Remastered Episode: Asher Adelman ON Overcoming Mental Health Struggles Through Nutritional Therapy

In this episode of the Ketones in Coffee podcast, host Lorenz, a certified ketogenic health coach, interviews Asher Adelman, a nutritional therapist and fitness coach who shares his transformative journey from suffering severe anxiety and depression to achieving optimal mental and physical health through diet and lifestyle changes. Asher discusses the limitations of traditional psychiatric treatments, the importance of addressing root causes related to nutrition, and offers insights into how dietary modifications can significantly improve mental health. 

The conversation includes personal anecdotes, client success stories, and practical advice on leveraging evidence-based nutritional therapy to alleviate symptoms of mental health disorders.

00:00 Introduction to Ketones in Coffee Podcast

00:36 Meet Our Special Guest: Asher Adelman

01:34 Asher's Journey with Mental Health

05:27 The Turning Point: Discovering Nutritional Therapy

12:07 The Impact of Diet on Mental Health

20:46 Hope and Recovery: Asher's Message

28:04 Overcoming Depression with Diet

28:55 The Role of Malnourishment in Mental Health

30:44 Pain as a Signal: Addressing Root Causes

35:09 Challenges in Changing Dietary Habits

37:02 Framework for Nutritional Therapy

40:59 The Importance of Eating Real Human Food

46:11 Success Stories and Client Experiences

51:49 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

0:49

Welcome to the Ketones in Coffee podcast, where we talk about creating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle to the ketogenic diet. I'm Lawrence, a certified ketogenic health coach, and I'm so grateful to have you joining me on this journey. Every week we bring in guests who have the knowledge and experience to help you on your own journey to a better health. This week, we have a special guest who has been through the same trials and tribulations as we all have on our search for a sustainable lifestyle. Together, we hope to assist you on your own journey. I'm so excited for this guys. We have a very special guest on our podcast. Our guest today is a highly qualified nutritional therapist, fitness coach, and the owner of Primal Wellness. He has a passion for helping individuals optimize mental and physical health. Improve athletic performance and achieve their desired body composition. Additionally, our guest serves as the CEO of life health and wellness center, a natural and holistic mental health clinic based in Las Vegas, Nevada. What sets our guests apart is that he has personally experienced challenges with mental health and has successfully recovered through his own self study and training as a nutritional therapy practitioner. He is committed to helping others achieve their wellness goals and improve their overall quality of life. I'm so excited for this. I'm here with Asher Adelman. Asher, welcome to the show, ma'am. Thank you very much. Good to be here with you. Asher, it's great to have you on the show. And I'm excited to have this opportunity to speak with you because as somebody who, you know, personally had my own. Vitals with depression and experience the healing effects of keto and carnivore. I'm happy for our listeners today. And we, we get, we got a good one coming for this guys. Let's, let's jump into it. I believe, you know, in the power of the evidence based nutritional therapy, as I experienced it firsthand, and I want to bring in experts like you to help our listeners learn about the benefits and how it may help them achieve their own goals. Well, it's goals for themselves. So looking forward to hearing about your story and journey with that in mind, our goal today is to, you know, obviously raise awareness and educate our audience of the other effective treatments that other than medications, right? Asher, you, your health is. You know, phenomenal today. I've seen the pictures, you know, compared to when you were in your thirties, you credit it to your lifestyle now, however, I know your journey hasn't always been easy in your interviews in the past, you've shared that you've struggled with anxiety and severe depression for, you know, early in life and it. Eventually became so debilitating that you experienced daily panic attacks, but now you're helping others relieve their symptoms and through your methods. And I'd love to hear more about how it all came about. Can you share some of the backstory with us? Uh, yeah, sure. So I have experienced anxiety and depression at different levels ever since I can remember, ever since childhood. I had some childhood trauma, which, you know, I grew up with, and I didn't know anything else. So I thought that's what everybody experienced, and I thought that was normal. And I was able to function more or less up until, I would say, I was in my thirties. 30s. And so, and I've always been interested in fitness and working out and exercising and, and eating well. And I've always been interested in nutrition. And I thought that I was during my teens and my twenties and early thirties, I thought that I was eating a pretty healthy, nutritious diet. And I was mostly for the most part on a Mediterranean style diet. So lots of, you know, chicken breast, fish, lots of vegetables, lots of olive oil, you know, real cheeses, things like that. And interestingly, I had developed during my twenties and thirties, a number of chronic health conditions, which I, you know, are very unpleasant, which I didn't expect to, to, to happen to me, especially at such an early age. And as I mentioned during my 30s, my depression and anxiety, which had been okay and manageable throughout my 20s, became worse and worse and started getting worse and worse. At some point during my early 30s, I started developing, I started having panic attacks. They started off You know, fairly infrequently. So once every few months, but then as time went on, they increased in their severity and in their frequency to, you know, eventually they ended up happening on a daily basis, once a day, a few times a day. And we're happening at work during work meetings during calls and meetings and conversations with, with clients and coworkers. So, yeah, it really became something very debilitating and very, you know, really disrupted my, my ability to function. And that was really kind of when I hit rock bottom, when I wasn't able to, to function on a day to day basis, I had to quit. My job at the time that was a job that I absolutely loved. So I was, you know, it was a bummer having to do that, but I just couldn't function. Um, so that got me eventually after a long process to reevaluate and look at. My nutrition, I'm nourishing and fueling my body, my brain. And fortunately, that ended up being what. What helped correct and basically end my, my panic attacks, my anxiety and my depression. And I felt at the time, gosh, I'd have been in my thirties. So my late thirties, I felt what it felt like to not feel any anxiety, to not feel depressed, to feel like you're content in a good mood, which was a pretty cool feeling. Man. that is pretty outstanding what you were able to accomplish and how you were able to turn that corner. But what's interesting to me was you talked about this on, uh, your other interviews that you mentioned despite undergoing, you did say that you underwent therapy for, for an amount of years and you didn't experience any improvement in your symptoms, which by myself, I went through therapy as well. But what caught my attention was, When your therapist suggested that you take anti-anxiety medications and you were strongly against it, and I'm curious to know what your thought process was at that time and why you were so supposed to take any medication to help with your condition.'cause I was too, I actually went through about four to five therapists and every time they suggest it to me, I immediately run to the run and search on Google. another therapist because I am so afraid of it and I didn't know at the time why I was so afraid of it, but I didn't want to take any medications for it. So how did you view that at the time when you're processing that? Yeah, so good question. And, and yeah, I was in therapy for a while, about three months. For years, I was seeing a therapist on a weekly basis. I really like my therapist. He was brilliant, very experienced, very good at being a therapist. But like many other people, the therapy didn't fix or correct or reduce or eliminate my anxiety. So my anxiety levels were still the same. I understood what might have triggered and what might be exacerbating my anxiety. But the four years of therapy did nothing to help improve my anxiety levels, nor did it do anything to help, um, Reduce the, the amount and the severity and the frequency of the panic attacks that I've been experiencing. And, you know, I'd figured, like most people, that therapy is how you get rid of anxiety, depression, etc. But that's not really the goal of therapy. The goal of therapy is to help one cope with. Their feelings of anxiety to cope with their feelings of depression to make it more manageable, but not to end the depression and the anxiety. So that was a bit of a disappointment for me because again, you know, my anxiety and my panic attacks were going in the opposite direction. They were, they were worsening, even though I was in weekly therapy for four years. And yeah, my therapist had suggested after a number of years after he saw that I wasn't getting better, that things were getting worse, and that I had quit my job, and so on and so forth, so he had recommended that I go on anti anxiety medications, and, you know, A lot of people with anxiety, so you, you have irrational or maybe somewhat rational fears of different things. And so medications, pharmaceuticals, chemicals were, were 1 of those things that, um, that I didn't like the sound of. I didn't, you know, I didn't want any chemicals interfering with how my brain was functioning. I already felt like my brain wasn't functioning well. Like I, I wasn't in control of, of what was happening to my brain and I didn't want any other elements. To impact how my brain was functioning and to possibly impact my brain functioning in a negative manner, which, you know, I knew and know, as a lot of other people do, that medications don't always work well for everyone. A good number of people experience. Negative and unpleasant side effects, some of these medications can be addictive so you can, you know, become dependent on them and are very difficult to come off of. So it was those things and I guess just intuition where, where I didn't want to, you know, put those chemicals into my brain where I was adamantly opposed to it. And I'm glad now that I was opposed to it. And, but that's not to say that I didn't try, that I didn't try medication. So I did, you know, as a lot of other people do, I did try and manage my anxiety through self medication through mostly alcohol. And so I drank, you know, an excessive amount of alcohol during that period of time, those those years. And just mainly because. The only time when I felt normal, when I felt calm and relaxed and happy and content and not anxious was after I had a few drinks. So when you're feeling anxious and stressed out and having panic attacks and depressed all the time, you want a little bit of, you want You know, at least a temporary break from, from feeling like that every so often. And, you know, that's where alcohol came into play for me. So, and obviously alcohol, you know, affects our brain functioning is, is not advisable, you know, as a long term or as a solution for anxiety and or depression. But, you know, a lot of people, including myself. You feel so bad all the time, and you feel so hopeless, and so you want those couple of hours of feeling normal, of feeling relaxed. So, so yeah, but, but with regards to pharmaceuticals, for, for some reason I was just very against it. And, you know, one of the things I remember, I believe it was one of the antidepressants, or a class of antidepressant medications, where one of the many side, possible side effects are suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation. And like, why do I want to take a medication that might make me feel suicidal? Like it just, you know, an antidepressant medication that makes you feel suicidal? That seems so ironic and crazy. But, but yeah, I was just, I knew in my gut that I didn't want to touch psych meds. And, and yeah, I never, I didn't agree to go on them. Hey guys, let me tell you about this delivery service that's been a total game changer for my lifestyle. Did you know that it's now possible to get local, fresh groceries delivered right at your doorstep? Well, Instacart gives you unlimited grocery delivery for one low monthly fee. And if I can avoid buying non keto friendly items from supermarkets who psychs you into buying unhealthy foods, plus if it saves me a lot of time and money, sign me up! Instacart is hand selected by shoppers based on your preferences, so no more rock hard avocados, and they will keep your eggs safe too. And Instacart will find everything you usually buy, and get smart suggestions for new items. And you can get your first order today delivered for free when you purchase over 35 by following the link on the show notes below to let Instacart know that I sent you and to help to support the show. Instacart, never step foot in the grocery store again. And thank you for sharing that. That's a brings light into this situation and it happened so many times. And it may be, you know, a lot of people or prescribers prescribe medications without, you know, knowing what the, they, they know the cause they, they let you know what the side effects might be, but they, they, they could be over prescribing, I believe. And I've. had a psychiatrist on the show tell me that these medications are great for emergency situations, but it's not a long term solution for anybody. Um, and I commend you for just talking about your story, because that is huge for a lot of people that just hearing that from you, having to go through that. And, you know, to. Talk to me today and talk about how you were able to basically have your anxiety and depression dissipate. Again, when I was going through it, you know, I would, whenever my psychiatrist suggested medication, I would run away from it and true story. And I think, yeah, I guess. You know, I went through five therapists before I got to talk to somebody who practices a CBT cognitive behavioral therapy. Again, I was so afraid of medication and looking back now, it's so clear why I'm afraid of it. But back then I didn't know why I was so afraid. But did you feel like it was giving up? Because for me, if I took that medication, it, it's, it feels like giving up for me. Like, you know, searching for other alternatives before resorting to any medication for me is the first step. But. So having to take medications is giving up and that's my situation. Did you feel that way? For me, it wasn't, I don't think it was necessarily like giving up because I was in such a bad place and really not functioning, not able to work, not able to support my family. And you know, I was pretty hopeless. So I was very desperate for a solution, even though I was, like I said, hopeless. And I didn't think, you know, at that time I thought, okay, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to have to get used to being like this, to feeling like this. And not, and I guess I won't be able to hold down a job ever again. And then you have to go on disability and I don't know how I'm going to support my family. But. You know, that was the thought, but, but, but I, I knew at the time I didn't want to take medications. It was just something, it was just a gut feeling. I didn't want any of the side effects, negative side effects. I didn't want, you know, and part of the anxiety, so you worry about stuff. And even though, you know, it said that. Not everybody has experiences side effects from medications and that medications are beneficial for, you know, for, for a lot of people take them, but, you know, I knew that I knew and I know that there are a lot of people who don't experience benefits or improvements with medication and that there are a number of people that experience negative side effects. There are a lot of people that, you know, medications will help for a while and then we'll stop. Helping at some point or the body develops a tolerance. So you could be having to increase the dosage. So, you know, I knew all this and even though, you know, there's a chance there was a chance that the medications might work for me and might continue to work for me. And there's a chance that I might not have experienced any side of negative side effects. But in my state, my anxious state of mind back then, I figured that, okay, I'm going to be the worst case scenario. And so whatever side effects can happen, I'm probably going to experience the worst side effects and I'm probably not going to experience too much of a benefit. So I figured that's just going to be, you know, I'm going to end up in an even worse situation if I take the medication. So that was kind of my, my thinking with regards to that. Not that. You know, not that it's a, you know, giving up per se, but it's just that, okay, it's probably not going to help me and I'm probably going to get all these crazy, bad side effects. That that's going to be an additional problem that I'm going to deal with on top of the anxiety and the depression. Yeah, and on top of that, just knowing that, The withdrawal syndromes that comes after that, right? It's hard to get off those things. So lifestyle changes. So during my struggles with depression, I was open to trying anything and everything. And I said this, if I would, we would go back. And if you had suggested anything to relieve my symptoms without resorting to medication, you know, I did everything. I explored various, you know, Asian treatments, tried acupuncture, changed my approach to self care, began meditating, you know, This is when I was learning about, you know, self development and, you know, push myself in the gym, but nothing seemed to work as well as changing my diet. And when, when I changed my diet, everything changed. My energy levels went up, you know, my focus and then my depression, anxiety, just, you know, non existent. It was truly a life changing discovery for me. Okay. How about you? Can you tell us a little bit more about how you came to this realization and how it transformed your life, you know, through, through diet? Yeah. So as I mentioned, I was in a pretty, pretty bad place and after the four years of therapy and basically, I mean, I probably would have continued if money wasn't, hadn't been an issue, but you know, it was costing me a lot of money paying, you know, a hundred or so dollars every week for four years. and not experiencing any, any improvements or seeing any results. So, and basically me being out of work, being unemployed, so I had to stop the therapy also. And so, like I said, I was in a pretty hopeless place and thought that, you know, there wasn't going to be anything that was going to help me. This is just my brain is messed up. My body's messed up and, you know, out of control. And, but, but still, you know, I went online and I was, you know, I'd be reading and looking at things that might help relieve anxiety, improve anxiety. I was, you know, I wasn't looking to, to end it. Or to eliminate it, I was looking to, to get it back to where it was before, where I could function and I could go to work and, you know, I just had a, where I would just have a heightened level of anxiety, but still be able to function and still be able to work. And that's what I was looking for. It's hoping for and looking for and so fortunately, and I don't remember, you know, this is probably, you know, 11, 12 years ago, so it's hard to remember exactly, you know, it's probably a number of months of like reading and researching and looking for, for resources online. And I came across a few web pages or articles about where those were talked about how some people have sensitivities to some different foods. And where those sensitivities can cause those foods to exacerbate and worsen our anxiety levels. And, and they recommended removing some of those foods. So when I read that, you know, like, just like you, I was in a very desperate place. I was willing to try anything other than psych meds, but I was willing to try anything else. So certainly removing some foods from, from my diet was, was a no brainer. I did that. And lo and behold. Within a pretty short period of time, my anxiety and mood got better and better and better and better. My panic attacks stopped happening very, very soon afterwards, probably within, you know, a matter of a few weeks. And, like I said, this is, you know, 11 or so years ago. And, so in those 11 or so years, I have not experienced a single panic attack. I have not felt anything. A bit of anxiety or depression. So at the time I was in my late thirties and was really interesting and really cool to feel what it feels like to be happy and content. All the time, every day, because I'd never felt that way ever, ever since I can remember, man, that's great. Just great to hear because a lot of people, you know, go through life, depression, all of their lives. And to hear that somebody to hear that from somebody who's suffered for years and say, You relieve yourself of these symptoms is not a source of a miracle, right? They don't talk about this mainstream, right? They don't push this message, but if you hear it from a podcast, a reputable stores, somebody who actually reversed their condition, there's hope and. You, like I said, you went online, tried it yourself, didn't believe it at first. And like you said, you, you only wanted to go back to the way it was so that you could hold a job. It turns out, look at what happened, right? You turned a corner, became a nutritional therapist, became a fitness coach, and now you're helping people. You know, do the same and isn't that just a miracle for a lot of people? There's hope, right? Yeah, it's been unbelievable. And like I said, I didn't, I was certainly not very hopeful and not very optimistic. And, but again, I was so desperate, I was willing to try just about anything. And so I tried it and I was very pleasantly surprised that it actually worked. And yeah, and, and, you know, I'm sure there are a lot of people who are currently experiencing anxiety and or depression and are feeling very pessimistic and very negative. Nothing's going to be able to help me. But for me, I was in a very bad place. I had extreme chronic depression and anxiety for decades and nothing helped. You know, I, I thought that I would never be able to not feel anxious and depressed. And so if it's, you know, sounds like a cliche, but you know, if it worked for me, I think it can work for just about anyone because I was, I mean, I was a train wreck. I was really bad. And like, now, when I think about back then, it's hard. It's it seems like, like, uh, you know, like, kind of like a movie. Like, it doesn't seem like it was real. I, you know, I think about that period of time. Like, I, that, wow, that really happened. Like, I was really in that, you know, in that situation, in that state of mind and, and people who know me now and see how calm and relaxed and so forth. I am. They can't believe that I used to have anxiety and depression. Like nobody now can believe that, that I, you know, used to be like that. And, and so, yeah, you know, like one of my biggest messages is there is hope. And that's 1 of the nice things, you know, regardless of how severe or chronic or long lasting your anxiety and or depression has been, no matter how debilitating it is, it has been, you can improve it and you can improve it permanently. And naturally, without needing to resort to medications, and that's because for most people with anxiety and depression, the issue is a brain functioning issue. The brain is having a difficult time functioning because it's malnourished and inflamed due to us not eating a nutrient rich diet and due to us eating processed inflammatory foods, which are inflaming the brain. So it's, it's very, like I said, it's very possible. And it's, you know, so I, I, the, the 1 message I'd like everybody to take home is there is hope, like, nobody should feel like they're hopeless and I'm confident in saying this because not all of you guys. What I've experienced personally, but from working with, you know, numerous clients over the past several years who have been in very severe situations of anxiety and depression, also not functioning at all. People with very, very severe anxiety and depression were very hopeless, just as I was. And it works for them too. It's worked for them too. And I mean, they're all extremely pleasantly surprised at how quickly they, they feel better and how quickly their symptoms go away and they improve. And so, so I, that's why I'm confident in saying this because I've seen it happen over and over and over again with people. And even people that I think the most interesting cases are with people whose anxiety and depression are rooted in or, or triggered by trauma and PTSD. So, you know, I think with PTSD and trauma, the, the overall or the general consensus is, okay, they need therapy. They need to talk to somebody. They need to, you know, learn to cope with what happened to them, the traumatic experience and, and, you know, only that will help them move forward. So, I've worked with a bunch of people who have been through horrific, traumatic. Experiences like some of the worst traumas that you can imagine can happen to someone and who have tried with either tried therapy for years have tried medications for years. None of that has worked or people who don't want to do therapy because they don't want to talk about and relive. The traumatic experience that they've that they've been through and and even for them, it's. You know, it's worked amazingly well again, because you have to differentiate between the, the, the immediate trigger and the root cause of anxiety, depression, trauma, you know, loss, whether it's loss of a loved 1, a job, a relationship, et cetera, et cetera. Those are triggers, but they're not the root cause and that's why you can have people who will go through this similar traumatic experience or loss. And not deal with anxiety and chronic anxiety and debilitating anxiety and depression. Obviously, anyone who goes through a situation like that, it's, you know, horrible and, and so forth. And, but there are a number of people that are able to continue functioning in their day to day lives. And their day to day functioning is not impaired by anxiety and depression. Whereas other people have been through a similar type of traumatic experience. Do experience, experience debilitating anxiety and depression and are not able to function. And the reason why is, again, because the trauma wasn't the root cause. The root cause is, again, for most people, the vast majority of the people, malnourishment and inflammation of the brain. We'll talk about that in a second here, but I love what you said there. Everything, everything else is great. Just, you know, talking about that and how there's really hope for a lot of people. The biggest thing you said there is that you thought that you were never going to feel better, right? And now you're here telling people when you were in that moment, it's easy to feel hopeless, right? Because when you're in it, it feels like you're in it forever. You never I was in it. I thought I was never, you tell me it's going to get better. No, it's not. I'm, I can feel it. I'm here. It's, you feel like it's never going to go away, but it will. Right. A lot of counts, you know, if you're in this community of, you know, carnivore keto in this community, you know, there's a lot of people that have turned the corner from major depressions to. You know, during depression and symptoms of depression going away. And you're here today telling us that, you know, it is possible and there's hope. You yourself said that you only wanted to go back to the way it was, but now you're here, thriving fitness coach and nutritional therapy is helping a lot of people. And you talk about PTSD and all of these other severe mental illness. And you said that it even helped those people with their situation. And I love that for people hearing that if, if so, if I heard that from, from when I was depressed, I would jump on this, you know, I wouldn't even think twice on, you know, trying anything just about anything now you talked about malnourishment and how that affects, uh, Uh, mood disorders per se, how does malnourishment, can you elaborate a little bit? How does malnourishment of the brain contribute to these disorders? Yeah. So a lot of times, or a lot of people. Don't realize or forget or don't really think about the fact that our brain is an organ in our body and just like all of other, all of our other organ systems, it has requirements for different nutrients that it needs on an ongoing basis. So, different vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids that it needs in order to fuel its functioning and enable its functioning. So, through, again, poor diet. and digestive issues caused by and exacerbated by poor diet. So basically gut dysbiosis and intestinal permeability. That's how we can be in a state of malnourishment. That's how our brain brain can end up being starved of various nutrients that it needs. And, and a starved malnourished brain has a very hard time functioning optimally. And not to say that everybody who has who has a malnourished inflamed brain is going to experience anxiety or depression. There are a number of different things that that 1 can experience in this in this type of situation. Anything from like, 80 type issues, focus, concentration to cognitive type issues to issues with memory. To, you know, to migraines, to insomnia, so these are all like, and that's the thing is, is I consider anxiety and depression now and the other mental health symptoms to be similar to, to pain. So, so what is pain? Why do we feel pain? Well, we feel pain. It's, it's a message that our body is sending us. That a part of our body is being damaged, and therefore is in pain, so that we'll fix what's causing the damage, what's causing the pain, so that we no longer experience the pain. So, and the example I like to give to clients is, if I put my hand on a hot surface, And my hand is burning, right? And because my hand is being damaged, and so my hand's in pain, and why am I feeling the pain in my hand? It's, again, it's a message that my body's sending me or telling me that, okay, look, your hand is, is on surface, it's being damaged, and why am I getting this message? So that I'll stop what's causing the pain, so that I'll stop the root cause, the root cause in this, and the best course of action. And this, situation is to take my hand off the hot surface. So that's why I'm feeling the pain. That's why I'm feeling the symptom. But the problem is nowadays that what many people do, which is not an optimal solution is they'll call their doctor and say, Hey doc, I got, you know, my hands on a hot surface and it's in a lot of pain. It's hurting. What should I do? The doctor either says, okay, well, hold on. Don't move. Let me send you over a prescription. And for a painkiller, you can take the painkiller and your hand won't hurt anymore. That's one, one example. And that's, that's what basically psych meds do. And the other one is, okay, well, hold on. Don't do anything. Don't move. I'm going to forward you on to a, a psychotherapist that I know, and then I talk to you and teach you how to cope with, with the pain and deal with the pain. And so it won't bother, hopefully it won't bother you as much as it currently is. And you know, that's the psychotherapy option and, and that's why, even though, so it's unfortunate that the most people only know about psychotherapy and medications. And while they can be beneficial for some people in some situations, some circumstances for many people, you know, they're not like such as myself and yourself. They're not beneficial and they don't really help. And again, client after client after client. Most of my clients have been in therapy before. I've been in therapy for years before. Many of them have been on medications, some of them for years or decades. And. They're still coming to see me to seek my my help. So obviously the therapy and our medications haven't Haven't fixed the issue because again, they're not addressing the root cause so get getting back to the example of the hot surface I need to take my hand off the hot surface Which will end the pain which will stop that that message that my body is giving me that something's not right that something's being damaged And you know problem resolved so so that really is You know, it is why, in my opinion, we experience anxiety and depression, headaches, migraines, focus issues, ADHD issues is our body is trying to send us a message, but and we need to listen to the message and fix what's causing the issue. Instead of looking to, you know, either cope with or try and resolve a symptom without addressing the root cause. I'm laughing, but it's not funny. It's just laughable, right? It's, it's ridiculous. And I'm gonna borrow that and talk to, you know, because it's, it's nice to have that type of analogy to explain to people easier how it works. And having those simple, you know, stories that you could tell like that, you know, it's so easy to just understand what's going on. Right. It's so funny because you hear those things a lot. Right. And why can't we just deal with the root cause right. When you're, you know, When I was, when I couldn't sleep for three straight days, what did they give me? They gave me a sleeping pill, right? And that's not my problem, right? Looking back, that wasn't my problem. I was stressed. I was depressed. And I was in, in panic mode that I couldn't get to sleep. And, People are going through that and if you're somebody who has, if you're just a little bit closed minded, Asher, imagine this, if you're a little closed minded that you didn't went through this life's change that you did when you found out about these inflammatory foods, if you're closed minded, you wouldn't be here today. And there's a lot of people, there's a lot of people like that, right? They heard something, they didn't try it because they, they couldn't understand what's, how could that help me? Right. And they weren't open minded enough to try other things. And if you're that person, then you wouldn't. Be able to experience because this will, if you wait for the government to tell you the right things, you'll be waiting for a long time, right? And you have to realize that nobody's going to go and save you, right? Once you realize that nobody's coming to save you, not the government specifically, you know, coming out with lucky charms is healthier than steak. Recently, I tell you, then you wouldn't wait for a long time. You really have to take control of your own health. And this, that's what Asher did a few years ago. And now he's, you know, thriving, right. From, from not being able to sustain a job to helping a lot of people now through reverse the conditions, that's an amazing, you know, story, right. And it's. It's happening to a lot of people. You just got to be open minded. Yeah, this has been great. And I'm sure my listeners would be eager to learn more about how they can improve their own health through dietary changes. Can you, Asher, can you walk us through the framework you use for incorporating a focus on nutrition in your treatment for your patients? Yeah, certainly. And, and before I get to that, I, you know, wanted to add. That it is one of the challenges, probably the biggest challenge of what I'm doing is convincing people to take the notion that diet impacts our mental health and mental functioning, to take that seriously, because I get a lot of, you know, a lot of reactions of like, what? Like, nobody when they come in, you know, they come into a mental health clinic, It's just seek help for their anxiety, the depression, ADHD, or whatever. Nobody expects to be asked what they're eating or to be, you know, told that diet and how they're eating has anything to do with their brain functioning. And, you know, they're expecting to either get sent to a therapist or to a psychiatrist to get medications. And so, um, it's a lot of educating. It's a lot of educating about why. You know, why nutrition is important to, to, to brain functioning and to mental health and there's a lot of people that, so I would say a lot of the clients fall into 2 categories, main categories, 1 of them would be people who are just eating like junk food, fast food, you know, real garbage process foods and they kind of realize, okay, yeah, that's, you know, not the best idea in terms of, you know, maintaining and improving one's health. And then the other group of people are those who are aware and cognizant of nutrition and they, they believe they're trying to eat healthy and they believe they're, they're eating healthy. And so they'll tell me, I don't know, the nutrition doesn't, that's not relevant to me. It doesn't have anything to do with me. I eat healthy. That's not the issue. That's not the problem. And so I tell them, I tell them, okay, this is a kind of an issue of the proofs in the pudding. If you were eating healthy, you would be healthy. If you were actually eating healthy, you wouldn't be in here talking to me and seeking my help with with health issues that you're experiencing. And so, so, you know, there is against a lot of educating and, and there's a lot of pushback that I get from people and, you know, a lot of people, you know, some people get upset that I'm talking about diet nutrition and, but, but it's to me, I, I'm okay with it. I'm, you know, I don't, first of all, I don't take it personally. Second of all, I know that, you know, not everybody just like with any, anything in life, not everybody is going to want to do what you're offering and that's okay. But, but I am able to get through to, uh, you know, uh, a certain percentage of the people that I'm meeting with, the potential clients that I'm meeting with, who do agree to, okay, well, let me, let me give this a try. Let me see, let me see if this works. And whether it's people who have been on a garbage junk food diet or people who think they're eating healthy and think that their nutrition doesn't have anything to do with their mental health issues. So there are people who do agree to try. And they get better very much so and very quickly and, and I know that I'm going to be reaching a certain amount of those people and really helping them change their lives. And so it's worth it to go through nonstop explaining the same thing over and over again where people just think I'm absolutely crazy for talking about nutrition and mental health and talking about diet and foods and. So it's worth it to me because I'm going to get through to some of those people and I'm going to be able to help some of those people and get them back on track, get their lives back on track, get them back on their feet. And I've helped many people do that. And so that's worth. You know, all of the difficulty and challenges in bringing up this topic and, and, and trying to educate potential clients about the need to, to look at diet nutrition. So, so, yeah, that's 1 thing I wanted to mention with regards to your question. So. The main reason why there's so, so many people with chronic health conditions today, physical, mental, metabolic, is because we're, we're not eating how our body, our physiology has evolved over millions of years to, to eat. So we're eating All these foods, quote unquote foods, which I don't even consider to be foods because a food is something that fuels and nourishes your body. And a lot of these Processed foods don't fuel us, don't nourish us, don't provide us with any of the sustenance that we need. They're just empty, inflammatory calories. We need to get from eating these baked foods, which didn't even exist 50 or 100 years ago, and eat more in line with how humans have been eating and thriving for millions of years. So what I like to tell people is, Eat the foods that a human would have eaten 50, 000 years ago during an ice age, right? Ice ages for millions of years, up until about 15, 12, 000 years ago, shortly before the agricultural revolution started. So you want to eat What the human would have been eating 50, 000 years ago. So that's really at the core of why we're experiencing this explosion in health problems, chronic health problems, this health crisis, that's just getting worse and worse and worse is because we're not eating real human food. That's, that's the bottom line. Bottom line is where, where, where the food that we're eating now is making us sick. And that's the bottom line, right? I can know, I can only imagine what you go through, just. You know, client after client and explaining this to people. Like you said, people are not connecting the dots here. They're not connecting nutrition, food with mental health. And I believe that's going to change, but it's going to take, you know, a lot of us to really spread the message. And, you know, again, like. I want to reiterate because if you wait for somebody to come and save you, if you wait for the news to tell you what to do, wait for the government to tell you what to do, that's going to take a lot, a long, long time for them to be able to get their, their act together. And we might not be even alive when that day comes, right? So if you're somebody who is struggling, get to, get to research about. What is optimal for you, right? And everything's available online and you can try everything else. Right. And you can feel it right away. If it were, if it's working, if it's not working, if it's not working, then move on to the next, right? If, but if it's working, then that's your cue that, you know, what you're learning from, you know, these. outlets, these media outlets, the government, what the government is telling you is not true. A lot of it is a lie. And a lot of it is filled with agendas, right? And, you know, get to the root cause, take advantage, take control of your own health. Don't even listen to anyone else. Just do your own research. Be your own experiment. Do things that you can. You would feel it, like, you wouldn't get to 30, 40, 50 years old without having to know what foods do to your body. Like, when you eat something, do you feel it great, or do you feel like garbage, right? It's easy to tell. Man, there's a lot of educating, like you said, and love, love everything that you said here. It's just ridiculous sometimes, it's laughable sometimes. For, for my last question here, you know, current treatments, like, You know, psychiatric medication only work with, you know, specific neurotransmitters. We've talked about this earlier and the reason why the ketogenic diet or the carnivore diet is so healing is because it, it affects neuroinflammations as well. Not only, you know, you know, affecting with, with, with the medication, it only affects one neurotransmitter. And with these conditions, right. For some of these severe mental illnesses, you would need. You know, more and more medications to, to relieve your symptoms, right? Cause it affects multiple neurotransmitters. It's just interesting to hear that, you know, these treatments have a lot of limitations. And again, not to mention the fact that it comes with withdrawal syndromes that you can't even get off these medications. And just, I've had a few people on the show that talks about when they were on medications, it was hard to get off. And then when they went on the ketogenic diet, their brain just healed, like, their cognitive function came back, it was just amazing for them. How about you? Have you ever worked with somebody who was on medication and did you ever help somebody get off those medications? Oh yeah, I've worked with a number of people, a lot of people who have been on psych meds and, and yeah, a good number of them have been able to taper down and off their medications. To be honest, I don't know exactly how many because, and that's one of the things that I like about this line of work, is as opposed to psychotherapists and psychiatrists. I don't manage my client's symptoms and, you know, for years and years and years, they don't stay a client of mine for years and years and years. They're a client of mine for a month or two. And then I part ways with them because, because their issues have been resolved and they're feeling better. And, and so I, you know, don't usually every once in a while I hear from, from a client. So, you know, shoot me a text and let me know how things are going. Um, But I don't usually hear from most clients. So, you know, the, the tapering down and off process of medications is, is a process that takes some time. So, you know, I don't know exactly how many or how, you know, things went, but what I know is I work for, you know, with people for a month or two, get them feeling and functioning much, much better. And, but I do know that, you know, and I have had a number of clients tell me that they've, you know, been able to reduce their, their dosages and come up medications. And this is not only psych meds, but, but other medications as well, blood pressure medications and so forth. That they'd been taking. So, and as you mentioned, it's, you know, it's a pretty quick process. The, the, the brain and the body are pretty amazing in the capacity they have to heal and to heal quickly when we're again, fueling and nourishing them properly and not inflaming and poisoning them. And that's one of the things that I tell clients is that you don't have to change your diet and wait for six months or a year or a couple of years to see if you're experiencing an improvement. Do it for a month. Like you'll most people start to notice. I mean, even before a month, most people start to notice after only a few weeks and improvement, a significant improvement, but certainly a month, you know, you don't have to do it long, longer than a month in order to know if this is, And, and that's because most people experience start to experience an improvement, you know, by the end of the first month. So, so that's the nice thing is that it's, you know, that it's fast and works quickly. And yeah, there are no real, you know, there's no, you know, real side effects or harmful things that can happen. But you know, there's no real side effects to eating healthy foods and cutting out garbage processed foods. Yeah. There's only an upside, you know, even though some people go through a little bit of a transition period during the first week or so where they might have some GI issues, they might have some other, they might feel a little bit of fatigue. But, but yeah, there's no real, you know, negative downsides to eating well. So, yeah. What does a typical treatment plan look like? And how do you work with your patients to ensure that, you know, They're getting, they're eating the right way. And, and what are, how do you support them throughout that process? Yeah. So, you know, we look at a few different things. We look at, you know, what the person's health status is. So, you know, in addition to their mental issues, what, you know, if they have any physical health issues, any metabolic issues, any digestive issues, any food sensitivities or allergies, things of that nature, and, and then, you know, You know, what they're willing to do, because not everybody is willing to, you know, to be super strict to go carnivore. And so, you know, we work with the person if they have any limitation or specific needs. And, you know, and we go from there, we craft a, you know, a nutritional plan. That suits their needs, and that's going to enable them to be able to do it to implement it and stick with it. But 1, that's going to be effective as well. And 1 also, that's going to take into consideration digestive issues and digestive issue and food sensitivities and so forth. So, we don't have the nutritional plan, let them know what foods to focus on eating, which foods to avoid meal plan ideas, recipes. And then we go through lifestyle changes or improvements that they can do as well and also talk about exercise working out, you know, exercise plays an important role in in our mental health as well. So, and, you know, so I have the 1 type of client is that I work with our clients with mental health issues, but I also have other clients that I work with who, um. whose main goals are, you know, improving their, their fitness levels and improving their body composition, losing excess body fat, improving, you know, energy levels, stress levels, things like that. And so, you know, it's the, it's a similar process for them. But you know, the plan might be a little bit different as their goals and their health status is a little bit different. That's great. And that's a lot a lot of information here, guys. So make sure to check out mo wellness. me On on the website. Where can they find you? Azure? Yeah. So like you said, my website is Primal wellness.me, dot me. I'm on Instagram at Primal Wellness and I also have a natural tallow soaps and skincare product that's called Spearhead Soaps. So that's at spearhead soaps.com. And so those are the main places where you can find me. Awesome. Thank you so much, Asher, for coming on and sharing your story here today. I am just. Feeling hopeful for a lot of people, the stories that you told here, it's totally amazing. And again, no, if I was, if I heard this story, these stories, when I was struggling, it will have been such a game changer for me. It would have been such a lifesaver for me. And so that's the, the goal for the show is to share these stories. Hopefully, Somebody can, you know, pick up on it and hopefully change your life. Right. So thank you so much Asher for coming on again and all the links for Asher will be linked down in the description box below. So you guys check that out. I highly recommend him. And if you need any help with your mental health. If you're in Vegas, you have a clinic in Vegas, correct? Yeah. I have a clinic in Vegas where I meet with people in person, face to face. And I also work with clients all over the world through video chat, through zoom and things like that. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story here, sir. I truly appreciate you. for having me. It was great speaking with you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to another great episode here on the ketones and coffee podcast. And we've had such a pleasure of hosting yet another amazing guest here, guys. If you're eager to learn more about the secrets of succeeding on the keto drink lifestyle, be sure to check out the show notes. As a special treat for our loyal listeners, I'm offering an exclusive opportunity for a free consultation call. Discover how you can achieve success on the ketogenic lifestyle by simply referring to the details provided in the show notes. Take advantage guys of this unique chance to enhance your journey to a healthier you. And stay tuned for more captivating episodes. And until next time guys, keep embracing the power of ketones.