RibeyeRach Talks About How She Cured The Incurable

In this conversation RibeyeRach, shares her experience with chronic fatigue syndrome and how she was able to recover from it using a combination of a carnivore diet, brain retraining, and other lifestyle changes. She also talks about the importance of mindset, movement, and stepping back from illness support groups in her healing journey. Racheal emphasizes the power of listening to recovery stories and surrounding yourself with positive influences when trying to heal from a chronic illness. As technologies evolve, the roles of healthcare professionals also change.

More and more, people have started taking their health and healing into their own hands, collaborating with doctors, but not letting their limiting beliefs about what can and cannot be done hold them back.
Racheal has seen that chronic illness sufferers can also benefit from eating meat-based diets as well. Having healthy and supportive relationships is an important factor in healing, as well as trusting in the body's ability to heal itself.

Paying attention to circadian rhythms by getting enough natural light and avoiding excessive screen time can also improve overall health. Maintaining good posture and gradually increasing movement and exercise can also be beneficial, but it's important to pace oneself and be mindful of individual limitations. 

Brain retraining is retraining the brain to signal safety to the brain to achieve a parasympathetic state. This can be done through practicing visualization in the form of brain retraining programs, and belief work to let go of limiting beliefs. Somatic practices, such as body-centered modalities, can also help with releasing tension and enhancing awareness. Having an open mind and starting with curiosity can aid in changing limiting beliefs and allowing for healing to take place.
"My name is Rachael, and I am currently healing from many years

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Transcript

Ribeye Rach Transcription

Summary

In this video RibeyeRach, shares her experience with chronic fatigue syndrome and how she was able to recover from it using a combination of a carnivore diet, brain retraining, and other lifestyle changes. She also talks about the importance of mindset, movement, and stepping back from illness support groups in her healing journey. Racheal emphasizes the power of listening to recovery stories and surrounding yourself with positive influences when trying to heal from a chronic illness. As technologies evolve, the roles of healthcare professionals also change. More and more, people have started taking their health and healing into their own hands, collaborating with doctors, but not letting their limiting beliefs about what can and cannot be done hold them back.

Racheal has seen that chronic illness sufferers can also benefit from eating meat-based diets as well. Having healthy and supportive relationships is an important factor in healing, as well as trusting in the body's ability to heal itself. Paying attention to circadian rhythms by getting enough natural light and avoiding excessive screen time can also improve overall health. Maintaining good posture and gradually increasing movement and exercise can also be beneficial, but it's important to pace oneself and be mindful of individual limitations. 

Brain retraining is retraining the brain to signal safety to the brain to achieve a parasympathetic state. This can be done through practicing visualization in the form of brain retraining programs, and belief work to let go of limiting beliefs. Somatic practices, such as body-centered modalities, can also help with releasing tension and enhancing awareness. Having an open mind and starting with curiosity can aid in changing limiting beliefs and allowing for healing to take place.

Transcription

 U1 

 0:01 

 Hi there, and welcome to another video with the Fabulous and Rebel Outrage. And, um, it's unusual for me to have someone back very quickly, but there were so many views and so many comments and so much we didn't discuss about to strike back. So. Hi Rachel, how are you 

 U2 

 0:19 

 doing? Great. I'm glad to be back. How are you doing? 

 U1 

 0:23 

 Yeah it's good. It's one of the fascinating things for me, and I'm sure this has happened to you, is comments that don't believe you're a real person or you really did this. And, you know, I had some flat out comments saying you can't reverse that condition. You can't. And, uh, it's very frustrating. So for those of you, if you're going to do that comment, great, because the engagement goes up is fantastic. So, um, thanks for that. Uh, but for the 98.9% of people who look at these videos and with an open mind think it's great, that's why we're here. Okay. So, um, Rachel, I'll open the question because the big thing that stuck in my mind after the last interview was you mentioned so many other solutions other than carnivore, which is which is fine. Um, because I ground I was thinking of all the things I do that I just do anyway, more than, like, you know, I do it. So, um, the brain training thing really, really interested me. So how did you get into that? And what actually is it? 

 U2 

 1:23 

 Yeah. So honestly, I heard about brain retraining probably five years before I started it. And speaking of comments on that past video that we did, there was somebody that commented, I don't believe in brain retraining because this is a physical illness. And that comment is one that, you know, I get fairly often, and it's also where I used to be in a mindset of, well, that that doesn't sound like it can work because I have a real illness, and it makes me so sad when people comment that because it's not what brain retraining means at all. The need for brain retraining and working on the nervous system does not suggest that your illness isn't real. It doesn't suggest that it isn't serious. And it doesn't. It doesn't suggest that it isn't a real physical illness. And so basically, brain retraining is a concept where, you know, our brains are plastic and they can change. And so all sorts of different things wire our brain either in a positive way or in a negative way. And so brain retraining is the idea that you are consistently signaling safety to your brain so that your nervous system can shift into a parasympathetic state where healing can actually start to take place. And so our nervous system has two main states a parasympathetic state. And that's a state where we have rest, repair and healing. And then we have this sympathetic sympathetic state. And that's kind of the fight or flight state the survival state. And so usually when people are dealing with a chronic illness, they're nervous system tends to get stuck in this chronic dysregulated state in either a chronic state of fight or flight or freeze or shut down, and the nervous system isn't working properly. And so brain retraining is something that we can do to rewire our brains to allow for healing. And so. 1s The main idea with it is that we visualize ourselves healthy and strong, and that visualization signals safety to the brain. And the brain doesn't know the difference between visualization and reality. And so it can be very powerful for healing. And it definitely has been for me. And after so many years of being told that I have lifelong chronic illnesses and genetic illnesses and healing wasn't possible for me, there's nothing I can do to heal. Like, you don't want to believe it, but after a while it kind of, you know, gets in your head. And so another aspect of of brain training is, is belief work and letting go of limiting beliefs and, and allowing yourself to believe that you can heal. And so it definitely involves a lot of different things. And for me, I started with a brain retraining program. There are lots of brain retraining programs out there. I personally started with a program called DNS. So that stands for the Dynamic Neural Retraining System. And it's interesting because when people hear bravery training, they often think it's this like mysterious thing that, you know, is secret and you have to buy this program to figure it out. And really, those programs are just a toolkit. It's just like a course. It helps you to get the tools that you need to heal. So I always like to tell people like you can heal with how to improve your training program. You can figure it out on your own. You can learn how to rewire your brain on your own, but often those programs can be really helpful. And for me, it definitely was just having kind of a that toolkit and that guidance to help me to know where to start, because this is a really foreign concept in our society, which is unfortunate because I think everybody is living with a degree of nervous system dysregulation, because, you know, our society is not conducive to having a healthy nervous system. And so for me, you know, rewiring my brain. 1s In combination with changing my diet was, you know, the most powerful thing. And I think it's kind of cool because I changed my diet probably eight months before I started brain retraining. And I saw, you know, that improvements. And then I implemented brain retraining, and I saw a whole new layer of healing and improvement. And so it was cool that I didn't start them both at the same time, because then I would really know what progress I made from what. But, um, I would definitely say that the the brain retraining work I did brought quicker progress for my healing than changing my diet. And so it's been really impactful for me. And, um, I think when brain retraining, usually what people think of is like a program that you do, but really at the core of brain retraining is like. 1s What you eat wires your brain. What you think about wires, your brain. So many things like spending time on screens, wires, your brain, social media, wires a brain like all these things can wire your brain either in a positive way or a negative way. And so, um, focusing on rewiring your brain in a positive way can be really impactful for you. Yeah. And I think this thing about the mind and body connection not being a thing. Um, there's a there's a few analogies I always give to people. One is if you had to bet your life savings on somebody winning a race and it was two twins, it was standing in front of you and they were exactly the same from birth. They train the same, they ate the same. And one twin said, I'm going to win this race for you. I just, I know it, I feel it in my bones. I'm going to win this race. And the other one said, well, I guess I'm not. I'm not on it today. I'm really not on it. So you've got exactly the same physical situation, but you've got two completely different mindsets, right? And I know, I know who everybody would bet on. Uh, so that sort of proves that anyone that says there's no such thing as mind body connection, that sort of disproves it, um, and there's a couple of other things I use a Shakti map for my lower back pain, or I did use it, and I couldn't lie on it for more than a minute. And I didn't understand, um, how people could fall asleep on it because I was trying it for the first time. I didn't have that plastic attitude. My neuroplasticity wasn't in place. This was a long time ago, by the way. Um, and within six weeks I could act him out, which is like a sort of acupressure. Better than nails, however you want to put it. And I would fall asleep. I would absolutely fall asleep. So your body is obviously adapted because it's the physical mass, the same. Your body is the same, but your perception of pain is the same. And and pain is is is an abstract. It is a perception. You can't put a number on pain. You can try to. But when that perception is slightly skewed, I mean, when I did my honours degree in the somatosensory part of the brain, there were, there were there was a boy who could put his hand in the fires because his perception of pain was not wired correctly. Now they rewired him for retraining. So I mean, that's happened. And the the final thing you mentioned, you mentioned, uh, flight or flight. 

 U1 

 8:52 

 Well, that's the stress response, you know. So if a tiger walked in now, you know, all the blood would leave my guts and go to my muscles and make me run away or fight the tiger. If I was stupid enough to try, that probably would run. Um, well, if you're in a stressful situation all the time, this, you know, work or you can't tell your boss to, you know, do one or whatever, um, and you have a stressful relationship. Your guts are going to turn over, you know, but then, I guess, properly, you know, so there's so many things that can be external, not physical, that can change the physical. I mean, there's too many examples. So, uh, yeah. That's great. So that was a really good answer. And I think, um, we will still get comments, but there you go. Uh, you also mentioned sort of somatic practices, you know, like body, uh, centered modalities to sort of like enhance your awareness, release tension. What was that about? 

 U2 

 9:44 

 Yeah. So I think this one is, is often one of the most difficult things to explain. And I definitely wouldn't consider my myself an expert in this area. But somatic practices definitely have been helpful for me in my healing. And basically it's using the sensation of physical touch to bring your brain into the present. So often with nervous system dysregulation, we find ourselves either stuck in the past or worrying about the future. And so. It's just kind of different practices that you can do. Like, for me, one of my favorite things to do is something called the containment hug. So you just like, put your hand on your armpit and like this and you're kind of giving yourself a hug, and that signals safety to your brain. And, um, can kind of calm the nervous system. And there are lots of different, uh, somatic practices that you can do. I, I've just literally gone on YouTube and type somatic. Practices, and you can kind of do guided visualizations or guided, uh, somatic practices. And Instagram has a lot of good, uh, resources for this as well. And like I said, I wouldn't consider myself an expert on it, but I've found benefit from it. And I think it's, um, it's kind of a top down and a bottom up approach when it comes to nervous system regulation. And somatic practices are more of a bottom up. So, so body to brain versus brain to body. 

 U1 

 11:10 

 Yeah. And to Alexandra technique I think is the most sort of popular example of that where you can move your body in certain ways. Um, I think, I think there's a lot to be said for that sort of thing. The self hugging bit is, is always interesting. I'm sure there's going to be a few people that try that now. You demonstrated it, but hugging has a huge a huge role to play in how how you grow as an animal. I remember you were seeing some studies where. Um, horrible studies actually, on animals. But, you know, we learned something from it where, uh, they brought this monkey up and it had choices between food and not even its mother. It was, um, like a piece of metal that was slightly warm, and it had a soft sort of fabric around it, and he could either hug that or go and get food, and it chokes me a bit because I saw the video of it and it was it was desperate for hugs. He was desperate for attention over food, which I thought was incredible. So, um, we need to be open minded. Which brings us into the the next room. But this really is a whistle stop. But I think, you know, people can pick up on it and maybe we could do a third one anyway, letting go of limiting beliefs. 

 U2 

 12:23 

 Yeah. 1s Um, I think my life's been that before. You give your answer. My life was high carb, calories in, calories out, skim milk, blueberries, all those sorts of things, but other things as well. Sort of social, economic beliefs, political beliefs, um, how we operate as humans, you know, the good in people, everything, all my beliefs since I was 50. So that was ten years ago. I've been completely 180, uh, so many of my beliefs that limited a lot of what I did and also my, um, physical performance and everything. Absolutely. I, I had to let go of a lot of beliefs, and it's very difficult to say you're wrong, especially after 50 years. But, um, that's why this is really important. So, um, I'll give you a real practical example. It wasn't until I had oxalate detoxing myself, almost like crystal was actually coming out of my eyes. Did I fully believe it? You know, 

 U1 

 13:24 

 even though I'd seen it. So those people to do give comments. That's what you got to do. You've got to be open minded. And sometimes you do need to experience it yourself. And I get that. So that's my confession there. Full transparency. It took that for me to really believe that actually happened. Um, but what's your take on this? Because I see you roll your eyes about. Oh, this is a real big one. 

 U2 

 13:45 

 Yes. I think this can be one of the biggest. Shifts for people in their chronic illness healing journey. And one of the most important things, because if you don't think you're going to get better, if you believe that you're going to be sick forever, if you believe that the illness you have isn't curable or isn't possible to heal from, then chances are you probably won't get all the way better. And the cells. Listen, I know that sounds crazy, but they do. And, um, so for me it was huge. And I think for so long, like. A lot of people see, like the need for better training, all these things with the nervous system, for people that are really negative and for people that just like real life from this lens of negativity. And I never really felt like I was totally one of those people. But once I, I was overall pretty positive, like, I'm going to do the best I can to to live the best possible life, even though I have these illnesses and even though I have limitations, I'm going to do everything I can to live the best life I can. And and so that was one of the reasons why I didn't think brain retraining would work for me, because I was generally pretty positive. But once I became more aware of like paying attention to my thought patterns and, um, I started to realize that I did have negative thought patterns, and I did have I mean, anybody dealing with a serious illness is going to like, it's it's inevitable, you know, and so working on those and then letting go of limiting beliefs, I think some people don't really know where to start. Right. Like how do I believe I can recover? And how do I believe healing is possible for me? And I always tell people to start with the curiosity. So say, what if I could heal? What if I could fully recover? What if that doctor was wrong? What if I can heal from this illness that he says is his lifelong and incurable? What if I could get better like this other person I saw on social media? And so just starting with that curiosity is great because beliefs don't change overnight, right? Like especially core beliefs, beliefs that are really ingrained in you like that takes a lot to change. And so I think just starting with the curiosity, saying I'm going to be open minded and be willing to be wrong and, um, that can be really powerful. And so for me, it was just a gradual shift. It went from like, what if I could recover? What if I could fully heal, you know? And that got me excited. And I started to listen to, like, more recovery stories. And I think watching other people heal can help you heal as well. Um, and so I think, yeah, I mean, limiting beliefs, like you said, they, they apply to so many aspects of our life, right? Not just illness and symptoms and it's relationships. It's athletics, it's movement. It's so many aspects of our life that limiting beliefs can have an impact on. And um, so it's it's been yeah, really powerful for me to do belief work and to recognize what beliefs I hold and do things to shift those beliefs. And that takes time. But yeah, for me, it's been really powerful. And I I'd say that was a turning point in my healing journey when I started to fully believe that I could recover, not just want to, because everybody that's sick wants to recover, right? Like everybody wants to get better. But do you believe you can get better? Those are two very different things. And so that was a shift for me. And I can't tell you how many people have said this thing. 

 U1 

 17:35 

 Yes, wanting and believing that that's a real key difference because nobody wants to be ill. But if you believe, you can get better. Um, I would say outside influences have been a big thing for me. You don't mind me telling a few little anecdotes in between what we're trying to do? Right. So. So I've had this. When I was 23. I was shown a very convincing image of my hip and told I'd be in a wheelchair by 50. Here I am, 60 this year. I'm playing five side soccer every single Wednesday, so that didn't happen when I went deaf. Which incidentally was about the same time. And yes, I'm happy for comments speculating on why that happened. Also, by this time I'd lost both my parents and a girlfriend to breast cancer. So, you know, uh, my doctor said this isn't very scientific. I think you don't want to hear much anymore. So maybe, you know, all this constant negativity coming from the outside could have really affected me. And it did. But it made me do something because I thought, well, why would I? Why do I have to accept to be in a wheelchair when I'm 50? And with the deafness I've had not only sort of some abstract things happen, but I've had some quantifiable empirical data. So, um, like I say, been deaf since 23 years old. I'm 59 now and 60in May, and I've had hearing tests with the same audiologist, same machine for many, many years. When I went carnivore, he said, uh, at the test after it finished, I can't. What what are you doing? I think the machine's not right, because you seem to have recovered a little bit of hearing. That should not happen. Not. Wow. How did this happen? That should not happen. So then I sort of said sheepishly. Uh, well, I've been trying this diet over the. Well, it can't be that. It can't be that. So people you deal with, who you could possibly influence have limiting beliefs even with very fancy equipment, knowing, you know, that person knew me. There's no way I was lying about any of the responses. Got to the point where he actually said, I'm going to take your responses out and why are you up and see what's going on? So it's not even you saying something back or pressing a button when you hear a sound. I want to actually see it, even with all of those things, still did not believe that clapping. And I get that, Rachel. I get so many stories where people say I've reversed lesions of my in my arms, but the doctor came in really cross. This shouldn't happen. So you will get that. And you know, so going back to sort of carnivore centric, you know, if you're if you're eating this way and people are telling you you can't eat this way, it's not going to be good for you. That is a limiting belief they have. But it shouldn't limit your beliefs. And certainly you will be frustrated when you lose some weight. You lower your blood pressure. Your blood glucose management, especially your insulin goes down. You feel great, you sleep better. You will find it very frustrating. So just remember that phrase that they have the limiting beliefs because they've been told so. It's like a sort of domino effect. And you're going to be pushing back those dominoes and stacking them back up by saying, look, you can do something. You can do this because 

 U2 

 20:43 

 instead of, sorry, got longer, you carry on, carry on. I'm just going to say hearing that from a figure of authority were kind of taught to trust what doctors say. Right. And so that can be even harder to let go of beliefs that are kind of passed down from these figures of authority that we were kind of. Taught to Truss. Right. And so that can be a huge barrier for people as well. And that's an amazing story that you told. Were you able to to gain back full hearing? 

 U1 

 21:15 

 No. I mean, um, when I listen full transparency here, my hearing is atrocious. But it was next to nothing. So, um, it was just going down and down and down and we're hearing aids. I've got the captions on. Oh, we talk about ethics. We talk about putting things into our own hands in a second, actually talk about the captions I put on for myself, a very, very loud, um, speaker. So I and, you know, with zoom, I can read. So I have all these things, all these strategies. So we're going to talk about taking my healing into my own hands. That's a really good example, but also not relying on them. Uh, so much so before we started, Rachel, I said to Rachel, is it all right if I put captions on or maybe I won't? I thought, uh, I actually said it out loud to Rachel because I want to keep trying to push my ears. All right. So 1s it does lead nicely on. And it wasn't scripted. We. The thing you said about taking healing into my own hands, you know, when we were talking about your story, with my story, both the back end years was like, there must be something I can do. And weirdly, one of the things that I've discovered was a sort of, uh, pseudo vegan diet with soy and no dairy that will clear out all my ear, nose and throat stuff. So this is proving how open minded I was. I did six months of absolutely hellish living, um, back when I was a high carb believer with soy instead of dairy. And, um, I just got sicker and sicker and sicker. And so after three months, I was ready to throw in the towel. But, you know, it's like, oh, you're not doing it right. You're not giving it long enough. I think six months is a long time to experiment and to just give me a headache just thinking about it. Um, I was in a terrible state, and I just said, right. I've tried it. Soy replacing dairy is about the worst thing I can do for my personal health. But I kept trying these things, which is, you know, I've never done vegan or vegetarianism. I certainly did low fat calorie restriction, um, lean protein, fruit smoothies, all that stuff. And it was a it was taken into my own hands to do keto and then to do carnivore. So. How about you? You would you take your healing into your own hands? 

 U2 

 23:33 

 I think I came to a point where I just realized I'm getting sicker and sicker, and I'd already discussed this in our in our last interview, but I got to a point where I was being recommended more neurosurgery. So I had, you know, five brain and neurosurgery eyes. And I was at my sickest about a year to year and a half after that. And I was being recommended more surgery, and it just didn't feel right. I was so, so sick. And I thought to myself, if I am going to get better, this is not the way to do it. It's I'm looking back and I'm seeing that I've tried all these medications, I've tried these surgeries, I've tried these treatments that they're recommending me, and I'm getting sicker. And so it just showed to me that there had to be something else. And so I decided right there that I would be open minded, that I would do anything that I could to, um, to heal. And, and so I really at that point took my healing into my own hands. And I looked into diet, I looked into nervous system work and your training and just all these natural healing methods. And that's when I started to see progress. And I have found so many comments and messages like, what doctor recommended this diet for you? Or what doctor prescribed this spring, or training for you? And I say back to them, none. I made this choice on my own. I'm allowed to make choices for my own health, and I think it's so empowering to take your healing into your own hands. It can be scary, right? Like when you're really sick, it's scary because you want to have that guidance. And I think it would be nice for doctors. So to guide people and for people to have somebody to guide them in their journey. But. Unfortunately, you know, that wasn't really an option for me at the time. And so it was either do this on your own or go this other way that has made you sicker. And so it was it was scary to make those changes because I was like, what if I get worse, you know, and and what if this is is not the right way? But I just decided to take it into my own hands and and eventually that definitely became a positive thing and an empowering thing. At first it was scary, but it becomes it becomes empowering because, you know, I think people want the easy fix, right? People want a pill or a surgery or something to fix them. They're searching for somebody else or something else to fix them, when really the most important part of healing comes from within, and it comes from the choices that we're making. And so I, you know, it's the harder way, but it's it's. Usually a lot more effective. Yeah. Nobody knows your condition as well as you. Yeah. Um, you might find this interesting. Uh, I looked up a definition of the concept of taking healing into your own hands, and it said this is a concept that emphasizes an active and empowered approach to one's healing journey. It involves adopting proactive measures, seeking out information, making informed choices, and collaborating with healthcare professionals to drive personal health and wellness outcomes. Now the problem there is then I open to it many times. And I'm sorry if people don't like hearing this. Uh, I've worked in and around the healthcare profession for nearly 15 years, and my obesity and diabetes specialism means that, uh, you know, I get referred from general practitioners, and most people that come to me have been given the wrong information. Simple. It's as simple as that. And going back to that domino effect. It's because they've been given the wrong information or the wrong guidelines, I don't think. I don't think there's any ill intent. I don't think there's any of that. I just think it's misinformation coming from above and their hands are tied. And I thought I got a few comments about that expression, but that's true. It is true. Their hands are tied because there's huge, uh, onerous, um, issues with insurance and professional indemnity. So even if a doctor did think, oh, this diabetes is out of control, maybe try low carb. I mean, that that has loosened up recently. But, you know, when I started, you couldn't you couldn't recommend low carb for someone that was on a diabetic journey, for instance. And. 

 U1 

 28:17 

 Even if that person had taken it into their own hands and improved their numbers, they would get push back and that still happens. So that concept is great, isn't it? I wouldn't add, collaborating with healthcare professionals. I would put and try to collaborate with healthcare professionals, but don't let them put you off your path. That's personally what I would say because it's it's important, um, to you, your condition, you know, your condition better. And if you're doing things that are improving at it and they think that's the wrong thing to do, well, you're the one that's experiencing it. You know, it's to me, it's, you know, maybe. Yeah. 

 U2 

 28:52 

 Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, sometimes I actually get messages saying that what I'm sharing is dangerous and that I am spreading this dangerous message to people that have chronic illness and I. And that just shocks me. And it makes me sad for that person that's saying it because, like, honestly, if I were to continue down the Western medicine path, I don't know if I would be alive. And that's a scary thought. And I think it just shows how our society is just so bred to believe that we have to listen to doctors, and they're the ones who can get people better. And it's just interesting because those people that are are saying that are the ones that are still really sick and still identifying with their illness and, and not getting better. And it's just like I look at all those people who, you know, are in the chronic illness community who are getting these doctors appointments and these treatments and medication and surgeries. I don't see people getting better. And honestly, I don't care how what people do to get better. Like if you have a surgery and that helps you, I'll be cheering you on 100% if you take a medication that helps you. I mean, I'm not a fan of medication, but I will still be happy for you. And but I just don't see those people getting better. And the people I see that are getting better are the ones taking their healing into their own hands and making these changes on their own. And so it's just it's crazy that we are still believe that. The medical system, medications, surgeries and all these things are what we need to do when we get sick because those people don't get better. And it's just it's wild to me. And once you once you see it, you kind of can't unsee it, you know? 

 U1 

 30:47 

 Yes it is. Yes. And I've had that remark about it's dangerous talking about health like this and even to the point, you know, I'm going to be very honest with you. I don't know if that last section will stay in the in the video because YouTube is so tight on those sort of things. So if you're watching this now and there's a sudden edit, um, we've taken a little bit out, but you can see that probably on another platform. Anyway, um, we're going to move on to, uh, nature and sunlight, because this is one of my pet peeves, because for 350,000 years, as Homo sapiens sapiens, we've been outside in the sun enjoying the sun. We didn't put loads of sun cream all over us. Um, 75% of skin cancers are in areas that are not exposed to the sun. So it doesn't seem to be that great to keep out of the sun. But what's your what's your take on it? 

 U2 

 31:39 

 Yeah, I think I think nature is incredibly powerful for healing. And to be honest, I think one of the biggest drivers of chronic disease is our disconnection from nature. Right? Like we are constantly inside. The average American spends about maybe 30 minutes on average outside or less, and we're constantly on our phones, artificial lights, fake food. We're not connected to our food anymore. Uh, we're not grounding, you know, synthetic shoes, uh, just so many aspects of our life has become so disconnected from nature. And so I think, um, it can be just so healing to spend more time in nature. Another thing like you mentioned is, is the sunlight, right? Like, we're we're taught to fear of the sun, and the sun is our literal life force. And it just there's nothing like going outside in the morning and getting morning sunlight and feeling that sun on your face like it's so life giving and it's it's very healing. And so, yes, for me, spending time in nature has been very impactful for my healing and actually. About three years ago, we moved to a new home and we have some land and kind of live in a forested setting. And I think that was another, you know, aspect of my healing was, you know, not only getting to a new place, just having a new place where I, you know, it's hard to feel where you got sick. Right? So having a new change of scenery, but also being able to spend more time in nature. Right. And so I when I was in my really like most intense healing phase and my whole focus of like there is a while there were pretty much the only focus in my life was healing, because that's all I could focus on doing, right? And so I would go outside and I would lay on the grass, you know, with my bare feet grounding and just lay in the sun and do nothing and just lay there and do nothing but be present in nature. And that was really healing for me. And I think it's something that we're really missing in our society, is connection with nature, time and nature. Like anybody who is outdoorsy will tell you that they just feel better in nature. They feel like their problems aren't as. You know, intense when you go outside. So yeah, when I feel stressed, I just go outside and I'm like, oh, maybe it isn't that bad, you know? And and so I just think it's so wild that like, if you like to spend time in nature that that's now labeled as an outdoorsy person, like. Aren't we American nature? We're a part of nature, right? Like we're not to be trapped inside all day under artificial light. Yeah, it's. Yes, I know what you mean. It's like saying, look at that squirrel. That's very an outdoorsy squirrel, isn't it? You never say that. And I think that is, um, you know, going back to sort of beliefs and how we look at things and, you know, there's just so much, um, I'm just going to go back to just an ounce in the middle of this if, if there is bits coming out of this video and you want to see the full video, we'll be on another platform. It also be on my app so you can see the whole video unedited. But anyway. Right. Trusting your body's ability to heal. Now I always use this because people say, well, why would this get better? And I say, well, why wouldn't it? You know, if you're going to cut yourself, would your skin heal? And it's like, yes, it would, I said. So you firstly bought into the concept that your body has some healing abilities. It's not just going to keep bleeding, is going to try and stop bleeding, all right. Unless you're seriously unwell and there's some other issue going on. Um, if you have a bruise that will go, you know, if you sprain your ankle, normally that recovers. So, um, 

 U1 

 35:30 

 could you just get into your, your take on the body's ability to heal? Yeah. So I definitely I'm and that's one of the biggest messages I want to share is that our bodies are designed to heal. And it's it's interesting because like, I think there are so many things about our modern world, like we were just talking about that, that make it difficult for our body to do what it's designed to do, right, to heal. And so given the right state, I think healing is not only possible, but it's probable. And, um, it's just like if one if one person has healed from a condition that makes it possible. And honestly, I don't know if there's a condition I haven't heard somebody healing from. And yeah, it's, uh, yeah, our bodies were designed to heal. And I think it goes back to the nervous system as well. Right. Like. When we're stuck in it in a chronic dysregulated state, in a chronic stress state. And this is something that happens subconsciously, I might add, too. It's it's not always like emotional triggers. You know, it can be physiological triggers too. It can be toxins, it can be mold, it can be all these different things. But it doesn't matter so much what the trigger is. It just matters our nervous systems capacity to handle that stressor. And so that's a lot of what I'm doing with nervous system work, is just expanding the capacity of my nervous system to handle stressors. And um, so yes, I definitely believe that our bodies have an ability to heal even from the worst of places. Like, I know I have a pretty dramatic story, but I'm just going to tell you, Steven, I have heard more more crazy stories of healing than mine. I've heard stories of people being on TBN. If you are you familiar with what what that is. So TPN is I.V. nutrition, so not even a feeding tube. Ivy nutrition not even able to tolerate two feeds to fully healing, fully eating again, like I've heard multiple people with feeding tubes that have been able to fully eat again and live a normal life and heal. And so healing is possible even from the worst of places. And it's easy when you're in that place to think my story is different, like my situation is different. Maybe this other person can heal, but my situation is unique and that's what I always like to share, is that my story isn't unique. I'm not sharing my story to be like, hey, look at me, look what I did. This amazing thing, you know? No, like, our bodies were designed to heal. And my story isn't unique. Like, my situation isn't unique. You can heal too. And so that's, I think, something that's really important that goes back to the beliefs work, right. To like limiting beliefs like, oh, I can't heal, you know, and shifting that belief and believing that your body and fully heal can can be huge. 

 U2 

 38:43 

 Oh, 

 U1 

 38:44 

 I muted myself there. Uh, so we didn't get any feedback. But yes, I actually have a client, uh, success story that's coming out in a couple of weeks that went from TPN to, uh, wow. Well before health. Yeah, that does happen. Um, 1s yeah. Did you see that? We're in the same space, really? And people can make amazing discoveries. And this is why I sort of play down the sort of deafness and the, you know, the trouble with my hip on my back when I was in my 20s because, um, some stories I hear, it just makes you want to weep. It just makes you want to cry, to think that they would given up on. Actually, that's one of the things that frustrates me, um, by everybody. And luckily, the only person that didn't give up was them, and they just pushed and pushed and pushed, and you would imagine that everyone would be getting in the corridor, opening doors for that person, trying to get them in to where they want to try to be, to get better. But, um, I constantly hear stories of obstacles and it's it's just it's heartbreaking. But it's also very inspiring because, uh, well, you're inspiring, you know, because you look at your pictures, you look at the problems you were in and you just think, wow, it would've been so easy to go, right? That's it. You know, this is the cards I've been dealt. I've just got to deal with it. And it's very easy to do that. And many people do, sadly. But hopefully your story and many others will actually, uh, give them a little bit of a opening the curtain, let the sun in and they can wake up to it. So, uh, that's a very cheesy segue into the next bit, which is so okay, the circadian rhythms actually. Would you like to explain a little bit about 

 U2 

 40:19 

 that? Yeah. So this is something I became interested in just kind of gradually I think sometimes when we change our diet, we just become more conscious of so many different other aspects of our health. And we kind of are slowly like waking up to all these different things that we can do to support our body and help, um, our body to be able to heal. And so I kind of just came on to circadian rhythm, just through seeing bits and pieces of information on social media. And that caused me to more to research it more. And so, you know, it's it's very simple, right. Like our, our biology is designed to um. To be in tune with our light environment. And so typically when people wake up in the morning, the first thing they look at is their phone. Right now it is. And that artificial light sends this false signal to our brain that it's the middle of the day. And so that kind of has a cascade of effects on our body or hormones and everything. And, um, really can affect our health, our sleep and our energy levels. And so I started to stop, you know, picking up the phone first thing in the morning. And I always go outside and I get natural light in my eyes. And, um, if I happen to have to wake up before I, the sun comes out, then I'll wear the the sunlight, the orange blue light glasses until the sun comes up. And then I'll go outside and get that natural light in. And just throughout the day, I will try to go outside and get that natural light as much as I can. Obviously, with my job, you know, I'm spending a lot of time with my phone. I'm spending a lot of time on technology, and so I'll often even try to do work outside. I do podcasts outside, but today it's really windy outside, so I don't want to be super loud. So that's why I'm taking it inside today. But. Um, but yeah, it can help with the effects of blue light to be on your screen, whether it's your phone or your computer. And when you're outside, it can mitigate those effects. Um, then, of course, there are the glasses that you can wear. And so doing that has been really impactful for my sleep. Um, I definitely notice that I sleep better and, um, at night, I also wear the orange blue light glasses for a couple of hours before going to sleep. And I find that really just, like, winds me down. And if I take them off when I see the it's not just the screen. That's the other thing is I always just thought it was the, the, the phones and the computers. And I was like, okay, well, I could just read a book and then, you know, go to bed. But it's the artificial lighting too, and it's not a must see to have, you know, red lights installed in your house. And really, the glasses are kind of the only way to block it out. And so that has really helped with, um, with my sleep as well, just getting as much natural light as I can and then walking as much of the artificial light as I can. 

 U1 

 43:25 

 Yeah. And I think it's borne out by, by science people that work night shifts. I think it's something like they they get virtually every condition or illness about 30% more. They're 30% more likely or something like that. But but also I think. 

 U2 

 43:41 

 We should 

 U1 

 43:41 

 look at nature and think, well, if you take a nocturnal animal. So for instance here a badger does its foraging at night. You don't see a badger during the day. And if you saw a badger during the day, you would think there's something out. And that can't be good for the badger. So so we're obviously designed to we're not nocturnal. We haven't got night vision. We're obviously designed to be moving around during the night and sleeping during the dark. I mean, to me it's not it's not woowoo or anything to say what you're saying. And we have artificially ruined our environment. And again, going back to animals, if you go to a zoo that has got a nocturnal animals, they don't treat them the same. They make it as dark as possible and they use different sort of lighting. So you can see these nocturnal animals and they give them an artificial nighttime during the day, and then they give them an artificial day during the night. So we know it is true with animals. We know that by just looking at animals in the wild. And just imagine one that should be there, that isn't there, or one that is there. They shouldn't. How weird you would feel. Do you think that that's not right? That's a nocturnal animal. It shouldn't be out there. Must be something wrong. I'm sure you'd say that, because that's really odd. And yeah, us humans who would just break all the rules and think, that's fine, and we're going to be, you know, fine and dandy. All right. We're going to move on. I think three more things to have a look at. Uh, neck curve correction. That was an interesting one for me. 

 U2 

 45:05 

 Yeah. So something that I, um, had during my chronic illness journey was a lot of neck problems. I had neck instability. I had to wear a neck brace for, um, gosh, I think close to five years, 4 to 5 years. And that was. Yeah, that was a huge part of my healing journey. And the animal based diet and carnivore diet really helped to support my connective tissue and strengthen my neck strength and just my whole body. Right. That's another thing that I developed, sort of a fusion, which puts my neck in a really unnatural position, is I kind of had like a military neck with a forward neck posture. So I have a very small jaw. This is another whole rabbit hole. I don't know if you've gone down, but, um, when you have a small jaw, then you kind of have a tendency to like get the forward neck posture and try to get air. Um, so I, I did some chiropractic treatments where I like more neck weights and stuff like that to, uh, help restore my neck curve as much as we can with, you know, having that fusion in my neck. But that was helpful for me. And it was really interesting because they actually, like, use an ultrasound and looked at the flow of my jugular vein and like with them without a neck wait, I my jugular vein just like opened up. With the neck weight on. So that was just really interesting. And, um, I think, you know, posture is another really important aspect of nervous system health. So like when we've got poor posture and for neck posture, that puts a lot of strain on the vagus nerve and kind of puts you into more of the fight or flight side of the nervous system rather than the parasympathetic. So posture is is a good thing to address to, to help with calming the nervous system and just healing in general as well. 

 U1 

 47:09 

 Yeah, I think that's true. When people are hunched over and, you know, if you can get people to open up, they're going to breathe better. I see three C4, C5 keeps you alive. There's, you know, the nerves coming from that part of the cervical region are really critical. And this that, you know, this bending over and looking at your phone is absolutely terrible. Is is terrible bit of peace of posture. Um, moving on to this, the penultimate thing we wanted to talk about was is movement. So I think that bleeds nicely in from that because, um, movement I always say it's really call me motion is lotion. You know, uh, there are there are many ways to look at this because I've worked in rehab for, you know, nearly 15 years. If someone has a, uh, an arm in a sling, for instance, now, they for six weeks don't move that arm, which is not great advice, but that's what they do. And then when they come to see me, the the body has been amazing. It's just withered that muscle away. It really it looks terrible compared to the other arm. Um. And that's just showing me how clever the body is, because the body's decided, oh, this, this thing, this limb, this expensive thing to move doesn't need the nutrients. We don't need to send the amino acids to the muscles. We just let it wither away. This is true. But why? So now, when I first started. Now they realized that you need to exercise it and stuff like that. My point being that the lack of motion or movement is detrimental. Uh, slight movement introduced like exercises stops that happening. So imagine if you could take that further. If you're having problems with any sort of mobility, any movement, you can start to, to instigate. And this is where, you know, as a personal trainer as well, I yes, I've got a lot of hats and qualifications. Um, you know, I always say if you want to do an intense exercise, you can only get out of a chair, then that is your intense exercise, trying to get out of the chair, then you trying to walk. So it isn't like, um, when we talk about movement, we're not going to say, right, get the Olympic rings out and start to anything. That movement is what you need to do to get you the next step. So. But how do you see it? 

 U2 

 49:27 

 Yeah, I think this is such an important topic, and a lot of people that have serious chronic illness were before that athletes. You know, I was an athlete before I got really sick. And a lot of people that become really sick had that really high achiever mindset. And and so I think it's really difficult for people to realize that they have to start in a different place, in a very different place, like, especially if you're bedbound like, you're not going to be able to go do your ab workout at first that you did before you got sick. And so many people with chronic illness push it too far because in their in their mind, the only way to exercise is to do what they used to do and it's so pacing yourself is really hard when you, you just you want something bigger and you don't want to you want it to come right away, right? Like and it's not going to. So you have to really pace yourself with that. And I think, um, this can be a triggering topic for a lot of people with serious chronic illness. It's like, well, I can't do that, you know? But you can move. And even if your exercise is just raising your arms in bed, like start there and just very gradually work up and then to a place where you know you are not because because you can over exercise, right. You can do damage. And so when you're really sick, you have to go slow, you have to pace yourself. And that's something that I definitely struggled with. Uh, my husband was really helpful with that, like helping me to kind of develop. Exercises and things that like were in my window of tolerance at time. And as my window tolerance increased, I increase those exercises and and pacing myself was was the best way to go about it. And so, um, it's really hard to hear that, like when if you're really sick, when you're, oh, I can't even walk right. Like, and and it's hard for people to be like, well, you need to move more, you know. And so I think it's, it's the way that you approach it and say you need to meet that person where they're at and say your exercise is just going to be small and, um, you're going to widen that tolerance over time. And, you know, in a year or two years, like, you can make a lot of progress if you do it in the right way. And so I think for me, you know, tying back into diet, I had that severe chronic fatigue where I would have those crashes from overdoing it, where I would just not be able to look at light or listen to sound or basically move it all, you know, like in bed and. 1s Diet really helped with that too, where like when I overdid it, it wasn't as severe. And so I think combining those two things can be really powerful and. Yeah, movement is definitely medicine, but you have to start where you're at. 

 U1 

 52:27 

 Yeah, definitely. And if you don't use it, you lose it. And that is true as well. There's lots of little phrases I use in rehab. Like I say, um, motion is lotion is one of my favorite ones. I also think patience, um, you are a patient, but you've got to be patient. So if you have a critical illness and you start on a road of trying to turn it around, unless it's an accident, a traumatic event, in a sudden, traumatic event. But if it's something that's grown over time, you have to think to yourself, well, it's not going to be three weeks when I'm back to normal. It's taken 15 years for my body to be like this. So, you know, I've got to be patient. 

 U2 

 53:05 

 You don't want to get caught up for disappointment. So. 

 U1 

 53:09 

 Yeah. 

 U2 

 53:11 

 Um, 

 U1 

 53:12 

 the, uh, last thing was listening to recovery stories and stepping back from illness support groups. Uh, which is really interesting because, um. Well, let's hear what you got to say on that. Yeah. So actually, believe it or not, before I started sharing, you know, my carnivore and then brain retraining recovery story, I had a different accounts that I shared, my chronic illness story, and I, I did it, you know, with an aspect of hope and faith and all these things, but all the people I followed on there were doing the same things I was doing, desperately researching their symptoms. They were trying to find answers from doctors, trying to find treatments, trying to find something else, an external source that was going to fix them. And I had to step away from that. I had to step away from that completely. I couldn't even look. And even to this day, like, I, I really can't go back on that account because all I see is people in hospital gowns and getting surgeries and getting ports and feeding tubes and all these things that just are triggering for me after all I went through. And so getting out of that environment was really healing for me, and it was a necessary step. And so many people that have healed from serious chronic illness, you know, say the same thing. And, and chronic illness support groups are made to help and encourage people. Right. But I think they can often be such a toxic environment because all people are connecting on is illness and symptoms. And it's this constant negativity where people are complaining and talking about symptoms and this desperation of searching for answers and doctors and treatments and all the focuses on illness. And it's just it's not healthy. It it reinforces that neural pathway of I'm sick. I'm sick. And just seeing other people being sick, I think so much exposure to that can make you sicker. And it's just for me, when I, I, I started a new account and I was like, okay, I'm sorry, a new account. This is going to be my healing journey. I'm going to follow people that believe they can heal. I'm going to follow people that are healing. I'm going to listen to recovery stories because there are so many out there. It's interesting. I saw a comment on our last video. Somebody like, I'd never heard of somebody recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome. And I was like, I've heard hundreds, maybe even thousands of stories of people recovering, like literally just typing in YouTube, chronic fatigue syndrome recovery story. And people don't stay around in those chronic illness Facebook support groups when they get better, like because it's not a healthy environment. Right. And so that was definitely a powerful thing for me. It was just 

 U2 

 56:01 

 shifting my focus to healing and associating more with people who were more in line with what I was doing. And that was hard because I made a lot of really great friendships and met a lot of great people. Like those people are great people. It's not the people, it's the environment. Right? So it's it's normal to be desperate and, and, um, hopeless and all these things when you're experiencing severe chronic illness. But that's not a healing environment. It's not conducive to healing. And so stepping away from that is definitely important. 

 U1 

 56:34 

 Absolutely. Rachel, thank you so much. That has been a very interesting and enthralling hour. Thank you. 

 U2 

 56:41 

 I enjoyed it. Thank you so much for having me back.