151: It’s Not That Deep. Callum Weir and Molly Patrick Talk Sobriety and Plants.

If Callum Weir hasn’t come across your world yet and made you laugh out loud, you’re in for a treat with this episode.

We dive into how keto was basically his “gateway drug” to this sphere. We talk about why detoxes aren’t necessary—as Callum says, we already have a liver for that 😂—why consistency beats cleanses, and why the carnivore crew goes crazy about his videos.

We also share our alcohol-free awesomeness, explore the environmental impact of our food choices, discuss the power of community, and unpack what it truly means to let go of perfection while prioritizing your health.

You’re going to love Callum and this talk! 

Helpful links

• Plant Fuelled Nutrition
• @plantfuellednutrition Instagram
• Drop It Club, the CFDG plant-fueled weight loss program

Transcript, auto-generated, may have errors

Molly Patrick (00:17)
Hey everyone, and thank you for listening to this episode of the Clean Food Dirty Girl podcast. Molly here, and I have a guest today. I’m really looking forward to diving in with him. Callum Weir is here from Plant Fuelled Nutrition. And Callum, it’s good to see you again. Thank you for being here. I was on your podcast a while back, and we just had a really good, easy talk.

Callum Weir (00:36)
Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.

Molly Patrick (00:45)
And at the end, I was like, hey, can you come on my podcast because I want to talk with you more? It was just so much fun.

Callum Weir (00:52)
It was a great time. I think it felt like such a great connection, especially there was so much synergy to it.

Molly Patrick (00:59)
Yes, yes, and I was thinking about it and I was like, because you used to drink and you don’t drink anymore. Is that still the case? Okay. And I used to drink and I don’t drink anymore, but I was thinking we probably would have been really good drinking buddies. And if we were to live in the same place, we would be really good eating buddies as well now.

Callum Weir (01:07)
That’s still the case. I know, it’s just a shame we live so far away.

Molly Patrick (01:23)
It’s true. I live so far away from everyone. I’m out here in the Pacific Ocean all by myself. It’s like I’m not near anybody. There are plant-based people here, but there’s not a lot of plant-based entrepreneurs. And so it’s so fun to meet them and especially ones that you click with and you have things in common with. I think here in the US anyways, there’s a lot of people doing a lot of plant-based stuff. But I find that a lot of them take themselves very seriously. And I tend to not take myself too seriously. And you’re the same. So it’s very refreshing and delightful to meet you and to be able to talk and to do this. So thanks again for being on.

Callum Weir (02:16)
Well, thank you. I think it’s a weird one because I think I sometimes romanticize the States because I see so many plant-based people and so many plant-based entrepreneurs over there. But then when I do speak to some of them or I watch them from a distance, there is a whole ton of taking themselves too seriously instead of just having fun with it. And especially in the line of work that we’re both in. Nutrition’s not sexy. It’s not fun. So you need to make it fun. You need to make it somewhat copable for some people that go through so many different things. And it’s bizarre to see so many people take it so seriously when it’s not that deep. You can have fun with it.

Molly Patrick (04:05)
Yes, yes. And we can come to it from a playful, comedic way and come at it from curiosity and have a lightness to it. And this is actually the perfect segue for talking about your Instagram account and the content that you create on Instagram and probably TikTok, although I don’t have TikTok. I’ve never even downloaded the app. So I don’t know, but I’m sure you’re there. And you create…

Callum Weir (04:31)
I am.

Molly Patrick (04:34)
…just brilliant content. And what’s funny is we talked about this a little bit when I was on your podcast, but my mom actually is the one who turned me on to you. She loves Instagram and she was sending me all of these reels of yours and she’s like, “Oh, you have to look at this one. Oh, look at him go on this.” She was just sending me your reels for this stretch of time and I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” So she is a big fan of yours and she turned me on to you and you are great. I mean, the content that you produce and the way that you do it and the way that you say it, I think is really, really refreshing. And I just want to read to you a few things. So I was going through your account yesterday and here’s a few little bite-size pieces of stuff that you’ve said that just cracked me up or that I was really like, “Fuck yeah.” So one was: “You don’t need a detox, you’ve got a liver.” So good. You are a plant-based nutritionist. And so you come from that background. And what I love is you really just call out so much of the BS…

Callum Weir (05:31)
Thank you.

Molly Patrick (05:52)
…that you hear out there in the nutrition world and not even in the nutrition world, just from the normal everyday people thinking they know a lot about nutrition and thinking they know what’s best. And so you really call out a lot of these things that are just really not true with vegans and plant-based people. And so here’s a couple more: “You don’t need a detox, you got a liver.” Love it. “You don’t need a cleanse, you need consistency.” Love that. “You’re afraid of plants because of anti-nutrients? Congratulations, you’ve fallen for the dumbest wellness buzzword around.” “You need a break from whatever podcast convinced you that salmon was a superfood.” So right on. “You’re treating a cow like an Airbnb for your microbes.” So, so good. “If you still think carbs make you fat, congratulations, you’ve officially entered your nutritional conspiracy era.” Do you ever really go back and watch your reels because they’re hilarious?

Callum Weir (07:01)
I do go back and watch them sometimes. I go back and watch them sometimes for ideas for new content. However, when I do read them, I do also crack myself up sometimes. And it’s actually really weird hearing them being spoken back to you as well. But yeah, it’s one of those things where I stand by every single one of those things that I say.

Molly Patrick (07:21)
Yes.

Callum Weir (07:30)
For so long, for the first year or so, I was pandering to my audience to be fair, which was being like, “Hey, it’s okay, you can do this,” just being nicey-nicey about it. And it was very much I looked like I was just sitting on the fence about things. And then one day it just clicked and I was like, “Fuck it, let’s go in. Let’s go in on everything.” And then that just changed the whole dynamic of the page completely. It was just saying it in the most truthful way possible. I don’t care if I offend people either. And that’s the thing, it’s not that deep. If you get offended by something that is science, then that’s fine. People are going to have different opinions to me, that’s also fine. But also I’m going to speak my truth, I’m going to speak the science, but also try and make it in the most human way possible. Because there’s a lot of people out there that do it really well when they say it in a scientific background way. You look at people like Simon Hill, for instance, amazing at breaking down science in a very evidence-based fashion. However, I know that’s not for everybody because some people just can’t get to grips with that. Whereas having it slightly dumbed down with humor, sarcasm—and that’s the one good thing British people are good at is purely sarcasm—so I came with that completely. I was just like, “You know what, we’re just going to go all in. We’re just going to say it how it is and hopefully it resonates with people.” And it did, which was amazing. But the one-liners, I don’t know what goes on in my head for those to come out, because nothing’s scripted.

Molly Patrick (09:25)
I was going to ask that actually. I was going to ask because when I watch so many of your reels, you have a style to it. It’s almost like you’re a comic. If you watch standup comedy, which I adore and I wanted to be a standup for a long time—I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live—and it’s the place I go when I want to get away from the plant-based nutrition world that I’m so immersed in because of my job. I go to the comedy world because it’s a breath of fresh air and it’s funny and it’s people not taking themselves seriously and it’s people being offensive and that’s their job. And so, but when you watch your reels back, especially if you’re watching a lot of them one after another, you do have a style and you do have a timing. And so I was going to ask, are those scripted? Are you reading them or is that just your brain firing off and doing what it does?

Callum Weir (10:22)
That’s my brain firing off and doing what it does. Obviously there’s some times I have to cut bits out. There’s some things that I say sometimes that I’m like, “I need to cut out because if I do that, I’m canceled.” But there’s some one-liners that I will think of during the day and I’ll write those down and that’d be implemented down the line. But it’s normally just ripped off the top of my head. So I will go stand and start cooking food, start cutting something, pop the camera, start chopping and just rant. And it has become a style. I’ve tried changing the style once or twice and it was like, “No, this isn’t fun. This is different. Go back to how you were, keep holding that knife.” And I was like, “Sure.” So now I can’t move away from holding a knife anymore. That is my thing.

Molly Patrick (10:52)
Love it. That’s your Callum jam. And people, it really resonates with people. And there’s certain people like I couldn’t do that, right? There’s things that I can do. But doing that, I don’t think I’d be able to do that consistently. And I have not been… I didn’t go to school for nutrition, I have some certifications, but I didn’t go ever really deep into nutrition. But I used to write a lot about nutrition and I still do sometimes, but I would really dive deep into the science and I would have to understand it before I could try to explain it to other people. And so what happened was when I took a topic like type two diabetes, I really read a ton over it. I watched lots of videos. I really dove into the science and then I would start making notes and really dumbing it down so that I could get my head around it. And then when I would write about it, I found that it was much easier for me to explain it to people with analogies. And so I have this whole piece about our cells being like this dance club. And I have this whole thing about diabetes and sugars and glucose and all of this. And I described it as a club and there’s bouncers and people love that. But I don’t think doing that consistently would be really hard for me. And I love that you have this one particular style. You say these things that just cut. And I just want all of the people on the carnivore diet to find your page and just take that, take that.

Callum Weir (12:43)
They definitely found my page. Not in the best way though. There’s a lot of hate from the carnivore community. It does seem that whenever a video does take off slightly, that video gets posted into a carnivore Reddit feed and they just go wild in there. I love it. Keep going, keep watching. It helps me grow. You keep commenting, baby, come on.

Molly Patrick (12:47)
Exactly. Well, and that wouldn’t have happened—those people would not be commenting, they would not know you—if you would have kept doing what you were doing and been Mr. Nice Guy sitting on the fence, not really having an opinion. And when we make the bold choice to take a stand, and especially if that’s a stance in something that we wholeheartedly believe in and know about and we can take that bold stance to be like, “No, this is the thing and this is how I’m doing it,” you’re going to get people who love you. You’re going to get people who hate you and then that’s how people grow really quickly and it seems like you have.

Callum Weir (13:49)
Yeah, I would say that. I think it’s a whole kind of “no publicity is bad publicity.” It’s a great thing because yes, carnivores hate me. Omnivore people get irritated by me, but they also love me at the same time sometimes because it helps them progress further down the line of what they want to do. Vegans hate me. There’s a lot of vegans that hate me. And I’m like, “Okay, cool. I’m not for you and I don’t care to be for everyone.” I’m way past trying to please everybody because no matter how many people you try and please, it’s never going to happen. It’s not worth it. I just want to stick to my honest truth. And then with that, hopefully people resonate with that and they have. And I think that it’s very much down to being the true version of myself, because prior to that, I think people can see through when you’re not being true to yourself. And later on down the line, you become the version that you want to be. The person that you actually are. I’m a very sarcastic person in real life. You can ask any of my friends. I rip into people constantly. So I was like, “Why not just bring that to the forefront of what I do?” And it’s been great. And with that, there’s the bad and the good. And I think that’s everything.

Molly Patrick (15:15)
Yeah, totally. And I think that once we make that decision, it’s easier for us and also weeds out the people that we are not for. Because that’s a beautiful thing, not being for everybody, because it really helps the people who are your people and who do resonate with you find you easier because they don’t have to be like, “I don’t know what this guy’s about. I don’t know what she’s about.” So I’m just going to go someplace else. When you are really like, “This is who I am and what I’m about,” it’s so much easier to connect with the people who do really love it and appreciate it and are there to cheer you on and be totally entertained by it. And I also think that for people who—and it sounds like you’re very well adjusted to this—I used to have a lot of hate mail from people who wanted me to be a cleaner version of myself and I learned very early on that all the compliments I get and all the insults I get, none of them are true. It’s just based on that person’s day and how they’re feeling and it doesn’t really have anything to do with me. Because before I got on the call with you, I was just doing a coaching call for our plant-powered weight loss group and I was talking about emotional adulthood and how part of being an emotional adult is taking responsibility for how you feel and also knowing that you aren’t the reason why somebody feels or thinks a certain way about you. Because anything that they would think about you has more to do with them than it has to do with you, just like how we think about people has more to do with us than them. And so I think you come at this from a very balanced place and I love it because I don’t think you could do what you do and have your feelings hurt constantly because it would just be too much. And for me, it’s been really nice to understand that all the compliments I get don’t matter. The hate that I get doesn’t matter. I’m just going to keep doing my thing.

Callum Weir (17:22)
Yeah, I think with that as well, as you just said, people are judging you by what they see, but also they’re only seeing a highlight reel. What they’re seeing of my Instagram is a highlight reel of just me talking. That’s the one minute a day they get of me and they’re basing their whole opinion on me from that. If they met me in real life, they’d probably be okay with me. I’m not as bad as that in real life. But that’s the thing. People take their opinions on how they’re having… if they’re having a bad day, if they’re having a good day, if they write a comment, if they’re having a shitty day and most of the time they don’t mean it or they’re stuck in their own personal circumstances, their own traumas and multiple other things. I don’t get annoyed by these people mainly because I’m like, they may have said something shit, but also I don’t know where that person’s going through it. And the person could actually just be a dick but…

Molly Patrick (18:22)
Yeah, that’s true too.

Callum Weir (18:29)
But a lot of them, I feel like, don’t actually feel that way. They just see something, something has sparked some kind of anger inside them. They feel like they need to comment. And that’s great, but I don’t really stoop down to that level and just reply to them. I just give them an okay thumbs up. And I don’t know if that pisses them off more, but…

Molly Patrick (18:51)
Probably. I mean, I think that’s the best thing. Sometimes the best thing we can do is just say nothing. I love it. Well, yeah, your content is so good. And anybody who doesn’t follow you, please go to Plant Fueled Nutrition on Instagram, TikTok, and or Callum Weir, your name as well, I’m sure. We’ll put all of this in the show notes as well. So I’m curious, how did you get into nutrition and plant-based nutrition? Were you into nutrition before you became plant-based or was your entry into nutrition the plant-based world and what sparked that?

Callum Weir (19:30)
So I think nutrition was never at the forefront of my life. Growing up, I had a very unhealthy relationship with food. I think like the majority of people in the Western world, we have that kind of yo-yo dieting or really unhealthy habits and things like that. But there was always something that needed to change and I just didn’t know what that was. Later on down the line, I actually had a friend who was called Amy, who was wearing a jumper from the animal rights activist company, PETA, which said, “I’m not a nugget.” And I really enjoyed that jumper. I didn’t know what the meaning of that was until I went home. It had a cartoon chicken on and said, “I’m not a nugget.” And I just thought it was cute. I didn’t know anything of it. I was probably 16, 17 at the time. I went home and ordered that.

Molly Patrick (20:11)
And what did it say? Sorry, I didn’t catch it. Oh yes, “I’m not a nugget,” yes. I have that sticker somewhere.

Callum Weir (20:30)
I went to go order that jumper anyway. But as you do, if you go on the PETA website, it’s not a clothing website like I thought it was going to be. And I got confronted with obviously everything that you may see on slaughterhouse footage and various other bits and pieces like that. And what I did was ignore it.

Molly Patrick (20:38)
Oh, that’s funny. You thought you were going to order some cute wares.

Callum Weir (20:57)
As everybody does when they’re young, you’re like, “It’s out of the back of my mind. I knew that anyway.” Later on down the line, I started eating more plant-based. Wasn’t fully plant-based. There were just options. I was always curious and I’d always go for the more veggie option. I just felt like there was something off balance. So I’d go get my Linda McCartney sausage or the corn nuggets or whatever. And they were great because that started transitioning me into this more vegetarian, pescatarian lifestyle. And from there, it was like, something doesn’t feel right because although I apparently am being healthier, I don’t overly feel great because I am still eating nuggets. They’re not the health food in the world, even if they are made of plants. And that’s when I decided that I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I want to study something different because at first I was in marketing and I was like, “This is not what I want to be doing.” So then I went off, studied nutrition for a bit and then came out. At this point I’d already gone plant-based vegan, whatever you want to call it. I’d already gone that way, but going and studying nutrition then cemented that even more into me. Then you find out everything you know—cholesterol, heart disease, the detrimental effects of red meat, poultry, eggs, whatever. And beforehand I probably could have been on the fence about maybe going back to eating meat if I was in a social crowd maybe. But then when I went and studied I was like, “Okay yeah, I’m never going back because you learn so much.” And a lot of that is learning so much from your own research as well, because I wouldn’t say it’s overly taught that we should be consuming more plants. I know that’s something that’s obviously changing now, but at that point it wasn’t. So I went full in with completely plant-based nutrition because it felt aligned with my ethics. It was totally to do with how I live my life. And I don’t think I could go out there and start promoting knowing the detrimental effects if somebody eats too much of that. So I was like, “We’re going to get completely… this is going to be completely plant-based.” It’s going to be alongside what I believe in, but also how I can help people because I’ve also been through that myself. I’ve gone from eating a very meat-heavy diet to being a bit of flexitarian, whatever that means, and then going the full shebang and going completely plant-based.

Molly Patrick (23:47)
Okay, so it sort of coincided and merged and then, yeah, I get it now.

Callum Weir (23:51)
Yeah, there were quite a few stepping stones to it, but the initial reaction was seeing that jumper and then going on the PETA website and that was at 16, so yeah, that’s going on quite a few years now.

Molly Patrick (23:54)
PETA was your gateway drug. I love it.

Callum Weir (24:07)
Yeah, unfortunately that’s the way I had to find out about things.

Molly Patrick (24:12)
Right, yes, as young ones, we always find out in hard ways sometimes. I think what’s interesting is what made me… when you said, well, if I’m going to be teaching nutrition, you want to follow the way that you know is best, right? And you learned what is best. And so it would be hard for you to eat one way and talk about plant-based nutrition. And it reminded me that one of the main reasons why doctors used to refrain from telling their patients to quit smoking is because they themselves smoked. And oftentimes in the doctor’s office right back in the day. And I’ve heard a lot recently about one big hurdle for doctors and people in the medical fields here for not encouraging people to eat more plant-based is because they themselves don’t eat plant-based. But when you get a doctor or a dietitian who they themselves are plant-based, they’re obviously much more inclined to tell their patients about it. So it’s sort of like practicing what you’re preaching and having it be holistic in the sense that you know about it, you teach it and you’re actually following that way as well. So when you went totally plant-based then, did you… I mean, you had already been eating kind of that way, but when you went all in with it, was there anything that changed for you physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally after that change?

Callum Weir (25:53)
I’d say there were various things that changed for me. Prior to going that way I was always into training and fitness and things like that and it always made me feel quite sluggish beforehand when I was eating a lot of red meat and poultry. It just didn’t sit right. I don’t know if it just wasn’t reacting well to me, but when I went plant-based, that energy and the performance went up. I became stronger than I ever was. It was great. At first, I think there’s some switching around and working out what works. But when I optimized that completely, I got stronger than I ever was before. When I first changed over, I was like, “I still want to build the amount of muscle, but plant foods don’t have the same amount of calories as a steak does.” So I was still under-eating at first, but once I realized that I was like, “Hey, now things are working.” I would say mentally I became less fatigued, less fogged in the head. I would say I was more straightforward thinking. I think I had a better mentality about the world. I don’t know if that has anything to do with nutrition, but I had a better mentality. I became more emotionally stable towards my ideas and ideologies instead of just being all over the place with them because things had been set in motion and I was living a more aligned or valued life. So I wasn’t just trying to please everybody. Spiritually wise, as much as I rip into spirituality in a lot of my reels, I do think there’s part of me there that has parts about me that very much align with that. I’m into a bit of woo-woo stuff once in a while. And that has come later on down the line, but all these things have progressed over time. It’s been a stepping stone. So at first it was very much the performance, then it was the strength, the mentality, being an emotionally stable adult, and then after all those are in place it’s like, “Hey, is there anything else left?” And yeah, I think there’s part of me that’s somewhat spiritual in a way of alignment, grounding, and just knowing that everything happens the way it’s meant to.

Molly Patrick (28:30)
I’m a firm believer in that as well. Did that shift start happening for you after you quit drinking or did that start before?

Callum Weir (28:43)
I’ve stopped drinking now what, a year, a year and a half. So I think ever since doing that there’s been things that also have progressed and developed. So I would say yes, my mentality is a lot better. I’m not constantly on edge. I’m not constantly angry. I wouldn’t say I was angry, but I wouldn’t say I was calm. There was always that nervousness, I’d get irritated very easily. I think with that as well, it opened my eyes to just seeing the world for what it is and just being at peace for what it is instead of just being angry at the world. And I think with that, seeing it for what it was allowed me just to calm down. It allowed me just to be like, “Hey, there’s nothing I can do right now that is ever going to stop this. Let me just align myself to make sure I can be the best version of myself and hopefully being the best version of myself will allow the best version of things to happen.” Now is that somewhat manifestation? I don’t know. But it is very much, as long as I’m living in alignment and doing my best I can and not caring about what other people think and not letting those smaller things get to me, everything leveled out and I became a lot more… everything just fell into place.

Molly Patrick (30:17)
There’s something to be said for allowing things to be as they are and not trying to force things to be as we want them. Because that’s impossible. When we can let go of that control—because if you look at it, the reason we want to control things is either because we want something to be different than it is or we want something there that isn’t or we want something that isn’t there to be there. And it’s all based on our preferences and what makes us feel better. So I think control is ultimately needing to be okay, wanting to be okay, wanting to feel good. And when we can just let it go for what it is, we might find that it’s such a burden that’s lifted because we don’t have control, ultimately. And when we are wanting something to be desperately different than it is, that creates so much tension. And when we can release that, now that doesn’t mean that things can’t change and we can’t work on making the world a better place or inspire other people, but when we release this control it’s like all of a sudden we’re flowing with life and not against it. That’s what I found and I certainly did not come to that until after I quit drinking because I think like you had mentioned, you weren’t angry but there was agitation. And I can totally relate—that feeling of not being able to quite settle or feeling buzzy or just not calm. And I certainly don’t think I would have been able to reach that point when I was still drinking. And the healthier I became after I quit drinking with my food and my movement and my wellness, the more obvious that was to go with the flow of life and it’s going to be a lot easier and it’s going to be better all the way around.

Callum Weir (32:34)
I think the best way to frame it is you have to let go of control to be in control. As soon as you let go of the control that you’re trying to control around you, then your life does slowly control itself in the right direction. So by giving up that control, you’ve also gained control and it’s just polar opposites.

Molly Patrick (32:41)
Yeah, and that’s what you did with your content and how you were presenting yourself with what you do. You gave up the control of what people think about you, right? Because in the beginning you were like, “Okay, I’m going to be on this fence so that people don’t get offended.” And then you let go of trying to control the narrative or control how people felt and you’re just going to be how you are. So that was definitely a letting go and look what happened. Clearly this is the direction that you, Callum, this human who you are, are able to now express your talents and what you’re really good at in a way that delights people—okay, and pisses some people off—but you are flowing now in that. And so I think that’s a good example of that.

Callum Weir (33:48)
I would definitely agree with that. I think as well, there’s so much to be said of, and as you mentioned previously as well, that there’s so many things that alcohol does in particular that holds you back from being your true self as well because you’re masking yourself constantly to be someone that you’re not, to be someone that people like, to be a people pleaser. You’re just masking yourself to make sure you’re likable because it’s a social lubricant. It’s a social lubricant that allows you to have that Dutch courage to just speak to anybody and be that person that you can’t be usually. And that in itself is some sort of control, but you’re using a substance to control the outcomes of what you want or perceive your life to be, especially on a night out. You’re trying to control an entire night out with a drink. And then the next day you’re back to square one. Nothing’s changed. You’ve just got a hangover. You’re still the same person. That alcohol is not going to be with you forever. And it’s not going to help you pursue life in the way that you want it if you don’t understand who you are yourself.

Molly Patrick (35:08)
Yeah, so true. It’s like the people around you don’t see truly who you are, but I think too, the longer you did it—I don’t know how old you are or how long you were drinking, I think I’m probably older than you—but it got to the point where I didn’t know who I was without it. Let alone other people, I didn’t know. And that was one of the scariest things for me when I quit is: Who am I when I don’t have this lubricant and also when I’m no longer being controlled by this lubricant? That’s the other thing because I would do things that I didn’t want to do in order to feel that way. I would say yes to things that I wouldn’t want to say yes to but it involved drinking so I would. Maybe I wanted to go to a movie or a play, but I would say no because I wanted to stay home and drink. I wanted to go to the movie, but I was being controlled by it that it was almost like letting go of that was letting go of that substance actually controlling me and regaining control over myself. And I don’t know, again, I was in it pretty deep. When you were drinking, was it a daily thing or what was your frequency like?

Callum Weir (36:35)
So for context to your earlier question, I’m 33 now. And as a person that grows up in England, we have a very big drinking culture. We probably have one of the worst drinking cultures in the world. So I started drinking when I was about 15, illegally. And then obviously when we hit 18, I was going to the club every single night where I was like, “Oh, this is now becoming… this is the best thing ever. I’m going out and partying. It’s great. I can do this forever.” And then I was doing this for multiple years. I’d go out on a Monday, I’d go out on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, go out Sunday. I’d chill with the mates, have beers, have drinks, et cetera. And then I had the opportunity to go work on a party island in Greece, which was a few years of my life where you are paid to drink, flirt, and get drunk and just get people into bars constantly. That’s the dream job for a 21-year-old. And I was like, “This could never get any better.” I don’t think Callum back then, if I told him what I’d be doing now, he’d be so disappointed in me. He would think that’s so boring. And so my lifestyle was waking up at nine in the morning, going to a beach bar, drinking all day, having an hour nap, then going to work at 11 o’clock in the evening, drinking till four in the morning, and then having two or three hours sleep, and then going back on the same rotation every single day for years and years and years. And then when I got back, I was like, “I still want to live that lifestyle, but obviously in the UK.” So I’d be at clubs every single night. I’d be partying as much as I could. And then it got slightly out of control. And what I realized was…

Molly Patrick (38:36)
See, this is so funny because for me somebody might hear this and be like, “Okay, but I thought he was out of control before,” but now you’re like, “Now it got out of control after this.”

Callum Weir (38:44)
Now, yeah, because there it was given to me for free. There I was paid to do it. There it was great. And I then have to carry on that lifestyle, but somehow being able to afford that lifestyle without someone paying for me to do it. But then it was working, going straight from work, have a shower, go back to a club, party all night, leave the club, get changed at a train station and go straight into work still in that version of myself. And yeah, after a while I calmed down and I was like, “Maybe we can chill.” I got into the corporate world for a bit. I was like, “I really can’t be seen doing this constantly.” So that made me calm down. And then I went traveling for a few years and obviously you’re staying in hostels, you’re staying in random places with random people. And I’m a pretty outgoing extroverted person anyway. But when you’re in large crowds as well, it’s a social lubricant. So I started drinking again. And the whole of South America that I was traveling at the time, every single day I was drinking, even though I was doing something exciting the next day, there was always a drink involved. And then it got to the point where I was like, “Something needs to stop.” Because then what I realized was—I kind of had, I wouldn’t say it’s an epiphany, but we can call it an epiphany for the sake of it—was the fact that at one point, I didn’t know what made me happy. I was confusing happiness with pleasure. So pleasure for me was going out and drinking and partying and doing whatever else. However, it never made me happy, but at that time I thought that’s the thing that’s going to make me happy. And every time I’d go out and do that, I’d be like, “Maybe this is the time that’s going to make me happy.” And then I realized that it never did. I was just in that constant cycle trying. It’s the same as the people that earn a shit ton of money and they’re like, “I needed that new Lamborghini, I needed a big house, I need this and this,” but it’s never enough. Because that wasn’t the thing that made them happy. They have the money to get these things, but it doesn’t make them happy. And that was the same with drinking. That was the same with smoking, the partying, everything else that went along with it. I was like, “These things are going to make me happy.” And they made me happy at that moment. But when the next day came around, nothing had changed. I was still the same person. And it was then realizing that you can go to other countries and there’s all these people that have zero, nothing to their name. And they are normally happier than I was. You go to places like Thailand, you go to places like India, and these people are quite happy living their life. They don’t have the best lifestyle and they don’t have the best life, but they are choosing to live by what they’ve got. And sometimes they’re the happiest people. And I was like, “How are they so happy but I’m not?” And it was the fact that I’d never really realized what made me happy. Instead, I just chose things that gave me that false happiness that just lasted a few hours.

Molly Patrick (42:16)
Yeah, a fake happiness.

Callum Weir (42:18)
Yeah, it was a fake happiness. I think especially in the last two or three years, although I’ve stopped drinking now for one and a half years, those last three years I’ve been trying to work out what actually makes me happy because I’d never had that chance from the time I started drinking to now to realize what actually made me happy. I missed out on experiences or things that may have actually fulfilled me, but I don’t know what they would have been because I may have just gone out and done something else instead. I would have gone out and got drunk.

Molly Patrick (42:51)
Yeah, it’s like the opportunity cost of it all, right? I think back to my own… wow, what all did I miss out on? There’s so much I missed out on and so many opportunities I missed out on and opportunities for relationships to get deeper and more honest. When I think about that, I’m like, well, okay, I am where I am now. And so I don’t dwell on that, but it would definitely… when I quit, that was a big thing. It’s like the world opened up to me where it was very, very small for so long. And when I quit drinking, boom, it opened up. My internal world opened up. I was able to find the stuff that not only, for me, was like, “Fuck happy,” I just want to figure out who I am without this drink in my hand. But I was going to ask you, so now that you have a year and a half sober and you’re on this path, what does make you happy right now?

Callum Weir (44:00)
What does make me happy? I actually got asked this the other day by someone and I had to pause and think because I was like, “What is it that actually truly makes me happy?”

Molly Patrick (44:04)
You’re like, “God damn it, I still don’t know.”

Callum Weir (44:14)
As of the moment, it is spending time with friends, spending time with family, being out in nature, being able to live the life I want to live in a very calm mannered way. It’s going to events that are just… it’s still going to the same events—well, it’s not going to clubs—but it’s going to the events without the drink and actually just acknowledging it for what it actually is. Going to a show, going to anything else. I really actually quite enjoy the small things in life. At the moment, I’m also seeing somebody and that person makes me happy. But those prior relationships that I’ve had, there wasn’t the connection I have with this newest person because there was also that kind of… we both drank together, so it was covering up the cracks. And this time around, it’s getting to know somebody without having the physical attributes of alcohol involved and actually being aligned with that person and being my authentic self. And I think there are so many different things that make me happy. I’m still finding things that make me happy. I’m trying out new hobbies and trying out new skills. I saw the other day someone doing clay pottery and stuff like that. I was like, “It just looks therapeutic. I just want to try that.” And I think that would probably make me happy, but it’s just a ton of things. And I think at the moment it is the connections that I’m making and aligning myself with people that live the same lifestyle or the people that aren’t very judgmental that they don’t drink either. It’s just being like, “Hey, come to this place and do these things with me. It’s fine, you don’t have to.”

Molly Patrick (46:15)
Yeah, I love that. And I agree, that’s for me too. It’s the little stuff. It’s the little stuff that I totally used to take for granted or not appreciate. It’s so cute—my partner, she’s French and she’s Parisian. And the first time I visited her in France, she lives in an apartment building and she has a bunch of neighbors that she really loves and they’re all friends. And what they would do is once a month, they would all get together and have breakfast together and they would all wear their pajamas and wear their slippers and all just bring fruit or oatmeal or whatever. And they would all pick one of their houses and just have breakfast together. And I thought that is the sweetest thing. I think more friends need to have breakfast parties together, but it’s like those little moments and it’s breakfast, right? You’re connecting, you’re clear, you’re being able to be more vulnerable and having these really genuine connections with people. So I love that. And I love that it’s like… so much of it is about the relationships, isn’t it? It’s just such a big thing.

Callum Weir (47:24)
That’s the thing. I think as well, if I still had the… if I was still living the life that I was prior and I was still drinking, I don’t know if I’d be in the right position to be open to even acknowledging new people as well, whether that be a relationship or just external friendships. I don’t know if I’d be open to those because I liked the routine. Now that I don’t have that routine, I’m so much more open because there’s so many more things that are clearer to me and I now know myself.

Molly Patrick (47:55)
There was this woman who I used to know when I was still drinking and this just seemed like a thousand years ago, but I really liked her. She was this very dynamic person. She was plant-based. She was really kind and she didn’t drink. She was sober. She had gotten sober and she had been in AA and we ran in some same circles and I knew her through work mainly. But she had really wanted to be my friend and she wanted to hang out and she was always asking, “Let’s go do this or that.” And I never once said yes to her because I was like, “She doesn’t drink, I’m not going to be her friend.” Talk about an opportunity cost. Here’s this awesome human who I’m sure is a lovely person and I’m just straight up saying not interested, not even interested in going to have coffee or whatever, because I know that we’re not going to drink and she’s sober. And I think that part of me was really jealous that she was sober and I wasn’t. And so I just wasn’t even open to hanging out with her or to being her friend. And I think about her a lot. I actually reached out to her when I did quit and I did talk to her about this and it was very healing for me because it was like a big thing in my head. But yeah, the routine of it because we do get into our routines and especially when we’re in those habitual patterns, it’s like anything that breaks that routine is endangering the routine. That’s what we feed off when we’re in those loops. So thank you for bringing that up. And thank you for being open about it and for talking about it because it’s one of my favorite things to talk about just because it’s personally been an important journey for me. So I love connecting with people who have also experienced that. And when I quit, I was 35 and now I’m 45. So it’s been 10 years. So you actually quit earlier than me. So bravo. I mean, I can’t imagine going back and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Callum Weir (50:11)
I would say there are times sometimes when life does get stressful, you’re like, “Fuck, I could do with a drink right now.” But I don’t think there’s any part of me that would ever go back to drinking. And if there was, it wouldn’t be to the extent I was, but I’m happy without it. I don’t need it. It’s made me who I am today now that I don’t. And I know more of myself than ever before. So yeah, I think there’s always that initial sometimes “what if,” like what if I just carried on? What would I be? But no, I’m glad that it’s out of my life. I have no reason to pick one up again. I don’t feel like I need… there’s no missing of it. I thought there’d be a lot more missing. I was like, when you go to a pub or something with your friends, I could just sit there and have something else and it’s absolutely fine. But it was the initial scare reaction of like, “Oh, what am I going to do?” And the fact is you just had to get out of your comfort zone. So the first thing I did to get out of my comfort zone was stand up and do karaoke in front of a load of people just to get past it. Just that initial “this is going to be sketchy going to a pub with my friends without drinking” and it was a karaoke night. I was like, “You know what, if we get the worst thing out the way first, it can only get better.”

Molly Patrick (51:27)
Nice. I love that you leaned into that fear. You’re like, “What’s going to be really scary? I’m going to do that.” Because if you could do that, you could handle the rest—it’s going to be easy. Love it, love it, love it. Okay, let’s talk about food really quickly. And here’s what I want to do. I want to go back to those little one-liners that I talked about earlier and I just want to pick your brain a little bit to see where the inspiration from those came from. So the first one was: “You don’t need to detox, you’ve got a liver.” I adore it. I’m very judgmental about detoxes and cleanses. So you’re speaking my language. Tell me: “You don’t need to detox, you have a liver.” Talk to us about that.

Callum Weir (52:12)
We’re coming up to the right time of the year as well. It’s going to be New Year soon. Everybody’s going to be like, “I need a detox.” All these brands are going to come out being like, “You’ve got this detox tea.” It’s going to make you shit yourself. That’s all it’s doing. It’s going to make you shit yourself. And that is not a detox. That’s a very different thing to detoxing. That’s diarrhea. Your body detoxes by itself. You don’t need to go into special plants of celery juice and laying out in the moon and sunbathing in your bumhole. You don’t need to do any of that, which people do like to try and detox themselves. Your body is meant to do what it’s meant to do. Yes, there’s going to be some people that have issues with their liver, but the large majority of people don’t. So let the body do its job. It’s not going to be an overnight thing, but if you eat clean for a few weeks, your liver will start to detox your body for you. That’s what it’s there for. It’s not just there for fun and games. It’s literally there to do its job. It’s like your lungs are there to breathe. Everything has its part within the body and people get so scared because there’s so much fear-mongering out there that your body is not doing the thing it’s meant to do but you’re feeling a bit iffy that day. What are the other things you probably could have done in the first place? Just eat a better diet, maybe stop drinking, maybe stop smoking, whatever. Maybe just cut out junk foods or maybe just have consistency in your life. You know what will happen if you have that consistency in your life? Your liver will start doing the thing it needs to do.

Molly Patrick (54:13)
Love it, yes. Speaking my language, okay. And you hit that one: “You don’t need to cleanse, you need consistency.” So again, being consistent with that. Okay, I love this: “If you’re afraid of plants because of anti-nutrients, congrats, you’ve fallen for the dumbest wellness buzzword around.” So anti-nutrients, my gosh, set us straight.

Callum Weir (54:34)
I hate it. This only comes from the carnivore community and that or the very hardcore paleo. It’s an ad people are like, “But there’s phytonutrients in beans.” They’re not killing you. The longest living populations on the planet are eating beans. It’s not an issue. If you were only eating beans, maybe it might be an issue. But also if you’re only eating beans raw, it will be an issue. Then there’s all these anti-nutrients people like—the leafy greens have phytochemicals that are defense chemicals that are going to block absorption. Yeah, cook them then. Cook them. The only thing that’s stopping that you’re doing that is cooking them. But at the moment, there seems to be this whole movement of orthorexia where people are standing in shopping centers or supermarkets yelling at the back of ingredients because it has more than five ingredients. They’re like, “This is bad for you,” or “This has defense chemicals,” or “This has this.” There’s some people selling absolute bullshit. It’s just pure fear-mongering and the more people are confused and the more people are scared about what they’re meant to eat, the easier they are to sell to. If a guy is yelling kale is bad for you and has a supplement brand on his website, there’s a reason for it. And this is why I try to stay away from any kind of collaborations in any way, shape or form of supplements and multiple other things unless I actually use them, because I don’t want to be in that same situation of looking like I’m trying to fear-monger people when I’m just trying to give them honest information. Everybody at the moment is an online snake oil salesman. And as long as they can get you scared and confused, you’re easier to sell to. And that is basically what is going on on Instagram.

Molly Patrick (56:37)
Right, yeah, and you have a background in marketing too, so you have some insight into this that not everybody does. Okay, really, really good. “You need a break from whatever podcast convinced you that salmon was a superfood.” Can we talk about fish really quick? Because so often people are like, “Okay, well, I eat mainly plants, but I still eat fish for the omegas.” And there’s problems with fish, right? I want to hear what you have to say about this. I also just read a study that came out that said that fish feel physical sensations 20 times more than humans do.

Callum Weir (57:19)
That’s insane. But also, it doesn’t surprise me. I think that a lot of people underestimate what other creatures can feel because we can’t really resonate with them. So they don’t think about what a cow could feel or a fish could feel or a frog or an insect could feel. I don’t know if insects can feel, but I assume they can. However, fish—everybody goes on about fish because it’s for their omega-3s. No one can give an actual reason why they eat fish apart from an omega-3 or the fact that they just like it. Fish don’t make omega-3. Fish get it from algae. They eat the algae source, which is seaweed or microalgae or phytoplankton, things like that. And that’s how they get that algae. It is then just eaten a lot of, and then they are more condensed and compact with the algae and the DHA and EPA omega-3s, which we need for our brain function. However, obviously we eat those and it’s the middleman. So, also alongside the middleman, you’ve got mercury, you’ve got lead, you’ve got whatever shit people put in the ocean. You’ve got oil spills and you’ve got microplastics. You’ve got a thousand other things just going around this fish’s body. So it’s not just the omega-3s you get, it’s everything else. It’s the whole shebang. People assume let’s get it from there when there are sources that we can get it from. And I would say that a supplement would be great, like a DHA/EPA supplement, if you want to take one of those. If you don’t want to take one of those, that’s fine. You can also eat algae-based foods. You can eat seaweed, you can eat nori sheets. You can eat a multitude of different sea vegetables that will give you those omega-3s. And also we can go down the route of ALA omega-3s, which would be your chia seeds, your walnuts, your hemp seeds, et cetera. And while they’re great for ALA, and if you eat enough of them, some people can convert that into EPA and DHA. That’s not everyone as well, because conversion rates can be quite shit. That can be due to shitty diets. That can be down to genetics and a multitude of other things. So the conversion rate’s not always that good, but if you’re eating enough of them, you will convert some. So I always say have a load of ALA-rich foods—all those seeds, nuts, et cetera. But also just for your peace of mind, eat some algae-based foods. If you don’t like algae-based foods, take a supplement. But there’s no reason to drag a fish out of the ocean for no reason at all to feed yourself with stuff that you don’t even know if it’s got omega-3 anymore. Because that’s also diminishing where we keep destroying the ocean. We keep ripping fish out of the sea and then they have to repopulate, but they don’t have time to repopulate and then eat the foods that they need to because they’re then given whatever stuff to repopulate them quicker. So that’d just be like whatever people feed them in factory farms—fish bits. So there’s a lack of omega-3 and I think in the next seven or eight years, there’s going to be a lack of fish in the sea with omega-3 in it. So at the moment, the omega-3 that we get supplements from, fish oil and stuff like that, comes from like the Peruvian anchovy. Peruvian anchovy, they had to stop fishing because we were overfishing them. When they came back, they started fishing them again, but they didn’t have any of the EPA and DHA in them that they had beforehand, which means that that’s diminishing. So now the fish oil that people are buying doesn’t necessarily mean it’s got the omega-3s anymore. It’s just solid marketing.

Molly Patrick (1:01:17)
Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for clearing that up. I went to a talk—I don’t know if you’ve heard of Dr. Michael Klaper. He’s a plant-based guy here. He came to Maui and he did a little talk. There’s a vegan society here who puts on these talks. And I always… there were like 15 people in the audience. I’m like, everybody needs to come hear this. But anyways, he had a question about fish at the end of his talk and somebody was like, “You know, I’m mainly plant-based, but I’m still eating fish for the omega.” And he just was like—and he’s an older guy, and as we get older, I think we just don’t have time for bullshit—he just was like, “Fish is just done. We just have to be done. That’s over now. That’s just over now.” And I love how he presented it in just this matter-of-fact way of like, it’s done. It’s not necessary. We don’t need it. And there’s way more reasons to not eat it than there are to eat it and you don’t have to eat it because you can get this stuff from algae like they’re getting it. So I think it’s a great point and I don’t know about you but it seems to me like fish is one of those things where for people who don’t want to go totally plant-based, keeping that in almost acts as a buffer for their social reputation in a way, right? Like, “Okay, well, I’m eating mainly plant-based, I still eat fish.” It’s almost this “but I’m okay, I’m not weird. I’m not one of those weird vegans.” And I think that there’s a lot of just social pressure that people have to not be one of those totally plant-based people. And I think fish is kind of their one thing that makes it okay, but I think it’s really important to hear all of this stuff to know that you’re probably harming yourself way more by eating it than not.

Callum Weir (1:03:11)
That’s the thing. I think you’re harming yourself more by eating fish. If you went back 30 years ago, yeah, fish was probably better for you because we hadn’t done what we’ve done to the oceans. However, if you take out the nutrition of the fish, why are you ripping something out of the ocean and killing it? There’s absolutely no reason to be killing things, especially in 2025, especially fish.

Molly Patrick (1:03:38)
And we need that ecosystem. We need the ocean life. We need the life in the ocean. And we’re already ravaging the ocean so much. And it’s wild, because I live on Maui. And you see people going out to do snorkeling and diving and to look at all this. And then for lunch, they’re having fish. And I’m like, do you not see the irony of it? So I like talking about this. And I think that it’s not talked about enough. So thank you for hitting on that.

Callum Weir (1:03:59)
I think one thing you just mentioned as well is people eating fish on a boat trip. It blew my mind. I lived in Australia for two years and you go to the Great Barrier Reef—the one thing that the planet is trying to protect because it’s a giant ecosystem. Yet you go on a boat out there and they’re like, “Lunchtime, we’re serving fish from the Great Barrier Reef.” What the fuck are you doing? You’re trying to save this and then you’re eating them. Come on.

Molly Patrick (1:04:29)
Yes. And it’s like cognitive dissonance because people don’t even think. They’re like, “Oh yeah, give me some tofu, please.” It’s so much easier. And it’s so obvious that that’s… yeah, it’s wild, isn’t it? When we just have these beliefs and this way of thinking that has never been challenged. We just go into it without thinking. It’s crazy. And so I think which is important, which is why your work is important and my work is important and all of us who are advocating for this for so many reasons, because it’s about health, but it’s also really about the health of the planet for me. That’s a big one and animal advocacy as well. And it’s like this one change can help all those things.

Callum Weir (1:05:22)
Absolutely.

Molly Patrick (1:05:24)
Okay, so let’s talk about this one: “You’re treating a cow like an Airbnb for your microbes.” Boom! Talk to me.

Callum Weir (1:05:33)
That was to deal with B12. A lot of people assume that you get B12 from the cow because B12 does react with the cow’s intestines or whatever four chambers they have in their belly that people go on about. Great. Doesn’t really mean anything when B12 doesn’t actually come from cows. It comes from the soil. It comes from cobalt-rich soil that then turns into cobalamin, which then the cow eats and then it’s digested through the stomach and it works. We have the same. We just can’t utilize it. Our body still creates B12, we just can’t utilize it. It’s exactly the same as the cows. However, everybody goes on about B12—we need to get it from this and this. Just take a supplement because the thing is, the cows are supplemented, the pigs are supplemented, the chickens are supplemented, everything’s supplemented so much. Because we’ve destroyed the ecosystem, we’ve destroyed the soil, we’ve destroyed the cobalt soil, it won’t go down to cobalamin, the cow won’t get it naturally, neither will we because we have a sanitized food system. We wash our fruit, we wash our veg, we don’t drink from streams anymore because we’re not cavemen. Everything’s been sanitized and we’ve destroyed things. So no one’s getting it naturally. There’s going to be certain places in the world where cows probably are still getting that naturally, but the majority of people aren’t getting their food from there. If the cow’s roaming around in the wild, that’s fine. But you’re getting your meat from a factory farm. That thing hasn’t seen grass. That thing hasn’t seen soy. That thing has seen supplements and torment. Just stop eating it. Take your B12 supplement. It’s cheap. It’s actually cheaper to buy a jar of B12 supplements for the whole entire year than it is to buy a steak.

Molly Patrick (1:07:37)
Right, yes. And I will just add what I’ve heard: even people who are getting their B12 from animal sources should be supplementing after the age of 50 because the body doesn’t absorb it as well after 50. So even for people who are eating meat to get that, they should probably be supplementing with it anyways. And how easy is it to take a B12 supplement? It’s not a big deal and it’s not a deal-breaker. And people talk like… basically people talking about, “Well, vegans have to take a B12, if it was really the way to eat, you wouldn’t need to supplement with anything.” And like you said, well, we live in a different world now than we did when humans first started.

Callum Weir (1:08:20)
Also, the people that always say it’s not natural to take a supplement are also the same people drinking whey protein shakes and various other things. I’m like, “Okay, so that supplement’s fine, but my supplement’s not? Come on guys.” If you’re going to make up some rules, at least live by them.

Molly Patrick (1:08:34)
Selective. Right. And then here was the last one I wrote down. I love it: “If you still think carbs make you fat, congratulations. You’ve officially entered your nutritional conspiracy era.”

Callum Weir (1:08:51)
I don’t know how this one’s still going about. This is like some nineties, eighties shit show crazy marketing that’s like, “Carbs are making you fat.” Well, we didn’t really have as much knowledge as we do now about carbs and fats. Just for the record, carbs don’t make you fat. Fat doesn’t make you fat. What you stick in your mouth does make you fat if you eat too much of it. And also there are other issues that can also make you put on weight, not just food. It’s not carbs, it’s not fats. People have lost weight eating a whole Twinkie diet. Is that the healthiest diet to be on? No, it’s just Twinkies, it’s shit. But you can lose weight. And a Twinkie is carbs and whatever else is in Twinkies, but you can lose weight on that. So carbs do not make you fat. Fat does not make you fat. I think also people get confused because they don’t realize carbs are an umbrella term. Fruit, vegetables come under carbs. So are we now saying that an apple is bad for you? Are we now saying a banana is bad for you? Are we now saying a sweet potato is bad for you? Or are you getting confused with the fact that you have a donut or you have a pizza? I think people accumulate all those together and they’re like, “Hey, well, yeah, carbs are bad because I ate pizza.” That’s also not bad. Pizza’s great. It’s literally what you stick in your mouth. It could be a fat, could be a carb, it could be a protein, could be whatever it is. Nothing’s inherently going to make you fat unless you eat too much of it or unless you have severe symptoms or you’re going through different stages of life where hormones can play up. But no food group on its own is going to make you fat. Once again, it’s consistency. I eat carbs every day, I’m not fat.

Molly Patrick (1:10:26)
Yes. So eat the potato, eat the rice, eat this stuff. And these are the things that are going to make you really satiated as well. And I see so many people who are so afraid of carbs. And these are people who know—they’ve read the science, they know that complex carbohydrates are part of a healthy diet. And even then they’re like, “But I’m scared.” There’s so much fear around it and I was just talking about this in my coaching program too about getting back… trusting food, trusting your body, trusting yourself and loving the food that loves you back. When you can not fear food… that takes up so much energy to fear food because we have to eat every day.

Callum Weir (1:11:38)
Yeah, it’s such a big issue at the moment and it goes back to that whole orthorexia thing where people are yelling at supermarkets that this is bad, this is bad, this is bad. Some things may be bad for you, some things are not going to be great for you, but that doesn’t mean you necessarily don’t ever have to eat them again. Just enjoy your life, eat a majority of whole foods diet and then put those things in there. Not one food is going to kill you. Not one food is going to make you severely sick if you enjoy a waffle once in a while. I think people get so hung up because we’re now in this era where everything has to be perfectly plated and everybody has to look healthy and everybody has to look like what they see online. Everyone is like, “If I eat as clean as this guy does, I will look like this guy online.” That guy’s on steroids. You don’t want to look like that guy. But it’s perceived that this person’s eating this and this perfectly. Also, when that ring light and that camera is not there, they are also not eating like that every single day. I’ve been around enough influential people in this space to know that a lot of what they say is bullshit. A lot of what they preach is bullshit. I talk about eating a whole foods plant-based diet most of the time. Do I still go out and eat a pizza and a donut and things like that? Absolutely. I don’t want to hate my life. I still want to enjoy things. And yes, I have an 80% whole foods diet, but then I have those other bits and pieces on top. It’s great. It’s not an issue, but I think getting so scared of certain foods for no apparent reason is causing a lot of eating disorders more than there ever has been before. And we’re seeing a rise of that in men more than women these days. Years ago it was for magazine covers making women want to be skinnier. Now guys are eating very little or eating too much to look a certain way when they’re trying to model themselves after someone they’ve seen and you’re never going to look like that person. Why? Because you’re not that person. You can do everything that that person does. You can eat how they do, quote-unquote, you can work out how they do, you can do everything and you’ll never look like that person because you are you. So screw it. Enjoy yourself. Don’t restrict yourself. Eat consistently. Eat healthy. If you need your burger once in a while, good, do it. Be a human.

Molly Patrick (1:14:28)
Yeah, I’m a big fan of that message and it’s something that I talk about a lot—staying out of that all-or-nothing trap, that perfectionism trap. It is a trap because we are not perfect. We are human. And if you want to go get ice cream and eat ice cream sometimes, guess what? You can. It’s okay. So I talk about that a lot and I think it’s so freeing for people when they finally get that it’s what you’re doing the majority of the time. It’s what you’re eating the most of the majority of the time that counts the most, right? And so let’s not… the perfectionism thing, that’s done too. It’s like fish, let’s just let it go.

Callum Weir (1:15:12)
Yeah. There’s no room in life to be absolutely a hundred percent perfect because if you’re doing everything a hundred percent perfect, in no way are you enjoying life and you’re only here for a small amount of time. Realistically in the grand scheme of how long the world’s been around, you’re only here about two seconds. So enjoy it. Don’t restrict yourself from foods that you enjoy because some guy on Instagram said you had to. Just don’t.

Molly Patrick (1:15:21)
Exactly. I had this woman who emailed in and she was interested in joining my plant-powered weight loss program, which I was really conflicted about starting because I didn’t want to add to the diet culture and toxicity that exists in that. But I also knew that there’s a very compassionate, level-headed, doable way to do this where it’s kind of the opposite of what most people do. And so ultimately I decided to do it and it’s been great for people. But somebody emailed in and said, “Well, I really want to do this program, but I don’t know if I want to be totally plant-based because I want to have chicken once in a while.” And so I’m really conflicted. And I was like, “Hey, why don’t you just join and then eat chicken once in a while?” And she was like, “Wait, I can do that?” I’m like, “Yeah, you can make it yours. Of course you can.” And she was like, “I didn’t even think that that would be an option.” So I think that just goes to show that people are very much thinking like it has to be all the way or none, right? It’s all or nothing.

Callum Weir (1:16:42)
Yeah, it’s all or nothing. Nobody seems to have it in between anymore. And for me, like, hey, don’t eat animals. If you’re going to eat an animal, you’re going to eat an animal. I can’t do anything about that. You’re going to eat what you need to eat. I’m not going to judge you for it. But if it’s chicken once in a while but you’re doing a large majority plant-based, so be it. You’ve done more than some of the population, so at least you’re doing something.

Molly Patrick (1:17:16)
Yeah. So true. Okay, Callum, I want to know this. With the world the way that it is—because there’s a lot of shit environmentally, climate-wise, politically—how do you continue on and function in a world that seems to be kind of scary?

Callum Weir (1:17:47)
I’ve stopped caring and become numb inside. No, that is not that. I cannot control everything. The majority of things are out of my control. I can only do so much. So whatever I can do, I will do. The rest is up to everyone else. While I can get angry about that and be frustrated that the world’s on fire and everything is wild, I know I played my part in the way that I have. And if that then inspires people to do the same, amazing. If it doesn’t, okay. But I think staying level-headed, grounded and making sure that I don’t put the strain on myself because I think that’s what a lot of people do—environmentalists and vegans and various other climate activists. They take it all on themselves. They take the whole burden of what’s going on in the world on themselves without realizing that they’re just part of the solution instead of… they are not the solution. They’re part of the solution. So realizing that there’s only so much you can do. And if that helps change something, great. If it doesn’t, well, we’ll probably see about that in about 20 years’ time. It’s just staying level, surround yourself with good people, surround yourself with like-minded people and just have somebody there that you can literally talk to if you do have issues. Because everybody has those things. Luckily I’ve got a community of people that I can speak to. I know not everybody has that. I know I’m quite lucky to have that. But if you’ve got that one person that even you can wake up and even just text if you’ve got a bit of an issue or you’re thinking bad thoughts, that’s going to make the world of difference.

Molly Patrick (1:20:01)
I mean, yeah, I think humans need other humans still.

Callum Weir (1:20:08)
We need interaction, we need community. And at the moment we are probably in the biggest loneliness epidemic in the world and people need other people. So even if that’s finding a pen pal these days, even if it’s finding a community on Instagram, having somebody that you can interact with to know it’s not all going to shit. It may seem like it is, but as much as you can try and fix the problems around you, you also need to fix the problems within you.

Molly Patrick (1:20:40)
Beautiful. I think that was where we need to end. I think that was beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time and for having this awesome chat. I knew it was going to be a great talk. And let’s meet up in person next time you’re on Maui, next time I’m in the UK. Go find some yummy food.

Callum Weir (1:21:02)
Absolutely, looking forward to it.

Molly Patrick (1:21:06)
And for anybody who doesn’t follow Callum, you must. His website again is plantfuelednutrition.co.uk. We’ll link to it in the show notes. Find him on Instagram. Awesome guy. Thank you for making that bold choice to be you and to do what you do. I think that you are fantastic and that you’re inspiring many people and entertaining many people as well and we need that right now. So Callum, thank you for coming on and for sharing your knowledge and for sharing part of yourself today.

Callum Weir (1:21:41)
Well, thank you for your kind words and thank you for inviting me on. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

Molly Patrick (1:21:46)
You got it. Bye!