“The Lion Diet” Creator and Podcaster Mikhaila Peterson Talks Politics, Moving to The US, Her New Book and More

If the last name Peterson sounds familiar to you, then you are in the right place. Last week, we had a chance to speak with Mikhaila Peterson, a popular Canadian podcaster, CEO, and lifestyle blogger. She is also a daughter of the world’s famous professor of psychology, clinical psychologist, and the author of best-selling books, Jordan Peterson

Interestingly, Mikhaila was named after Mikhail Gorbachev, a former president of the Soviet Union. Growing up, Mikhaila’s childhood was more of a Russian than Canadian style. With Soviet posters on the walls and dinner talks about Russian history and politics being a normal thing, Mikhaila read books like “Atlas Shrugged” and “Master and Margarita” when she was in grade five. And when her dad got sick a few years ago, they went to Moscow to treat him, as Canadian doctors were unable to help, “My dad was in the hospital in Canada and they were just putting him on medications, and he was getting sicker and sicker. And so we brought him to Moscow to a private hospital there, and they helped a lot. Like they probably saved him there,” Mikhaila shared.

Until recently, Mikhaila’s health wasn’t great either. In fact, she suffered from an extremely severe autoimmune disorder, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, bipolar type two, idiopathic hypersomnia, rashes, and none of it was going away. Having her hip and ankle replaced at 17 and being put on medications that weren’t helping, Mikhaila started researching alternative ways to heal, such as diets, “I tried everything the medical system had to offer and it wasn’t working. So I started looking into alternatives and basically, I did an elimination diet. But in order to get rid of my symptoms, I had to eliminate nearly everything.” And that’s how The Lion Diet was born, which is a carnivorous diet that consists solely of ruminant meat (beef, lamb, goat, etc.), salt, and water. It eliminates all other dietary variables and sustains your body’s nutritional needs. Both of Mikhaila’s parents are on that diet as well which helped them combat autoimmune disorders. Besides the Peterson family who found this diet life-saving, thousands of people have tried it as well, reporting complete remissions of autoimmune, psychological and digestive illnesses, as well as significant improvements to cognitive, emotional and physical health. “I’m trying to get the medical community to do some case studies and to really look into it. That’s my long-term goal on the side,” Mikhaila said.

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As for other goals, Mikhaila’s plate looks pretty full right now. Having a successful podcast, writing a book, managing her dad’s company, doing TEDx Talks, working on a new app together with Jordan Peterson, Mikhaila also takes care of her four-year-old daughter Scarlett. When asked how she manages to be such a superwoman, she credits The Lion Diet that gives her energy and helps her stay focused. 

When the pandemic started, Mikhaila launched her first-ever podcast show which she called “The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast. Interviewing approximately 10-12 people within two weeks (and then taking a 2-week break), Mikhaila’s guests come from various backgrounds, from crypto and finance to health, politics, and sports. Among her many guests, there were Maxime Bernier (the leader of the People’s Party of Canada), Dr. Shahin Ghadir (a renowned specialist in Infertility & Reproductive Endocrinology), Dr. Zubin Damania (an American physician, assistant professor, comedian), Zakarya Hassani (a journalist who just fled from Afghanistan), Nicole Arbour (a comedian, artist, and the Cover Star of our November 2020 issue), and even American actor Matthew McConaughey. “I literally cried after I talked to Matthew McConaughey, I was so overwhelmed. But if I had to choose one interview that really stood out to me, it would be the one with Mahamadou on Guantanamo Bay, she said. 

Mikhaila has recently started a new kind of series called “Opposing Views” where she hosts people with different views on contentious subjects like vaccines, rights, abortions, COVID-19, gun rights, and other topics. “This is probably my favourite kind of podcast right now, as it’s really interesting to hear both sides of opinions, given how split society is right now. For example, when talking about abortions, I’d have someone who is pro-life and I’d talk to them for half an hour. And then afterwards I had the pro-choice person. So they’re not talking to each other, which means it doesn’t turn into a chaotic debate. Soon, I’m hoping to do a live “Opposing Views” podcast between a Republican candidate and a Democratic candidate on some topic that still has to be set up.

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With a few live events coming up in November, Mikhaila’s schedule looks pretty busy. “I got invited to Oxford to do a debate on meat and whether it’s healthy. I’m going to be talking to two animal rights activists, so I have to prepare for that, but I’m really excited.” 

In between her podcasts and events, Mikhaila is also working on an app with Jordan Peterson. “The app is called AIM and it helps people split your life into approximately 8 areas like health, work, relationships, romantic relationships, and other big parts of your life. And then it allows you to say how satisfied you are on a scale, so you can identify which area of your life you’re not happy with and start planning steps in order to improve them. This app kind of helps you find ways to improve your life. It’s going to come out hopefully before 2022, and I think it’ll be really helpful for people.” And besides the app, Mikhaila has also designed a hangover pill that helps break down alcohol when you’re drinking. “I love bourbon, and I’ve been using this hangover recipe since I was 20. So now I’ve decided to produce this pill.”

As if this is not enough projects for a regular person, Mikhaila has also just finished her first book called “Could Be Worse” which is supposed to be out early next year. “I’ve been kind of working on it since I was in grade one. I took a bunch of my journal entries, as I’ve been keeping track of my life since primary school trying to handle having an autoimmune disorder. Because I was so sick and miserable, writing was therapeutic. So this book is about my experience having an autoimmune disorder and then putting it into remission with the Lion Diet and getting off of all my medications which caused me a terrible withdrawal.” 

On Mikhaila: dress by Club Monaco, belt by lovers + friends, bow & sheer skirt are the Stylist’s own, stockings by Victoria’s Secret

A typical day for Mikhaila looks something like this: “I’m getting up at 6:30 in the morning to get Scarlett ready and take her to school. Then coming back around 9:00 am and doing makeup and hair until 9:30 am and then doing either a podcast or an interview or meetings to run my dad’s business until around 6 pm. And in the evenings, I usually update my dad on what’s going on. It’s just been busy like that since my dad got randomly famous and I started my businesses. I’m so tired, but it’s fun and I’m happy about it,” she said. 

It is true that Mikhaila’s hard-working nature and strong work ethics come from her father, “I am way more like my dad, but I’m more intuitive than him. My dad is very logical, very intellectual, and I think that my brain is structured more that way, but I’m more in tune with my body and I definitely get that part from my mom.” Even though Jordan Peterson was sick for a number of years, now he’s back to work, doing podcasts, interviews, and planning a few live events in the fall. “Normally, when he’s feeling good, he works more than me, so he probably needs to slow down a little bit. But he is going to be doing live events and a book tour in 2022 for his new book “Beyond Order”, which I might be opening. I might also be opening for some of his lectures next year, which should be very interesting,” Mikhaila shared. 

This whole turn of events, including the sudden fame, family sicknesses, and all the stress associated with it, have made Mikhaila look for some answers in religion. “When I was young, I didn’t go to church and I wasn’t religious. I knew about the stories in the Bible, but they didn’t resonate at all. And it wasn’t until things got really bad when my dad and my mom got sick. My dad was in a hospital in Canada from his autoimmune disorder and I caught Covid in Russia at the same time, so I couldn’t get home to help. There was nothing I could do to help my dad. It was awful. I was really desperate, and that’s when I started praying. And it helped in a way that the weight of reality seemed to be less heavy. And then a few weeks ago, it’s like something switched in me and I found God. Things started to work out after that. Dad is healthy, my relationships are better. I don’t know how to explain it. Things started to make sense. I wasn’t an atheist before, but I was agnostic. And now that I’m learning more about Christianity, it’s been a huge relief.”

On Mikhaila: dress by D-Line, gloves by Ma.Genta

Religion has brought relief to many people, especially nowadays, when things in the world are so unstable. The world has divided into those who support vaccines, mask mandates, and lockdowns, and those who stand for people’s freedoms that are being taken away in most of the countries. With the government monitoring speech, social media platforms deleting anti-vaccine posts and banning people who make jokes about the pandemic, things are looking a lot like in the book “1984“. “You’re not allowed to say certain words. And they’ve got these areas in the government that monitor speech and freedoms that have very similar names to government names in “1984”. It’s scary. People should be reading that book,” Mikhaila said. 

What’s happening in the world is truly disturbing. People’s physical and mental health has significantly deteriorated over the year of lockdowns, hundreds of thousands of businesses simply did not survive, people are getting fired for refusing to take the vaccines, one half of the society hates another half for not complying with the rules that the governments change every week. Completely illogical nonsense has become the new normal, and as Mikhaila stated, “Canada is in such a bad shape right now, it’s really stressful being here. I really like Toronto, I think it’s a great city, but people here are so scared. I think they’re going to shut things down in October again, so I’m considering moving to Nashville as it’s less likely to get completely shut down. People there are like Southern American Republican Christians who protect their freedoms and don’t care about other states’ restrictions,” Peterson said. “I’ve got a four-year-old Scarlett and she’s like “Am I going to have to wear a mask when I grow up?” and I told her, “No, we’re going to move somewhere where people aren’t crazy.” 

On Mikhaila: dress by Club Monaco, belt by lovers + friends, bow & sheer skirt are the Stylist’s own, stockings by Victoria’s Secret

When asked about politics in Canada and what people believe, Mikhaila explained, “I think if you had to look at populations as a whole, Canadians are super agreeable. They are very polite and full of trust, so they lack critical thinking, believing that the government has our best interests in mind. So I don’t know, I feel like we’re kind of moving towards totalitarian dictatorship. In Canada, we have a Liberal Party and a Conservative Party, those are the two major parties in Canada. And even though the Conservative platform is better than the Liberal platform, it’s still pretty liberal, as they’re pretty close together on the left. So that’s why I’m considering moving because even my dad told me the other day that he didn’t believe the government is going to give back the power that they took for a long time. Covid isn’t going to go away.”

Whether one wants it or not, the restrictions in a lot of countries seem to stay with us for the foreseeable future. Let’s take Australia, for example, where they now have another lockdown. “What’s happening in Australia is insane. They have the army patrolling to keep people inside their houses. I remember that it almost happened last year in Toronto, but the Toronto police stepped up and said that they were not going to do that, even though the government told them to patrol the city and ask people for evidence about why they were outside. Thankfully, the Toronto police said no. But if we get shut down again in October for the fourth wave or whatever like Australia just did – and I can see that that happening here – I’m out of Canada.” 

Scoring 81% on compassion but 0% on politeness/agreeableness on her dad’s personality test at understandmyself.com, Mikhaila explained that it translates over to how much you respect authority, “Based on my experience with both the government and the medical system, I just don’t trust authority right off the bat. I’m really disagreeable. I don’t like people telling me what to do at all. Especially since most people have no idea what they’re talking about.”

When asked how she’d describe herself, Mikhaila said, “I’m really open and straightforward, though I don’t think I was always like that. Since my autoimmune disorder went into remission with the new diet I just didn’t know what to believe anymore as I didn’t think you could control autoimmune disorders with food. There were just a whole bunch of things that I’ve been through that make absolutely no sense. So since then, I’ve been really open-minded. I’ll take risks, I don’t mind if things don’t work out, as I’m not super attached to the ideas that don’t work out. So if I try something and it fails, it’s ok, I’ll just try something else and I’ll learn from that.”

On Mikhaila: dress by D-Line, gloves by Ma.Genta

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