
Well, this is a very long...
He wrote a very, very long piece on this, and I appreciate that he took the time to do this.
One of the things that he's saying is, like, vitamin A... This diet could be vitamin A deficient, vitamin C deficient.
We went over that.
mikhaila peterson
The thing is I have.
joe rogan
Vitamin E deficient, vitamin K deficient.
So you got your results back.
So you got tested.
mikhaila peterson
My vitamin K is normal.
Vitamin A is normal.
Normal like above.
joe rogan
It says anything above 30 is okay for vitamin K2. Mine's 40. Everything above 70 is okay for vitamin A. Mine's 79. He said also that a lot of your symptoms, including joint destruction, fatigue, depression, etc., can be caused by the drugs that are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
mikhaila peterson
Although our rheumatoid arthritis came first, though.
joe rogan
Right.
But then the joint destruction...
Was that post you being on those medications?
mikhaila peterson
How are those studies even done?
How do you test if it's the drugs or the arthritis causing it?
joe rogan
I don't know.
I mean, this is his take on this.
These are the potential scenarios.
I mean, without rejecting it totally, you were on those drugs far, far earlier than your joints destroyed, right?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I started the drugs grade four and then grade 11 were the replacements.
joe rogan
Yeah.
This whole thing is a very fascinating subject because people are not having the response that nutritionists would like them to have.
mikhaila peterson
No.
joe rogan
Right.
Nutritionists would like you guys to be freaking out and falling apart, and everybody seems to be doing well.
I have a friend of mine who lives in San Diego who's been on the carnivore diet for a while, and he's a Navy SEAL. He said he feels fucking fantastic.
Yeah.
He said he just tried it out, see what it was like, and he's never felt better in his whole life.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Elimination diets.
This is a big thing.
Like getting yourself down to a very small number of foods.
You know, and that this seems to have some sort of a large benefit for people as well.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
I mean, I think it would depend on the foods.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's like your body not having too much to manage and that people with autoimmune disorders and diseases having less to manage could potentially be what is benefiting you as well.
mikhaila peterson
I don't think it's less though because if you survived only off of soy you're not going to do well.
I think it depends what you're eating.
joe rogan
One of the things that he's saying too is that when you get sick, the systemic inflammation probably opens up your intestinal barrier which causes autoimmune systems to kick in again.
He said the same thing happens with any food that causes your intestinal barrier to open up.
And he said, why is this happening?
I don't understand.
And that you and your father both think this could be some sort of hereditary thing.
Have you guys done any 23andMe testing?
Yeah, and what is that?
Have you been genotyped for different gene disorders perhaps?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, nothing showed up.
I ran it through.
Rhonda Patrick has something on her website, right?
I ran it through that.
I ran it through Prometheus.
Nothing shocking shows up.
I have the celiac gene.
Dad doesn't.
So that's not exactly the issue.
That was it.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
The whole thing is just...
It's one of the more interesting things is how people...
They always want to attach all these other things to it, the environmental concerns and the concern for the health and welfare of these animals and that you're supporting factory farming.
It gets very ideological.
mikhaila peterson
Oh yeah, super fast.
joe rogan
Real quick, right?
But it's not what we're talking about.
mikhaila peterson
No, I'm concerned about other people who are suffering as much as I was suffering.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
That's it.
joe rogan
Right.
Before you're concerned with animals and everything else.
mikhaila peterson
Way before.
Like, try living...
If your choice is to live with an autoimmune disorder and, like, die slowly that way, You can do that and not eat meat if you want to.
joe rogan
Well, it's also, I think, a disingenuous argument because 97% of the people in the world eat meat or some crazy number like that.
mikhaila peterson
It's easy to tell other people that when you're not experiencing those symptoms.
joe rogan
It's also, yeah, I mean...
Definitely.
It's definitely easier if you're not experiencing those symptoms.
But there's so much meat-eating going on already.
And if people really can benefit greatly from just an all-meat diet, what are you going to tell them?
Don't do that.
Go vegan.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, keep suffering.
joe rogan
Go vegan and be covered in hives and itching and be in depressed states the rest of your life.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's such a hot subject.
And I feel like this is something that we're going to have more insight on over the next few years because people are starting to study it now and it's starting to be, I mean, you know, Sean Baker, who's, you know, who's a physician.
And then you've got some really dedicated athletes that are trying it now, like, you know, Zach Bitter.
Mm-hmm.
What is he on the North American record for a 24-hour race?
Wow.
Or not for 24 hours, for 100 miles.
He ran 100 miles in 11 hours and 40 minutes, which is just fucking insane.
And he eats almost nothing but meat.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's almost his entire diet.
He supplements with high levels of glucose, like those gels and shit like that, and ramps his carbs way up when he's going to do 100-mile races and things like that.
But that's obviously a ridiculous requirement on his body.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's asking his body to run 100 fucking miles in 11 hours and 40 minutes.
Wow.
mikhaila peterson
Wow!
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
That's crazy.
joe rogan
He also weighs five pounds.
I'm just joking.
He weighs like 140. But it's just, you know, his diet shows that it is possible to do extreme physical feats while you're on this.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
He does a podcast also with Sean Baker.
So this is something that people are really starting to study now.
And there's a lot of argument.
There's a lot of hesitancy.
mikhaila peterson
A lot of anger.
joe rogan
Oh, I read some article today criticizing you and your dad.
mikhaila peterson
I know.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
That's okay.
I find it kind of like...
I can understand.
A lot of people who go on the carnivore diet get really like vegan Haiti stuff.
joe rogan
Well, that's what they were doing.
Well, that's true.
But what they were doing is they're going off about the environment.
This was like methane gas produced by cows.
mikhaila peterson
I don't think I saw this article.
joe rogan
It's just...
It's not...
It's not a good argument because this is happening.
If you're a person, I'm not saying that we don't all have a responsibility to do our part to try to save the environment, but if you're a person who's deathly ill, you go to the supermarket, there's a lot of fucking beef.
You can go buy beef.
It's right there.
And if you could buy that beef and it fixes you...
Why don't you stop and think about the ecological concerns, the environmental concerns, and then the physical concerns of people that are forced to take on these fucking ridiculous pharmaceutical medications and introduce those into their lives?
And think about you're also empowering these pharmaceutical companies and they're lobbying to stop natural cures.
They're trying to make Kratom illegal.
There's a lot of fuckery that's involved in pharmaceutical companies that we're well aware of.
A lot of cherry-picking studies.
They'll do a hundred studies.
One of them shows that there might be some benefit to this.
Ninety-nine shows it fucks you up and they ignore those and they're allowed to do this.
There's a lot of weird shit.
That we really should take into consideration before we support any sort of pharmaceutical alternative.
And pharmaceutical drugs aren't demons.
There's a lot of people that benefit greatly from pharmaceutical drugs.
mikhaila peterson
I did.
I don't think I would have been able to figure this out unless I'd been on Adderall and had the energy to Google.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
I mean, look, there's benefits.
They're not all bad and they're not all good.
But I don't like that argument.
Like, hey, you know, if you go on the carnivore diet, you're contributing to methane that's fucking up the world.
Like, okay.
Is it better or worse than pharmaceutical drugs?
Is it better or worse than what they're doing?
Is it better or worse than the fact that, look, pharmaceutical drugs are in the water supply.
They've done tests on reservoirs and found pharmaceutical drugs in them.
They found pharmaceutical drugs in rivers.
mikhaila peterson
Fish?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Shut the fuck up.
There's a lot going on here.
If you're going to look at this, you better look at it, if you want to make an argument against it, you better be balanced about this, because otherwise you're showing your ideological bend.
Like to say that it's about methane and about cows and factory farming.
Not really.
No.
There's a lot going on.
mikhaila peterson
There's a lot going on.
joe rogan
Yeah.
This is a long and nuanced discussion.
And if you're painting this article in one way and talking only about the negative health and negative environmental concerns that are associated with beef production, like that beef production is going on no matter whether you like it or not.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
If you think we can curb it back and slow it down a little bit, that would be wonderful.
But we have to look at it accurately.
Yeah.
Also, I believe they've proven that methane production from cows, and this only makes sense, is far less when they're on a natural diet, when they're pasture-raised, than it is if they're corn-fed.
But it makes sense because they have all sorts of issues when they're eating grain.
That could easily be a part of the problem as they're trying to fatten these cows up quicker and they're forcing them to eat something that's not natural for their body.
Have you ever seen that King Corn documentary?
mikhaila peterson
No.
joe rogan
Great documentary, but it's a real- King corn?
Yeah, it's a mind fuck.
mikhaila peterson
It's how corn's in everything?
joe rogan
Everything.
And then your DNA, like your whole body's like filled with corn.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, it's crazy because there's so much- I don't want to hear that.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
These guys did tests on the carbon in their body and they found how much corn is in their body.
Yeah.
I think it was the carbon in their body.
Whatever it was, they just...
And they go through the supermarket aisle and they find how many things have corn in them.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
And that corn is subsidized by the government.
unidentified
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
Soy.
Corn and soy and everything.
joe rogan
Yeah.
The articles – but again, this is also part of the problem.
These people who are writing these articles about your diet and about your dad and his – Part of this is just taking a shot at dad.
mikhaila peterson
So that's the other problem.
joe rogan
Yeah.
There's certainly a lot of that.
mikhaila peterson
But no, the articles aren't great.
I mean, it would be nice if someone, instead of saying, maybe she didn't have arthritis, or maybe she's just placeboing herself into this, or maybe it's deprivation that's making her feel better.
Like, it'd be nice if someone actually did a study.
joe rogan
What does it say, Jamie?
It says, cows are being fed a new diet that can reduce the amount of burping and cut emission methane by 20%.
jamie vernon
It's from a 2008 article on AP. What are they being fed?
joe rogan
What's this new diet?
jamie vernon
It didn't specifically say, I don't think.
joe rogan
They're being fed other cows.
What does it say?
Okay, special machine is used to cut the straw.
Okay, but still.
Yeah.
Mixed with sledge, silage, wheat, maize, soya, or sugar beet, which can be mixed with.
See if you Google...
Methane by cows who are pasture-raised.
Methane produced by cows who are grass-fed.
mikhaila peterson
Weirdly enough, I thought I read that it was grain-fed cows that produced less methane.
joe rogan
Really?
mikhaila peterson
Which isn't what I would have guessed.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
Grass-fed cattle do more methane.
What is that?
Produce do more methane?
What is that?
The fuck?
I'm not reading that.
jamie vernon
Yeah, they fucked up.
joe rogan
Grass-fed cattle produce do more methane because it's harder to digest.
Okay, obviously do produce more methane because it's harder to digest grass than grain.
However, some argue grass that is continually grazed by grass-fed cattle sequesters enough carbon to make up the difference in methane.
Okay, that's what it is.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
And healthy soil keeps carbon dioxide underground and out of the atmosphere.
Okay.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, there's a big story behind there.
joe rogan
Right.
So that's why it's better for the environment if they eat grass, which totally makes sense because they've been eating grass for a million years.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So here you are.
Here you are on this diet now and you've started to...
What are you doing?
Consulting people online?
mikhaila peterson
So I am now, yeah.
I started about a month ago.
joe rogan
What does that involve?
mikhaila peterson
People Skype me and basically want to see me and how I'm still alive only eating beef.
And then they ask me how to cook and things because nobody knows how to cook meat without anything on it.
Well, how do you cook with just beef?
They don't know what to do.
They're like, what oil do you use?
I don't use oil.
I think most of these people...
You can use tallow.
I use tallow.
I use tallow a lot.
But most of these people are really sick and really desperate and they haven't had any help from the medical system.
And so far, and this is completely true, anybody who's gone on to this like beef and salt and water diet, anybody I've seen who's been able to stick through that transition period where you like get off of carbs.
joe rogan
And explosive diarrhea.
mikhaila peterson
Not everyone gets that.
Dad didn't get that.
joe rogan
Who are the lucky ones?
mikhaila peterson
It seems to be 50-50.
unidentified
It looks like the sicker you are...
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, no.
It seems to be, but like seriously, 50% of people, and it seems like the sicker you are, the more likely you are to get that.
And I don't know if it's an inability to digest that amount of fat right away, or if it's a microbiome switch or something, but it seems to hit 50% of people, and the other 50% just switch over.
But everybody gets some sort of carb withdrawal, especially if you go from like a standard American diet over, then it's insane cravings.
joe rogan
Oh, do you get your ketones checked?
Have you done that?
mikhaila peterson
I did.
I went to Paleo FX this year, and I got my ketones checked, and they were ridiculously high.
That was with a breath test.
And then I have urine strip tests, which I know aren't as accurate, but I haven't gone out of ketosis.
My diet's about 80% calories from fat.
How's that?
I eat ribs, which are really fatty.
I eat ribeyes sometimes, but I've been eating more and more fat.
So just calorically, I'm getting about 80% from the fat.
joe rogan
See, I eat a lot of meat, but I'm eating really lean meat because I'm eating a lot of wild game.
I'm not getting as much fat.
mikhaila peterson
I think the fat's the good stuff.
joe rogan
I think it's definitely, it has a factor.
mikhaila peterson
I just finished, I didn't finish, I'm halfway through a book called Fat of the Land by, I'm going to butcher this, but like Vilhelmir Stephenson.
And it was this dude who went to live with Inuit people in Canada for five years and he ate like they ate.
And it's amazing.
Historically, it shows how they dressed and how they lived and what parts of the animal they ate.
And so he lived off of what they ate, which was basically just meat and sometimes eggs for five years.
And then he came back.
I don't know if he was in England or in the States, but he came back and said, hey, look how healthy I am.
All I eat is meat.
This was in like the 30s.
And they said, no way.
You're supposed to have scurvy.
So him and his partner, whose last name is Anderson, went to Bellevue Hospital and they stayed under monitor just eating meat for a year.
And there are six studies done on them and you can find them online.
And they monitored like vitamin levels.
They monitor everything because kidney function because Back then, like nothing's changed in the last hundred years.
They said you're supposed to be dead of scurvy.
So I'm reading that book and he says fat was one of the main things they ate.
They also didn't eat any salt.
joe rogan
Hmm.
Now, they were eating, like, whale blubber and seal fat and things along those lines?
mikhaila peterson
Mostly caribou.
joe rogan
Caribou?
mikhaila peterson
Caribou's a very lean, though.
Yeah, but they ate...
He said they gave a lot of the really lean cuts to the dogs.
So they ate a lot of the fattier cuts.
They ate the brain.
They ate fat behind...
He goes into some serious detail.
They ate fat behind the eyes.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
They boiled a lot.
They boiled bones for the marrow, so they got fat out of that.
And then for part of the year, they'd also eat seal.
joe rogan
The fat behind the eyes tastes like bread, like dough.
mikhaila peterson
You know that?
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
I haven't had that.
joe rogan
Yeah, I had it the first deer I shot.
We ate the fat behind the eyes.
Is it good?
No.
No.
It's not the best.
mikhaila peterson
Okay.
joe rogan
But it's definitely just weird like dough.
mikhaila peterson
That's weird.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Huh.
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
It's a good book though.
And there's another person who was just eating meat and for some reason people have forgotten about him.
joe rogan
So, like, maybe the best to eat would be those really fat Japanese cows.
unidentified
Those Kobe beef cows or Wagyu.
joe rogan
Because those are fat as fuck.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Those things, you look at those marbled cuts and you're like, what are you doing to that cow?
mikhaila peterson
I don't know.
joe rogan
It's terrible, though.
mikhaila peterson
Probably nothing good.
joe rogan
Nothing good.
mikhaila peterson
No.
joe rogan
Those poor cows.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
What I've been doing recently, which is a lot cheaper, is getting ground beef, which is lean, and adding tallow and just frying it.
joe rogan
Oh, that makes sense.
mikhaila peterson
And it's way cheaper than steak, but it's super fatty because it's just spoonfuls of tallow in there.
joe rogan
And you just eat it.
Just put it in a bowl and eat it.
Are you getting bored with this at all?
No.
mikhaila peterson
Not at all.
So after the first week sucked.
Because of the diarrhea?
First month kind of sucked.
I mean, that was one of the reasons it sucked.
But I was also like a missing salad I was having.
And I only went from greens down.
So it was a pretty easy transition, kind of.
joe rogan
Is the rest of your family on this diet as well?
Is your husband on this?
mikhaila peterson
My mom, yeah.
joe rogan
He's on it as well?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Really?
And does he have any issues?
Health issues?
mikhaila peterson
He was depressed.
Pretty severe depression.
joe rogan
Really?
And what was causing his depression?
mikhaila peterson
Like, foods.
He had the same issues as me.
And I know how that sounds, but my dad was like, this seems to be genetic.
How can you have it too?
joe rogan
Whoa.
mikhaila peterson
But, so it's not genetic.
joe rogan
Hmm.
That's interesting that you had that reaction.
mikhaila peterson
Well, he was like, this is...
joe rogan
A little incredulous.
mikhaila peterson
Well, I mean, those food reactions were kind of strange.
joe rogan
You know, people have like weird sympathetic disorders.
You know, like someone around them has something, they start to develop the same symptoms.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, so that's what Dad was thinking.
It wasn't like this, though.
He'll turn green.
His skin turns a different color when he eats the wrong thing.
Yeah.
I mean, not like green, but he gets pale.
You can see it.
joe rogan
Huh.
mikhaila peterson
Oh, one thing I wanted to address when I was on here.
In Sean Baker's episode, he said something about eating apples that gave him low back pain.
And you were like, apples gave you low back pain?
And people in the comments were freaking out.
unidentified
Right.
mikhaila peterson
That's a symptom that happens to me too.
And it's not apples.
joe rogan
Low back pain.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, when my mood drops, I get lower back pain.
And so does dad.
And it's funny to freak out about until you get it.
But that's very commonly associated with depression.
And it is triggered by food with me too.
joe rogan
Well, I know that that's triggered by some people that have lower back issues when they eat inflammation causing foods, like pasta and sugar.
Yeah.
I went to a physical therapist once when I had a bulging disc in my neck, and she suggested that I cut out gluten.
I thought she was a crazy person.
I was like, what are you talking about?
Cut out gluten?
She goes, I know it sounds crazy, but a lot of these things cause issues and they cause inflammation.
That was like the first steps that I took.
mikhaila peterson
That was the first step, yeah.
Gluten.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, also the first steps that I took to understand that foods cause inflammation.
I had never thought of that at all.
I said, no, no, someone yanked on my neck and now my neck's hurt.
I'm trying to fix it.
How do I fix my neck?
And when she was saying this, that the reduction of inflammation causing foods would lead to healing in certain issues.
I was very incredulous.
I was like, sounds like some fucking wacky chiropractor bullshit.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
But there's something to it.
First of all, the weight reduction.
As soon as you cut out all these sugary foods, your body's just carrying less stuff around.
You're carrying less meat.
And people don't realize how much that is.
Do a workout.
Do a bodyweight workout.
Now do that same bodyweight workout with a 40-pound vest on.
It's way harder.
Fucking way harder.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
And most people out there are wandering around at least 40 pounds overweight.
mikhaila peterson
At least 40 pounds.
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's a lot of weight.
It's a lot of weight.
It's a lot.
You know, I have this backpack that I put metal plates on.
It's by this company called Outdoorsman's.
And it's basically like the frame of a hiking backpack.
You snap it in and it puts an Olympic plate on the back and locks it in place.
mikhaila peterson
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
So that it really centers in your back.
A lot of people do weighted hikes, but they put sandbags in there and it kind of shifts and moves around.
But this really centers it and locks it in place.
But if I do 45 pounds and I go hiking around, it kind of kicks my ass.
It's hard going up the hills with 45 pounds.
Think about what most people just go through life with.
A lot of people go, your dad was 50. 50 pounds overweight?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Think of that.
It's a lot of weight.
mikhaila peterson
It's a lot.
joe rogan
That wears your ass out.
And then that's one of the reasons why people say they don't have the energy to exercise.
Because they're carrying around all this weight.
I always look at really heavy overweight persons, people, and I look at their legs.
I'm like, that dude probably can kick through a wall.
Someone could teach them how to kick.
Like, think about how much weight you're carrying around all the time.
Their knees are probably super strong.
Like, all the tissue around their legs is constantly carrying this heavy load upstairs.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, if you could lose weight, you'd probably have amazing legs.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Look at diet.
How do you go, though, from this to doing consulting?
Is it a big leap?
You're just trying to figure your own life out to help other people online?
You don't have a degree in nutrition or anything, right?
mikhaila peterson
God, no.
But what am I going to get a degree in nutrition for?
They still teach people to eat grain.
So that was never in the books.
joe rogan
Do you think that today, like if you went to a university today, like a really good school, do you think they would still be saying that grains are a good idea to eat?
mikhaila peterson
I do.
I don't know that.
So I could be wrong.
But yeah, I would say it's still pretty food pyramid-y.
joe rogan
Well, I don't know if they go the old way with like when you're reading Dr. Seuss books.
unidentified
I don't think it's changed.
joe rogan
The bottom is all rice and wheat.
mikhaila peterson
I don't think it's really changed.
I think it's like eat a good mix of make sure you get your fruits and vegetables.
joe rogan
But is that a good idea for most people?
mikhaila peterson
That's what they tell you when you're pregnant.
joe rogan
But for most people?
mikhaila peterson
I don't think so.
Grain?
joe rogan
Really?
mikhaila peterson
We've been eating grain for what?
Like maybe 20,000 years in some areas.
More like 10,000 years and in some areas 2,000 years and if you're Native American like 200 years.
We haven't been eating grain for very long.
Why do people suddenly think they can digest that?
Just because we're people?
joe rogan
So you don't believe rice?
Rice is a grain.
mikhaila peterson
Rice, I think, is a lot less inflammatory than some grains.
Like the gluten grains are obviously a lot harder on people.
And even I tolerated rice kind of for a while.
But yeah, I think grains feed a lot of people.
And so that's why the agricultural era came around.
Now we can feed tons of people, but it doesn't make people thrive.
And I don't think it's good for their gut.
I don't think that's surprising considering we haven't been eating it long enough to evolve with it.
joe rogan
But other than grain, what other issues do you have with what you'd call like a paleo diet or a healthy diet?
mikhaila peterson
So...
joe rogan
With vegetables and...
Do you think there's an issue eating vegetables?
mikhaila peterson
I think it really depends on the person.
I think that this beef salt and water diet is a really good elimination diet and if you're seriously suffering and you have like nothing to lose you can give it a go suffer through the transition period and then try and once you feel okay try and reintroduce foods and see where you stand.
joe rogan
What about vitamin supplementation though and like why wouldn't you tell people why wouldn't you recommend multivitamins or a multivitamin pack that covers all your basics?
mikhaila peterson
I say if you want, if you're really concerned about vitamins, get vitamin infusions.
I react to multivitamins.
So the fillers, there aren't any pure vitamins you can take unless you take them in powder form.
So you can get like vitamin C powder, potassium powder, but it's hard to get the other vitamins in powder form and I react to everything.
So you react to the gelatin capsules?
Yeah.
I probably wouldn't react to pure gelatin capsules, but like filler.
joe rogan
What kind of filler?
mikhaila peterson
Microcystalline cellulose isn't a lot of them.
joe rogan
Why do they put that stuff in there?
mikhaila peterson
Well, a lot of them is to like bind it together.
You know, if it's like a tablet, then most of that is like powdery stuff that isn't the actual vitamin.
joe rogan
What about capsules?
mikhaila peterson
I don't know.
I haven't tested it out like by because it's this month long reaction.
I pretty much just say get rid of all the variables you can get rid of and start from scratch.
And then you can see if things are bothering you.
If you're worried about vitamins, get infusions.
joe rogan
Right, but what I was saying is that you were talking about these binders.
Do they exist in capsules as well?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, you have to check the ingredients.
It's very hard to get vitamins that are pure unless they're in powdered form or by infusion.
I couldn't find a multivitamin I could take.
A lot of the vitamin K is derived from soy, so I'll react to that amount of soy.
joe rogan
Mmm.
Wow.
So in infusions, you're talking about IV. Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
And I did that during my pregnancy because, just in case, I don't react to that at all.
It's fine.
I didn't see a benefit.
It didn't make me feel any better.
joe rogan
How do you react to fish oil?
mikhaila peterson
Not well, but it was hard to tell because I was reacting to other things at the same time.
So I don't eat chicken anymore and I don't eat fish anymore because it doesn't make me feel as good as beef.
joe rogan
But it doesn't give you a bad reaction?
mikhaila peterson
Not like soy or grains, but it's not pleasant.
joe rogan
But if someone took you out to a restaurant and lobster was on the menu, you wouldn't eat a lobster?
mikhaila peterson
No.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
No dessert.
mikhaila peterson
No.
But the thing is, the cravings go away after you transition over.
So I don't even care.
joe rogan
How often do you eat a day?
mikhaila peterson
It's gone.
Three times usually.
If I'm doing more, I eat more.
Otherwise, I'm eating about two and a half pounds a day.
If they're fattier, then I'll eat less.
joe rogan
So you're just like a walking beef catastrophe.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
It's great though.
It's amazing.
And then I drink sparkling water, which I love.
Perrier excites me.
joe rogan
So just Perrier and beef and salt.
That's it.
Now, what do you think about people that say that this idea might work in the short term, but in the long term it's not sustainable?
mikhaila peterson
I don't even know what kind of response to have to that.
What I was doing before.
joe rogan
It happens with people on vegan diets, right?
What happens with people on vegan diets is they start off, they feel great.
They're like, oh my god, this is the diet for me.
This is amazing.
Then over time, their body starts reacting to the lack of nutrients, lack of cholesterol, lack of saturated fat, and it's different bodies.
I mean, obviously, some people have no problem with it.
But some people have legit, like Chris Kresser is a perfect example.
He started out with a macrobiotic vegan diet and had real serious reactions to it over time.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
Started out doing well, and then over time started to break his body down.
mikhaila peterson
How long did it take?
joe rogan
I forget.
But when he started reintroducing meat back into his diet, he had a massive ramp up.
mikhaila peterson
Ramp up like he got worse?
joe rogan
Health-wise, it felt fantastic.
All of a sudden, everything started kicking in again.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So I'm not worried about it.
I was so sick before.
And now I'm better.
I was concerned I was going to die in the long run before.
Now I'm feeling good.
I don't see why I would just randomly get sick suddenly.
I'm getting my vitamins tested because people are curious, but I don't have any symptoms.
joe rogan
And who's besides this woman?
Have you been in contact with this woman that's been doing this for 18 years?
mikhaila peterson
Not personally, no.
joe rogan
She lives where?
mikhaila peterson
Somewhere in the States.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
Sean Baker is probably the loudest proponent and one of the most vocal and most Public and he's been doing it I believe two years My friend Chris Bell has been doing it for a while as well I think he's less than a year, but he eats apples.
He loves apples.
mikhaila peterson
I had a hard time giving up apples That's funny.
Seriously.
It's because I limited like I went down on all my sugar and then I was eating hordes of apples and that was my sugar.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
And that was hard to kick.
joe rogan
And apples somehow or another give you low back pain.
mikhaila peterson
Among other things.
But yeah.
joe rogan
Huh.
mikhaila peterson
It comes along with a depression and arthritis.
joe rogan
The whole thing is a really interesting conversation because there's so much going on with it.
And it's not an objective conversation for the most part.
Like many people that get into this, they get into this.
It's very charged.
It's charged almost politically.
It's charged ideologically.
It's charged whether it's ethically and morally.
It's charged where people are very skeptical about.
Also, they have this diet that they believe in, that they've been following.
And so anything that's contrary to that, they reject.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, well, I used to be, like, people, when I was really sick, people would come up and go, well, have you looked at your diet?
And I was like, what?
joe rogan
Fuck you.
mikhaila peterson
I'm like, I have an autoimmune disorder.
I'm dying.
Have I, like, what, stop eating sugar and all my problems will go away?
Like, thanks.
So I've been on the other end of the spectrum, and I used to get mad when people said, but it was, like, condescending, right?
Have you, like, tried, have you tried exercising?
Have you looked at your diet?
And it was like, I'm dying.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
Isn't it funny?
joe rogan
Now, though, when you look back on it, how crazy is it?
This wasn't even a conversation 10 years ago, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, 10 years ago, did you ever hear this?
mikhaila peterson
No.
joe rogan
That's what's so weird.
Like, the cutting the sugar out and cutting the carbs out, this is so new.
mikhaila peterson
It's so new.
And this, like, meat diet's really new.
joe rogan
And by the way, when I say new, I mean in terms of, like, being a really popular discussion.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, or something people have heard of.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's...
It's really interesting.
And when I see your dad and how healthy he is and how he looks so good.
mikhaila peterson
His skin looks younger.
joe rogan
It looks thinner.
It's like he's all sucked in and looks healthy.
mikhaila peterson
I know.
He looks like a different person than the person I knew.
And I look like a different person than the person I knew.
My face looks different.
In a good way.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, I think there's something definitely healthy about getting a lot of fat.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
And this is something that I think we've ignored with our obsession with carbs.
And one of the things that is a giant benefit for people that cut the carbs out is the way you feel about food.
Like, you don't get these massive cravings.
mikhaila peterson
Oh my God, yeah.
Yeah, I used to.
So when I used to go out to eat...
I was starving all the time.
I just felt like I was starving.
And I'd eat and then I would feel so full.
And it turns out it was bloating, right?
But I didn't know that.
I just feel so full that I would literally have to ask people to take my plate away or I would keep eating because I was starving but stuffed.
And that was just my state.
All the time.
joe rogan
You know what's fucked up?
No matter how full I am, if you put a plate of french fries with salt on them in front of me, I will go after those bitches.
I can't help myself.
I'll eat one, I'm like, oh, it's so good.
And then with some ketchup, like fat steak fries that are like kind of well-done-ish with some salt on them and ketchup.
There's just something about that trick, that biological trick that those goddamn potatoes play on you.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
It's kind of addictive.
joe rogan
It's so addictive!
mikhaila peterson
I know.
And it turns out that even the amount of salad I was eating, lettuce, was still kind of addictive because I had lettuce cravings.
joe rogan
Lettuce cravings?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, I mean, not like my apple cravings.
Not like my sugar cravings, but they were there.
joe rogan
So when you just eat only meat, your body takes that meat and through a process of glucogenesis converts it to glucose, right?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
So I haven't been out of ketosis.
I'm always in ketosis, but my glucose is normal.
joe rogan
That's what's weird, the fact that you're always in ketosis, because most people think that if you eat too much protein...
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, but that's the thing, is if you convert what I'm eating to the fat ratio, 80% of my calories I'm getting from fat.
joe rogan
Are you doing this on an app or something?
mikhaila peterson
I'm mostly typing in the cuts, and then I can kind of add in how much tallow I'm adding to lean ground beef.
joe rogan
And how much tallow do you add?
Do you do it by tablespoon?
mikhaila peterson
I do it, yeah, I do it kind of by tablespoon.
I just scoop it in.
But if I was measuring it, I'd like four, five.
joe rogan
Do you heat the tallow up first and then cook the beef into it, or do you just mix them all together?
mikhaila peterson
I just mix everything together.
It's way more satisfying, though, because eating lean ground beef just isn't great.
Gets dry.
Gets dry, yeah.
joe rogan
You should try ground elk.
It's even worse.
mikhaila peterson
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
It's delicious, but it's so sinewy.
But when I mix it with butter and stuff like that, it tastes much better.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, so I'm just mixing it with tallow.
It's great.
joe rogan
What's going on with my voice here?
So when you're looking at the future and you're saying, okay, this is going well.
This is much better than anything I've ever done before.
I feel so much better.
Do you feel like this is the way you're going to eat for the rest of your life?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
And do you think it's sustainable?
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
No, I'm not arguing against it.
I'm just wondering.
mikhaila peterson
Just sustainable in what way?
joe rogan
Nutritionally.
mikhaila peterson
Oh my god, yeah.
I think so.
I'll keep getting my vitamins tested, but this book that I've been reading about this guy who lived with Inuit, that's what they ate.
They were healthy.
They didn't have teeth that fell out.
They weren't sick like we're sick.
joe rogan
The Inuits are the people that went up there.
mikhaila peterson
The Inuits.
joe rogan
Yeah, but the Inuits, didn't they evolve that way?
I mean, if you stop and think about it.
mikhaila peterson
But didn't we evolve that way too?
joe rogan
I don't know.
mikhaila peterson
I mean, we can't say we changed like 10,000 years ago in order to eat grain.
Looks like we've evolved to hunt, kind of.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, but different people that grew up in different areas of the world, I think they have...
I mean, isn't that been proven that there's different nutritional requirements that different people have if you grew up in different areas?
mikhaila peterson
I don't think so.
joe rogan
No?
mikhaila peterson
I haven't read that, no.
joe rogan
What is that diet that people...
There's like some diet that they try to...
Was it based on blood work?
mikhaila peterson
Oh, the blood type diet?
joe rogan
Yeah.
The idea is that different people that have different blood types, they're coming from different parts of the world.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
I don't know.
You're skeptical.
Well, man, so my diet's basically the blood type zero.
joe rogan
It's funny that you're skeptical about diets.
mikhaila peterson
I know.
Dad told me.
He went over and he said, I don't think I can eat fish.
I think fish is giving me a flare-up.
And my response was like, well, that's not possible.
I'm like, all I'm eating is meat.
And I still have the same response.
And then I told you I don't eat chicken.
Well, when I switched over, chicken started to make me not feel good when I was eating it.
joe rogan
What about ostrich?
mikhaila peterson
I haven't tried ostrich.
I've just given up on birds.
Ruminant animals seem fine.
I tried bison.
Bison was fine.
joe rogan
Bison?
mikhaila peterson
What do you call it?
joe rogan
Bison?
mikhaila peterson
Is that a Canadian?
I'm just going to go with that's a Canadian thing.
joe rogan
It's probably bison.
mikhaila peterson
God, I hope it's a Canadian thing.
Well, Dad says it, so it's his fault.
joe rogan
Oh.
Ostrich is interesting because it's red.
It's a bird, but it's a red meat.
mikhaila peterson
That's interesting.
joe rogan
Yeah.
They have ostrich burgers at Fuddruckers.
You can get an ostrich burger.
They're fucking good.
jamie vernon
You got the Ribeye of the Sky bird?
joe rogan
I haven't had that.
That's a Sand Hill Crane.
Yeah, Sand Hill Crane is a really dark red.
mikhaila peterson
Ribeye of the Sky?
joe rogan
That's what they call them.
Yeah.
They hunt them and they cook it and it's a really delicious, lean, but like soft, juicy, tender red meat.
Huh.
unidentified
Yeah.
What do you got?
joe rogan
You got a photo of it?
Yeah.
Look at it.
That's what it looks like.
mikhaila peterson
What?
joe rogan
Yep.
Sand Hill Crane.
mikhaila peterson
Wild Canada Goose?
joe rogan
Yeah.
mikhaila peterson
I don't think we're allowed to eat that in Canada.
joe rogan
Well, you're not allowed to eat some migrating geese, right?
But Sandhill Crane, I bet you could eat.
mikhaila peterson
Wow.
Wow, I wonder.
joe rogan
I have some buddies that hunted those in Texas and they said they were fantastic.
So it's some of the best meat they've ever eaten in their life.
I wonder if you could eat that.
But I wouldn't want you to eat it and then get fucking hives and shit.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, no.
joe rogan
And blame me.
mikhaila peterson
Joe!
joe rogan
Depressed for five weeks.
Yeah, yeah.
Diarrhea, everything all over again.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah.
joe rogan
So your plan is just sparkling water and steak forever.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, and I mean, I could be surviving off of eggplant.
It could be worse.
I enjoy everything I eat all the time.
I love it.
And I don't get bored.
I thought if there's one thing I have to eat forever, I hope it's steak because I'm not going to get bored of steak.
And like I said, the first month was kind of rough, but then the cravings go away and now it's like every meal.
I'm like, hmm, steak.
joe rogan
Do you get hate from vegan people?
mikhaila peterson
Not really.
I don't think I'm as inflammatory as some people.
Because I can understand.
I mean, if you're ideologically possessed, that's different.
But if you go on the vegan diet, you cut out processed foods, you get rid of dairy.
Dairy was a huge trigger for me.
And you feel better.
Then I can understand why you'd be going around saying the vegan diet is the way to eat.
joe rogan
Right.
mikhaila peterson
So I can understand where those people are coming from.
If you're ideologically possessed and you're saying, well, it's the environment, all this stuff, I don't really care.
So no, I don't get...
I've got like a couple of emails about me spreading lies.
It's like...
unidentified
Wow.
mikhaila peterson
I just...
I don't...
I don't really don't care.
joe rogan
There's a lot of loonies out there.
A lot of loony people.
But...
That is the issue with the vegan diet is that it carries with it a moral high ground that other diets don't.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, and that's too bad.
Like, that part sucks.
The people trying to figure out their health and going to that because they're trying to figure something out, that's different.
But the whole moral thing, like, just let it go.
joe rogan
Well, listen, I think this is very interesting stuff.
You know, I don't have your health issues, and I think very few people do.
But obviously for you, it's made some massive impact.
And for your father as well.
I mean, it's really...
It's very, very interesting.
And like I said, my friend lives in San Diego.
No problems.
I mean, he's loving it.
I know several other people that have jumped on board as well, too, and they're seeing big benefits from it.
I mean, it's almost enough to make me want to try it, but...
mikhaila peterson
You should try.
It doesn't take long.
joe rogan
Yeah, but I have hundreds of pounds of wild game meat.
mikhaila peterson
That's perfect.
joe rogan
Yeah, but I have to eat it with fat.
I have to figure out a way to get fat into it.
mikhaila peterson
You can order tallow here.
Just order tallow.
I've talked to people like programmers in Silicon Valley who've Skyped me.
They're healthy and they just want to be more productive.
And the cognitive benefits, it takes like six weeks and it's worth just seeing what it's like.
joe rogan
But they get that just from the ketogenic diet.
unidentified
No!
mikhaila peterson
I've had people switch off of the ketogenic.
There's something here.
There's really something here, and it's worth seeing.
I think people would see benefits if they tried it, even healthy people.
joe rogan
What do you think those benefits are coming from?
mikhaila peterson
I don't know.
I don't know if microbiome switch or if you're just ingesting less plant toxin.
joe rogan
Plant toxin?
What do you mean by that?
mikhaila peterson
Well, plants have like naturally occurring toxins depending on the plant to get bugs and things to stop eating them.
That's just their defense mechanism.
So like oxalates, that's a big one.
Lectins, like all those types of things are inflammatory.
And it's just seemed like we've just found the plants that we can tolerate.
Like as humans, we found the plants we can tolerate the easiest and don't kill us.
And we eat those and we've bred them so that they're easier to eat.
But so maybe removing those from the diet seems to help people.
But it seems like giving it a six-week try, I don't see a downside.
And I haven't seen anybody switch back.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
mikhaila peterson
And I've been talking to a lot of people on Skype over, like, periods of months.
And I haven't seen anyone switch back, including the healthy people.
joe rogan
All right.
Well, I'm curious.
This conversation is evolving, that's for sure.
And, you know, it's evolving with many, many people all across the country.
And, you know, when you take out the ideological or the moral high ground argument that vegetarians have, it's interesting to me.
At the very least, it's interesting.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, something going on.
joe rogan
So if people want to check out your blog, what would that be?
mikhaila peterson
That's MichaelaPeterson.com.
joe rogan
Spell that.
mikhaila peterson
M-I-K-H-A-I-L-A. All right.
Peterson.
joe rogan
Dot com.
mikhaila peterson
Dot com.
joe rogan
And isn't there another name for it?
mikhaila peterson
Don't eat that.
joe rogan
Don't eat that.
If you go to don'teatthat.com, is that it?
mikhaila peterson
No, I don't have that.
Somebody's bought it and they're trying to sell it back to me for a lot.
joe rogan
Fuckers.
mikhaila peterson
I know.
joe rogan
These fuckers.
Listen, thank you.
Thank you, Mikaela.
mikhaila peterson
Thanks for having me.
unidentified
It was fun talking to you.
mikhaila peterson
Yeah, it was good.
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