Paul Kerton, founder of the Hench Herbivore youtube channel was once the biggest meat eater you’ve likely ever seen. Discovering that he could build muscle just as easily, and be lots healthier on a whole-foods, plant-based diet, he has become obsessed with spreading a message of compassion.
Paul spent several years as a personal trainer and nutritionist and has helped countless people around the world achieve optimal health and the body of their dreams.
His mission is to show the world that it is not only viable to reach your fitness goals on a plant-based diet but that this diet is in fact optimal for human beings. He is passionate about spreading a message of health and compassion through his youtube channel and books as well as various TV, radio and podcast appearances.
Growing up Paul ate the standard western diet, heavy in animal products and processed junk. After receiving his share of bullying as a lad he trained in various martial arts and then progressed into bodybuilding. In his mid-twenties, he began work as a bouncer. From a place of fear, this dark chapter in his life led him down a path of eating dizzying amounts of animal products and taking stimulants and other drugs (performance-enhancing and recreational).
His life completely changed when his partner Gemma presented him with the concept of a whole-foods, plant-based diet. Seeing the data that the more animal products that we eat the quicker we succumb to and generally die from the “diseases of affluence”, he became scared for his life and committed to changing his diet and his lifestyle, before it was too late.
He quickly saw his health markers such as blood pressure and cholesterol vastly improve, and despite some initial misgivings his performance in the gym improved! He had faster recovery from exercise, more energy and no longer suffered from tendonitis. He stopped suffering from hay fever too and also had benefits to his previously failing eyesight.
Enthused, he studied to become a Personal Trainer and Nutritionist. His former clients have seen reversal of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, arthritis, ulcerative colitis and depression. From there he went on to create the Hench Herbivore social media platforms so that he could spread the message far and wide that animals do not need to suffer for us to have incredible physiques or health.
Seeing that he has the ability to reach a far larger amount of people through his work online, he eventually gave up coaching in order to focus on his social media career. He has now pooled all his knowledge together into the How To Eat Plant-Based Successfully course, for those that are no longer able to work with him one to one but want to turn their lives around and optimise either their health, their figures/physiques, or both!
Gemma Nichols, Paul’s partner, spent many years of her life regaining her health after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Seeing how quickly things turned around when she switched to eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet, committed herself to healing and authentically sharing her journey to inspire others that could benefit and wouldn’t have to suffer as she had
For the longest time Gemma took the easy route of continually numbing out her emotional pain with fast food, alcohol and recreational drugs. She suffered from physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue, constipation, hypoglycemic episodes, restless leg syndrome, acne, bloating and brain fog and was eventually diagnosed with Hashimotos thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland.
Two major things happened to turn her life around. Firstly she learned the concept of a whole-foods, plant-based diet and how it is likely optimal for human wellness, and secondly that she had to face her pain instead of running from it. Changing her diet and committing to emotional healing work, turned her life around FAST! Today she has an active lifestyle, has lost a large amount of weight, and she experiences a level of happiness that she never thought possible. She continues to heal with healthy lifestyle practices and is an inspiration to many who find her honesty, authenticity and vulnerabilty about her journey relatable, reassuring and highly informative.
She has studied psychology and counselling to enhance her understanding of what it means to be well mentally and emotionally. She also created a catering business and learned exactly how to make food not only tasty but nutritious for her healing body. She shares this knowledge through her cookbooks, online guide to healthy eating course and social media content.
Gemma believes that a key component to a more compassionate world involves ending our own suffering within, which she believes will result in a greater capacity to see beyond ourselves, to see our impact on other beings, and instill a desire to not inflict unnecessary suffering upon them.