The Hench herbivore YouTube channel is Vegan PT & Nutritionist Paul Kerton and his partner Gemma Nichols, a plant-based Chef with three cookbooks to her name. Their focus is on optimizing health, body shape and sports performance through whole foods, plant-based nutrition.

Early adulthood for Paul was a dark-time. Having received some degree of bullying as a schoolkid, he over-compensated, becoming an accomplished martial artist and also beginning bodybuilding. He was seduced by anabolic steroids. He is ashamed to say that over time fighting became his adrenaline sport and though he would not instigate trouble, he would enjoy showing other hows tough he was now at the slightest provocation.

As a physique athlete Paul would ingest massive amounts of animal products, foolishly thinking “the more the better”. However, after seeing the data regarding nutrition and longevity that Gemma was digging up he reluctantly decided to trial a whole foods plant-based diet. To his surprise and sheer delight, not only was he able to continue growing muscle just as effectively on a plant-based diet, he actually had benefits to his sports-performance. Not only that but his pre-hypertensive blood pressure came down to an optimal level, his hay fever symptoms ceased and he improved the strength of his previously waning eyesight by more than double!

One day he stumbled across footage of a cow being forced by cattle prod towards the kill floor of a slaughterhouse and was overcome with immense sorrow. He couldn’t believe that he had been complicit in such a barbaric industry and decided there and then to commit the rest of his life to promoting veganism. Paul says that if someone with his background can see that light then he has hope for anyone. He truly feels that veganism could heal the world.

But none of this would have happened were it not for Paul’s partner Gemma…

For ten years Gemma suffered with a host of health issues such as chronic fatigue, weight gain, constipation, acne and brain fog. She got so badly depressed that on two occasions she tried to take her own life. She was eventually diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. She believes that what switched that gene on for her at just 20 years of age was her and Paul’s crazy hedonistic lifestyle. Binge drinking, recreational drugs, fast food and a severe lack of vegetables. If a little of something felt good, you could guarantee that they would end up taking it to the extreme! She lost many years of good health off the back of it. After her diagnosis she was put on medication and received reams of medical advice from mainstream Doctors but to her dismay, despite all of this, her health was still in the gutter. She went on to spend over £10,000 that she could ill afford trying to understand how she could feel better. She saw private doctors and specialists, trying things like the keto diet, acupuncture, "superfoods", supplements and hypnosis. You name it, she tried it! She scoured the internet daily desperate for answers that could be her salvation. Then one miraculous day she stumbled upon the concept of eating a whole foods, plant-based diet. The claims that people made about its benefits seemed far-fetched to her but by this point, not even having the energy to get out of bed, let alone to take a quick walk around the block, as Paul was urging, she was willing to give anything a try! She cut out all processed foods and animal products and switched to consuming only healthy, whole plant foods as they grow in nature; legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices.

Within just one week Gemma was finally enthused to start slowly moving her body again, was no longer constipated and her brain fog had started to lift! A few weeks later she was able to return to work, her depression had gone and she once again had her life back. Eventually Gemma released 35lbs of excess body weight. She was over-the-moon, to say the least!