Dr. Martin gets asked all the time about the connection between salt and high blood pressure. That question bothers him because it was never true! Salt is actually good for you, and it’s really important for your health!
Now the type of salt Dr. Martin is talking about isn’t your typical table salt. That’s sodium chloride and all its minerals have been stripped away. Dr. Martin recommends Himalayan salt or a good sea salt. Both have the minerals your body needs.
Join Dr. Martin as he talks about salt and explains why it doesn’t cause high blood pressure. Study after study has shown that eliminating sodium from your diet does very little to lower your blood pressure.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone, and once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. Okay guys, how many of you guys are starting today with us? The meal replacement, meaning that we're eating one meal a day? Pick the one you want. And if you're not doing the reset, got to be low carb. And this is a meal replacement. So you're doing one or two shakes a day and we highly recommend you follow Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie. There's a reason for everything in there. Okay? So we're doing this, okay, for your help, obviously, but this is more of a weight loss, okay? So keep tabs, let us know. I know many of you have sent in your email, thank you very much. Thousands. So we got a big group doing it, but we appreciate you guys and if you have any questions, put them in the group and let the group answer them like our staff can, and I can. But we got a smart group. Okay?
Now here's my topic today, I want to talk about salt. I get asked this all the time about salt and high blood pressure and whatever, and it bothers me because it was never true. And I want to read, this is a quote from my book, Sun, Steak and Steel, and I have a chapter in there on salt, how good salt is for you. Now, don't go to the restaurant and put table salt on there. That's not the kind of salt I'm talking about. Why is that? Because that's sodium chloride. That is where all of the minerals have been stripped away from salt. So it really isn't any good for you and I don't recommend that. Okay? I recommend Himalayan salt or a good sea salt. It's got all the minerals in it and that is really, really important for your health.
But let me quote this doctor. I found this quote when I was writing my book, and I really like what he said. Look what he says. Okay? And this is from Elie, E L I E Jarrouge. He's an MD. But I found this quote and I liked it. Okay? I actually put it in my book. So I'm reading from my book right now. It's not published yet, but hopefully this week we're going to have some announcement on that coming soon. Okay? Here's what Dr. Jarrouge says, "I still cringe every time I remember when I used to tell patients to cut out salt instead of sugar and junk food when managing high blood pressure, which really never made a noticeable difference." Yeah. Study after study, by the way, has proven that when you cut out salt out of your diet, which millions and millions of people over the years have done cause their doctor told 'em to cut out salt and salt free this and salt free that. And it didn't do anything. It didn't do anything. It didn't even make a dent in high blood pressure. But listen to what he says. Okay? So he still cringes every time he thinks of what he used to tell his patients, cut out salt and not talk to them about cutting out sugar. Now listen to the second part of his quote. Okay? Hypertension. Okay? "High blood pressure is not a salt intake problem."
So the whole premise of salt increasing your blood pressure is not right, okay? It's a salt retention problem. So here's what he said. "Salt retention happens in the kidneys," okay? Salt retention, okay, happens in the kidneys. What drives this process is excess insulin. He gets it. Okay? Lowering insulin by decreasing sugar and carbs will have a drastic effect on your blood pressure. Yes and tens of thousands of my patients would give a testimony to that. Tens of thousands over the years because I used to tell 'em it ain't salt, it's sugar. There's nothing more destructive to your kidneys than sugar. If you don't believe me, look at today, the effect of diabetes, which is not a salt problem, it's a sugar problem. And foods that turn to sugar rapidly and the connection between diabetes and dialysis is incredible. And I've told you in the past, and I don't mean to be morbid, but in a way with my crystal ball, I would've had people invest in dialysis machines. Why? Because they're epidemic today. And it's because of the amount of diabetes. Your kidneys. Your kidneys is a salt retention problem. High blood pressure is a salt retention problem. It doesn't come from salt.
Now I'm going to make one little asterisk, okay? One little asterisk. Salt will become a problem in the absence of water, okay? Salt becomes a problem in the absence of water. So that's very, very important to understand that. I love salt because if someone calls you salty, take it as a compliment. You're salty. Your tears are salt, your saliva is salt, your blood is salt, and it's good for you. You need it. Your body doesn't operate. We're going to look at today, 15, maybe 16 things that salt does in your body, okay? But what I want to say is, that, you need water and salt. Okay? Let me give you a little bit of biology. So you got 60,000 miles of blood vessels. We talk about that all the time. Okay? That's a lot of blood vessels. If you put them together, you can go around the equator, <laugh>, think about that. In your body, there's a lot of blood vessels. Blood vessels operate the life of your flesh. The Bible's got it right. The life of the flesh is in the blood, okay? No blood, no life. And if you want your blood vessels, if you want that blood to flow, you need water. That's why I double down. I triple down, I quadrupled down. I talk about this all the time. We gave it a vitamin status. You can't live without water. You need water. And only water is water. Okay? I love coffee, but coffee's not water. I know there's water in coffee. There's water in tea. But that does not hydrate you. Do you understand what I'm saying? It does other things. It doesn't hydrate you. It doesn't do what your blood vessels need. They need water. Why? Because it's flowing. You need the river to flow.
And it was amazing in practice because I used to look at blood. I saw tens and twenties and 30,000 people's blood. And a lot of people, and I mean they had blood as thick as molasses, and there was two things going on. One, they were dehydrated, they didn't drink enough water. Ahh Dr. Marin, I drink juice <laugh>. That ain't water. I drink tea. That's not water. I drink coffee. It's not water. It's made with water, but it's not water. It's different. It doesn't help the flow. Yeah, understand that when you drink water, okay, when you drink water, it goes directly to the bloodstream, okay? Don't pass go. It's like monopoly. Doesn't pass go has a direct root. If you drink juice, I know it has water in it. You eat watermelon. I know it has water in it. It's not the same. Okay? It's not the same. And I know when you drink coconut with, but that's not water. <laugh>, it's good for you. I didn't say it with no good for you. I'm just telling you it's not water, water's water, okay? And guys, I'm telling you, because I used to measure this, I measured it. And most people, because they didn't have a light on top of their head that went off that said, you are dehydrated. What? I'm not thirsty. What are you talking about? And that is key. Okay? Now, when you have an absence of water and you have a crappy diet and they use salt to preserve food and all the crappy salt they add for taste and whatever, now that's going to give you trouble. That will dehydrate you even more. And that can help to raise your blood pressure. So it's always in the absence of water. Water will save your bacon in a lot of ways. Okay?
Now let's talk about how your body operates. This is what my little biology, <laugh>, okay? You got water, okay, in your cells, okay, outside the cell wall, okay? You have salty water. Inside the cell wall, you've got unsalty water, okay? Like the Great Lakes, okay? You got ocean that's outside your cells and inside your cells you have water, spring water. Did you know that? And we call that homeostasis. What's that mean? Well, it means that you got two bodies of water and they need to be equal. So when you get dehydrated, you don't drink enough water to replace your fluid to keep the blood flow. You create havoc here between those two bodies of water and your body, very smart. It will retain salt, it retains it, it retains. So what happens? That puts an enormous amount of pressure on your kidneys.
Your kidneys is Niagara Falls. How many times do I have to tell you that? And Niagara Falls have you ever been there? Have you? I have many a time. I never get tired of going to Niagara Falls and going to the falls. I'm there and I'm so thankful. <laugh>, okay? Not only for the illustration that I have for your kidneys, but I'm very thankful. I thank God, I look at it, I go, holy moly, is it ever beautiful? And I'm very thankful that I can see it and enjoy it. And I don't get tired of it. Do you, you've been to Niagara Falls? Of course. But when I'm at Niagara Falls, the other thing I think about is kidneys. Your kidneys need water to function properly. And there's nothing like Dr. Jarrouge says, there's nothing that will destroy your kidneys. Not salt. It's one, a lack of water. And two, sugar, my friend sugar, because insulin is destructive, insulin resistance destroys over a period of time. It start with micro circulation. The biggest thing in your kidneys is micro circulation. Your kidneys operate like that. You need water and you need salt. You need water and salt.
This is why as far as water goes, the best water, I always tell people this, the best water is mineral water, spring water. Okay, spring water, not distilled water. I know people buy that stuff. I tell 'em, eh, you better put the salt pack in the water cause water and salt go together. Okay? So when you have mineral water, you have water. The way nature is giving it to us, God's given us water, spring water, okay? Now you don't want sea <laugh>, you don't want to go to the ocean and drink that water. <laugh>. It's too concentrated. Can't do that. Okay, so let's look at what salt does inside the body. So when you add some Himalayan salt, you're adding electrolytes. So when you hear electrolytes, okay, what do people think of? Oh, Gatorade. Don't touch that stuff with a hundred foot pole. I hate Gatorade. When I see athletes drinking Gatorade drives me crazy. It's not good for you. Now, one thing Gatorade got right is the salt content. Okay?
But the crap they put in that stuff, what have I told you? What was my sports drink as a kid? <laugh> the hose. Do you know that in the 1970s it came into our school, we actually tried the original Gatorade that tasted like urine. The Florida Gators, okay, the football team, they would start training in August. And can you imagine in Florida how hot it is? And guys were dropping dehydrated, very dangerous, and they made up a drink, gator, aid and it was salt, okay? And water, they were replacing with potassium and magnesium, okay? They were replacing the salt. So they called it gator aid <affirmative>. And I tasted it, tasted like urine. It was terrible stuff, but who was it? Pepsi or whatever got ahold of that stuff. Or General Foods, I can't remember. Somebody bought it in the seventies, I think, and they turned it into what we see today.
Gatorade. And you got Gatorade and Powerade and you got all these things. Okay? Put a pinch of salt in your water, a pink salt or a good sea salt because it's got all minerals in it and spring water has got minerals in it. That's what makes it pH different. So let's talk about, I got 16 things I wrote down here, and we're not going to get into a lot of detail. I talk about your stomach all the time, right? And why do we see today so much acid reflex? Because your stomach is use it or lose it. Okay? Use it or lose it. The human stomach was made for meat, okay? If you don't use it, your stomach pH is completely different than a rabbits, ladies. And your salad, your body wasn't made for that. Okay? Now I know you like it and I let you have it, but it's not the health food that people think it is. It really isn't.
Anyway, your body is made to eat meat. When you don't, when you don't, your pH of your stomach changes. Sugar changes the p h of your stomach. It makes your stomach more alkaline. You go Doc alkaline isn't that good? No, not in your stomach. Rabbits. Cows, they have a pH that's different than us. Our stomach is supposed to be a furnace. Very, very, very acidic. So when people insist on being carboholics, it changes the pH. So does salt. If you don't get salt in your diet, if you don't get those minerals in your diet, when you're dehydrated, when you're dehydrated, when I talk about dehydration water and salt, when you're dehydrated, you change the pH of your stomach. And then when you eat crappy carbs and sugar, you change the pH of your stomach even more. So what happens? Why is one of the biggest sellers in terms of classifications of drugs are antacids? People live on antacids, they live on antacids. And I said, if you would just change your diet and drink water and salt, you could fix it. Your body's so smart that when you change your pH and you make it more alkaline, your body says, I got to make that more acidic. So the proton pumps inside your stomach start pouring out more acid. Problem is when they do that, it starts to crawl up your esophagus. Do you know how many, I mean tens of thousands of people drink water, add a little salt and cut out your carbs. Amazing what happens to your acid reflux. And that's a big issue. It's a big issue because it's, it's not only that, my friend that destroys that acid that comes up, how many people, they destroyed their valve. That's right at the base of the esophagus and the stomach, they destroyed that valve. It's called Barrett Syndrome. It's one of the reasons we see so much throat cancer and stuff like that. Terrible. But we can fix it because the pH changes with salt water, salty water. Okay?
So what else does salt do? Supports digestion. Nutrient absorption. That's in the stomach. That's in the stomach and in your small intestine. It helps kill... Listen to what salt does. We all know from biblical times that salt was a preserver. Okay? It's a preserver. It keeps bacteria. You see, when you change your pH of your stomach, and most people don't even realize it, one of their biggest lines of defense in your body is your stomach. See that furnace? It kills pathogens. Why do we see so much pathogens that get into the body? Antibiotics are today, like we see all these resistant bacterias, like C difficile, and we see these resistant bacterias. If you would understand the amount of bacterial strains that are in the hospitals. We call a lot of them C difficile because they are very difficult to treat. One of the causes, the overuse of antibiotics. But the other one is because we don't have the right pH in our stomach. We don't have enough acidity where it belongs in that stomach. Salt really does help. Salty water. It does water, so good for you. It's part of your immune system because it blocks pathogens, okay?
And I used to tell patients this all the time. You know your thyroid here, ladies, why do I say, ladies? Hey, I'm on your side. I'm teasing you a little bit, but it's because I'm on your side. Okay? Ladies oftentimes have trouble with their thyroid, and one of the factors is iodine. It's not in the soil anymore. Iodine is a salt, by the way. It's a mineral and it's not in the soil anymore. And because of fertilization and pesticides and bromide and all these things, we don't have enough iodine anymore. And that's why we see such a cascade of thyroid problems. I mean, it's more complex than that, but that's a big factor. What drives iodine back into that thyroid? Salt water. Yeah, it's one of its mechanisms. And so why do you think I love vitamin W so much, right? Why do I love salty water so much? Because of what it does inside your body, helps your immune system, helps your stomach pH, it helps your bodies to get a good defense against these crazy bacterias that are out there. It helps glutathione. You know what glutathione is? Velcro. Your body makes glutathione, but you need salty water to up your levels of glutathione, okay? You do. I love glutathione. Okay? You need vitamin S steak and you need vitamin W water with salt, okay? Because it elevates your glutathione, glutathione goes through your bloodstream and it's Velcro, any toxins, heavy metals, yeast, crapola that's inside your bloodstream, glutathione sticks to it and takes it out of your body. That's why I'm big on glutathione. When you eat steak, by the way, you elevate your glutathione, water salt. And again, I'm not talking about table salt, unless on your table you've got a good Himalayan salt or a good sea salt, it increases your insulin sensitivity. Okay?
I don't know, did I answer this on question and answer Friday? I can't remember now because I saw it. You know me, I get off on tangents and I can't remember now if I actually answered the question. I know I talked about insulin resistance. You know what that is? When your cells can't stand the presence of insulin anymore, it's a bad neighbor. You keep coming around and get out of here. I can't stand you. Okay? That's insulin resistance, but insulin sensitivity, water and salt helps them, meaning that your cells at the cellular level say to insulin, you know what? You don't. You hardly come around here. I like you. You're a good neighbor. You're not pesky. I enjoy you as a neighbor. Okay? That's called insulin sensitivity. That is what we create on the reset. You create insulin sensitivity so that you don't need a lot of insulin. When insulin gets up here, when it climbs, when it gets higher and higher, because insulin says, I don't care if you don't like me, if you insist on eating carbs, crappy sugar, I got to come around because I will not allow sugar to stay in your bloodstream. I can't allow it, so I'm coming. Knock, knock, knock. Here I am again. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Sorry. Can't have sugar in the bloodstream. Sugar, come here, follow me. Can't park there. You guys know all that well. What's water got to do with that? What's salty water got to do with that? It actually helps your cells because of that. Remember I was talking about the homeostasis? It helps at the cellular level and now you need less insulin. You need less insulin. And the less insulin you need, the less inflammation in the body. The less insulin you need, the easier it is on your kidneys. The less insulin you need. That's why high blood pressure oftentimes, almost always goes away just with a change in diet. It's not salt, it's sugar. Got the memo? You got it? Yeah. That's how your body operates. Now, we didn't talk about it the other. We'll do that in another session. Okay?
Now, are you having fun yet? Okay, what meal are you skipping? <laugh>? What two meals are you skipping and having a meal replacement? Having Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie. So good. We prefer bone broth. People have been asking me all the time, doc, why do you like bone broth? Cause it's so good for you. It really is very therapeutic, by the way. Very therapeutic. It's collagen, my friend and collagen at the highest source of protein. It's the best for your body and I'm huge, huge, huge on L glutamine. Bone broth has so much L-glutamine and L-glutamine regenerates the gut. It fixes leaky gut, okay? And I mean it. It's so good for you. Okay, so guys, it's not salt that's dangerous, it's sugar.
And isn't it something I'll just finish with this. Cardiologists don't even know that yet. I mean, some of them do, but very few. They don't teach that in medical school. They teach you the dangers of salt in medical school. Even today, they didn't get the memo. They're not listening to The Doctor Is In. They should. Even today, I see a lot of seniors, especially I'm on a salt-free diet. I said, that's stupid. I don't tell people they're stupid unless I know them dearly and I don't do it like that, okay? Because I'm their friend. For you new folks out there, you just have to understand my sense of humor, okay? I'm pretty blunt, but I love you. I mean it. I'm on your side. I mean it. I'm just trying to tell you the truth here, okay? Okay, guys, you have any questions? We’re happy to answer questions if you're not part of the Martin Private Facebook group, why not? I mean it, why aren't you? Join the tens of thousands that are part of our Facebook group. What a community it is. Okay? It is such encouragers. We'll pump your tires up to stay on this health journey. It's worth it, my friend. Okay, I love you guys. We'll talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!