An Interview with Dr. Randall S. Hansen, Author of The Healing Revolution Diet and Triumph Over Trauma

About Dr. Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D. (Official Bio)

Dr. Randall Hansen wants you and everyone in the world to find healing and optimal health, living a long and happy life. He shares this passion and Divine mission by educating and empowering people to be proactive about their food choices, find a healthy lifestyle, and heal from past trauma.

His most recent book, labeled as a “blueprint for anyone looking to create or restore health,” is The Healing Revolution Diet: A Science-based Approach to Heal Your Gut, Reverse Chronic Illnesses, Lose Weight, Clear Your Mind, and Increase Longevity is the third in the Wholeistic Healing Trilogy.

He is also the author of the groundbreaking Triumph Over Trauma: Psychedelic Medicines are Helping People Heal Their Trauma, Change Their Lives, and Grow Their Spirituality and the well-received HEAL! Wholeistic Practices to Help Clear Your Trauma, Heal Yourself, and Live Your Best Life.

Dr. Hansen’s focus and advocacy center around true healing … healing that results in being able to live an authentic life filled with peace, joy, and love. When not writing or educating, you’ll find Dr. Randall basking in nature.

1. You had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

Compassionate, optimistic, helpful.

2. Do you have other writers in the family and friends?

I respect and admire many writers, but I do have three friends who are writers.

One is Dr. Frank Forgnoni, who writes both fiction and nonfiction.

The second is Matthew Simpson, who wrote Worth the Fight.

The third is David Medansky, author of Jaded Health.

3. What was the turning point in your own life that set you on this mission to help others find true healing?

It started indirectly with a health/food/nutrition journey almost 25 years ago. I read an article about refined sugar that stated it was the “worst thing ever to enter U.S. households.” I scoffed at the statement until I did a deep dive, only to discover the amount of sugars most people are consuming was making people unhealthy, overweight, diabetic, and insulin-resistant. And in the ensuing years, we now understand the power of sugar on our brains and how a percentage of the population is addicted to it.

Then, about 15 years ago or so, I moved across the country after purchasing 40 acres of forested raw land. The forest was extremely overgrown and unhealthy, so I went to work thinning the entire 40 acres. I thought I was healing the forest, but all those long days and years of solitary work and reflection healed ME.

At the time, I knew I was deeply affected by my past trauma, but I was really unaware of how to heal from it. Nature did the trick without me being aware of it until toward the end when I discovered I had forgiven myself and others for my past trauma and began to really love and respect myself.

A few years later, I delved into the psychedelic space because of the massive promise plant medicines offer for healing. It was through these medicines that I completed the remainder of my healing journey.

I have always been a researcher and educator, but once I had healed, once I understood that we are all human and we are all part of nature, I turned to serving others.

Finally, in just the past three years or so, I feel God visited me in one of the psychedelic experiences and “told” me (though no words were ever spoken) that I was to begin a Divine mission to help all my brothers and sisters find healing, find health, find true peace, love, and joy.

4. You describe your work as planting seeds of healing around the world. How do you see that mission growing in the next few years?

My goal is to bring together a global healing community, supporting both the practitioners who are focused on holistic health and healing and the people seeking to return to better health and healing.

In late 2024, I made the commitment to publish inspiring and educational posts and videos (both my own, as well as others) every day for 2025, and I hope to keep it going as more and more people join the Healing Revolution.

Ideally, I would love for this idea to gain wide grassroots momentum, but I am also hopeful that key activists, leaders, and influencers will join in on promoting the benefits of truly healing.

5. What does living a wholeistic life mean to you, and how does it differ from conventional ideas of health?

The root of healing means to become whole. So a wholeistic life is one that involves a healing journey and regular work on integrating all life experiences, living mindfully, serving others (rather than only yourself), and experiencing love (including self-love), peace, and joy.

Conventional ideology is focused more on symptom management rather than healing at root cause of those symptoms. One of the root causes of mental and physical health issues is unprocessed wounds from previous trauma, and the most common conventional treatment is to prescribe medication. (There is a place for medications, but only rarely, as most simply manage symptoms rather than heal.)

The wholeistic approach is all about healing those wounds and becoming whole again.

But it is not just about healing past trauma wounds, it is also about respecting yourself, loving yourself, which means this life is also about improving the foods we consume, moving/exercising daily, reducing chronic stress, removing toxins from the home, and obtaining consistent and quality sleep.

6. Your trilogy connects gut health, trauma release, and lifestyle choices. Why was it important for you to link these areas together?

The problem is that gut health, mental health, and brain health are all connected, yet we have so many experts who only study one aspect while ignoring the others.

We know that mental health is especially connected to past trauma, but mental health is also greatly influenced by the foods we eat. Furthermore, mental health is also impacted by our lifestyles, especially movement (or the lack thereof).

My goal is explaining to people that changing one thing will not be enough. For example, with food, there are so many issues besides real vs. ultra-processed or vegan vs. carnivore… our food supply has been dropping in nutrient density while gaining in unwanted and dangerous chemicals, so the quality of the food is a much more multifaceted issue.

7. The Healing Revolution Diet is described as a blueprint for restoring health. What makes this approach different from typical diets?

Most diets are designed to help people lose weight, and once people do so, they usually go back to what they ate previously until they gain back the weight and look for a new diet. (So called yo-yo dieting.)

One of the reviewers called The Healing Revolution Diet the anti-diet book – and I love it.

This diet is about making food sacred again; it is not about demonizing or restricting whole categories of foods, but making food a priority in our lives again. This diet is about helping people slow down and be mindful about all aspects of food and eating… encouraging people to spend more time shopping, more time with meal planning, and more time celebrating and enjoying foods during meals.

8. How does healing the gut contribute to reversing chronic illnesses and clearing the mind?

In the past decade or so, we have really begun to understand our guts as our second brain; I would go so far as to say that perhaps our gut is our primary brain. For example, most (about 90 percent) of the serotonin, which plays a major role in our health, is actually generated in the gut and not in the brain as experts first thought.

We have also learned about the importance of the gut microbiome (as well as our oral microbiome and skin microbiome), which is a collection of trillions of microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, viruses, and other microorganisms) that live in our gut, mostly our small intestine. The organisms are directly connected to our digestion, emotional well-being, and our immune system.

Our gut buddies, as Dr. Steven Gundry refers to them, are truly essential for our health, but we have not taken good care of them, losing numerous strains from eating poor diets. These microorganisms thrive on fiber, basically fermenting it and converting it to useful nutrients for our bodies.

Unfortunately, over the past four decades or so, food marketers have been stripping the fiber from many ultra-processed foods to make them what is called “hyper-palatable,” meaning that without the fiber, people will eat more – lots more.

Fiber is essential, and it mostly comes from plants, which means carbohydrates. Because carbs have become a lightning rod of debate in the diet community, I prefer to focus on fiber. And our gut buddies prefer multiple types of fiber to thrive.

Once we heal the gut, we absorb more nutrients, which helps us heal from chronic illnesses. A healthy gut also improves the mind because we have something called the gut-brain axis, and when we heal the gut, we help heal the brain.

9. Many people live with hidden trauma they may not even recognize. How can someone begin to uncover what they’ve buried for so long?

Anytime someone feels that something is off about their lives, that something is holding them back from living the life they want, or simply has a sense that something was not right about their childhood, they likely have hidden trauma.

Childhood trauma is often hidden because the child brain simply cannot process it; we repress and bury it and forget it for as long as we can; it is not resilience, but avoidance.

As people start a healing journey, it is important to tread carefully so as not to retraumatize themselves.

But that said, it is very important, as an adult with an adult brain, to revisit these old wounds and understand it was not acceptable and the survivor is NEVER at fault. And it is important to move from a sense of being a victim to being a survivor – that is part of the healing journey.

There are many ways to start a healing journey, from simply starting a self-inquiry to working with a therapist to using plant medicines. The key with healing is changing the narrative and integrating these wounds into your present self – to become whole again.

10. In Triumph Over Trauma, you write about the role of psychedelic medicines. What do you believe is their greatest potential in trauma healing?

I have been honored with hearing the stories of hundreds of people, from everyday citizens to decorated military veterans, regarding the healing found through psychedelics.

The greatest potential of these medicines is providing a safe space for people to relive, see, and understand their past traumatic experiences from a completely different perspective.

But these medicines also have several other benefits. For many people, it is in a psychedelic journey that they experience unconditional love for the first time in their lives. This love could come from a deceased relative, God (very common), or some other entity… but the power of love is felt deeply by the person, and they are given the “permission” to love themselves and allow others to love them.

Another benefit is a change in perspective about the world and beyond. People who are not religious report understanding that there is something greater than themselves, some universal power. Religious people often share of a deep and moving meeting/experience with God.

Finally, through a psychedelic experience, many realize that we humans are all connected – that we are all brothers and sisters and that instead of fighting and competing, we should be lifting one another up in abundance and love.

11. Some people hesitate to explore alternative therapies like psychedelics. What advice do you give to someone who’s curious but cautious?

I have witnessed this hesitation myself, and it is only natural, especially after decades of lies about them. No one remembers that LSD was a major tool used by therapists in the 1960s.

My advice is to keep researching and to keep talking with others who have done psychedelics.

For first-timers, I recommend they hire a coach or facilitator who can guide them about the keys to preparation, having a safe experience (journey), and helping them integrate the experiences into their present life.

Finally, for people who are worried about the hallucinations from a full psychedelic experience, the other option is to start a microdosing protocol, taking just a fraction of the medicine so that the benefits are still received, but at a more subconscious level. Integrating still must happen, partly because the effects are less obvious.

12. Why did you create a workbook and journal to accompany Triumph Over Trauma? How do these tools deepen the healing process?

I wish I had created such tools, but I did not. There are others who have created things like integration workbooks – because the integration process is so important and truly the key to the healing experience.

That said, I do have a new book coming out in September that is a collection of 50 of the most useful and influential articles related to health and healing. It’s called Finding Wellness, and it will only be a Kindle book available on Amazon, because we are keeping the price as low as possible so that everyone can access this life-changing information.

The world needs so much healing, and Finding Wellness is a practical guide for transformation.

I am also excited that one of my friends and fellow authors, Matthew Simpson (author of Worth the Fight) is writing the preface for the book.

13. You speak about removing masks and living without shame, fear, or guilt. What are some practical ways people can break free from these emotional burdens?

The only way to break free from living behind a mask (or living like a chameleon) is to heal. We live (and survive) behind masks so that people cannot truly see the hurt/scared/imposter person we are inside.

The key flip that needs switching is self-love. Most people with unprocessed trauma wounds have so many negative emotions that they believe they are unlovable – whether they recognize it or not.

I recommend people using one or more of my “wholeistic” healing methods to go deeply within to heal and find that self-love. These techniques include:

• Nature, which was my main healing modality; the quiet and calm allows us (almost forces us) to go inward and face things from our past.
• Nutrition, because we know the gut plays a key role in both mental and physical health; we need to change our diet to eating real foods while eliminating as much refined sugars as possible.
• Movement, which is not only a mental health booster, but a way to release pent-up trauma in our bodies because we often store the trauma wounds as energy in our bodies.
• Spirituality/Prayer/Meditation, which, like nature, forces us inward as well as gives us hope of a greater power. This practice also involves forgiveness (of ourselves and the people who hurt us), which is critical to healing.
• Breathwork, which simply involves people taking control of this automatic function and going deep within ourselves by changing and utilizing our breath.
• Psychedelics, which are powerful substances (many plants) that force us to go inward and see the wounds that need healing.

14. Why do you feel so strongly that managing symptoms with medication is not enough?

Symptom management is wrong on many levels, but the biggest issue is that they do not address the root cause; there is no healing.

Worse, the efficacy of many of these medications is extremely low, meaning they only manage symptoms for certain people, not all, and when they do, it is barely more than taking a placebo.

Many of these medications were also designed for short-term use, not lifetime use. For example, SSRIs are designed to help people get through a depressive episode, not taken daily for the rest of their lives.

Finally, many of these medications have adverse side effects, which often require another medication to help manage the negative consequences of the first medication.

With this trend in treating only symptoms, we are now seeing many younger people dealing with polypharmacy – taking five or more prescription drugs – which is typically a situation only the elderly face.

We can not become WHOLE again unless we heal… and taking medications that only barely help with symptom management will never help us heal.

Patients and medical professionals alike are too dependent on a “pill for every ill” when simple changes in diet and lifestyle can result in the reversal and prevention of many health issues.

15. For someone who feels stuck in anger, bitterness, or self-doubt, what small but powerful first step do you recommend?

The best first step is to start keeping a journal; simply start recording the circumstances around every time the person gets triggered into a strong reaction (whether that is anger, bitterness, fear, etc.). The first step in a healing journey is understanding why you need one, and often, people do not see themselves the way others see them.

By working with a journal, people can begin the extremely important inner work, digging deeply into the past to understand why things in the present upset or bother them.

That’s it… just time spent over a weekend, perhaps, really examining the past.

Then, after this first step is accomplished, the person can then move on to researching which of the wholeistic healing methods resonates best with them.

Finally, I want to stress that I am not against traditional talk therapy, but what I am suggesting is that laying the groundwork of healing starts with the individual – and then they can expand to whatever modalities best work for them.

16. How do you personally stay balanced and connected to nature while carrying out this mission of helping others heal?

This question is so important because one of the most overlooked aspects of wellness is self-care.

My keys to staying balanced include:

• Healthy diet (most of which I cook – and love doing so)
• Daily time in nature (usually involving a walk, bike ride, or hiking)
• Mediation/prayer (throughout the day, but always at the end of the day)
• Gratitude practice (recognizing all the big and small stuff)
• Movement throughout the day
• Quality time with my partner (often in nature)

17. If every reader took away just one lesson from your books and your HealingSeed.World vision, what do you hope it would be?

You used it in the question – HOPE. I want people to know that it is NEVER too late to start focusing on health and healing – overall wellness. Regardless of what has happened to you or anything in your past, people can have hope for a life of peace, love, joy, and abundance.

How to get that hope? Take that first step in your wellness and healing journey.

18. If someone wanted to reach out to you for a project or collaboration, what’s the best way for them to get in touch?

The best way is to reach out to me via one of the many social media platforms, as I try and guard my email from the many spambots out there. That said, my main platform is LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randallshansen/

People can find all my social media and links to all my articles and books on my website: https://randallshansen.com

Discover his works on Amazon and start your journey toward lasting health and wholeness today.