The Shocking Connection Between Your Metabolism and Mental Health

What if I told you that mental illness is not mainly a genetic disorder, but it's more of a metabolic disorder, and it is something that actually can be put into remission naturally, even aside from medication. I want to talk a little bit about mental disorder today because it is something that is increasing. And when I say mental disorder or mental illness, I am including things like depression and anxiety and OCD and PTSD, and also of course bipolarism, schizophrenia, uh, there's even bizarre behaviors that replicate or that sends a message that there is some type of mental problem happening. And so when I talk about mental illness, I am, I'm using it as a, a more broader scope into certain behavior patterns. When we look at people who are, for example, hoarders, we obviously see that there is some mental dysfunction that is happening. And so I want to connect the links and connect the dots today because this is going to be super important to your brain power and how well you'll have a mental capacity, um, to experience life very differently. Because of course, if you are struggling with some type of mood disorder or mental disorder, you're going to have some difficulties in life. And what better refreshing news is it to know that these things can be reversed outside of medication? And there are plenty of people who are doing it, and I want to get the good news out there because it's important. And I'm starting to see personally, um, just all on social media and just all around the world, there is almost like a mental illness pandemic that is happening, and people are starting to really suffer in their mental capabilities. I don't want you to think that there is no hope for yourself or for somebody you may know who's struggling with some type of mental disorder, I want you to know there is hope and there is a way out of this. And this is going to be powerful because, listen, you, you, you need to understand your mental health. You need to understand how likely you are to wind up with a mental disorder and, or how unlikely you can wind up with one based upon your lifestyle habits. And this is important for me because I don't know about you, but I care about my mental health. All right, so make sure that you do subscribe to my podcast. I am continually getting information out that is going to revolutionize your entire, uh, life, your health, the scope of, um, everything that you know to be connected with you and your health. So please make sure that you do subscribe. Now I want to start off and just really talk a bit about metabolism because what I'm trying to do is really trying to link the, the idea that mental illness is a metabolic illness. And so we have to start to connect the dots and kind of understand what that means. Because that could be good news or bad news for some people. It's good news, because we understand there has been a lot of research that allows you to be very confident that you can reverse metabolic problems naturally, you know, even outside of medication, many people have done it. And so if mental illness is, is a metabolic issue, then that means that you can, you know, help to reverse these symptoms of mental illness, right? And, but it's also a bad thing because a lot of people are struggling from a lot of different chronic diseases that are all tied to metabolic syndrome and metabolic problems. Now, when we think about metabolism, we're often thinking about, you know, just the idea of, you know, someone has a fast metabolism, then that means they're going to be able to lose weight, burn fat quicker. And if someone has a slow metabolism, then they're going to gain weight no matter what they do. But we have to look at metabolism further than just, you know, the idea of burning calories and understand that this involves a lot more, you know, dealing with our cells, how we take food and convert it to energy, you know, um, the whole process of the management of waste. Metabolism has a direct influence or structure on all living cells. And if that's true, then this also includes the brain cells and the neurons, right? And so if we have metabolic problems, we're going to have mental problems. And a lot of people are having metabolic issues. And so one of the things that I am noticing is so much bizarre behavior. Like, even when you scroll on social media, like, people are having breakdowns, and it's not normal usually to someone who is a little bit more stabilized. But I'm seeing all kind of stuff— people getting into their cars and just, you know, ramming into other cars because they're angry about something. And just the expression of certain things that are happening is just not normal. And, you know, we tend to look at mental disorders as the extreme cases of just, you know, bipolarism or schizophrenia and all these extreme cases, but we have to recognize when there are subtle problems that are happening within someone's behavior patterns, you know. All of the entitlement and the victimization and the extreme anger and the murders and, you know, like all of these different patterns, we need to start to see as mental problems. Even I was just looking at a, a clip on social media where, you know, someone just after having a baby decided to like get up in the hospital bed and bend over and show a picture of her butt, you know, while she's in the hospital bed just having a child, you know. That's not normal behavior. I'm sorry, you know, I, I don't think it's normal behavior to, you know, right after having a child, the first thing you want to do is get on social media and, I don't know, get some kind of likes, acceptance from people who will see this picture that is totally degrading. Uh, it just doesn't make sense. And some of these signs, you have to start paying attention that people are dealing with some mental problems when they make certain decisions that does not feel normalized, or, you know, and I'm not trying to set the balance for what's normal and what's not normal. That all is dependent on culture, how you were raised, experiences. There's a lot of different things that play a role in that, um, that it does include some psychological issues and biological issues and hormonal issues and things like that, which we'll get into But I am saying that I think that most people can agree to some stuff that seems super bizarre. You know, when you're watching, you know, episodes of like these shows that show hoardism, um, that's not normal, you know, to walk into a house that's filled from bottom to top of like junk and dirt. And you know, that's an expression of somebody's mental capacity, and it's, it's just not normal, all right? And so like I said, I'm not trying to say what's normal or what's not, or how clean someone's house should be, how not. But I think there's a level where we can all agree that some of this behavior that's happening is a reflection of the mind. And one thing that we've noticed is that, yes, mental illness is increasing, but so is metabolic syndrome and metabolic processes. So we have to start to wonder, well, if, you know, mental illness is increasing, is it all just chemical? Is it genetic? How all of a sudden are, are most people showing these genetic signs of mental illness? You know, that doesn't make sense really. But what we do know is that, again, metabolic syndrome, metabolic problems, insulin resistance, things like that are starting to increase. And now we're starting to see mental illness increase, especially with the type of diet that a lot of people are eating. It's causing some interruptions in the brain. And this is really important to me because I started out in the area of Alzheimer's and looking at people's brains when I was in my early 20s, and it was quite frightening to me to witness people who were so young who wind up with dementia. I'm talking in their 40s and 50s, and I didn't quite understand it. And at the time when we were studying, you know, uh, these particular individuals, there was a connection to chronic disease as to them having a higher risk chance of getting something like Alzheimer's. And so I started to realize right away there is a connection between the brain health and chronic disease. And that wasn't something that was being researched. That was just common sense from all of the years of me working with participants who had dementia. All right? So I started to understand, okay, there's something going on here. And all I know is I don't want to end up with brain problems. And so primarily my infatuation and my motivation, inspiration, whatever you want to call it, to living a healthy lifestyle is more tied to my brain health than anything. I have witnessed firsthand the difference in my mood and my brain capacity from eating a certain diet. Like, yes, you get these other benefits, you know, with making sure that you regulate your health and of course reversing chronic disease and dealing with all kind of other stuff. But I personally don't see a better um, reward than a healthy brain. I, I just— that's just me. I'm not sure how other people experience this, but to have brain fog, memory problems, uh, trouble, you know, with language and communication, not being able to be clear-headed, having mood swings— like, that is a problem to me. I don't want to feel like that because it bothers your experience of life. Your mood is everything. And so I try to eat a diet that is optimizing my brain health and my mood overall. And I will never forget when I made the personal connection. My husband, on New Year's Eve, he will cook gumbo. And I remember one year eating the gumbo, and I must have been in my maybe early 30s, maybe mid-30s, and I remember eating this gumbo. I ate it a couple of days in a row, but all I could remember is being in the bed the next day after eating the gumbo, or just that entire weekend, and feeling so unmotivated, like lazy. And I'm not that person. I wasn't that person back then, and I didn't eat like that. I only ate like that because it was New Year's and it's gumbo time. But it was something in the roux, the flour, something was causing my mood to switch. And I just remember laying in the bed and feeling so down. I didn't like it. I was like, why do I feel like this? This feels horrible. I don't want to feel like this. It was almost depressing, and like, I just didn't want to even get out of bed. But I didn't necessarily know that it was coming from the gumbo, but I started to kind of make that connection a few days after, and I was like, I'm not eating that again. Because it's something about the fact that I ate that gumbo and all of a sudden my mood changed, and it was decapitating. It was, it was horrible. Like, I didn't have a capacity to do anything, and I didn't even feel motivated to do anything. That struck something in me because I do not like feeling unmotivated in that way where I felt like there was something happening to my brain. Now don't get me wrong, we all feel unmotivated at times and we just feel like, I wanna do something fun, I wanna do something different, I don't wanna work, whatever that looks like. But this was different. This was like a hormonal problem. Like my neurotransmitters were acting up. Something wasn't right. And I reflect back to that day very often because that's when I realized it's something about food and your brain health and activity. And so this is why this is so important, because your life can actually change. Imagine if I woke up every day trying to show up to the world feeling like that. There are a lot of people who wake up feeling drained and depressed and don't want to do anything. They feel a sense of, um, you know, like worthlessness. Like, should I even live? Do I want to live? That sadness, that, that gloominess, you know. And I can't imagine waking up feeling like that every day. And my heart goes out to people who have to experience that every day because it is absolutely awful. And I know what depression feels like because I was depressed when I had each and every one of my children. And I really do think it was a hormonal imbalance during that time. I was very sick, and so I know what that feels like. And I became very sensitive to those who have to deal with depression every day because it didn't feel like something I could just shake off. Like, I was actually scared I would never come out of that, even though I knew in my heart, like, I'm only experiencing this when I get pregnant. Even on the third pregnancy, I knew that I've experienced this and I've overcome it, but it was still— while you're in it You feel like, am I gonna come out of it? And that fear alone was, you know, enough to just like make my world totally ruined for the moment, right? And so now imagine someone having to deal with this every day, but they don't know that there's a way out. And maybe they're on medication, right? And the doctor is like, yeah, you got to take this medication for the rest of your life because if you don't, you're not gonna feel good. But then they take the medication and maybe it does stabilize things, and And so yeah, there's a, there's a blessing a lot of times with short-term medication because sometimes people need it to stabilize at the moment. But we should be figuring a long-term plan because the medication has so many side effects often that people don't want to stay on it. And so maybe like if they're, you know, dealing with bipolarism or schizophrenia and they're taking a medication, and yes, it's stabilizing them, but it's still messing with their mood or making them feel like a zombie. Like, you know, like, yeah, I won't do anything irrational, like, you know harm anybody or myself, but I feel like dead inside. I feel like a zombie. I feel like I'm just here, like, just walking through the world and not really in tune with life. Like, that is something that a lot of people struggle with. And so if a doctor is telling you even things like, well, don't worry, you have an excuse not to finish school, not to do other things in life that you dream about because you have a mental illness— well, imagine if you could put that into remission and become a total different person and have productivity levels go through the roof and be able to have accomplishments that you've always desired. That's going to change your life. So why is this important? That's why this is important, because your world can be shaken upside down in such a great way if you could know the truth, because the truth sets people free. And doctors don't always give the truth, and we need to hear something different because what we think is working is actually not working. As a matter of fact, There was a study done and they were asking, um, even during the pandemic, you know, how many people were dealing with like depression and, um, anxiety and substance abuse and all of that. And it was like 1 out of 5 adults had said, yeah, I'm dealing with some kind of mental disorder. And half of those people were dealing with depression, substance, or some type of substance abuse. And so, um, this is serious because When they were asked, how many of you all have considered suicide? 25% of them said, hey, I've actually seriously thought about committing suicide. And many of them were between the ages of 18 and 25. That is very young to be thinking about suicide, you know, like this has become a huge, huge problem that we have to fix at some point. And so then you have the medication and they become medical, they become dependent on medication. And then only 30% of them get to remission, which means about 70% of them are still dealing with depression even when they have treatments. And then only 10% of them are experiencing long-term effects, meaning 90% of the people who are dealing with the mental issues have not resolved their issues. And so I know that there are other factors— neurotransmitters, hormone imbalances, uh, epigenetics and genetics a little bit, um, psychological and social factors, trauma. There's other things that play a role in all of this, which we'll go over. But what I want you to know is it's not working. It is not working. And when something is not working, do we keep pushing that agenda that we're just going to medicate people? No, we're not going to keep pushing that agenda. We are going to look for a different route. And here's what you need to know: brain power is important. As a matter of fact, brain power is more important than willpower. They can play off each other, don't get me wrong. The reason why I'm sharing this today is because if you got the ability to make a good choice with your metabolic health— and I'm gonna go over what those choices should look like and statistically how to overcome metabolic syndrome and metabolic disorders. If you can overcome that, then you will diminish and maybe even reverse symptoms of mental disorder and mood problems and depression and all of these things that a lot of us tend to deal with. And so I'm going to walk you through those steps, but I want you to make the choice that you can make today. You choose that choice when you can choose it, because let me tell you something, if you wind up in a problem, a loophole, a cycle, a system of having brain problems, a lot of times you're not able to make the right choice at that moment. And that's why sometimes, yeah, people do need to be medicated because they have just gone very extreme with things and they need to at least come back to a balance, right? And so brain power is more important than willpower. And I say this because if you're having a mental breakdown or you're in a, a psychotic episode, you cannot make good choices at that point. Your prefrontal cortex is not going to be working right. That's your higher order thinking, your executive decision-making system, right? The brain part. Like, and I have talked to people who were in the middle of a disorder, a breakdown, some kind of mental crash, and I couldn't get them to make the right decision, right? And so this is important because you may think that you can overcome this or keep having the same habits that you have and still make good choices. You cannot make good choices when you have mental problems. Your brain won't allow you. And as a matter of fact, you're the last person to know that you're making stupid choices when you have brain problems and inflammation of the brain, right? You don't know. I always tell people, like, when you're going mentally crazy, you're usually the last to know about it. Everybody else is looking like something's not right, okay? And you think the decisions that you're making and the processing that you have is okay, but it's not. And like I said, if you're in the middle of a breakdown, you can't get somebody to now all of a sudden think clearly and make positive decisions with their life, with their health, you know, with their family, obviously, because you have a lot of people who wind up, you know, harming their children, themselves, you know, there's a lot of suicide, you know, risk that's involved. And so this is very, very serious. Brain power means everything and you need to optimize your brain as much as you can, right? And so how we started to make this connection in the 1940s, there was a study done and they started to see that there were people who had mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolarism. And they had high levels, they took their blood and they had high levels of lactate in their body. And usually that happens when people are exercising. And that's basically showing that they have metabolic stress. And so they started to wonder like, hey, what is this with the fact that those who have mental illness have high levels of lactate, and they're showing metabolic stress. And so that's where the kind of idea started to arise over time. And what they started to find out was that a lot of these people who have mental disorders were insulin resistant. And I want to talk a little bit about insulin resistance so you can understand it. And so that you can do what you can to reverse it. As a matter of fact, you know, even with me, and me helping my clients to reverse chronic disease, the majority of them are dealing with insulin resistance. And that's actually how I help to reverse their diseases, which is by addressing insulin resistance. Okay, so that is a huge thing because insulin resistance, it will impair the cells and how the cells are using glucose, basically. And it would create this poor functionality in the mitochondria, which we're going to really talk about because this is going to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Alright, so there's a reduction in mitochondria that happens when there is insulin resistance. And so when you're talking about insulin resistance and how your cells utilize glucose for energy, there is something that starts to happen when you don't create enough insulin in your body to, to handle all of the sugar that you're putting in your body. And I'm going to give you an analogy that can help you to understand this. So when we eat carbs and sugar, right, and we put them, you know, we put carbs into our body, it turns to sugar in the digestive system. In the process of that, or when we just eat sugar in general, right, then what happens is that sugar, uh, will go to the liver, the fat cells, it will go to the muscles. And side note, that's why it's really good to have extra muscle mass, because the muscle mass is a buffer for the extra sugar that goes in your body. So if you don't have a lot of muscle mass, this is going to be even worse for you. And insulin resistance also causes a decrease in muscle mass at the same time, so that's a double whammy, right? And so What happens is when it's too much sugar, what happens is the leftover sugar will go into the bloodstream. And so that's when your pancreas shoots out insulin to try to, you know, get the rest of that sugar out of your blood and, you know, feed it to the cell. Or a lot of times it's going to turn into fat. And so what happens is when you become insulin resistant, it happens when you put too much sugar in your body And then now your body has to utilize more and more insulin to get rid of the sugar. But then because of all of the overactive functionality of you trying to get all the insulin out, your insulin starts to decrease and then the amount of sugar in your blood starts to increase, right? And so think of it as like you have a storage bin, right? And you are trying to put clothes in this, this storage bin, right? And you're stuffing all the clothes in there, you're stuffing it. That's like the sugar. You're trying to stuff it all in there, right? And now it's getting kind of hard to stuff it because it's getting pretty full. And so now things are going to overflow. And so instead of like stopping with putting more clothes in that bin, you call some help and you say, hey, come help me, can you sit on this top so we can get it closed? And I won't wait, I want to put a few more in there, like, but just help me out. And so that's what the insulin does, is like you're, you're demanding more help to keep more sugar in your body. But eventually the help is going to run out and it's not going to function as good, and your body's going to become resistant to it because it's been just an overabundance of insulin in your body. And when insulin is in your body, all kind of inflammation happens. You know, your body can't burn fat. It is horrible. It causes chronic disease and all type of issues with your body, your brain, because remember, the brain and the body are connected. If you're harming the body, you're harming the brain, right? And so, that's what starts to happen with insulin resistance is that your body, you're putting all of the— you're utilizing way too much insulin. And you can't tell this, by the way, just from taking your blood sugar levels. Like, your blood sugar levels could be healthy, but how much insulin is your body using to keep your blood sugar levels healthy, right? How much help are you soliciting to keep all of this sugar going? Because eventually, that help is going to run out. And the only solution doctors have is either medication, right, to try to decrease the blood sugar levels, or injections of more insulin. So you mean to tell me you're going to give me more insulin when this whole problem is starting from the fact that my body is already using too much insulin, but you're going to give me more insulin shots? How about I get my body to a place where I don't have to utilize insulin? Right? Because insulin is the issue. So let's address the real issue, right? And so you actually have to take a test to see, um, where your insulin levels are. And doctors half the time don't even know what that test is. If you ask them, can I do a test that helps to track my insulin levels, they might not even know because they're just so used to checking your blood sugar levels. But insulin resistance is an issue because it causes all kind of metabolic problems, right? And so As these metabolic problems start to happen and you're getting all this inflammation in your body, because the brain and the body are connected, you're going to get some inflammation to the brain. So your eating is going to affect your brain. And that is how you increase the risk of Alzheimer's, right? And all kind of problems with dementia and, you know, just your brain functionality. Is going to be decreased if your, if your body is at risk. So I'm telling you that there has been research that links the two together, meaning that if you do have a chronic disease, your brain is at risk right now. And you don't want that to happen because trust me, if there's inflammation in the body, there's inflammation in the brain. And I tell people, you're not missing out on anything when you address your health issues and you eat a well-nourished diet, you are not missing out on anything. What you're missing out on is a heart attack, hypertension, chronic pain, back pain, joint pain, issues with your gut, digestive issues, constipation. You know, you're missing out on those type of things. Diabetes, being overweight, like not having good functionality in your focus levels, in your memory, in your mood. Your relationships are going to be affected, your sleep is going to be affected, your stress levels are going to be affected. Like, you're not missing out on anything. Let's get this stuff together because you want to make sure that you have the brain power that you need to do what you're called to do in life. There is a purpose that you have and you want to fulfill it. All right, so when we talk about metabolism, we are talking about healing the body metabolically at a cellular level. And I want to talk a bit about the mitochondria because that plays a role in everything, and everything is going to tie together when you understand how your mitochondria functions. Okay, so the goal is to make sure that you are reversing your insulin resistance, and what it will do is improve your mitochondrial function because metabolic issues decrease your mitochondrial functioning. So now what we learn about the mitochondria is that it is the powerhouse of the cell, and that's what you learn in school. You know, you, you know, hear about, uh, it creating energy, ATP. Think of it as someone used this analogy, like you are on the road and the road is chaotic, and there's a lot of things that can cause, uh, the road to be chaotic, whether it's, you know, the weather, or whether, you know, I don't know, the street lights are not working. There's a lot of different reasons, right? But let's say, uh, the, the chaos on the road is caused by the drivers in the car. Let's say the drivers are drunk, they are not well, half asleep, and they're causing crashes and all kind of stuff, right? And so now imagine if We get these drivers to now be sober and drive well. The drivers represent the mitochondria, right? And so if you get the drivers to be well, to be sober, to follow the rules of the road, then there won't be any road chaos. Okay? So that's how we're looking at mitochondria is when there is dysfunction there, everything's going to be chaotic in your body. And I want to talk about the key roles that mitochondria play in your body and in your life because it's not just, you know, this, this minimal definition of the powerhouse of the cell. There are a lot of different roles, and it's involved in metabolic disorders like obesity, hypertension, you know, all kind of cardiovascular diseases. But the mitochondria play a key role in regulating neurotransmitters— that's like serotonin and dopamine— hormonal production like cortisol, testosterone, estrogen. Also epigenetics, okay, that's the expression of your genes, your gene expression. And this happens in the nucleus where there are signals that are sent back and forth to the nucleus that helps to turn genes on and turn genes off, okay. Also mitochondria helps in calcium regulation, which helps to turn cells on and off. Inflammation with— okay, being able to turn inflammation on and off, that's a good thing because we know that inflammation can be turned on and off. Also psychological and social stressors. And so this is talking about the stress response, like what kind of response are you having to stress as far as cortisol, neurotransmitters, you know, um, inflammation, all of those different things. Your mitochondria is involved all of these different areas. So if you have a malfunctioning mitochondria, then you can see how all of this is actually going to affect the brain, right? And so we used to think of mental illness as it being connected to genetics, but what they're finding out is that it is not connected to genetics because genetics is very fixed, right? There's um, no adjustments for that when something is genetic, basically. But instead, it's epigenetics, right? It's the expression of gene, and gene expression can be changed. And so parents, even, um, who may have mental illnesses, they can pass on not this genetic idea but epigenetics, okay? And with epigenetics, yes, it can be passed on, meaning you're more susceptible to it but you also have the adaptability, the fluidity, and the ability to change this expression. And yes, it can be changed through, uh, different avenues, and we're going to talk about what that looks like and what you need to do to change this, whether you're dealing with depression, anxiety, or something even more serious like bipolarism, right? And so this is good because again, with epigenetics That means that it's not fixed and it's not permanent like genetics. And let me tell you, there are so many people who have healed themselves just from changing their lifestyle routine. And you will not hear most doctors tell you you can do that. They're gonna put you on some medication and send you about your way. But there's a number of things that can happen in order to change this situation. So How do you go through the steps of reversing the symptoms of mental illness, right? There are some things that you can do, and I'm going to share with you the things that you can do. All right. So remember, we talked about epigenetics, which means you can change this gene expression, and a lot of times it's through dieting, right? Okay. Exercise. Sleep. All right, now let me just stop here and say you want to make sure that you are doing these things. See, a lot of these, uh, steps that I'm going to name, they are steps that you may know and you may have heard about, but they are not steps that you're taking. And so I want to make sure that you are taking these steps to reverse your mental disorders and get your brain functioning at high capacity. All right, number one, let's start again. Number one is diet. All right, so you want to make sure that you're addressing your dietary, um, approaches. And I'm going to go through the best diet that you can get on to reverse your mental illnesses, and many people are doing it around the world. All right, and so you want to make sure that you're limiting your processed foods and eating a clean diet, and I'll show you what that looks You also want to get exercise in. Listen, movement alone just changes the physiological structure of your entire body. And so you want to make sure that you are exercising and that you are moving. As a matter of fact, being sedentary is going to go against this. So if you are someone who work a job where you're sitting down all day, or you're, you know, you're driving a lot, you're going to have to find ways to stand up and create movement. As a matter of fact, There were studies done that showed how even just standing up changes your entire psychological and biological structure, just from going from a seated position to a standing position. So you want to make sure you're exercising. You want to make sure you're getting sleep. This is a problem for a lot of people. They're not getting the proper sleep. And I don't know how many people I've talked to that say, oh, I can run off of 4 hours of sleep. And, you know, most people think that, like, because they feel okay that they're okay, right? And so, you know, what I have to sometimes tell people when they're not getting enough sleep and rest, because I understand that if you're not getting enough sleep, then you're not activating the parasympathetic system enough, which is your rest and digest recovery system. And most people who have chronic disease, they activate the sympathetic system the most. So if I find that you, you have a lifestyle where you're activating mainly your sympathetic system and not enough parasympathetic recovery system, I know what you're headed for statistically, okay? What, what you're more likely, um, to, to encounter. And so it's not good to not get enough sleep because you're going to destroy your body's ability to be able to heal. And so what I often tell people when they tell me stuff like, I can go off of 3 and 4 hours of sleep, I tell them, yeah, but what you're doing is you're borrowing from tomorrow the energy that you need today. So just remember that because you're gonna become bankrupt at some point. So make sure that you're getting your quality sleep because it's not about, you know, you feeling like, I can get 3 hours of sleep and still function. Yeah, you can now, but you're borrowing from your body, and at some point your body and your brain is going to pay for this. So getting enough sleep is important. And then also fasting. There's been statistically some proof and evidence that fasting helps with helping to reverse mental disorders. And then also light exposure, right? And so getting enough sunlight during the day, earlier in the day, is connected to having healthier levels of mental stability. And also decreasing light at night, all right? So making sure you're not exposed to bright light At night, as a matter of fact, um, there's some studies that show between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM, not getting light exposure is really, really healthy. So please try to limit your light exposure between 10 PM and 4 AM. Turn the lights down, dim them, because it's shown to decrease dopamine levels for up to 4 days. And that is not going to be good for your overall mood, your motivation, your level of energy. You know, dopamine is used to help you with, you know, your desires, your cravings, your motivation. It's help— it helps you to activate yourself and not getting into positions where you are not motivated to do anything. So that's going to be very important. And then also limiting substance abuse, okay? So we're talking, you know, alcohol, uh, you know, cigarettes, all these addictions. We know that they're not good. For you. We know that. But do people follow suit? No. And a lot of people who have mental disorders, they calm themselves with, you know, cigarettes. And some people might think, oh well, you know, what's the big deal? You know, they, they need something to calm themselves, they have a mental disorder. But the truth is, is that no, this stuff is harming you more. And we're not trying to take anything from you or not stabilize you. You know, we're trying to say— and when I say we, I'm talking about advocates of mental health and changing your metabolic dysfunctions Naturally, you know, we're saying like there's some things that you can do to optimize your health, and you're going against yourself if you are, um, you know, committed to these addictions. So try to get the help that you need. And that's not it. I mean, there's a lot of addictions that people struggle with, whether it's, you know, sitting up watching TV all day, scrolling on social media, like all of these different things. Some people have sex addictions. Like, these things are going to get in the way of how your brain wire and fire certain neurons and the regulation of neurotransmitters. Like, all of that is going to be affected, and that's going to, um, destroy your mood and just functionality in your brain as a whole, right? You want to make sure that you're doing things that, you know, really fight against these issues of inflammation. Now, I want to talk about the best diet. That you could possibly go on to not only reverse mental illness symptoms, mood disorders, and, you know, even certain things like bipolarism and schizophrenia, because there has been people who've done that, but just optimize your brain capacity at full functionality. And some people honestly don't even know how bad their brain capacity is until they you know, um, start to change these lifestyle, um, habits. Like, some people don't realize how bad it is. I've talked to people who I helped to reverse chronic disease with, and they're like, I had no idea that I had brain fog like this before. My brain could not even function to think about what it is I wanted in life. I didn't even know what I wanted in life. Now I, I know clearly. I have desire. I have a destiny that I want to fulfill, and I have I have like this clear vision now of what it is that I truly want and what it is that I want to go after to optimize my entire life. And I'm, you know, I have more energy to invest in my relationships better, and I'm becoming a better parent, I'm becoming a better friend, I'm becoming a better spouse. Like, these are things that start to happen when you start to, you know, implement some of these lifestyle habits, right? And so what is the best diet? Any diet that is a ketogenic diet is statistically known to help with brain health and to reverse the symptoms of mental illness. And a lot of people are against the ketogenic diet because they feel like, oh, what are you talking about? You're going to eat all that fat and you're going to eat this meat and you're going to wind up with a heart attack. But listen, it is not working. For people who are just on medication and who are doing what they're doing. So anytime a person comes to the point where they have not been able to reverse these problems and they've done all that they know how to do, then something is wrong. So let's try a different way. This is just an open door and an opportunity to say, listen, I need to try something, and what I've tried is not working, so let me try something else. And I don't want to eradicate any kind of eating disorders or anything when I talk about, you know, like even intermittent fasting and things like that. I'm just saying it is a tool. And if you are dealing with a mental illness that is, you know, um, you know, pretty extreme, or you need to be medicated, make sure that whatever changes you make, that you make them with the help of your doctor. And if you don't have a doctor who wants to team up with you then, you know, to implement some natural strategies to have metabolic health, then try to find a doctor who will. As a matter of fact, it's very hard to find a doctor who understands metabolic therapy. And so that may be a little bit of the complication part, but just make sure that you are teaming up with a professional to make the changes that you need. But a ketogenic diet is a great way to reverse some of these issues. And I have heard countless stories of how people who have had the worst episodes, the, the manic depressive, um, psychotic episodes, and all they were doing was taking medicine, you know, and medicine did help to stabilize it, but it also came with other side effects that made them, you know, feel like zombies and didn't have any energy for life and just didn't feel like they were showing up to life. They didn't really feel like they were living and and, you know, it still can create some depression and some thought patterns that make you just not want to be in this world, you know. And so a lot of them are limited to just these one-dimensional, you know, solutions. And the ketogenic diet has helped a lot of these people who are— who have been dealing with this. And so as they started to transition, and there is a transition, and I'll talk about how long it usually takes, as they started to transition, they found themselves, you know, having better mood, better brain capacity, and able to eventually wean themselves off with the help of their doctor of medication and have created this, this non-symptomatic version of their mental illness where they don't have any symptoms anymore. And so this is profound. Have you ever heard, you know, even 20 years ago that somebody could overcome bipolarism and schizophrenia from lifestyle changes? I mean, this is, this is free with no side effects really, you know. And but you have to commit to it because it is something that requires commitment. Just like if you take medication, it requires you to stay committed. You can't take the medication, you know, a couple of days and then come off of it for a week and then go back on You have to commit to it. But I also want to name some other things that the ketogenic diet has helped people to do. And there has been so much evidence. There's an overwhelming amount of evidence for the ketogenic diet. And this includes also the carnivore diet because there's a lot of people who have had mental illnesses and they went on the carnivore diet, which is a version of the ketogenic diet because your body is operating out of ketones. And they reversed their depression, their um, anxiety, all kind of mood disorders and issues that they were having. And so not only does the ketogenic diet help with, uh, brain functionality and boost your mood, but it helps with diabetes, it helps with hypertension, it helps with, you know, cholesterol issues, sleep apnea, uh, fatty liver, GERD, gout, back pain, joint pain, any type of inflammation, digestive issues, inflammation of the gut. Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue, epilepsy, which is very interesting actually because when it comes to epilepsy, there has been so much research on epilepsy and how the ketogenic diet has helped to cure epilepsy. And it's interesting because even the medication that's used for epilepsy, like, um, you know, gabapentin, um, there's a lot of different medications that's used for epilepsy. They often use those same medications for people with mental disorders. And so it's interesting how the ketogenic diet— there has been tons of research that shows how the ketogenic diet helps with epilepsy. And, um, also it helps with, you know, changing the neurotransmitter system, which is very important because that's going to again help regulate your serotonin levels, your dopamine levels. Um, also the ketogenic diet helps with, um, calcium channel regulation. And so that's gonna, you know, help with the functionality of your cells, and it improves mitochondrial dysfunction. And so as we talked about mitochondrial dysfunction and how that is the entire key that puts all of this together, with how your body gets completely destroyed during mitochondria dysfunction because of all of the things that's happening to your body when you don't have the proper mitochondrial functionality. Your brain and your body will really deteriorate, and it's going to be hard to have signals going the right way. Your hormone is going to be all imbalanced. You're going to have all kind of like inflammation that's happening throughout your body. You're going to have problems with the communication of your cells, you know, turning them on, turning them off. Remember, inflammation turning on, inflammation turning off. You know, you're going to have problems with gene expression. And so your mitochondria can be healed through a ketogenic diet from mitochondrial dysfunction. This is mind-blowing because it can change your entire world. If your mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and it is involved in all of these regulatory factors that are happening in your life, that are happening in your body, then why wouldn't you want to try something that has been known to actually heal this part of you? To get the— you know, we, we represented them earlier with saying they're like the drivers in a chaotic traffic. They're the drivers who are driving reckless. Why wouldn't you want to get those drivers back sober again so that everything can flow in, in unity and everything can flow in clarity and in organization? In your body. You do not want your body in havoc and chaos because you're going to wind up with crazy problems, you know, with everything that has to do with your health. It helps to improve mitochondrial dysfunction. And like I said, there has been so many studies and so many people who have, who have come out and said, I dealt with bipolarism, I dealt with having crazy episodes like hallucinations and delusions, and I have healed myself of this. Now, this doesn't mean that if you just put somebody on a ketogenic diet that they're just going to heal their, their, you know, mental illnesses. Now, you know, so let's not, let's not go extreme. And remember, this does require some professionalism and your doctor, you know, monitoring things, because when you get on a ketogenic diet, um, it can take a little bit of time to show some results along with these other um, lifestyle switches that I talked about. And as far as how long, how long does it take, you know, for someone to be able to see the difference with their dietary changes on a ketogenic diet, to start to see their mental problems, uh, cure and get better? Usually it takes about 3 months. Now, that first week, you know, you're gonna have some problems, probably, because a lot of times things can get worse before they get better on a ketogenic diet. And so mainly that's why you do want to have some professionalism around this, because you want to be able to get past that, like, ketogenic flu is what they call it, the bad parts of that. And, you know, you want the support if you do go into some bad symptoms. But usually after that, for like someone who's dealing with schizophrenia or bipolarism, it could take 2 to 4 weeks to start to deal with the hallucinations, generally speaking, from what it seems like people experience. And then also, it could take, you know, a few months to then start dealing with the delusions. Now, Dr. Chris Palmer, and he wrote a book called Brain Energy, he has given a lot of this information, you know, on mental illness and the connection with metabolic health. And so these are even some of his suggestions as psychiatrists who have studied this, uh, brain disorder over 27 years is that even on medication, he said that usually the hallucinations will clear up before the delusions. And so, uh, this is his suggested amount of time, which is 3 months, that it would take to overcome this stuff. Now, I do want to close with a few other things, and I want to make sure that you're not taking this and you're isolating it as Okay, let me do a ketogenic diet and then I'm going to heal myself of a mental disorder. And remember, when we talk about mental disorders, we are not just limiting it to the more extreme disorders, as we talked about with bipolarism and schizophrenia, but also, you know, the anxiety disorder, you know, depression, PTSD, other trauma-related mental illnesses. Okay, so just know that if you, if you've experienced any of those, then you're going to have some great results from, you know, making sure that you take on these lifestyle practices. And if you're not dealing with anything and you just want to have better mood and better focus and better brain power, like me, then make sure that you're taking these practices very seriously. Now, along with a ketogenic diet, um, you also want to do other things that enhance you know, your lifestyle. So these are, you know, more comprehensive approaches or comprehensive strategies that you take, you know. So things like journaling can really help with your overall health because they help to activate often the parasympathetic system, the recovery system. And, you know, remember I talked about, you know, exercise, and even like gratitude, you know, having moments of gratitude, and deep breathing and meditation, Those are some things that you can also add to this. And, you know, as I mentioned, again, I can't overemphasize getting good sleep. Go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time, have a routine, have a scheduled routine that helps you to optimize your sleep a lot better. And pay attention to your sleep and how it's affecting your mood and be self-aware of if you feel irritable, you know, if you feel a sense of impatience, if you have a low energy, if it's hard for you to memorize things or recall things, you know, like that's all brain functionality, you know. Um, just pay attention to your overall mood, your ability to be able to focus. Uh, are you more, you know, lethargic? Are you— do you feel lazy? Um, are you not motivated? Are you amotivated? You know, pay attention to yourself as it connects to these lifestyle changes. Uh, make sure that you grab a hold of your stress. Your stress is important, and that's a whole nother topic because that involves so many things, you know, with managing your stress levels, making sure like that you're in a great environment, like an uplifting environment, a supportive environment. Don't hang around toxic people who drain you, who are negative. You know, don't scroll through social media and read toxic comments that are sent to you that destroy your mood if you can't handle it. Like, know what your boundaries and your limits are to help deal with your stress. And then two more things that I would say to really pay attention to, and that is nutritional deficiencies. Like, a lot of times people don't have the right amount of nutritional empowerment, you know, to be able to help them during this journey. Like, some people are lacking minerals. I find that if I don't get enough salt in my diet, my mood can change, my energy levels can change, you know, I'm affected by that. And so I try to watch, you know, how much salt I'm getting, you know, do I have enough electrolytes in my diet and my body. And so that type of stuff can really matter. Now, I do know that there was once a time where niacin was helping a lot of people who had schizophrenia and bipolarism, like high levels of niacin. And that worked for some people. It may not work for everybody. And I'm not saying this will work for everybody, but what I am saying, there's open opportunity now. There's an open door to really go into other areas of, of solutions that could really help. And these solutions, they're not as costly as what medication can be, and it can cost you your life if you don't at least journey into figuring out other solutions, because your life is going to be heavily affected by it. And so, um, nutritional deficiencies. And then the last one to really check for are hormonal imbalances. You know, make sure that you don't have hormonal imbalances. You can get blood work to figure this out, but you definitely want to check into that to, to make sure that it's not contributing to your overall mood and your brain functionality. And if we can address the metabolic dysfunction through some of these lifestyle alterations, then we can really start to put a huge impact in the lives of so many people and just our society in as a whole. Because there's so many people who want to work and who want to, you know, do things that they're just not able to do because they're struggling with mental illness. And as a matter of fact, depression has become the number one reason why people call off work and school, up against any other chronic disease like even hypertension, diabetes, and chronic problems. Depression is the number one thing. And so mental illness is causing more people to be stagnant with their life, their work, you know, their productivity than anything else. So I think this is very important that we address this. Make sure that you share this information, share the news with other people so we can revolutionize our entire world and upgrade the health of so many people out there. Continue to leave comments and questions and suggestions for things that you would like to learn about. I'm always open to your suggestions to be able to better serve you with the information that you need to transform your entire life. This has been another episode of Health Goat. Until next time.