In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, we’re putting the spotlight on kava. It’s a powerful plant-based stress relieving, nootropic drink from islands in the South Pacific that boosts mood, enhances cognitive abilities and relieves anxiety.My guest is Cameron George, a researcher, writer, entrepreneur and the founder of TRU KAVA.His profoundly personal experience with kava compelled him to research and develop products that could help others. He credits the kava with saving his life. “My story was definitely one of those what I call a pain-to-purpose journey,” Cameron says, “meaning that a lot of these discoveries that I made and even a lot of the other stuff that I'm involved in now all came out of my own pain.”TRU KAVA is setting the industry standard for quality, safety and education around kava within the mass market. “There are more than 200 strains of kava that are used regularly in Vanuatu and Fiji mainly, and then other islands, as well,” Cameron explains. “Just like the world of cannabis, there are all these different strains. … Noble kava is kava that has to meet a certain chemical composition standard.”Kava has been highly regarded for 3,000 years as a safe, natural alternative to drugs and alcohol. The effects are comparable to alcohol, without the drunkenness. The experience often is described as a calm, enhanced state of natural sobriety. Kava is completely non-addictive.Kava also is commonly known as “the great protector” because it is one of nature’s most profound and complete protective substances. This means that when humans consume kava, it helps both protect the body from all forms of stress (physical, chemical, emotional) and rid the body of built-up stress.Cameron says from its signature and its life force, Kava is a protective substance. “That's why it has... protective pathways from reducing glutamate levels through GABA and sodium calcium channel blocking to activating cellular autophagy and turning over fat into ketones. All of these things are protective, and the same thing with COX stuff and everything and the NRF2 upregulation, as well, that occurs. These are hormetic stress pathways.”In the islands, kava is also known as a very gentle entheogen (psychedelic) that brings about creative and introspective thinking and makes users more empathetic.“The entourage effect that we hear about in these plant medicines comes from the fact that a plant medicine or a fungal medicine is a living system,” Cameron says. “It's a living, intelligent system just like the human body is a living, intelligent system. It has a multitude of different active compounds in it that work synergistically. They're biologically compatible because they come from our natural ecology.”Enjoy the show! And get more resources at https://blog.daveasprey.com/category/podcasts/*SPECIAL OFFER FOR BULLETPROOF RADIO LISTENERS* Visit TRU KAVA and get 15% off products with the coupon code DAVE15.