← Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
The Glucose Protocol: How Fueling Your Brain Restores Clarity with Dr. David Stephens
00:48:01
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- [00:00]
Dr. David Stevens
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Andrea Samadi
Welcome Back to season 15 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. I'm Andrea Samadhi and it's here that we bridge the science behind social and emotional learning, emotional intelligence, and practical neuroscience so we can create measurable improvements in well being, achievement, productivity and results. Now, when we launched this podcast seven years ago, it was driven by a question that I'd never been taught to ask. Not in school, not in business, and not in life. And the question was, if results matter, and they matter now more than ever before, how exactly are we using our brain to make these results happen? Now, most of us weren't taught what to do. Very few of us were taught how to think under pressure, or how to regulate our emotions, or how to sustain our motivation, or even how to produce consistent results without burning out. And that question led me to a deep exploration of the mind, brain, results, connection and how neuroscience applies to everyday decisions, to our conversations and our performance. And that's why this podcast exists. Each week we bring you leading experts to break down complex science and then translate it into practical strategies that we can all apply immediately. And we've been reviewing past episodes for the past two seasons, but every now and then when I see someone doing something innovative, I want to learn more. This week we're revisiting a past guest who we had on the podcast back in December of 2024. Just a reminder of this past guest, Dr. David Stevens is a clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist and he's renowned for his expertise in brain function and mental health. He discovered groundbreaking insights into how glucose can be a game changer in restoring our brain function, our mental health and overall productivity. On our last episode, Dr. Stevens shared his compelling journey with us that led to the revelation of glucose as a crucial element in brain restoration. From understanding the perceptible differences between glucose and sugar to unraveling common myths about brain health, our last conversation is packed with scientific insights that challenge traditional paradigms that explored how restoring glucose levels could revolutionize our mental health, emotional and spiritual well being. I believe in Dr. Stevens mission mostly because I've experienced life changing results. When I started to read labels and I cut out sugar after podiatrist told me that it would improve my health back in 2005 and the results I've noticed from this are significant. But now I understand sugar and glucose at a completely different level. I have lots of follow up questions for Dr. Stevens and I'm excited to learn more about what he's discovered since we last spoke. Let's welcome Dr. Stevens, back to the podcast. Welcome back, Dr. Stevens. Thank you so much for reaching back to me about your new book and your new research. And I'm sure you could tell by my interest that this topic is really important to me. Thank you so much for being here.
- [03:50]
Dr. David Stevens
You're welcome. Thanks so much for having me again.
- [03:52]
Andrea Samadi
Absolutely. Well, you know, we've covered on this podcast the damaging effects of sugar in the brain and the body. And it all stemmed for me, my interest when a foot doctor told me, you know, you've got to change your diet, eliminate sugar way back in 2005, and my health changed for the, for the better. Can we just review perhaps what we talked about on our first podcast just to orient our audience to your work and then maybe just, you know, explain what should we know about glucose versus sucralose and then type 2 diabetes as we go into what you've discovered?
- [04:35]
Dr. David Stevens
Sure. When I was on the first time, we were talking about a book I just written then called Restored Hope and talking about how when the brain is under fueled and it becomes under fueled through sympathetic nervous system or fight or flight or freeze activations that that results in a host of mental and emotional and even physical difficulties. And so we're talking about how those could be resolved.
- [05:05]
Andrea Samadi
Thank you. Thank you. And then because we don't all read labels the same, you know, what should we know? And I'm going to tell you right now that I use like I do a hot chocolate sometimes at night and I put a sugar free sugar in it thinking, you know, I'm being smart. But then I actually forgot, you know, like a year goes by and I went and bought another sugar free one. So I think I used to use stevia that I know some of the people that I follow say is okay for brain health. And I might have by accident brought the other one. It was not stevia, but it was started with an S Splenda.
- [05:50]
Dr. David Stevens
Yes, yes.
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Andrea Samadi
So what? And then I think one is better than the other. How do we know and remember this if we're not researching it like you every day?
- [06:01]
Dr. David Stevens
Sure. So probably the most important distinction is recognizing the difference between glucose and, and every other kind of sugar. So. And about, try not to be too technical, but glucose and fructose are the only what are called monosaccharides, meaning they're simple sugars. And their chemical formula is C6H12O6, meaning six atoms of carbon in the glucose molecule, 12 atoms of hydrogen and six atoms of oxygen. And that's all that is in either glucose or fructose. Now, the difference between glucose and fructose is fructose primarily is used to be converted into fat, while glucose is used for fuel. And so our brains and our bodies both need glucose for fuel. And sucrose, which is table sugar or cane sugar, or Splenda or stevia or any of those are not specifically glucose. And so they can't directly fuel our body or our brain.
- [07:15]
Andrea Samadi
Got it. Okay, now I remember. I'm back on track here.
- [07:19]
Dr. David Stevens
There you go.
- [07:21]
Andrea Samadi
And it was interesting because some comments came in since we spoke and I was reading them and you have to really think if this isn't your industry and you're not involved in sugars, someone posted. Okay, so sucrose is real sugar, Sucralose is artificial and chemical sweetener. But she didn't say anything about glucose. What?
- [07:46]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, most people are not very aware of glucose. We are. One of the ways I say it sometimes is we are glucose producing factories. We carry our very own glucose production factory inside our body. A portion of everything we eat gets converted to glucose and then circulated throughout the body and brain. But no other sugar does that the way glucose does. And that's why glucose is not in very many foods because it's produced directly by our bodies, by con. By converting carbohydrates, protein, even fat into glucose. Got it.
- [08:31]
Andrea Samadi
Okay. And so then what, what have you discovered since we last spoke? So you've got a new book and I read through and I do need some help to decipher. I picked up some of the, the research that you've done, but could you share and, and then make it so that, you know, like my 12 year olds or 14 year old could understand what you've uncovered now?
- [08:56]
Dr. David Stevens
Yes. So the new book, it'll be out on March 23rd and it's called the Glucose Protocol, A practical and Scientific guide to Brain Restoration of Health. And so what's been expanded since we last met? A couple of different things. One is recognizing that what the glucose protocol does is it rebuilds the brain's glucose transport system. So a somewhat simple way to think about it is that every time we have a sympathetic nervous system activation, the ability for what are called glucose transporters or glutes to get glucose across the blood brain barrier is lessened every single time we have a sympathetic nervous system activation. And so that results in, like I said, all kinds of mental symptoms, like forgetting words, like not being able to concentrate, like having to read a page two or three times to remember the content, in emotional difficulties like anxiety and Depression and irritability and physical difficulties, immune disorders, autoimmune disorders, headaches, a wide, wide range of physical problems. All of those come because our glucose transport system isn't working the way it should.
- [10:31]
Andrea Samadi
Can I ask a question on this? Because, like a real life situation that happened to me and it, it completely shocked me. It's never happened before. But tell me what was happening in my brain when this happened, because it's exactly what you just explained. So I was in a highly stressful situation. And so meaning my parasympathetic sympathetic nervous system was completely in probably fight flight
- [11:00]
Dr. David Stevens
mode.
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Andrea Samadi
And I had a. Something in front of me that I had to read and I couldn't read it. So what you just said was, you know, you couldn't find the words. For the life of me, I, and I have 2020 vision. I had just gone to my doctor that morning. I know my vision is 2020. We looked at it up close. I know what it is up far, but I couldn't read what was in front of me. So what was happening in my brain,
- [11:26]
Dr. David Stevens
could you not read it because it was blurry or because you just couldn't really process the words?
- [11:31]
Andrea Samadi
I think it was the processing of the words. It was, you know, I could see them clearly, but it wasn't, I wasn't sharp as, as I usually would have been. And, and I knew that it was a stressful situation, but I was surprised at myself that. That I couldn't read it.
- [11:48]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, and it's, it's a great question and does illuminate and illustrate some of the things I'm talking about. But do you think you were in an active, sympathetic fight or flight situation as you were trying to read?
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Andrea Samadi
Yes, because I was being evaluated sort
- [12:05]
Dr. David Stevens
of by some people.
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Andrea Samadi
So it's like a little stressful.
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Dr. David Stevens
Right. So your brain was prioritizing the glucose that it had to protection being in that fight or flight. That was the major thing. The most important thing at that moment is let's make sure there's enough glucose getting to the body, to the muscles, to the tissues, to blood circulation, and enough glucose getting to the brain for identifying threats and focus on your safety. And so that doesn't leave enough fuel for something like processing words, which in the context of your brain interpreting a safety threat. Who really cares if you can read words on a page? It's much more important to have a coordinated brain and body effort to get you out of danger and keep you safe. But it also illustrates a primary principle of brain function. The brain has three priorities. First and foremost is our immediate survival, which is what was going on when you had your sympathetic nervous system activated. Second is longer term survival. Like the brain is what regulates body fat based on brain glucose. And so the brain will direct the body to produce more fat so there's enough energy storage, which is what fat is, to keep you alive longer term. So that's the brain's second priority, longer term survival. And then the third priority is all the billions of different human functions there are, physiologically and otherwise. So the brain, assuming immediate survival and longer term survival are met, then the brain will prioritize functions based on the needs of the moment. And unfortunately for you, in that moment, your brain was not prioritizing reading as an important function, so it was directing glucose elsewhere, which is why you had trouble processing those words. Got it.
- [14:16]
Andrea Samadi
I knew it. I knew it was important and it really shocked me because it's never happened before. I've never been in a situation where I couldn't. And I do these podcast episodes all the time and have notes in front of me to go off of. So I thought, how can I not read this? What's happening? And I.
- [14:34]
Dr. David Stevens
Right, right, that does. And I hope you weren't scared at that moment that there's some big brain problem, that those things happen. I don't think I mentioned this on our first podcast, but before I took glucose, I was driving and my vision went completely black for about a quarter of a second.
- [14:56]
Andrea Samadi
Wow.
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Dr. David Stevens
And that was also the brain's prioritization. Vision was much less important at that moment than other things. And it was just very, very temporary, fortunately. But kind of disconcerting.
- [15:11]
Andrea Samadi
Exactly. And I did think that it had to do with that exact moment. And I just wanted to understand what, what actually caused it, because of course, you know, you. You're out of the situation, you put something in front of you, I could read it just fine. So what about that situation caused that? So that's, it's, it's amazing what can happen to us when we're under pressure and then how to manage it. So, you know, in.
- [15:40]
Dr. David Stevens
In.
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Andrea Samadi
If I was to go back and to have done it better, were there some strategies that I could have done to have perhaps been able to read or, or. No. Was. Was my.
- [15:51]
Dr. David Stevens
Was it. Was it right in the middle of like an interview?
- [15:55]
Andrea Samadi
It was like a presentation type thing, you know, so I've got something that I have to share with somebody else, and it was on a brochure and I just ended up handing the person the brochure and said, you can read this later. And they were fine with that. You know, they weren't going to remember all the fancy things that were a part of what I was presenting. But I just wonder, you know, if I was to find myself ever in a situation like that, could I have done something to have changed that or.
- [16:27]
Dr. David Stevens
Yes. Even if you hadn't done the glucose protocol, if. And I was. It wasn't in your office. Right. It was in a more public forum. Yeah.
- [16:38]
Andrea Samadi
So not my office. I was in someone else's office.
- [16:41]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah. So a couple of things. Smarties candy is pure dextrose. And you can take. You could have taken Smarties candy right before the presentation, and that would have given your brain enough fuel, so the nervousness of the moment, the stress or pressure of the moment wouldn't have been enough for your brain to get low enough on glucose or fuel to where it didn't have what it needed to process words. So anybody can do that. Anybody can have some Smarties candy with them. You can buy powdered dextrose and just mix up a glass of it. Like back before, I was doing what I call a maintenance dose. When I was going to do a training or something, or even like this conversation with you, I would take a dose right before presenting, right before doing the activity. And that always kept my brain functioning throughout the whole thing. The other thing would be if you could do it and the situation may not have let you do it, but to just ask for a brief break, and you probably found that you were able to get your thoughts together and continue on with your presentation. So it was an in the moment kind of phenomenon. Just like my vision going black. And often just kind of taking a step out of the situation for a minute or two will allow your brain to reorient and then be back functioning. So those two things together, really anybody can do.
- [18:19]
Andrea Samadi
Wow, this is such a paradigm shift. I remember from now, from our first interview, because, remember, you're talking to someone that, you know, almost sugar phobia, a little bit like, you know that to carry Smarties, you know, those things get them at Halloween, they go in the garbage. But right now that I understand that it's different, glucose is different than sucrose, sucralose and artificial sugar. So it's.
- [18:48]
Dr. David Stevens
Right fuel.
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Andrea Samadi
So it's just the same as me getting my head around now, I am not afraid of butter because it's fuel.
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Dr. David Stevens
Right, Right, right. Yeah. A lot of misinformation about butter and fat for a long time. And now we understand it much better that those Things aren't harmful like they were thought to be, or cholesterol, those kind of things. So it really is a paradigm shift. And everywhere you go, everything you hear still talks about how evil sugar is, but glucose is a different kind of sugar. And like we've been already been talking about is fuel. The fuel for our brains and our bodies. Got it.
- [19:36]
Andrea Samadi
Okay, so if you could go back to where you were explaining what you found. I just had to interrupt because I thought, I've got to understand, this is why we do the podcast, so we can take what you're teaching us, and now how do we apply it?
- [19:52]
Dr. David Stevens
Right.
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Andrea Samadi
So you know, where. Where were. Where. Did I interrupt you? Sorry.
- [19:57]
Dr. David Stevens
Well, no, we were just talking about some of the. The big insights and just quick review. The. The brain's glucose transport system has been broken. And so by taking glucose in sufficient quantities, that enables that system to come back online and to function the way it should. And then it's not very well known, but the brain actually stores a lot of glucose. Almost anything you read. And if you Google it, you'll find, no, the brain doesn't store glucose or stores only a minute amount, but as it turns out, in the astrocytes, which are a type of cell different from neurons in the brain, every astrocyte, and there's billions of them, stores a little bit of glucose. And so people have speculated that the entire glucose storage capacity of the brain is about 300 to 400 grams, or for perspective, 30 to 40 tablespoons of glucose is stored in our brain. And when we have this transport problem, our glucose. Excuse me, our brain glucose storage gets low, and that also interferes with all those functions I was talking about. And so knowing that your function physically, mentally, emotionally can be restored is such an important thing.
- [21:35]
Andrea Samadi
A hundred percent. And so I read through what you had sent me, and so it was more like. Was it a review from someone?
- [21:44]
Dr. David Stevens
It was, yep.
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Andrea Samadi
Reviewing your book and.
- [21:47]
Dr. David Stevens
Yes.
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Andrea Samadi
And so in there, did you measure biomarkers like hrv? How did. Where did HRV come into play? And I only ask because I measure HRV and some other biomarkers. What. Where did those come in?
- [22:03]
Dr. David Stevens
So, yeah, the second part of the book, the first part is kind of a layperson's explanation of what happens and why when your glucose is low. The second part of the book is a very detailed scientific analysis of all of the elements of the glucose protocol. And one of the things that's described in there through the various chapters is evaluating various biomarkers and why they're off and how that directly relates to brain function. So the brain regulates every single part of our function. Every part of our body is regulated by the brain. The immune system is a huge factor in biomarker variability. And the brain is what initiates activation of the immune system. When our brain perceives fear or threat or danger, it will activate the immune system. And as long as it continues to detect or interpret threat or danger, it will keep the immune system activated and even intensify the activation. And that produces inflammation. And inflammation is a cause of a lot again, of biomarker variability, things being out of whack, so to speak, in terms of our biomarkers. And so the brain is directly part of that. And part of the book too, talks about what people have called autoimmunity, which is the explanation is that's our immune system attacking our normal healthy cells. Actually, the immune system doesn't attack any healthy tissue or human cells. What it does is keep all of our organs activated at an unnaturally high rate, higher metabolic rate, and then they fatigue and kind of wear out from that. They're not attacked or destroyed by the immune system.
- [24:18]
Andrea Samadi
Got it. So I'm thinking of someone really close to me, and I'm gonna give. Give you the symptoms of what they tell me. If you could apply what you think is happening. Because everything you said here seems to apply to someone that is very, very close to me here. So, so this person has been diagnosed with, with, I think it was like, so type 2, type 2 diabetes. So over time, in, in their 50s now takes medicine to help control blood sugar. When they eat sugar, they talk about having brain fogginess, not being able to come up with the words properly, all. All those types of things. And also, um, when he goes to the doctor, he, he's told you have some sort of autoimmune. We don't know. We think it's fibromyalgia, that type of thing. And, and it's your body attacking, you know, itself. That's what he's told. And so there's not really any cure when, when he controls sugar a little bit better, doesn't eat the bad sugars that we know are not good for us, he has more mental clarity and feels healthier. So from what I'm describing. Oh, and HRV is typically very low in this person. So if you were to, if this person was to come into your clinic, what would you say to them?
- [25:50]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, first of all, I would want to talk to them about are they aware of any concussive injuries or even sub concussive injuries where they hit their head and maybe saw stars or felt kind of dazed or whatever, did they have any psychological trauma? And those two things both are part of that breakdown of the brain's glucose transport system, which result in the brain not getting enough. And so because his brain has not been getting enough glucose, that in itself is like a warning light in the brain flashing. There's not enough fuel here. That's threat or danger. And the brain's response in the context of threat or danger is to turn on the immune system or ramp up the immune system as the threat or the perceived threat or danger gets worse. So his immune system is overactive and has to. It's kind of a difficult thing that the immune system being overactive, like I said, that's what causes inflammation. But inflammation is something that the body has to deal with and puts more stress on it, which burns more brain glucose, which the brain interprets as a bigger problem. And so then you get this positive feedback loop. Not positive in the sense of it's a good thing, but things just keep getting turned on and then there's more and more to deal with. And so even ingesting sugar is more for his system to have to deal with. So his brain uses some of its glucose to deal with that extra strain coming into his body. And so brain fog, those kind of things are caused by there not being enough glucose in the brain. The, the technical term, and it's also the mechanism of headaches is cortical spreading depression and not depression in the clinical, I feel, sad sense depression, meaning reduced function of the neurons or the physical messengers in the brain. And so then that gives you that foggy feeling and makes it harder to remember words. So what I would say to him is we need to get your brain refueled. That as your brain gets fueled, as we rebuild that glucose transport system, then your brain is going to start down regulating the immune system, which will reduce inflammation, which will make everything else function better. But it's also interesting and so much complexity, and we could probably spend our whole time just talking about him and what's going on. But high blood sugar is almost always the result of an overactive immune system. It's not caused by how much sugar you eat. It's not caused by having that extra scoop of ice cream. It's caused by the immune system being activated. And the immune system needs glucose or sugar to function because it's the fuel for the immune system as well. So that's the reason for the higher blood sugar.
- [29:26]
Andrea Samadi
Everything you've Said made complete sense. And then I'm just remembering from our first interview why this works. You could take it orally because glucose crosses the blood brain barrier. And that's why it's not like we're taking sugar that goes into our stomach. It goes right, right to the brain.
- [29:47]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, yeah. And there's a little more knowledge and understanding that's also in his new book. But there are glucose sensors on our tongue and not. It won't res, they won't respond to fruit coast, they won't respond to table sugar, they respond only to glucose. And as soon as that, as any glucose touches our tongue, that activates those sensors and they send a message to the brain essentially that glucose is coming. And then what the brain does with that information is activates a circulatory loop that is in the mouth and the sensors come on saying glucose is on the way. Then it redirects blood, blood gets to the heart and then instead of continuing through the body, this glucose rich blood, it is directed through the jugular vein back to the brain. And so it gets to the glucose, gets to the brain within a matter of seconds and then is there for increased function. And there's enough of it when you take the glucose protocol that it bypasses the tightened blood brain barrier and helps get glucose passed there to the brain. Even though those glucose transporters aren't working as well as they should anymore. Got it.
- [31:15]
Andrea Samadi
This is, this is really good. I'm so grateful to have you here to explain this. And I interrupted you again with another situation.
- [31:25]
Dr. David Stevens
That's right.
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Andrea Samadi
Is there more that you want to share about your research and the book coming out that's important that we haven't talked about yet?
- [31:36]
Dr. David Stevens
Well, related to the diabetes. So blood sugar or blood glucose is regulated by the brain. And the brain must, under normal circumstances, rely on the glucose that's produced first in our stomach, then secondarily in the liver, a little bit in the pancreas. But the brain is dependent on the body producing glucose. It entering the blood and then it getting to the brain from the blood across the blood brain barrier. But when that system isn't working, then the brain will start to do some modifications. The first of which is it will direct the liver to release stored glucose into the blood. The liver is the biggest storage vessel, if we could call it that, for, for glucose in the body. So when the brain is low on glucose, it will activate the liver to release stored glucose into the blood. The goal being that the brain will get more of that glucose that the liver has put into the blood. But because of the broken transport system, all of that glucose doesn't get to the brain. So it activates the liver to release more glucose into the blood and then more glucose into the blood. And that also raises the blood sugar level. But the brain also activates, or not actually deactivates the pancreas to release less insulin into the blood. So you probably heard. People have probably heard the term insulin resistance. It's really not resistance. It's the brain downregulating insulin production because it wants more glucose in the blood so it can get more. And that's really the mechanism of diabetes, along with the overactive immune system that we talked about a minute ago. So because diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent because people are so concerned about it, it's really important to recognize the brain connection with diabetes. And so that's another of the big topics in the book.
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Andrea Samadi
Oh, this is good, because I feel like I just read that if you have been diagnosed with diabetes, that is now putting you at risk for. Or is it Alzheimer's and dementia? It's like there's a connection. Because what you just said. Brain connection.
- [34:11]
Dr. David Stevens
Right, right, yes.
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Andrea Samadi
Showing us.
- [34:14]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, you got it.
- [34:15]
Andrea Samadi
Exactly how important it is for us to understand these things. Like, when we have something that we're diagnosed with, what implication does that have? And I just interviewed somebody. Well, it was a while ago, but I reviewed their. Their interview. She was an ophthalmologist, and she was talking about certain, you know, how important it is for us to fuel our brain with foods and. And keeping our stress down and. And just the whole idea that our eyes are connected to our brain. So it's like everything is ruled by the brain, and none of us were taught about our brain. So this is. We have to gain our expertise from people like you so we can understand, you know, what. What do we do now? How can we take, you know, let's just say we have diabetes. What can we do now to help our health improve? And that's where we would come to see you.
- [35:13]
Dr. David Stevens
Right, right, right. And it seems completely backwards that taking more sugar or glucose would help solve a too high a sugar problem, but it does. And again, because of that mechanism where the glucose that you ingest this way gets to the brain directly, and then the brain has the fuel it needs to regulate everything else.
- [35:38]
Andrea Samadi
It's a huge paradigm shift. Like, I imagine having candies in my bag, right? Go back to the 90s. There wouldn't have been butter anywhere on. On anything I ate. So it's exactly the same to me. This is, this is amazing. Just getting our, our heads around how we have to look after our health in the future and what we need to understand. And that was like one of my questions, that some people made comments on YouTube like, you know, they were praising your work and in alignment with it. And then, you know, the one comment was like, no, this is, this is not accurate. How is it possible? And I think it's really hard for people to get their heads around this, except for when you explain the science behind it. When you explained how glucose goes straight to the brain and it's fuel, that's when I understood it. But what would you say to someone that comes to you and says, you know, this is, this is impossible. How could this be?
- [36:48]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, and you can probably imagine that happens quite regularly and again, just because of what you and me and everybody learned over years and years and years about sugar is terrible. If you're going to do one thing for your health, avoid sugar, those kind of things. So really when somebody new comes to my office, I talked to him about what's so important is to understand brain function. And for so long there's been a huge lack of understanding about brain function. And there continues to be a lack of understanding. But when I explain it, like I explained to you, that really any physiological difficulty, mental difficulty, emotional difficulty comes because the brain doesn't have enough fuel to control those functions. And those three priorities I talked about that the brain will under prioritize certain things to make sure the most important physiological things in your body are happening. And so as people understand that and understanding the mechanism will have you take glucose, that gets the glucose or the fuel to the brain in spite of the broken transport system, it kind of overrides the broken transport system. The brain gets fuel. And most people understand that any animal or human or machine has to have enough fuel if it's going to run effectively. And so that's really what it comes down to.
- [38:28]
Andrea Samadi
Got it, Got it. What, what else do you think is important for us to understand as your book is coming out? How, how can we, you know, continue to follow your work? You're, you're out in Colorado, right?
- [38:41]
Dr. David Stevens
I am, yes. Yes.
- [38:43]
Andrea Samadi
A few people were trying to find your offices. So I wonder if, you know, you could send me the best way to reach you for people that want to find, you know, there was a couple comments like where, where would they come to see you? So we'll put that in the show notes as well. But what, what would you say would be you know, the final takeaway for us to understand, like, I, I've got it. Glucose is fuel for the brain. Like, I'm not going to forget that. Now in times of stress, I could carry glucose in my purse and take some and get an instant boost for a little bit more clarity, something I could do that's like very cost effective because we can take some expensive things that over the, you know, over the time I've had people that, that are selling like stuff for focus and it's not cheap. Right. It's like.
- [39:36]
Dr. David Stevens
Right, right.
- [39:36]
Andrea Samadi
So this is very cost effective. So what, what do you think would you say would be some takeaways for us to know?
- [39:45]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, one quick thing, and the point of the conversation was not this, but I'm working with some people to develop either little packets of glucose or a syrup or a beverage. And the name of the company that we're putting together is Clarity Fuels. And so people can have it with them and take it. It will be inexpensive, but is easier and probably a little easier mentally than taking eating smarties, for example.
- [40:19]
Andrea Samadi
Right.
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Dr. David Stevens
And trying to mix up a drink of glucose so it will become probably in the next three to six months, readily available. And the product is the company's Clarity Fuels, but the product is Clarity. So that will make taking it while you're driving or whatever much easier.
- [40:40]
Andrea Samadi
I love this. I love this. I could get my head around taking something called Clarity over.
- [40:47]
Dr. David Stevens
Right, Exactly.
- [40:48]
Andrea Samadi
Just the, it's the paradigm shift. That's all it is.
- [40:51]
Dr. David Stevens
Right. It is so kind of the big picture takeaway. I say to some people that when your car is low on gas and you take it and you fill up your tank, do you say, oh, I've just fixed my car? And of course nobody says that that is fixing my car, it's just refueling it. And so it's kind of a mind blowing concept. But humans don't need to be fixed, they need to be refueled. And one of the things I talk to people about as well is what I've started calling the four pillars of truth about humanity. That every single person is whole and complete. No matter what their circumstance or situation, every person is a hundred percent acceptable. No matter what they themselves or anybody else says to them or how they treat them. No matter how close or distant you are from a friend or a loved one, you are a hundred percent acceptable. Every human is those things, whole and complete, 100% acceptable, but infinitely worthy. No matter what you've done, if you're in prison for murder, you're no Less worthy than anybody else. If you won three Nobel Prizes and saved a million people, you're no more worthy than anybody else. Everybody is infinitely worthy just because they're them. And then the last pillar is you are completely safe. Our brains are designed to restore function always, and then to maintain full function as long as they have enough fuel. As the brain has enough fuel, it will restore every part of your body. And so you can know those four pillars are true about you. And you can know you can be not fixed, but refueled and restored simply by getting your brain fueled.
- [43:06]
Andrea Samadi
This is very helpful, Dr. Stevens. I 100% believe in your mission. I'm excited for what you're creating here. I definitely want to follow you. And I can do an update once you have created this. I would put that. I would put clarity in my purse over candy. Love this.
- [43:26]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah.
- [43:26]
Andrea Samadi
You know, so I. I do look forward to when your book comes out. So please do keep me informed in that. I'll. I'll add the link to.
- [43:34]
Dr. David Stevens
Okay, that.
- [43:35]
Andrea Samadi
Can we. Can we pre order it on Amazon? Okay, so I'll make sure I put the pre order link in and just update me on where people can find you, because a lot of people did ask, you know, where exactly are your offices in? In what. What part of Denver are you in?
- [43:53]
Dr. David Stevens
In Colorado Springs. But I actually, I've worked with people in six continents and 10 countries and throughout the US so I can see people wherever they are via zoom. So I'll give you the link for email and text and all that. But like I said, I can see people no matter where they are.
- [44:19]
Andrea Samadi
Perfect. So I'll put all that in. And so I'm excited for where you're going with this, and I'm so grateful you reached back to me. Do you have any final thoughts to close out? How would you like to close out what you're doing here?
- [44:33]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah, well, just for everybody to know, there's hope you're not condemned to or destined for progressive deterioration. Even if it seems like you're at your lowest point, you can be fully restored. And then the last thing about the book, so it really is a deep, deep dive into science. So there's scientific explanations for everything I've talked about and much more. So it's not just, well, I think this or it could be that or it seems nice. There's detailed volumes of science that support this.
- [45:16]
Andrea Samadi
I did write that down, that in that blurb that you had sent me, they had said, this book ranks. And then. And then we came on together. So I didn't finish it. But what can you explain that it ranks at the top of the research? It's never been done before. Can you explain that part?
- [45:37]
Dr. David Stevens
So the review and the book itself is very clear that a lot of this needs to be confirmed through randomized controlled trials. Now, I have worked with 1500-2000 people and achieved the outcomes I'm talking about of eliminating diabetes and eliminating headaches and eliminating autoimmune disorders and eliminating dementia. So I've done all that over and over and over with people. But it does still need complete validation through the randomized controlled trials. So that's really clear in the book. But this has the potential to be a landmark kind of top level medical discovery ever.
- [46:28]
Andrea Samadi
And do you remember what you told me, how you discovered this in our first interview? Like this, this just as we're closing out here. This was almost by accident that you uncovered glucose, right?
- [46:44]
Dr. David Stevens
Yeah. I wouldn't say it's by accident. Certainly not everybody is. But I'm a person of faith.
- [46:50]
Andrea Samadi
Yes.
- [46:51]
Dr. David Stevens
And In October of 2017, I was awakened in the middle of the night. Not with an audible voice, but I call it divine inspiration. Try glucose. And that's what got all this started. I love it.
- [47:07]
Andrea Samadi
I think it's extremely powerful. So thank you so much for this. We'll continue to follow your work and I appreciate you coming back on the podcast. I'll put all your links in the show notes for people to follow you. I it appreciate, appreciate your time.
- [47:23]
Dr. David Stevens
Thank you so much for having me on. I enjoyed our last conversation, very much enjoyed this one. So thank you so much, Andrea.
- [47:31]
Andrea Samadi
Thank you, Dr. Stevens.
- [47:35]
Dr. David Stevens
If you're enjoying the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll stay up to date with our new episodes. While you're there, please feel free to give us a review or a five star rating as it helps others find us. For more information on our programs, books and tools for schools and the workplace, Visit us at www. AchieveIt360.com.