Transcription
All right, welcome everybody to episode 14, one of ones. We've got a special guest with us today, Dr. Dave Stevens. Neuroschistosomiasis. Right away, I was kind of telling Dr. David Stevens before we came on that I had my first brain injury, probably one year old. I was dropped by like a babysitter. Um, five or six years old, smacked my head, sled riding, woke up in the EMT. Um, EMT goes, "Do you know what day it is?" And I said, "Well, I didn't know what day it was before I hit my head." And, uh, 10 or 11 years old, um, T-ball, smacked my head on the turf, woke up seeing stars. Um, was tired for the days after, throwing up. Few years later, was playing, uh, slam dunk competition, went to go dunk a basketball, L-sprained my ankle, slashed my hand, slashed my hand on the backboard, and then smashed my head on the way down. Top of the backboard, right? Yeah, because we had it, we had the backboard lowered. Ah, there you go. So I, so I sliced my hand on the backboard on the way up, landed and twisted my ankle, and then hit my head. It was like a trifecta. Yeah. And, um, my mom had to bring me to Mount Sinai. They had to do tests on me. I remember my mom was keeping me awake in the car on the way to the hospital. And then in my 20s again, had another, uh, KO, knockout, got hit in the head and then landed on the pavement, I think, um, and I had vertigo for a while after that. So anybody's a, a candidate for your protocol, it's me. So yes, give us a, give us a brief background of like your history, why you became a neurosychology.
Class first semester, my freshman year of college, and became fascinated almost immediately with psychology, but also with the brain. And so, so throughout the course of undergrad, uh, my favorite courses were physiological psychology and again, anything related to the brain. So decided I wanted to go to grad school. Was planning to become a counselor or university professor, but really, um, focused my work on clinical applications of both kind of traditional therapy, but also neurosychology. And so after completing my doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, I worked at the State Mental Hospital in Colorado for five years, where I did neurosychological testing on every single person that came through our program, which was a program for people with severe mental illness and a chemical dependence. So did a lot of research and clinical work with people, both, um, from a psychological as well as neurosychological perspective, and became very interested in what was happening in brains. Then went on to become the director of mental health, chief of mental health for three state prison systems and continued the work of, um, working clinically, but also became more and more and more aware of trauma. And just a side note, so any psychological trauma or hit to the head, really anything that activates the sympathetic nervous system, results in the effect of a concussion, which is the glucose limitation. So didn't know that yet, but was more aware of the role of trauma. Then became academic dean at the University of the Rockies here in Colorado Springs, um, started a concentration in sport neurosychology. And so now I practice full-time, really, um, what I'm doing now is strictly brain rehabilitation. It isn't even neurosychology, but focusing on this work with restoring people's brains. And I am still a consultant for, um, mental health and neurosychology and prisons, including the designing of jails and prisons to reduce the stress on people who are incarcerated, as well as people who work there. So I'm a member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture as well.
So that's, that's fascinating. Let's, there's a few avenues to go from there. Let's talk about architecture and how architecture can, um, put someone into anxiety or fight or flight, or how, how do you go about that?
Yeah, so, um, starting with the outside of the building, even when somebody's arrested and they're pulling up to a jail, which is usually where it starts, and they see that facility, people, most of the time, people who have been arrested have had a pretty serious history of substance use or involvement with the law, and have had a terrible history of what I call experience with buildings. So they may well have been sexually or physically assaulted in a house or an apartment or whatever. Schools are places where often they weren't successful, and so they have an association of failure with a school building, any official building, and of course, a court or a jail evokes images of danger, of failure, probably more than anything. So we're working on designing the outside of buildings to look more like hotels, to look more peaceful. And there's even some literature about the psychology of hope as it applies to architecture. Buildings can be built that convey a sense of hope. So from the very beginning, even as they're pulling up in the back of the police car, a transition from immediate perception of danger and intimidation and failure to, I'm not sure what this is, but it looks different than anything I've encountered before. And then, you know, we could do a whole show just on architecture and neuroscience, but things like lighting, things like having actual, um, images of plants, things like visual complexity, all of those things burn glucose faster, which then leads to aggression and fear and anxiety.
Wow. Yeah, no, I'm a big component. I read a whole thing about how ceiling height can increase or decrease anxiety, and it makes total sense because the lower a ceiling is, the more caved in you feel, the more claustrophobic, right? And then the fluorescent lighting in our, in our hospitals, in our schools, in our jails, this fluorescent lighting isn't helping anybody, right? Because that, the visual system is the most complex system in the brain. And so things that tax or strain the visual system again, burn glucose faster, which then again leads to anxiety and agitation and all those things.
Yeah. One thing we're a big proponent of in our community, and I preach a lot, is getting outside in the morning and getting sun in the eye, you know, no sunglasses, sun in the eye. You know, you said when you, what interested me when you said, uh, the word brain rehabilitation, and the, what went off in my head is almost like, did you have to change the name because the old paradigm is, uh, a rigid structure that probably has definitions that were pushing back upon you?
Absolutely. Yep, you hit the nail on the head. And I'm really starting to talk about restoration science. So brains aren't broken, brains aren't incapable of function, they just need to be restored and have their fueling restored, and then they function the way they should.
Okay, so let's talk about that. What did people hate sugar? Sugar's demonized, right? Um, you know, we have a diabetes, we have an obesity epidemic. I even tell people don't do added sugar, but there's a difference. There's a difference. So what is glucose? What's the difference between glucose and fructose and sucrose? And, you know, there's, there's a polysaccharide and a monosaccharide. Break that down like, like I'm five years old for our audience.
Okay. Um, glucose is, and this is not really a five-year-old word, but glucose is a monosaccharide, meaning it's a simple sugar. And the entire chemical makeup of glucose is six atoms of carbon in the glucose molecule, 12 atoms of hydrogen or water, and six atoms of oxygen. That's it. There's nothing else in there. There's nothing acidic, there's nothing alkaline, there's nothing corrosive. Glucose cannot harm you in any way. Um, fructose is also a monosaccharide, but the difference between fructose and glucose, fructose chemical arrangement is what's called a ketose, which means its function is to get stored as fat. So providing a reserve for later. Glucose, on the other hand, chem, its chemical configuration is an aldose, which means it's active and it functions as fuel. And then sucrose, which is what's in candy and dessert and soda and all that, that's a polysaccharide. It is twice as chemically heavy as glucose, so it cannot get past the barrier between your blood and your brain. So it can't be helpful in terms of fueling your body or your brain.
Got it. Thank you for that. And then we'll go into why is glucose and dextrose, why, how, why is it helping people with brain, brain injuries? And then you have a covert brain injury, and then we have a physical trauma. Why, why is glucose helping? What happens?
So, um, I can give you a little bit of a longish explanation of what's happening chemically in the brain when there's a psychological trauma or even a minor bump on the head.
Yes, please give it to us. All we're ready.
Okay. So glucose is the fuel for our brain. It's the fuel for our bodies. If our brains don't have enough glucose, if our bodies don't have enough glucose, we die. And humans and plants and animals all will die faster from lack of glucose than they will certainly from lack of oxygen, I mean, of water, but also from lack of oxygen. So it's that important. It's more important arguably than oxygen or water. So anytime, um, people are probably familiar with either the term sympathetic nervous system or fight or flight or freeze system, those are exactly the same thing. But each time that system gets activated, and for you, it happened when you were dropped as a baby, if not before, and then every time, even a minor bump on the head is often enough to activate the sympathetic nervous system. So those little bumps on the head, things when we get scared, but don't think it's a big deal, those are the covert injuries. So probably everybody has had the chemical problem I'll describe in a minute dozens of times in their life, and they may think like you, I've had five or six or six or eight concussions, but you've had dozens of the same chemical event, which is a concussion. And concussions and psychological traumas are chemical problems, they're not tissue or structural problems. So what happens is the sympathetic or fighter flight or freeze system is activated. The brain pulls more glucose from the body so it has enough fuel to fight or to flee to protect yourself. And the normal way our brains get glucose is we eat food. A portion of that food is converted to glucose in our stomachs and a little bit in the liver. It goes via the vein system, I just call it a pipe, it's not a literal pipe, but just for ease of understanding, goes from the stomach to the brain through that pipe. That's regulated again, not by a literal valve, but it's easy to understand by calling it a valve. So that valve is set at about a 70% flow from the time, really, from the time of conception. And so that flow can even be a limit, even be limited a little bit during development in utero, but certainly once we've been born, something activates that sympathetic nervous system. The brain opens that valve to 100% flow so the brain can get all the glucose it needs to protect you. It can only stay there for about 20 minutes. If it stayed open at 100% for more than 20 minutes, it would drain your body of glucose, and that would kill you. So the brain can't let that happen. So after 20 minutes, it turns the valve back down, but not back to 70, but with the very first sympathetic or fight or flight activation, it turns it to maybe 68, depending on the severity of the event, and it leaves it at 68 from then on until the next fight or flight or sympathetic activation reopens it to 100, leaves it open at 100 for 20 minutes, you have enough glucose or fuel to protect yourself, to fight or flee, whatever you need to do. Then it turns it down, but not back to 68, but this time to like 65, and it leaves it there from then on until the next injury reopens to 100, 20 minutes, turns it back down, not to 65, but maybe to 61, and leaves it there from then on. So as you can see, there's a progressive reduction of fuel. And as you lose more and more flow of glucose or fuel to your brain, you start to have symptoms. And those symptoms worsen with each new activation of the sympathetic or fight or flight system because you lose some more percentage of fuel to your brain. And just like any, um, electrical, mechanical, physical system, as it loses fuel, it loses function. And that's the entire problem with, uh, that comes from the sympathetic nervous system activations, and it's the entire cause of the symptoms we experience mentally, emotionally, physically.
Fascinating. So what are some of these symptoms that someone can live with? Like for me, for example, if I had eight concussions, what are some of the symptoms that I could see?
Yeah, and we certainly can't do an exhaustive list, but headaches are pretty common. Tinnitus or ringing in the ears is pretty common. Light and sound sensitivity is pretty common. Brain fog is pretty common. Um, balance difficulties, like bumping into door frames or furniture, happens. Um, memory difficulties, like I know what the word is I want to use, but I can't think of it. I go in a room and don't remember why I went in there. I lose my car keys, or if you're like me, leave your glasses somewhere, perhaps. Then anxiety, irritability, or anger, frustration, depression, physical pain, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, all those things are the result of progressive loss of fuel to your brain. And there's a whole host of others, but.
Got it, got it. And what, so you mentioned diabetes. A lot of people will say, hey, I'm not going to take glucose every day, four times a day, I'm going to get diabetes. But the science and research is kind of showing it's almost the opposite.
Yeah, yeah. Um, kind of the opposite. So I've treated hundreds of people, literally, with either type one or type two diabetes. And there's a, um, inverse relationship, meaning if one's high, the other's low, if one's low, the other's high, between our blood glucose and our brain glucose level. So as we've been talking about, the brain glucose level keeps lowering as that valve gets turned down with every sympathetic nervous system activation. Well, the brain knows that it must have glucose. It also knows that there's a storage of glucose sitting there in the liver. And so what it will do is activate the liver to release stored glucose in order to hopefully get some more glucose to the brain. But because of the limitation, it doesn't get any more glucose to the brain, or certainly not enough. So then it activates the liver to release more stored glucose into the blood, and it doesn't get all of that. So it activates the liver to release more stored glucose into the blood. And as you can see, that just progressively jacks up the blood sugar level. As the brain gets glucose by taking it this way, it has less and less and then no need to activate the liver to release stored glucose. So the blood sugar level goes progressively down.
Got it, got it. Yeah. And so that's one of my concerns. And I think in my case, and many people's cases, it'll be a good trade-off. But one of my concerns is that the liver, right? We're big proponents of the liver, right? Um, our community, we do a low vitamin A diet because we found that vitamin A is a fat-soluble toxin and you can get too much of it. And what's happening with fatty liver and non-alcoholic fatty liver and a lot of autoimmune is the liver is getting saturated with way too much vitamin A, and it's starting to spill out. And this is, and we're getting people very, very healthy again, feeling good again. And we're even getting some, um, every single person I've had on my podcast thus far, anxiety gone on a low vitamin A diet. Um, so, but it's a toxin on the way in, and it's a toxin on the way out. And some people have detox effects, and it can be a long, bumpy road, especially when it comes to their brain health. So what's going on with glucose in the liver? And is like, how much is it going to be stored there? Is it going to, um, potentially cause problems in the liver?
None of the glucose that people take, like you're taking it, and like the people that I work with take, none of that gets stored in the liver. All of it's going to the brain and is being used by the brain in the moment. And so, um, I think you mentioned, but certainly we can talk more about it, but I recommend that people take glucose three times, three to four times a day. And the reason is, their brain is burning the glucose they took continuously. And so just like if you're on a road trip with your car, you need to stop and get gas periodically because the gas level gets low. The brain is burning all the glucose you take, so you need to replenish that supply. So it is not contributing to glucose in the liver at all. Okay. The storage of glucose in the liver is also not problematic in any way. So's a, yeah, there's a very interesting and helpful YouTube video by Dr. Richard Lustig called Sugar: The Bitter Truth. He is an endocrinologist at the University of San Francisco, and he talks about no amount of glucose stored in the liver can be harmful in any way. Okay.
Very interesting. So we got to have more combos about that. I got to look into that video and more research. So what, what is the deal with the endocrine system? Um, for example, like hypothyroidism, or for guys with low testosterone? We have a lot of guys now with low testosterone, huge epidemic. I'm a big component in our community. I do a lot of brain training. I do mirror image cursive writing because we know the hands grow the brain. I do hammer drills where I juggle golf balls. I do memory drills, just to form new synapses, spark neurogenesis. And I'm looking at what we're doing, like this is like a one-two punch of sorts. We, we've also seen people able to raise their testosterone levels just from brain training.
Yes. Because the brain regulates the body, right? Exactly. How does, how does this dextrose and glucose? Can people fix their hormones or their thyroid or what's going on there?
Yes, all of that. So as people's brains get fueled, they can get off their thyroid medication because their thyroid returns to functioning the way it should. As people take glucose, male or female, hormonal imbalances are corrected, and hormonal rest, hormonal function is restored. So what happens is, and the way I describe it is, there are micro interventions and there are macro, there's a macro intervention. So things like taking hormones, things like taking medicine, um, even training that you or I do with people, all of those are micro interventions. They address a specific system in the body. And like you said, the brain ultimately controls everything. It controls itself, it controls every single bodily function. So the macro intervention is getting the brain fully fueled. Then it will fuel every single bodily function, and everything in your body will work the way it should. So, kind of a silly example, I worked with a guy, this has been a few years ago now, he was 64 at the time. He'd had a migraine headache every single day of his life since age nine. And so about three months into taking glucose, his hor, or his, um, migraine stopped, and he never had another one. But about a month later, he said, I've got a story that I think you're going to find interesting. He said, I've always had this split in my thumbnail. And he said, it wasn't a big deal. I'd ask doctors about it once in a while, and they'd say, well, we don't know what it is, but it's not a problem, don't worry about it. He said, I just noticed the other day that split is gone. And so even something as remote and kind of seemingly insignificant as thumbnail growth, the brain regulates that. When his brain got fueled, it could address even things as kind of minor as thumbnails. So that, and everything in between, up to memory function, up to bodily function, heart function, lung function, all that, the brain regulates. And when the brain is fueled, it restores all of those functions.
Amazing. I'm looking at this like, you know, a big, a big missing link. We keep putting adding new pieces of the puzzle, right? And, you know, anyone who works with human beings, getting them better, it's not an exact science, and it's not, you're not going to bat a thousand, you know. Um, so when I see what you're doing, and you know, we have a few outliers who, yeah, they're getting better because they've stopped intaking toxins, they've cleaned up their diet. But then there's a few missing links. So, one of our community members was kind of like, hey, um, we're too focused on M, he claims that we're too focused on micronutrients, specifically vitamins, minerals. I definitely agree on the vitamins. And he focused on the macro, glucose. But do you think a low toxic, healthy diet is important as well? You know, obviously.
Yeah, yeah. So micro interventions are important, and it's important to do things that sustain our micro systems. But the brain is like the big safety net. And even that's not exactly the way to describe it, because the brain does maintain full function when it's fully fueled. But supporting, supplementing that with nutrients, with vitamins, with exercise, with activity, yes, all that's great. And in no way hinders the brain fueling, but the brain fueling makes it possible for all those other things to work.
Yeah, I'm seeing that too, because, you know, some people, no matter, we're very big anti, we think that, I know there's a huge supplement problem right now. Everyone's running around, take, there's a hundred different bottles in their cabinet. You know, they're pissing it down the drain. If anything, if anything, they're hurting their liver with all these herbs and these, you know. So this is a very simple. It guys, a lot of times it's the simple answer right in front of our face. And it's like, you know, the other day I was watching the Hadza tribe, they're a Tanzanian tribe, right? They have a very, very simple diet. And one of the things they're doing is, um, on the way to hunt, they will stop and climb into a huge tree and get the honey, right? Yes. And so honey is like the only real thing we have that has dextrose and glucose. And it's not even fully glucose, right? So for people asking, like, you can't get this from food, but if you, if you were to, honey would be a thing. But I'm looking at honey as like, well, that has the other sugars that I don't want. And honey is 40% dextrose. So there's no way to get enough dextrose from your brain, just from honey. You couldn't eat enough to get the dextrose you need. But it does help. Absolutely. Yeah. Because one of the scenes in this documentary, the guy goes, do you want to go to America? And he's like, isn't that the place that they jump off buildings to kill themselves? Yeah, right. And he's like, I would never want to go there. He goes, I don't understand that at all. And then you see that they're joking all day long, they're joking and laughing and smiling. And, um, I think, you know, I know for a fact, once we clean people's livers up, once we get their brain with glucose, like there's no more of that anger and irritability and like, you know, this, this non, this petty nonsense that sadly too many of our people are are walking around with, you know?
Yes. Yep.
What's the max dose children and adults are taking as they near the end of the six-month protocol that you have that you have folks on?
Yeah, and it really is, it varies by individual. The most anyone's ever taken, and this will sound like an astronomical amount, but remember, glucose cannot be harmful to any part of your body in any way, in any amount. It's impossible to take enough to be harmful. But I worked with a guy, he estimated he'd had 50 concussions as a kid. Then when he was in his early 20s, he went headfirst through a windshield at 120 miles an hour and was in a medically induced coma for three months. Then went to prison because he was drunk at the time of the accident and got assaulted there. So when I saw him, he's a very intelligent guy, loved to read, but he said, if I work as hard as I can, I can maybe read 70 pages a week. And he was having continuous suicidal thoughts. And he was angry all the time. He said, it's all I can do to not fight everybody I see. So he took glucose, he got to 33 tablespoons at a time, three times a day. So slightly over two cups. Wow. But, and again, there's no way to take enough to be harmful. The worst thing that would happen is if you took more glucose than your brain would need, is it would come out in your urine. So that's the worst case scenario. But by the time he finished treatment, he was reading 700 pages a week. He had had zero suicidal thoughts and was not angry at all. But so that's the highest anyone's ever taken. Um, children obviously, they would take a lot less, and it varies per child and per diagnosis. For example, people who are diagnosed with autism, children typically need to take more. But it, it depends on the age. So let's just say a five-year-old, I think the most a five-year-old that I've worked with has ever taken was eight tablespoons at a time. Wow.
Okay, cool. So kind of all over the board. No, but if people have sensitive systems, I might start them off by taking one or even a half a tablespoon per time, three times a day, and maybe going up by a teaspoon or a tablespoon every week. But generally, children start at the like one to two tablespoons, adults start at three, and then we go up from there until we reach symptom reduction. So that guy I was talking to you, I mean, symptom elimination, sorry. So the guy I was talking to you about, at 33 tablespoons, then he had no more symptoms. So that's where we stopped increasing. So once his symptoms go away, you stop the.
Got it. Right. So, um, I watched one of your videos and right away, I'm just getting this like, uh, voice in my head about this, this hope. Right? You said something about like, when people lose hope. Yes. Let's talk about that a little bit.
Sure. Because, yeah, so I don't know if you have a specific question or if you want me to just talk about the relationship between brain function and hope.
Yeah, you said something that really stood out to me that I think there's just so many people walking around like failing to thrive, no hope, and how that biochemically, it's like a biochemical thing.
It is. You know, and I think this is so important for, I think we can help so many people with with what you're doing here.
Yes. So, um, suc, uh, taking glucose eliminates suicidality. Um, I worked with a little girl, she was 11 years old, she estimated she was having a hundred suicidal thoughts a day. About two months into taking glucose, she had zero suicidal thoughts. But hope and loss of hope is directly related to glucose in the brain. So the very first time we lose glucose, the brain is aware of that, and the brain is concerned about it because if it loses too much glucose, you die. So even a small, the first reduction of glucose, like we talked about earlier, the brain starts interpreting, something's wrong with me. So self-doubt, thoughts of unworthiness, thoughts of failure, all come from low glucose. And as that glucose level continues to lower, then the brain detects lowered function. And if there's something wrong with me, and that whatever it is, something wrong with me is getting worse, and things in my body are suddenly not working the way they should, and things in my brain aren't working the way they should, then hope diminishes. And as glucose levels lower, hope even disappears. You know, one of the things I talk about is despondency. And despondency is really the word that, like in the Bible, the word Laz really means despondency. And despondency means loss of hope and loss of moral courage. And so as the glucose level lowers, the brain detects, this is a literally a hopeless situation, and I'm going to continue to deteriorate and decline, and I just need to make do the best I can. But as that level lowers, it becomes clearer and clearer to the brain that I don't see any hope of anything changing. I don't see this turning around. So I just become resigned. And even addiction comes from that, the loss of hope, kind of like entering hospice. I need to just feel better because this situation is never going to improve. But one of the first things that happen as people begin to take glucose, hope begins to return.
Amazing. Yeah, because one hand, you know, you've already drained your glucose, you've already lost hope, right? Then, then you do something bad, you go to jail, even less hope, right? You know, you're going to. And then, um, you've already lost hope, you go to, let's go at a low level here, everyone's smoking weed now, right? Right. So you lost hope, you start smoking weed. I'm sure the weed is affecting the brain and the glucose as well. Do you have anything on that? Any talking points on that?
Well, the, the marijuana or the weed itself doesn't activate the sympathetic nervous system, which is the way we have progressive loss of glucose to the brain. But it does burn glucose faster. So the available glucose, people are burning through it faster as the brain has to metabolize it, the brain has to act on it. So that faster glucose burning obviously reduces the available supply quicker. And so yes, that does result in lowered hope, even on a day-to-day basis. This is why they're get, they get the munchies, right?
Right, exactly. They're trying to get more glucose.
Yes. And speaking of munchies, I saw that there's actually a few types of candy in the store that have glucose in them. And ironically, one of them is called Smarties.
Yes. That is ironic. Was this an inside job? Did they know back in the day that we needed this, and it was like the elite's way of like, hey, if you're out and about, get some Smarties?
I don't think they really made that direct connection. But people, even, and maybe you've noticed this, but even with the very first few doses, often their awareness level increases. And a lot of times when people first take it, they'll, they'll feel more tired. And they think, well, wait a minute, you said this would give me fuel and energy, but I feel more tired. And it's just, they're more aware of how tired they are. So yes, Smarties, even a packet of Smarties will increase alertness and awareness.
Do we know how many, uh, grams are in a packet of Smarties?
Yeah, so the little packets, there's three different sizes. So there's kind of the most common regular ones, then there's what are called giant ones, and then there's mega ones.
Oh God. So the packet of the little ones is six grams. Okay. The whole packet is six grams. The whole packet of the giant is 28 grams. And I believe the mega is 36 grams.
And is that all glucose? Or is there other stuff in there?
All glucose.
So this is good to know if you're out and about and you don't have your DCT show spin.
Yeah. So in 2020, when we went through the COVID lockdown, I started weightlifting more than ever because I finally had time to be at home and I had nothing to do. And, you know, I came across, and I was on YouTube all the time, researching stuff. And I came across a dextrose video, and the guy was like, telling people to eat gummy bears. And I was like, well, I don't want gummy bears because, you know, there's other stuff in there and the gelatin and blah, blah, blah. So I, I got a big bucket of dextrose powder and I started doing like 30 to 40 post-workout, um, with with some juice and some sodium chloride. And I, and like unbeknownst to me, not knowing what you were doing, not knowing the the science, I just thought I was restoring my muscles after training, the glycogen. The, the best part of my workout was this post-workout drink. Like I would, it was hard for me not to drink it during the workout, right? Because my, my body almost knew like I needed this thing, and it made me feel amazing. It made me feel great. And I never put two and two together that it was like my brain. So have you, have you spoken about how this restores the muscles as well? Like what do you know anything about that?
Well, yes, glucose is the fuel for every single cell in our body, right? And so the body and blood glucose systems and the brain glucose system are different. And so the glucose that's produced by our body when we eat, like I said, um, a portion of that, portion of what we eat gets converted to glucose. And, and our brains take, our brains usually weigh about 2% of our body weight, but consume anywhere from 20 to 40% of the total glucose produced by our body. So a significant percentage goes to the brain. The rest of it stays in the body. And so ingesting glucose, most of that was going to your brain. But when you eat food that produces glucose, and that does go to your body, and that helps your body function better. But again, what was happening when you took the glucose, all that glucose, or the vast majority of it was going to your brain. And when your brain has more fuel, it regulates your body better. So your body felt better, but it was a brain effect.
Yeah, I felt amazing on it. I don't know why I stopped doing it, um, but I'm glad to be back doing it. You know, right away, day one, kind of felt the switch click, kind of felt the switch go on. A little bit, um, more difficult to fall asleep, but it wasn't an insomnia, it was like, oh, your brain's got energy right now. And you've been, you've been, because I've been reading and studying and talking, you know, my day is like reading, studying, talking for hours. And by the time I get done at night, it's like brain fatigue, you know? Right. I, I actually have been studying so much that I'm like, I started to think like, I'm taking in too much information and I'm not retaining any of it because of that, right?
Well, it was a glucose issue, right? Um, because in the, in the beginning of my studies, you know, six months ago, I was retaining everything. Right? So I obviously was draining the, the, the faucet too much, right? Um, it's funny, like I already get roasted and made fun of a lot because I'm telling people that vitamin A is not a vitamin. And now I'm gonna have people, now I'm gonna have people doing sugar, right? So, but I'm, listen, I'm comfortable in my skin and I don't care what anyone has to say. Even if, you know, there could be an argument about the liver, the trade-off to me of someone not committing suicide is like, hey, we'll clean up your liver, um, if it, even if, is it a thing? We can talk about that in five to six months after you're not suicidal, you know, after you're not, um.
So the glucose will fully restore liver function. People that I work with, if they come to me and they've had, um, poor liver function tests, really for whatever reason, certainly by the end of them taking glucose actively and going to a maintenance dose, their liver function tests are all normal. Because the brain, when it's fully fueled, it regulates everything, that includes the liver. And so what you're doing is a very helpful thing, but taking glucose also will restore the liver.
Yeah, and, and, um, no, yeah. So this is a, I got a, I did a few posts already and I got some pushback already, obviously, because everybody's an expert. Everybody's an expert now. So one of the things a guy said, you know, because I have a lot of veterans in my network, my friend group, I have a lot of MMA fighters, I'm friends with, got a lot of football guys, I'm friends with. Got a lot of guys I'm friends with. I heard you worked with an MMA guy already, right? And an NFL guy.
Yeah, and an NFL guy. CTE is a huge, huge problem. You know, we, there's, there's a double-edged sword here because some guys got to get their disability and may the NFL might have a big solution for that problem. It's more important to get people better. One of the guys was, hey, you know, shame on you for telling people to take sugar. All they need is the carnivore diet and ketosis, right? And, and I'm like, okay, yeah, maybe keto, and maybe carnivore can help. But we can't tell a guy who's suicidal to eat steak every day because he might even become more suicidal. But let's talk about ketosis and this carnivore and these, and you know, the body wants sugar so bad, it's going to convert protein into sugar. You're right. Right. So guys say, guys say, oh, you don't need sugar. And I'm like, well, then why is your body converting it into sugar? Exactly. So let's talk about that, like, kind of at a high level.
Sure. So, um, ketosis is like the third level fueling, and it's the starvation safety net. So when you're not getting any carbs at all, then your body and brain will turn on ketosis. But what's happening is you're get, that the ketones burning of ketones actually converts them to glucose. So you're getting a, converts fat to glucose, so you're getting a little bit of glucose by doing the keto diet. But it's only drops, and it's only to sustain you to keep you from starving. And so it's also that little bit of glucose produced by the keto diet isn't subject to the, um, glucose limitation. So people are getting more glucose, a little bit more, but still more glucose when they're on the keto diet, and that's why they start to feel better. But you can't get enough. The brain needs at resting state, not doing any activity, but just being alive, the brain burns 160 grams of glucose every day. Wow. And ketosis can't replace that. So you feel a little better, but you're not getting enough for your brain to recover, for your brain to restore your body function. And actually, it's kind of funny. I have, um, a number of people that they do the carnivore diet while they're taking glucose. And one guy, he started calling it, he says, I do the glore diet. I love that. So he does carnivore and glucose. So there's no reason you can't do carnivore while you're taking glucose. Yeah, and you'll get some of the benefits of the keto diet, but you obviously won't go into ketosis because you're getting carbs. But again, ketosis was never designed to be a primary live your life fuel system. It's a safety net, and it's kind of like a spare tire. It'll kind of get you along until you can get back to the normal system. But it's, glucose is the primary fueling system, then lactose is secondary, and ketosis tertiary or the third level.
I love that. And it's just, to me, it's common logic of like, hey, let's go with the first easy choice rather than making our body stress and work harder. I think with keto, a lot of people do a good first or carnivore. Hey, you, you're stopping 99% of the toxins that made you sick, made you weak. And there's got to be a world where those same toxins that are making people sick are draining their glucose, you know, it's using it, it's making the situation worse. So a lot of people, a lot of people are on a crap diet, do some new fad diet, and they right away feel better. So they kind of put their stake in the ground and don't realize, hey, you got some more walking down the path to do, and there's some more answers and some more, um, things. So someone asked, which specific neurosychological testing does he do? Personally, I would like to do some before and after testing to have some true objective comparisons. So this is somebody who's kind of going to do it themselves. Yeah, and they want to like, um, have a before and after.
So the test that I use is called the RBANS. That's the acronym. The name is the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. But the benefit of that test, there's actually a couple benefits. One is there's multiple versions. And so I can give somebody a test, test, or a version before they start glucose, and then when they finish, I give them a different version. So it's not just that they're better test takers or that they know that test better, it's that there's actual improvement. And the subtests that are part of that RBANS are used in a variety of other tests and have been, um, psychometrically proven to be what are called reliable and valid. So it's a great instrument. Correlates highly with other longer neurosychological tests. And then that's the third benefit, it takes about a half an hour to do, whereas most neurosychological testing is three or four hours or even eight hours. And after about a half an hour, you're measuring fatigue, you're not measuring function anymore. And I've given pre- and post-RBANS to people, and on average, people improve by, after taking glucose, by two and a half to three standard deviations. And that is a monstrous improvement. It takes one, it takes four-tenths of a standard deviation to be what's called statistically significant, meaning the difference did not occur by chance. So people are improving by seven times more than, um, what's required for statistical significance.
Wow. So is that IQ?
It's not IQ. It's brain function. It's just function.
Okay, got it. Um, are, are we doing this with or without food, or does it matter?
Does not matter. Does not matter.
Okay. Um, so are you doing any other laboratory testing, like, um, inflammation markers, nutrient markers, chem panel?
Yeah, and I, I don't do that myself. I'm not a physician, right? But people that I work with, they do every imaginable test. And as people take glucose, all of those tests normalize and stabilize.
Got it. Are there any conditions that you do not see improve?
No, other than, so let's say somebody got a shotgun blast to the head and they lost, you know, pick a number, 10 or 20% of the tissue of their brain, right? Glucose is not going to restore that, right? Or if you break your arm, glucose is not going to reset your arm, obviously, right? So what I say is it doesn't change mechanical problems, like a severe cut. It may speed up the healing process, but it doesn't mean you don't need sutures.
Got it, got it. And what about women with breastfeeding? It's fine.
Yeah. Every human must have glucose, and glucose cannot be harmful in any amount. Major key. And that's going to, we're going to have some smart, happy babies from that too.
Exactly. Um, and it's a lot better than the other things that are in the milk these days. Yeah. Um, so you have two books, you, you've written two books, right?
Yeah. Tell us about what are those books?
Yeah, actually, I wrote a book on parenting, and then I've written three on glucose. One was specifically related to what was happening during COVID. The next one was specifically on this despondency topic we talked about. The third one that's probably the most, um, immediately useful is called Glucose 101: The Brain Dysfunction Reclamation and Recovery Handbook. That's six bucks on Amazon. It's about 80 pages. I made it to be very straightforward. And then I'm actually working on one that should be out in September called Restored Hope.
Very cool. Yeah, I bought, yep. Go ahead.
Well, it will be the most comprehensive discussion of brain function, glucose treatment, and the relationship between brain function and hope.
I bought Glucose 101. I probably, I'm 80% done with it. I loved it. I'm going to put the link in too, um, so everyone else can can thrive on this. And I'm going to put your link where people can find you and get some consultations with you. Um, think it's really important. So when you go, are, are you still going into the prisons and jails and are you giving them dextrose?
I am going into the prisons and jails. As you can imagine, there's a huge amount of bureaucracy in those systems, and they're some of the slower to adopt anything. So I'm talking about it to them, and I'm actually working on an article that I think will be published probably before Christmas called, um, Correctional Neuroscience. So it will outline what's happening in the brains of people who are incarcerated, the glucose limitation, the glucose.
Burning and how to change that. They give them so much crap and poisons as it is. You would think they could, we could just easily. Maybe I'll start sending some guys some Smarty packets to the. There you go. Yeah, that would be helpful. And I, I do, um, a lot of work. A lot of what we do is focused on eliminating solitary confinement in prisons. And then we also do assessments of the mental health systems in prison. But I will talk to individual inmates and tell them, get Smarties from the C, from the canteen, from the commissary. That's brilliant. That's great. Um, incredible. I'm so interested in seeing because what I see a lot with brain problems is, and another problem we have is we have a zinc deficiency and a copper toxicity. And when, and a lot of people are copper toxic. And copper is this electrical conductor that's giving people insomnia, schizophrenia. And a lot of times when we antagonize it and give them zinc and, and make them conscious of copper, you know, if someone grew up with a house in copper pipes, for example, um, that's another way to kind of get brain health. But I'm looking at glucose like the macro. I'm, what I'm really saying here is I wonder without doing any of that work, that does work and we see results. I'm so interested to see if like, okay, we get the glucose, glucose stores up, and then the brain is kind of just telling the body to dump this thing. It doesn't e. Exactly. That could be some fascinating research to prove, um, with that. And so with that said, it's like, I wonder in, in my case, I wonder if, or in other, like, if you're less toxic, if you are already cleaned out your liver, um, what could take five years. We do the low vitamin A diet, and you can see that it can take three years for somebody to fully get vitamin A out of their liver, which is amazing, you know, decades of, um, unreasonable amount of this fat-soluble molecule, three years to regulate it because the body starts dumping it. Um, I wonder if that person who's at that three-year mark, how, if this would happen quicker, or they wouldn't need the six months. So we can talk about that later. But, um, yeah, I think, let me see what other questions we have here. Um, you need to achieve full glucose fueling restoration and symptom elimination. So, yeah, so is, if, if symptom elimination is done in three months, then it's time. Like, does that happen? Are there people who need to go shorter? Are there people who need to go longer? Yeah, really, everybody needs to go to six months for their brain to be restored. So some people will get symptom elimination, like you said, in two to three months. The other question that I ask people, and it often strikes them as kind of weird, and they don't know quite how to react, but I'll say, what percentage of your brain's total capability are you functioning at? And often they'll say, well, I don't know, or how would I know that? And I'll say, we just take a minute and just see what number comes to mind. The brain keeps in effect, a dashboard of everything that's going on in itself and in the body. And so with a little query, so to speak, asking that question, what percentage again of my brain's total capability am I functioning at? They'll come up with a number, and it's usually very close to what I would say based on what I know of the person. So when people are symptom-free and their brain is telling them they're at a 100% of their brain's, they're functioning at 100% of their brain's capability, that's when they can switch to a maintenance dose. Got it. Got it. Um, what is the, uh, tell me the story with the MMA fighters? Yeah. Um, so as you can imagine, many, many concussions, um, kind of emerging suicidal thinking, depression, anxiety, anger, as you can imagine, and a host of other symptoms. Tinnitus was one of the biggest for him. And so one of the things, there's a technical term called a Noosa, which means you don't know what you don't know. And the more lay way that I talk to people about it is I'll ask people, have you gotten into a pattern of just existing and surviving, not really living? And almost everybody says yes to that question to one degree or another. So that's what was happening with him, just kind of surviving. And it took probably right about six months to eliminate the tinnitus. But he started noticing, like nearly everybody does, reduction of anger, reduction of anxiety a few months in. And so we, like everybody, and it's really an important point, and it's kind of counter to what people expect, and even in some ways want to hear, but every person that's completed this treatment has fully recovered. So there has not been a single exception. So he, like everybody, fit that pattern. And roughly 80, 85% of people that start working with me complete treatment. And obviously, I don't know what happens to the people that don't complete it. But the ones that complete it, 100% of them fully recover. I would think that people who don't complete, they're, hey, I'm better, I'm out of here. Right. Right. That does happen. Or the, the whole anti-sugar crusade, that's usually why most people quit. Well, I'm just afraid I'm gonna get diabetes. I'm afraid this is gonna hurt me. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's, and it's a tradeoff, right? Um, okay, cool. So any, any closing thoughts or words or comments you want to say, tell us like where people can find you, you know, all that good stuff? Yes. So, um, Peak Neuro, P E A K N E R O psych.com is the website that I have been using. I've been developing a new one at restored humanity, R E S T O R E D humanity.com. And there's that is much more of a scientific focus. And so I think people would appreciate the scientific literature. This treatment and process is based on scientific laws and even what are called scientific axioms. And then I am going through kind of piece by piece of the treatment and gathering all the available current research. But probably not surprisingly, there's a lot of gaps in that research where people just aren't examining and researching all of this. Yeah. What do we got to do to get like a clinical trial here, a human trial? Yeah, I'm working on getting funding for what are called randomized controlled trials. And so, yeah, my goal is eventually to be conducting at least five, what are called RCTs or randomized controlled trials simultaneously, and for conditions like diabetes, like autism, like schizophrenia. And again, everybody with any of those diagnoses has fully recovered. Amazing. Yeah, amazing. Dr. Dave Stevens, thanks so much for coming on. One of ones, you are a true one of one. Thank you. I appreciate it. Wait, tell how did this thought come to you? Yeah, so, um, obviously there's a wide range of responses to faith. Um, I call myself a person of faith. And so it literally was in my view, inspiration from God. So in October of 2017, I was awakened in the middle of the night, not with a voice, but just the thought, try glucose. And I thought, that's a weird thing to wake up with. So I did the research, found out it was safe. And then the very first person I gave it to, his headache dis, or his pressure in his head disappeared within about 30 seconds of taking glucose. And I had no idea what I was doing, but that's what happened. And then a few months later, there was another, I would call it inspiration again, not an audible voice, but very clearly God said, I've had enough of the damage and destruction caused by, um, concussions and trauma. And I'm choosing to pour out my love by providing a way for people to heal and recover. Wow. I, I totally, we are just vessels to a, a higher power, whatever it is. Right. Right. You were utilized that day as a vessel to, um, spread a powerful message, which is working. And I felt it right away, you know, my friend, my friend Amanda Ross, oh yeah, she, you know her, she sent this to me. And I'm like, wait a minute, I was taking that when I was weight training. And like, right away it clicked, you know, of like, um, so I love what you're doing. Thank you so much for coming on. Um, let's have you back on in a few months and let's do what we can do to help you with those trials and getting your, your books out and, um, just spreading the message. Um, this powerful message that you're bringing to help people with all types of these brain problems. So thank you so much, Dr. David Stevens. Thank you so much. I enjoyed the conversation and thank you for all the work you're doing for people. And I'm gonna hit end recording, but don't leave just yet. Okay. All right. So guys, like, comment, subscribe. Even if you comment the word comment or algorithm, you know, let's get the, the word out and spread this amazing message. So see you next week, guys. Thanks for tuning in.