There’s a hot mess going on in the brain when it comes to depression. Depression never comes first and almost always precedes a stressful event. Dr. Martin looks at the underlying factors in today’s episode.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
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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, and I certainly am, and we sure love having you on. Guys this morning I want to talk about a hot mess in the brain, hot mess in the brain. Okay? I'm reading statistics on depression and no wonder they're just skyrocketing. Okay? Covid sort of put depression on steroids, but it's not like people are coming out of it. It's getting worse. Still a hot mess in the brain. Okay? Now you guys know me, so you know I'm going to talk about underlying problems underlying look, who hasn't gone through stress, major stress in their life? Very few, okay? So you get prolonged stress and all sorts of things that elevate your cortisol and you're uptight, and it eventually can wear you down.
And depression never comes first, guys, even in psychoanalysis, they'll agree with what the Bible says. The Bible says anxiety leads to depression, and it's rarely the other way around. Now, what I want to talk about though is what's going on a hot mess in the brain. Because when I look at depression, I go, okay, why are some people depressed and some are not, even though a certain group have gone through enormous amount of stress in their lives and yet they're not depressed, what's the difference? That to me is the key because I want to look at underlying factors. And in practice I was a why guy. Why? I want to know why. If there's so much depression, why if depression is worse than ever, why? Maybe it's because we have more psychiatrists. Maybe it's because we have more psychologists. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe we're diagnosing depression in some that wouldn't have been diagnosed in the past, okay? Possibly. But guys, I look at physiology.
I look at what's going on in a person. So when I used to get a depressed patient, I did all these biomarker testing. I wanted to find out why are you like that? Okay, so I want to break that down. We've done this before, but I think it's worth repeating, and there's a couple of major overarching principles when it comes to your brain. Now, one thing we know, and we'll talk about this in a minute, you got more hormones and more horror hormones in your gut than you have in your brain, okay? So when I talk about the brain, I'm also going to talk about the gut and the gut-brain connection, because if you don't do that, and unfortunately here we are in 2023 and medicine hasn't made that connection. I mean, some have, but most haven't. You're rarely ever going to hear a psychiatrist or a psychologist, someone working in mental health that will talk about the physical things that are going on in a person.
It's emotional things they want to talk about. They want to look in the rear view mirror and look at the past and look at family dynamics. And guys, listen to me. I'm not against that, okay? I'm not saying that's not significant. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is there's metabolic reasons. There's a hot mess going on in the brain. That's what I want to talk about this morning. What do we see consistently in people that are depressed consistently? One thing, and you know me, I'm going to start with food. I'm going to start with food. I got the can't help it guys. I can't help but start with food. That's my expertise. So yesterday, true story. Yesterday, I was swimming in the ocean, not in a pool in the ocean. And when I swim in the ocean, I don't do a lot of swimming in the ocean, but when I do, okay, I'm looking for sharks. Okay? I got my eyes peeled. Okay, ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. Okay, but listen, here's the point I want to make. You got to understand. I'm always illustrations in my head, okay? So when you swim in the ocean, I'm asking you a question. Do you drink the water there? You're surrounded by water. Do you drink it?
No. Why is that? Well, it's undrinkable. It's salt water. Now, I like salt water. I like a little touch of salt in your water, but I don't like salt water in the ocean. You certainly don't want to drink it. Now, what am I talking about? When a person has depression, one thing that I found when I analyzed their diet was that they were swimming in the ocean, their brain surrounded by water, but they couldn't drink it. Okay? Now, again, let me bring this illustration so you understand it. A depressed brain is surrounded by the wrong fuel. There's lots of fuel, but it's the wrong fuel for the brain. Guys, I can't think of one case of depression that I ever saw that people were junk eaters. They didn't even know what doc, I don't feel good. What food am I going to eat? A comfort food.
You see, it all comes down to the energy centers in your brain, guys, okay? You know how I love talking about mitochondria? Your battery packs, you got battery packs and every cell in your body, and especially in the brain, you have to understand your brain is the energy center of your body. So it's got more mitochondria there than anywhere else. I mean, you got lots in your heart too, but your brain, especially because it's headquarters, it's got all these energy packs and people that are depressed are surrounded in the wrong fuel. They have sugar for fuel rather than protein and fat for fuel. Guys, like I said, I can't think of a case where I saw this to be any different. I can't think of a case eating the wrong fuel. So they're surrounded just like in the ocean. You're there. Holy moly. How could you ever be thirsty in the ocean?
But you can't drink water? It's the same thing with your brain. Your brain cannot thrive with sugar, glucose. It doesn't thrive with that. It would much rather you use a different fuel. Guys, why do you think I talk about the reset all the time, sun, steak and steel. I talk about the brain. The brain needs steak. It thrives with that. Okay? So one of the factors, your brain is swimming with fuel, but the wrong fuel. Got it guys. Invariably, that's true. It's an energy issue in your brain. You should see the studies coming out. Now, guys, I'm more of a realist than an optimist. And guys, you know me, I'm a happy-go-lucky guy, and I don't get depressed even though I see stupidity, even though I see there's so much research, and yet I can't get people to read. I can get you. You guys are smart.
You're smarter than the average bear. Okay? I think that was a Yogi Bear cartoons, okay? I used to love that cartoon when I was a kid. You're smarter than the average bear because you read, you listen, Linda, but you can't get physicians that they're a psychiatrist or a psychologist or whatever. I love Dr. McEwen. Have you noticed that? I love Angie. Why? Because she dedicates her psychology in a huge part to nutrition at the University of West Tennessee. It's unreal, guys. It's unreal. You got to look at fuel. The problem when you have a depressive patient is compliance. They're depressed. They don't feel like making any changes. It's very difficult. And they needed a lot of coaching. A lot of coaching change fuels your swimming around fuel, but none of it your body can use properly. You burn it like this. It's too fast for the brain.
Your little mitochondria inside your brain are screaming for the right fuel, guys, I'm telling you. I'm telling you. And what happens when you get them on steak, on eggs, on meat, all meat, cheese. It's unreal. What can happen in the side? That brain, because the brain is getting the right fuel. It's a mitochondria thing, okay? So that's number one. Okay? So flip that. You got to flip right there. And it works with patients that comply. We used to put a team on them and look, you can do it, man. Take one day at a time and be as disciplined. Self-control. It's not easy when you don't feel good, you got to eat the right way anyways. You've got to avoid the garbage. You've got to avoid those bad fuels. You're going to feel like a bad fuel. You're going to feel like a quick fix.
It's like cocaine. Sugar's like cocaine. It's a quick fix with destructive tendencies. One, change fuels depression. Two, and again, I've never seen an exception to it. I don't think Two inflammation, the brain is a hot mess. What happens in inflammation? It's called the fog of war inside the brain, your neurotransmitters, your brain, your synapses in inside the brain, there's fog. They can't communicate properly. It's chronic inflammation. So you have a hot mess up there and in the gut too. Inflamma. Now, remember, in inflammation is not Houdini. There's always a reason for it. Now, the number one reason we're going to go back to food again, the number one reason why people have chronic inflammation in the brain is food. Let me explain. You eat junk, okay? You eat sugar, you eat carbohydrates, crappy carbs that turn to sugar rapidly, okay? Wrong fuel. We talked about that, but what it does, it elevates insulin, right?
So when you eat sugar, okay, you guys could write a book about this. You know it. When you eat sugar are things that turn to sugar rapidly. Your pancreas secretes insulin rapidly and lots of it. Okay? You have a donut, okay? You go to Dunking Donuts or you go to Tim and you have a, well, Dr. Martin, it's a carrot muffin with eight teaspoons of sugar plus, right? The flour that turns to sugar in five seconds, you might as well had two or three chocolate bars. Yeah, but there's fiber in that. Ooh, okay? So what happens? Your body produces insulin. Insulin says to sugar in the bloodstream, come here. You can't stay in there. I need to park you. Right? Okay, so that happens once. It's not the end of the universe. But what happens when you are eating junk every day, like kids are doing today, and adults, they start their day with cereal and a muffin are toasts and they're secreting an enormous amount of insulin. They're drinking orange juice and insulin is going crazy. So what happens at the cellular level? Your cells start resisting insulin, right? Insulin resistance. 93% of the population have insulin resistance, 93%. And when they have insulin resistance, you create inflammation. It's one of its side effects.
So now you've got inflammation in the brain, you got brain fog, your synapses, your neurotransmitters are not communicating properly with each other can lead to depression. Another one is leaky gut. Leaky gut, leaky brain, leaky gut creates inflammation. Why? Because you have stuff coming in your bloodstream, garash like yeast that comes into your bloodstream and then crosses the blood brain barrier in your brain. That leads to more inflammation in the brain, more fog in the brain, okay? So you have the wrong fuel, you have inflammation. You don't even know it. People don't know it because medicine didn't even think of it. They don't even think of measuring your inflammation. And even if it slapped them in the face, they would never put the connection together. When they think inflammation, they're thinking infection. When they think inflammation, they're thinking rheumatoid arthritis or something like that. They're not thinking of a silent inflammation. They rarely even test C R p, say reactive protein.
Two things, the wrong fuel. You're swimming in an ocean of wrong fuel, can't use it, your brain doesn't like it doesn't thrive. There's not enough protein and fat for the brain's mitochondria to inflammation. It's silent. I'm not talking about joint pain. I'm not. I'm talking about silent inflammation as Tony Jr. Used to say, inflammation without infection. Inflammation without infection, okay, so leaky guts involved there. Bad food again, okay? Because of insulin resistance. So two major things, okay? Two major things. Leaky gut, elevated insulin when I'm talking about inflammation, and then the wrong fuel for your mitochondria. Got it? Okay. Now, what I did in my office, okay, I analyzed the diet, I looked at biomarkers, and then I looked for deficiencies. And again, this is repetition, but here's what I found almost invariably with great consistency. Here's what I found. What were depressive patients lacking?
What were they deficient in? Vitamin b12. Oh, Dr. Martin, my B12 is normal according to my doctor. Yeah, but that's for a mouse. Your brain. Neat. Your brain. Remember b12? It is electronics in your body. B12 is nerves. Your brain, okay? You got all these neurons in your brain, billions of them nerve cells, and you got synapses. It's an electrical grid. And B12 is a vitamin for your electrical grid. And what did I see what happens metabolically people with depression are very low in vitamin b12, and who knew? And the question I say is, who cares? I feel like grabbing every psychiatrist that I know, grabbing them and say, listen, Linda, listen. If you would only look under the hood, look under the hood of the brain, look under the hood. What will you find? What blood test should you be doing? Look under the hood and see what their B12 is.
If it's under 800, it's low. And 80% of the population is low in B12 to start off with, and your nerves will pay a price with low b12. B12 is, he said, why do you think I like vitamin S so much? Why do you think I like steak so much? Why do I talk about it so much? Because you need red meat to get b12. Don't let anybody fool you. How can anyone in their right mind tell people not to eat red meat? How can they do it when it's the only source of b12? Hello? How can that be? No wonder I got a migraine. Most days. They don't look under the hood. They just don't. Oh, ooh. You know, wouldn't it be nice if we had integrative medicine? Really integrative? Okay. You know what Canada's trying to do? Get rid of integrative medicine. They want to get rid of it.
It's the reasons they're attacking supplements, and there's actually a law. It's already been passed, and they're going to hide behind safety. Guys, you're going to need a prescription to take b12. Are you kidding me? Consistently? That's what I saw. Consistently and deficiency, vitamin b12, you G, you guys know what I'm going to say next? The sun vitamin D. Consistent. Consistent, consistent in depression. Vitamin D guys, every cell in your body, including your brain cells, including your third eye, your pineal gland. Guys, listen, you are a solar panel. Well, when do you feel good when the sun's out? Do you think that's just coincidental? Your brain needs sun, it needs vitamin D. You know, it just does. And nobody gets too uptight about a lack of vitamin D because they just think, oh, well, you know, don't have osteoporosis. So what are you worried about? What's the brain got to do?
Dr. Martin with vitamin D? It's got a lot to do with it. Vitamin D is an anti-inflammatory, by the way. Okay? So it will help you lower your inflammation in the brain. The fog of war, every cell in your body, including your brain cells, need vitamin D. And when you don't get it, you're much more susceptible to depression. We talked about magnesium yesterday. That's another one. I love magnesium, okay? And I've been consistent about it. I do. I love magnesium. Why in the world are we so low in magnesium? Well, we talked about that yesterday. It's devoid. It's not in our food chain anymore. There's very little of it, but your brain needs magnesium. It does. It's an essential mineral for your brain to function properly. And by the way, getting back to vitamin D, but vitamin S and steak, okay, Coke Q 10. Remember I was talking to you about the mitochondria?
When you have steak, you're elevating your Coke. Q 10, your mitochondria don't work properly without coq 10. So vitamin S provides coq 10. And so what did I see a lack of? I saw a lack of vitamin D. I saw a lack of vitamin b12. I saw a lack of magnesium, and I saw a lack of good oil in the brain. Good oil. What is your brain made up of? Fat head. Now, remember I said that to you as a compliment. My fathead friends, how are you fathead, Dr. Martin, you're a fathead. Yep, I got a fathead. It's full of d h a fat. And when we eat fat free, you're missing stuff in your cobra. You know what a coum is? It's a cucumber in French. Your cucumber. I used to tell patients that I said, hit your cocom for a second. I'm trying to get your attention.
Okay? Hit your noodle up there. You need oil. Your brain needs fat. So when you eat fat free, you're being silly. You're listening to the wrong people. Your brain is made up of fat. And by the way, cholesterol, your brain needs cholesterol, and cholesterol is in the animal kingdom, so don't avoid animal foods. Why would you do that? You need fat fathead. I know you guys, let me call you that. For those who are new to the podcast, don't be insulted. I'm giving you a compliment. The best oil in the world is dha. Your brain's made up of it. 60% of your brain is made up of a fat called dha, long chain fat fatty. And when I got a depressive patient, guess what I found? Oh, their brain was dried up. Not enough lubrication. They needed an oil change in their brain. They were getting the wrong Omega six oil.
They were eating all this processed food, and it's the wrong oil for the brain. Guys. I would get them to switch their oils. Okay? Are you having fun yet? Anyway, I'm reading about depression is going up, up, up, up, up, up, up. Okay, not getting better. It's going up, up, up. The amount of SSRIs being prescribed in United States and Canada is up tenfold in the last 40 years. It's craziness, please. Okay, just a word. Okay? I'm not telling you not to take medication. I'm not saying that, but we need to look under the hood and find out what's really going on. And we got to, we've got to fix the metabolic factors in depression. What a difference it makes. Okay, I'm going to breathe.
Okay, I'm going to breathe. Okay. Now, guys, change of plans this week. Remember now, tomorrow is question and answer. Thursday. Okay, Friday, I'm traveling Thursday. Question and answer Tomorrow, coming to a theater near you, question and answer Thursday. Okay? So send your questions in. It's not too late. Okay? You know what I'm going to say? Did you get sun, steak and steel yet? You don't. Don't have that copy yet. What guys? Thank you for making it number one. Number one on the hit three. We're so thankful for you guys. Okay? Tell your friends, maybe they won't listen to you, but maybe they'll read a book and it's easy to read. Okay? Keep it simple, stupid. That's my motto, not you stupid. Me stupid. Okay? I love you guys. 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!