Radiant Beast:

the mitochondrial pathway

I have experienced three severe psychotic breaks that required hospitalization. I was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder and repeatedly told I had a lifelong chronic illness. After discovering the work of Dr. Christopher Palmer, a Harvard psychiatrist and author of Brain Energy, I implemented metabolic therapies that put my neurometabolic dysfunction into remission. My dedication to disseminating this life-changing science has inspired me to write a book; I want to do everything I can to assist the movement to revolutionize the mental health care field. Radiant Beast: The Mitochondrial Pathway, will be a blend of exploratory memoir, science-informed self-development and literary journalism. I will bring together various viewpoints, incorporating interviews with a broad range of people— others with lived-experience, activists, researchers, scientists and clinicians— who are equally captivated by the game-changing field of metabolic psychiatry. My book will: 

  • Provide a digestible overview of the pioneering science that posits mental illnesses result from neurometabolic dysfunction.

  • Tell my personal story with a particular focus on the metabolic therapies that helped me put my bipolar 1 disorder into remission, as well as the behavior change strategies that supported my lifestyle transformation.

  • Deep dive into the unique challenges and opportunities this treatment option offers those who have experienced psychosis as a symptom of their metabolic brain dysfunction.

  • Explore the existential questions that arise after post-traumatic growth and an unexpected second chance at life. 

Brain Energy & Metabolic Mind

advancing the science of metabolic therapies

For almost a decade, I believed clinicians that my bipolar 1 disorder was a life sentence: If I didn't want to end up manic, delusional, doing handstands and singing to myself in the psych ward again, I was doomed to a life dulled by antipsychotics. I put on over seventy pounds as a side effect of medication. I felt physically unwell, plagued by persistent brain fog, and always devoid of energy. I endured years in this limbo, a crumb of my former self, trying my best to settle into life post-diagnosis: sedated and a new type of sad, the kind unbearably drenched in numb.

Discovering the work of Dr. Christopher Palmer, Harvard psychiatrist and author of Brain Energy, in the summer of 2021, transformed my life. I learned that the medical advice I had been given was completely wrong. I have now been off of medications and using solely metabolic treatments— primarily ketogenic therapy, fasting, meditation, and exercise—for more than two years. I am once again physically healthy and mentally stable. I no longer label myself bipolar; I am in remission from neurometabolic dysfunction. 

Only a little over a year into my metabolic treatments, in November of 2022, I was able to join Dr. Palmer and an amazing group of individuals, including Jessica Apple, editor of the Brain Energy Magazine, in efforts to raise awareness of metabolic therapies and the brain energy theory of mental illness. This learning opportunity has had almost as much impact on me as the treatments, fueling my fascination with the science that fixed my brain and restored my health. 

In November 2023, I started a position as Mental Health Communications and Advocacy Manager for Baszucki Group and Metabolic Mind, a non-profit launched by David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox, and his wife, best-selling author Jan Ellison Baszucki. David and Jan became dedicated to promoting metabolic psychiatry after their son, Matthew, put his bipolar 1 into remission using metabolic treatments, including ketogenic therapy. Metabolic Mind, directed by Dr. Bret Scher, provides critical education and resources to patients, families and clinicians who want to explore metabolic treatments. Their goal is to help revolutionize treatment of mental disorders through the adoption of metabolic therapies. 

Metabolic Mind and Brain Energy are pushing to make comprehensive and effective metabolic treatments accessible to all. Everyone suffering from neurometabolic dysfunction deserves to know that metabolic therapies are an option that treat the root cause of mental illness, promoting long-term healing and remission.

Metabolic Treatments