Logan Duvall (00:02.185)
Stacey, thank you so much for jumping on here. It's a super important topic that I feel like that you are an expert in. So we do have a farmer's market and health food store in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and the supplements are a big, big deal. My oldest was diagnosed with stage four cancer when he was five, and so as we just looked at, hey, what can we do, what can we add, what can potentially help, as long as it doesn't hurt him. How'd...
how do we incorporate it? And that was the genesis behind our health food store. So Stacey, how did you come to be a master herbalist? I really, I'm excited to hear your story and then learn about the products that you've come up with.
Stacey (00:46.014)
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, my background is in biology and chemistry. So that's what I went to school for. I have a degree in biology, but using plants and food as medicine was something that wasn't foreign to me. That's the way I grew up. My mother is from Japan and she would like make cough syrups for us or she would make soups, special soups that we would eat in the wintertime if we caught a cold or something.
So that was not foreign to me and I was always interested in plants. You know, I would go into my mom's garden and unfortunately rip things out of the ground because I wanted to see what was in the dirt as opposed to above the dirt. She didn't always appreciate that, but I liked it. And then, you know, I started working with Dan Chapman, our CEO at Red Remedies, about 20 years ago. So I've been doing this for about 20 years. And when you look at
Logan Duvall (01:25.513)
the question was, what's the exact problem? Because I wanted to see what was in the dirt. And so I was too abundant that the question didn't always complete the question, and I liked it. And then it caused me to work with Dean Chapman at the LF Reck Remedies. The past 20 years.
Stacey (01:45.808)
dietary supplement companies and you look at how they design and formulate products, there aren't very many dietary supplement companies that have herbalists on staff. So I thought it would be good for myself, for Dan, and for Red Remedies if I got a master's degree in herbal medicine to really dive into the botanicals that we're using, the history, the chemistry.
the combining of different plants, which plant parts to use, what's the best time for them to be harvested. All of that stuff and all of that information is crucial to designing products that deliver, products that work.
Logan Duvall (02:24.413)
All of that stuff, all of that complication is crucial to the tiny products that deliver the products that work. Stacey, what's the difference between being a master herbalist and then Chinese medicine? Is there a crossover? Is it completely different? Can you clear that up for me?
Stacey (02:43.506)
Oh, yeah. Well, there is tremendous crossover. So in traditional Chinese medicine is so much more than just herbalism. So traditional Chinese herbology is a part of traditional Chinese medicine, just like Ayurvedic herbology is a part of Ayurvedic medicine. And in the West, Western herbalism is really a mixture of European botanical traditions,
American indigenous traditions and then we can also pull from you know Mexican traditions, Central and South American traditions. When you look across the globe every culture has a system of herbal medicine, every culture. So at Red when we formulate our products and we're looking at different botanicals we look
Stacey (03:44.18)
one method, one system, because it's that's just not how it works. It's not like we only have good herbs in North America. They're all over the world. So we look at what the world has to offer. But there's definitely overlap and you can see that in our products. We will pull from traditional Chinese herbology. We will pull from European herbalism and we pull from Ayurveda. We pull from everywhere.
Logan Duvall (04:11.672)
to the Chinese topology, all from European, from the American people, from the Native Americans, everywhere. Too cool. No, thank you. I think that's even more exciting. It's just a wider scope. That's really exciting. Especially the fact that there's like, you know, there can be like the North American, Native American aspect of it. I'm really fascinated. I got a little bit of
Stacey (04:19.692)
Yeah.
Logan Duvall (04:28.849)
Cherokee and Choctaw blood. And so I've always just enjoyed reading about that and trying to find some of those ancient ways of doing stuff. With y'all specifically, Just Thrive is who put me on to Red Remedies when I reached out because the brain awakened. I was talking to Keith about an order and he's like, yeah, you need to check this out. And so tell me about that because fatigue.
Stacey (04:31.598)
Okay.
Stacey (04:37.682)
Absolutely.
Stacey (04:48.116)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Duvall (04:56.181)
And then, you know, the focus, that's a big issue, a big complaint that a lot of people have.
Stacey (05:01.706)
Yeah, a lot of people, especially now, are struggling with brain fog for a myriad of different reasons. And unfortunately, as we age, we get a little age-related cognitive decline. Our brains are at full volume when we're about 25, and then after that, our brains gradually start shrinking, and that's normal. Those are gradual, normal changes that happen.
So those changes can affect the whole of cognition. And when we formulated Brain Awakening, we really wanted to create a product that wasn't hyper focused on one section of cognition, like let's say memory, memory recall, short-term memory. We wanted to support the basic functions of the neurons in the central nervous system. And that is basically, you know, the transfer of information.
You know, our central nervous system is giving directions, receiving information, and then kind of deciding what to do with that information and tell the rest of the body what to do. So that's how our Brain Awakening formula is created. We use a very special form of magnesium called Magteen. That's a patented form of magnesium L3 and 8.
Stacey (06:31.92)
it kind of reawakens the neurons. It gets our neurons to participate in the conversation again. So it's some of our neurons get a little quiet and they're like you know what I don't feel like talking today so I'm gonna ignore stuff. So we just kind of gently nudge them. We want your opinion. You know we want to hear these neurons talking. So the Magteen is gonna help with that
Stacey (07:01.62)
support the rest of the nervous system. We use lion's mane extract which is a medicinal mushroom. It looks like a big white kind of pom-pom and it grows on hardwood trees. So we use that to provide nutrients and another layer of neuroprotection for the central and peripheral nervous system. And then we
Stacey (07:31.3)
called Omlabary. And Omlabary is in there to provide antioxidant protection and antioxidant potential, to protect everything that we've kind of rebuilt. We wanna make sure the neurons are healthy. We wanna make sure our immune system is balanced, that inflammation is under control, that we provide cardio protection because circulation is important to brain function. So we really wanna support the whole of cognition
and what makes every individual them, because that's what makes you is cognition.
Logan Duvall (08:10.405)
So we are huge fans of magnesium. So we actually have been carrying a product for years that has seven different forms in there, but 3-in-8 is not one of those. So just for my knowledge, is there any contraindication to be able to take a magnesium supplement that doesn't have L3-in-8 with this Brain Awaken product?
Stacey (08:31.722)
No, there's no contraindications or interactions. Different forms of magnesium and different types of magnesium salts have different bioavailabilities and they are directed to different parts of our bodies. So magnesium L3 and 8 is one of those special forms that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and actually raise cerebral levels of magnesium.
shown through several scientific trials. They've compared magnesium L3 enate to magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate, magnesium sulfate. So you're not going to kind of overdose on magnesium if you take your 300 milligrams of magnesium glycinate in addition to the magnesium L3 enate that's in Brain Awakening.
Logan Duvall (09:27.345)
Okay, and so the other one that I have been taking is true energy. And so that, I was surprised with how good it smells. Like I don't think I've ever opened a capsule and I was like, oh wow, that smells so good. So tell me more about that and can you use it with Brain Awakening? And what, you know, fatigue is such a big deal and I think this is probably going to be a game changer.
Stacey (09:39.644)
No. Ha ha ha.
Stacey (09:51.006)
Yeah, the using true energy with brain awakening is a great combination. You know, we can't possibly fit everything that someone needs into a singular product. The pill would be as large as the bottle and you'd be na all day. So there's different formulas for very specific issues. And so true energy is our energy product. But it really is your daily protection from chronic stress.
Stacey (10:21.06)
stress we feel throughout the body. They have, it has significant effects on the central nervous system, particularly with mental acuity, focus and concentration, and just mental energy. So the foundation of true energy is adaptogens. And adaptogens are an elite class of botanicals that help our bodies adapt to different stressors.
and what's really great about these plants or fungi because some of them are mushrooms, plants like rhodiola, plants like panics ginseng, they normalize body functions and they can work in every body system and they know where we need support even though we don't know. So if certain processes are running too
Stacey (11:20.94)
other processes are running too low, they're going to raise them up and bring them up to normal. So they optimize different metabolic processes under times of stress so that our bodies don't have to pay such a high price to adapt to all of these stressors because those adaptations come at a cost. So panics ginseng is great for like physical work capacity, physical stamina,
species of rhodiola are great for mental fatigue to help with mental acuity. And so when you take cheer energy, it's stimulant free. Caffeine is not a solution to energy. It's artificial stimulation. What you get from cheer energy is endurance, both physically and mentally. So you take it in the morning and it will last throughout the day. And the other great thing about adaptogens is that the
the more impact they have on healthy sleep patterns and helping you get restful sleep.
Logan Duvall (12:29.033)
I know for me, I can always tell when I'm maxed out. I got four kids, a couple businesses. It's just life in general as we all are stressed is that cortisol bump, that two, three o'clock wakening up just straight, just wide awake, can't go back to sleep. And so I'm really excited to see how that works with cortisol.
Stacey (12:35.773)
Mm-hmm.
Stacey (12:49.626)
it absolutely will help to balance cortisol levels. Rhodiola rosea and both panics ginseng have tremendous bodies of research. Those are two botanicals that have been used for thousands of years in Asia, in Siberia, in those cultures to help with those issues, to just help with vitality, to help with wellness. But when we dive down into the biochemistry and what they're doing,
our bodies, they definitely have an impact on the HPA axis and balancing the amount of stress mediators that, like cortisol, that are released into the bloodstream.
Logan Duvall (13:34.109)
Stacey, how, for a lot of people, I see this pharmaceutical cocktail that they've got. And then, you know, so Metformin, Lasix, Lisinopril, you know, we're on all these different things. And then, you know, there's going to be antidepressants or sleep meds, Ambien. And no or limited studies on how they interact. What is this synergistic effect, either positively or negatively? How can...
we compare that to say a supplement that has a bunch of things in it. How do we know that that's getting us that, you know, positive result? Whereas I don't see any proof that we know what's going on when we have all these different cocktails.
Stacey (14:12.874)
Yeah, you know, when we're talking about, you know, pharmaceuticals, I think those are very powerful, single ingredients. And that's the biggest difference between like herbal medicine, herbalism, is that we don't follow single compound, single action theory, which is how pharmaceuticals work. So you're gonna take a single chemical and it's gonna have this, well,
action, but we know that that's not true because there's side effects. Everything is going to have adverse effects in different people. Everyone's unique. The great thing about herbal medicine is that it's not a single compound. Plants are complex mixtures of compounds and they have synergy between them. I think a really great example of that and a timely one is berberine containing
So berberine is a really popular isolated compound right now for a lot of different reasons. But the plants that berberine comes from also contain dozens of other alkaloids that are very similar to berberine in molecular structure. And these other buddies, these other alkaloid buddies that berberine has, will help berberine with absorption. So pass into the bloodstream.
They also make sure that berberine is not killing probiotics because when you take it in isolation it has the potential to alter bifida and lactobacilli species. So true herbalism doesn't take pieces of the plant. We respect the plant as a whole and what the entire plant has to offer. So it's not, it's never just one thing.
beneficial is not just the berberine, it's all of the alkaloids that are found in the plant. It's the antioxidants found in the plant. It's the polysaccharides found in the plant. We don't want to pull it apart. We want to take it all. So it's naturally, it's naturally balanced for bioavailability and different beneficial effects. But that's not to say that all plants
Stacey (16:42.548)
plant like we don't want to take white oleander that's poison. So but you know for medicinal plants it's really best to use like full spectrum as opposed to just a single isolated chemical from hundreds of chemicals that are present.
Logan Duvall (17:01.497)
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I've got a question when you brought up the berberine. So we talked to Thomas Seyfried, who is famous for the metabolic approach to cancer. And so in his theory and what he's shown is that you limit cancer cells cannot survive without glucose and glutamine. And so when you said the berberine, it reminded me, the only thing that I have come across naturally that can help kind of limit...
Stacey (17:11.875)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Duvall (17:29.021)
glutamine metabolism possibly is berberine. Is that something that you've come across or you know anything about?
Stacey (17:37.746)
I don't have a ton of expertise in glutamine metabolism, but I am very familiar with the different pharmacokinetic and biochemical studies that have been done on berberine. Unfortunately, berberine-containing plants have been used in traditional Chinese herbology for
Stacey (18:06.8)
in hundreds of different TCM formulas, botanical formulas. So we know that there's benefit in these berberine-containing plants.
But when you look at the research and the way that, unfortunately, research goes is you're looking for that one thing. Like you've got to pull the plant apart into single pieces to figure out what is doing what. So the focus has always been on berberine. But when we look at the most recent research on these berberine-containing plants, these researchers are kind of realizing
like, huh, we kind of needed that other alkaloid too because they kind of work together. So it's, you know, berberine does have impact on our gut microbiome. It does have impact on altering and modulating the gut microbiome and that has impact on how our bodies digest and absorb sugar, how our
Stacey (19:18.753)
the more discoveries, I say that in air quotes, they're going to find that you don't want to pull it apart, you want to keep it together.
Logan Duvall (19:29.577)
I think that goes back to what we're really finding out, not like the cancer world with like a full spectrum hemp or CBD or what, that seems to be a lot more effective, especially in the cancer patients, than any sort of like a single strand or whatever. Another extremely common issue with the crossover from cancer and diabetes is gonna be neuropathy, whether it's chemo-induced neuropathy or it's just diabetic.
what y'all have come up with the nerve shield seems to be like a potential solution for dealing with that pain. So can you go into it and how can we help? Because neuropathy is terrible. Like a lot of people suffering from that.
Stacey (20:13.238)
Yeah, it really is just such a disruption to people's daily lives. I mean, it can be just irritating for people. Some people it's just annoying and other people they can't put socks on their feet. It's too painful. So it runs the gamut. So it is really difficult to support our nervous systems. Our nerves are very slow.
of fix the potholes that are found in the myelin sheath of along the axons of the neurons, and it takes a long time. The other flip side to that is that there are nerves that are not myelinated, so once they're damaged, they are damaged. That's why spinal cord injuries are a thing. We can't fix that. But what we can do is provide building blocks
not just the nervous system but also contributing body systems to help promote blood flow to the extremities to provide antioxidant protection to the myelin sheath. You know the myelin sheath is mostly fat. We've got different fatty substances that create the insulation along the axon of the nerves and we need to keep that healthy. And if you look at any fat, I mean if you leave butter
day it's going to become rancid. That's why it's bad to cook with oils because they get too high and then they become rancid. So the same kind of chemical reactions can occur in our bodies along different pathways like with free radicals. So our nerve shield formula is designed to support the health and integrity of the nerve structure and we do that by providing a blend
Stacey (22:12.992)
Lepoic acid and we also have a blend of traditional Chinese herbs to help with blood flow and circulation. When we look at the traditional Chinese approach to pain in general or kind of that pins and needles kind of feeling in the extremities, they relate it back to a lack of free flow. So the
Stacey (22:42.732)
there is not free flow, free flow of chi or energy, free flow of blood, the end result is pain. So what we need to do is reestablish the free flow. You know, it's not a coincidence that most people develop those issues in the extremities, like the hands and feet. Part of that is when you're not, when you don't have optimal circulation, you're not delivering nutrients, you're not delivering oxygen.
and you are not pulling toxins away from those areas. So the traditional Chinese herbs in nerve shield, the philodendron, the atractilodes, the Chinese skullcap, all of those work together to help reestablish that free flow so that we can create balance across the entire body and just help provide nutrients to those really, really long neurons
in our spinal column and go all the way to our toes. That's a really huge, you know, structure and it requires a lot of support and a lot of targeted support.
Logan Duvall (23:58.737)
really excited to help get this into, you know, people's hands and hopefully it makes the massive impact that, you know, we pray that it does. The last one that I want to cover is you mentioned, you know, pain putting on socks. Like gout seems to be an extremely common issue now and I did read Dr. Perlmutter's book, Drop Acid, and so trying to find some solutions and there's some things that I don't agree with but I mean I'm not I'm not a doctor either but it's
as far as like the meat, the purines being this massive issue. But anyways, what makes your product, your formulation, so effective with gout? Because I think that the tart cherry is something that anybody with gout has at least heard of. But y'all have taken that a step further.
Stacey (24:28.991)
Yeah.
Stacey (24:43.286)
Yeah, we have, because as you mentioned, most of the purines that are in our bodies come from inside our bodies. So it's not necessarily just a food problem. Can your diet contribute to elevated uric acid levels in your body? Absolutely. But I don't think the majority of that is actually coming from meat per se.
from high fructose corn syrup. It is sugar. And so unfortunately human beings are at a disadvantage when it comes to uric acid. We are one of the only mammals that create that as a byproduct of purine metabolism. And uric acid is incredibly insoluble in water. It is difficult for our bodies to remove what's there.
Logan Duvall (25:16.517)
Yes.
Stacey (25:43.3)
Cherries or tart cherries do a good job at disrupting the metabolism of purine to uric acid. So it kind of disrupts the enzyme required to push that along. But we can't stop there. We have to support the body system that helps your body get rid of uric acid, and that's your kidneys. Your kidneys are responsible for removing many, you know,
know toxins or byproducts that aren't necessary, uric acid is included in that. Unfortunately
You're only going to remove about 10% of what is in your body in a day and that is in a perfect system Nobody has a perfect system So it's going to be a little lower than that. So in gout we our focus in that formula is kidney support We want to nourish and protect the kidneys What we don't want to do is add stimulant diuretics to push the kidneys to work harder
under stress, they are already suboptimal in their function, you know, when it comes to uric acid. And so we don't want to create any more stress. We want to rejuvenate and renew. And we do that with an Ayurvedic botanical called Borjevia Diffusa. And Borjevia Diffusa has a long history of use in Ayurveda as what's called a Rasayana.
are used to renew and revitalize certain organs or certain body systems. So, Borjavia has affinity to the kidneys. So, while we are providing cherries to kind of disrupt that metabolism, we are coming right behind that with really strong nourishment to support the kidneys, to aid in the excretion of uric acid, and also providing ginger root
Stacey (27:51.536)
inflammatory pathways, healthy circulation, and quercetin to provide a little bit more support for that purine metabolism. So for a lot of people, cherries alone aren't going to be enough because cherries don't do anything about the uric acid that is already there. It can only disrupt the production of new.
Logan Duvall (28:18.045)
So you've really piqued my interest on the kidney thing because that's what Lander had. So it was stage four kidney cancer at Wilms. And so he only has one kidney now. So trying to really take care of that kidney is a real big focus for me. So is this a product that is kidney protective that you don't necessarily have to have gout to even take?
Stacey (28:24.183)
Mm-hmm.
Stacey (28:38.946)
You are spot on. I also have a bum kidney. So I've got one that works at about 50% and the other is fine. I don't have issues with gout or joint inflammation, but I use gout for that kind of daily kidney support. And because we do not use herbs that are considered
Stacey (29:08.7)
we're using nourishing diuretics. Borjavia and couch grass provide electrolytes. They provide antioxidants. And so it is a far more gentle way to support overall kidney function as opposed to pushing your kidneys to create more urine or to alter your fluid balance. So we took that approach because this is a long-term issue for people.
just you know, uric acid metabolism can also you know affect cardiovascular function, it affects your heart health, those are all tied together you know your kidneys have a lot to do with like blood pressure so we want to provide gentle nourishing support so gouch can be used for people that just kind of need that nourishing daily kidney support.
Logan Duvall (30:02.977)
Thank you for breaking that down. Stacey, this is the perfect example of like, I work with people we can sit down and talk to, like with companies that I believe in, I use for my family. And you know, there's no question on the recommending it. It's like, I truly believe in it. So I love that, you know, we can do the podcasts and videos now because you can see behind the scenes, these type of conversations that I have, you know, across the board, but I am tickled with Red Remedies. Y'all are the newest partner we've got.
Stacey (30:27.062)
Yeah.
Logan Duvall (30:31.217)
But I could not be more excited. I think Dan's phenomenal and Darren, the whole crew, thank you, thank you for taking the time to visit and educate. It means a lot.
Stacey (30:43.61)
Thank you for the opportunity. It's been a pleasure and I'm happy to talk to you today.
