Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners in today's episode.
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. Once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a wonderful start to your day. Okay. Now, let me just see if I can finish up the questions that I didn't get to on Friday. Okay? Now, Theresa asking a question. "Dr. Martin, explain the differences about fasting insulin, fasting glucose, A1C." Well, look, Theresa, I can explain the differences. Let me tell you what I like. I like A1C. I used A1C in my office. I found over the years it was the most accurate to tell you about insulin resistance. Now, I like fasting insulin. I got no problem with it. Most doctors don't do fasting insulin unless you bring them to a dentist and pull their teeth without anesthetic. It's hard to get routinely fasting insulin, but A1C, it's easy to get that off your doctor. Make sure they check the mark for A1C because that's an average of your blood sugar levels over three or four months.
And you know why that happens? Because red blood cells have hemoglobin in the middle of it that carries your oxygen and sugar attaches itself to the hemoglobin. You can measure it. Okay? It's glycated hemoglobin and glycation is what sugar does. When it attaches itself to hemoglobin, you can measure it. Anything above 5.4. I like it under 5.4. But if it's above 5.4, just assume that you have insulin resistance. I'm not going to get into the weeds. You can Google. If you want to go and look at, oh, what are all the numbers? I don't do that. I don't want to confuse my audience. I want them to focus. So when I talk about metabolic syndrome, I talk about insulin resistance and the way to measure it is the best way, in my opinion, is A1C. Now, I've been consistent about that. I want you to get your A1C. And again, if it's above 5.4, you need to fix that. If it's above 5.4, you and carbs don't get along. It's as simple as that. So you don't fool yourself. And that's what I look at. Okay? So thank you very much for the question, Theresa, appreciate it.
Chantal. "What did Dr. Martin feel about biopsies?" Well, two things. One, this one is specifically a 14-year-old teenager to confirm Celiac or Crohn's. They do a biopsy. I'm not against that. Take a little specimen from the bowel. I got no issue with that. Okay? I really don't. What I don't like generally, and I'm not telling people not to do it, you have to weigh the risk. There's a lot of research showing that when you take a biopsy, like ladies, especially with breast cancer and whatever, they do a biopsy. Well, I was a guy sort of saying, well, your body's smart. Your body is very intelligent. It sees a tumor. It encapsulates it. Your body's immune system is fearfully and wonderfully made. It encapsulates it. And then you get a biopsy and that releases it. That sheath, that protective sheath that was there now is broken. So you got to weigh that. It's not just me saying this. Okay? There's a lot of research talking about, especially in women with breast cancer. Number one, they're overdiagnosing and they're overtreating.
And look, again, you have to understand, I'm talking in generalities. Specifically for every individual, they got to make decisions about mammograms. They've got to make decisions about biopsies, but there are many, many risks to those things. Even the mammogram. There's countries in Europe, they don't even allow mammograms anymore. Look, it's always been difficult when you're in the public eye like me and when I'm in my radio days and all that. I have to be very careful not to over generalize. So I always used to tell people, "Look, get as much information as you can and then make a decision. Make a decision." But again, I can show you studies where they're just overtreating these things. And I'm much more into prevention than I am detection. Am I against detection? No. But I'm much more into prevention of cancers than detection of cancers.
Because medicine, when they detect, they go into full blasting mode with chemo and radiation and you name it. And I think, and there's a lot of alternative doctors think you got choices to make and it's not always easy. It's not always easy. But anyway, you ask, I'm not against biopsies when it comes to taking a biopsy to look at tissue. You're not releasing any cancer cells. You're looking for Crohn's or Celiacs or Celiac disease. They do biopsies on polyps too, right? Like if you're getting a colonoscopy done, I'm not a big, big fan of that, but anyway, I know I could be more specific, but I'm not in practice anymore. And when an individual patient came in and asked questions, well, we give them, based on their history and whatever, probably a better answer than I just gave you.
Now, I don't think I did this the other day. This is Joanne. "What did Dr. Martin think of the information below gut bacteria be supplemented?" Dr. William Li or Lee, L-I. People that live over a hundred. Okay? They all have the same bacteria according to Dr. Li. He's a researcher. I've seen some of his stuff. I don't know if that's true or not. Okay? So I think, Joanne, you know what I think of the microbiome. Okay? I'm very big on it. And I can almost guarantee you that I talked about the microbiome before Dr. Li did. About centenarians and they're living past 100, they all have the same microbiome, same strains of microbiome. I don't know. I haven't seen that research. I've never heard of that research. Okay? I read everything I can on the microbiome. There isn't a day goes by that I don't read some kind of study on the microbiome, the bacteria, the war that goes on within the body.
Do centenarians have a real good microbiome? Yeah, maybe they do, but I'll tell you something, okay? This is sort of me compared to a lot of people that are what they call anti-aging doctors or whatever. And I'm not against anti-aging. I'm just saying this. Okay? You can live to a hundred. Well, woopy doopy, but what if you're not healthy? You can live to a hundred and you don't have your mind. I don't want that. And I like better quality over quantity. That's me. I want quality of life over quantity of life. Look, I've done many shows on anti-aging, but to the extent that I want people to thrive physically. And we got a book, Rebuild Your Temple to thrive spiritually too. But to thrive, and I get some people, "I'm going to live Dr. Martin until 120." And I go, "Why do you know that? " Well, because my uncle who drank, smoked cigars, ate what he felt like. Well, he lived till 100 and something. So I said, "Well, you're uncle." Okay? He was a major exception and it was by the grace of God. Okay? It's not genetics.
You're not guaranteeing yourself you're going to live to a hundred years old. Like I said, like me, I'm in my mid 70s and I want to live absolutely. I want to live longer, but I want to have my brain. I want to have my health. I don't want to be a burden to other people. Okay? I really don't. That's my goal to the extent I can control things. So when someone tells you, well, the centenarians ... It's the first time I've ever heard of it, by the way. Not of centenarians, but they have the same microbiome. That might be true. I don't know. But you guys know this. I'm big on probiotics. I think everybody and their dog ought to be on a probiotic and a broad spectrum, probiotic. I believe that. And you guys know that. Is it every day I say it just about? Okay. It's one of my go- tos.
The research is so conclusive that people ought to be taking probiotics. It's just the world in which we live. Okay? We'll get to it in a minute if I get to a couple of new studies that have come out. Okay? Anyway, thanks for the question. And that was Joanne. Thanks, Joanne. And by the way, Joanne, you're researching. You're looking. You're studying. I like that. I love my audience for that. This one here, I don't know. He calls them the Four Horsemen of Longetivity. I don't know if that's true or not. I've never seen it other than what you just put on paper and I tried to look it up and I couldn't even find that study on that. Anywho, if you can get it, Joanne, send it to me because I haven't seen ... These guys thrive in centenarians. Yeah, good for you.
Okay. Doreen is asking about probiotics. "Are they soil-based?" Yep. Look, the best probiotics are one that you don't have to refrigerate. Okay? All probiotics are good. You know how I rate things, right? Good. Better, best. The best are soil-based. Dairy-based, they're good probiotics. Problem is they don't last long. They need to be refrigerated and even then. For example, our probiotics takes eight weeks to make every strain of them. Their culture. What does that do? Well, when it gets into the stomach and you swallow our probiotic, they get into the intended destination. They're built to get past that stomach acidity. That's really important. It's quality. There's quantity in there too, but it's the quality of them. Soil-based, you can bring them anywhere you go. You go on a holiday, bring them with you. Don't leave home without them. Remember that? Remember that American Express commercial? Don't leave home without it? Well, don't leave home without probiotic. Especially if you're going down to the Caribbean or Cuba. My word better take probiotics with you. Okay? But you can travel with them and they're great. You can't burn them out. You can't kill them. We've had them tested. And months later, there's actually more probiotic in the capsule than when it first got tested several weeks later. They seem to multiply. They're having babies. Anyway.
Theresa, did I answer this question the other day? I don't remember. "Please talk about low iron and how it may affect dizziness." Well, iron is very important. Okay? Look, you can have too much iron. Why would that happen? How could you get too much iron? Okay. It's a condition called hemochromatosis. And that has everything to do with your liver. And the liver gets gummed up because their fatty liver or severe insulin resistance and people can hold onto too much iron. That's not good for you. Okay? That's not good for you. And one of the things they do to help it, it's bloodletting. You go give blood and they take the blood out of you. At one time in medicine, they thought they were smart and they used to take blood out of you. Now they give you blood. Except if you have hemochromatosis.
Now, the other thing is iron is when you have too little and a lot of people have too little iron, especially women. I used to call them in the office. "Hi, Casper." And they look at me. "What? Why'd you call me Casper?" Because I said, "You look like Casper, the ghost. You're anemic." "I'm not anemic." "Yeah, yeah, you are. I can see it." They were anemic. And then of course I would take their blood, but I knew ahead of time. And a lot of times they were low in iron. A lot of times they were low in B12. They didn't know it. No one told them. And a lot of times it was both. Okay? It was both. And a lot of people, they don't eat enough meat, especially steak and hamburger or whatever, leave the bun. They don't get enough B12 and they don't get enough heme iron. HEME is the iron that you need to absorb. Your body absorbs it. It's bioavailable. Guess where it's found? In spinach? No. Popeye lied and people have died. Popeye didn't get his muscles from spinach. No, steak. Sun, steak and steel. Okay?So low iron make you dizzy. It can make you lethargic. It certainly makes you pale and you do not feel well. Your body needs that. A lot of times you get that. It's not necessarily a tinnitus, but it's a swishing sound. Or restless legs, often low iron. Often low iron. Okay? So thanks for the question and that was Theresa.
I think I got them all now. Yeah, I think I got all the questions. If I missed one, would you let me know the person that asked that? Can you let us know? Okay. There was a couple more studies. I talked about this the other day, changing fuels. Somebody asked yesterday, I think I saw it yesterday, was asking about if I go into ketosis, okay? So again, you know what ketosis is. Okay? Don't confuse it with ketoacidosis because that's what happens. Doctors, they learn in school. They don't learn ketosis. They learn keto acidosis. They see the word keto there. And they go, "You can't go keto. It's bad because you could go into ketoacidosis." No, you don't. Ketoacidosis is diabetics, especially type one. Their insulin doesn't work. Their sugars get out of control and the body can go into ketoacidosis and that can kill you. Ketosis is a different thing altogether. It's changing fuels. Your body, if you cut down on your carbs, your body has to change fuels. It goes to burning fat. That's what ketosis is.
And for women, average about 20, 30 grams a day of carbs. That's not much. That's hardly any carbs. Men, maybe 50, maybe. And I don't care so much whether you go into ketosis or not. You can measure that, right? You can measure ketosis. You can measure the ketones in your urine. People used to come into my office and they would drive themselves mental looking to see they'd have a strip and every time they peed, they'd check their strip. I'm in a ketosis. No, I'm not. Yes, I am. No, I am not. I said, "You're giving me a migraine. Stop testing. Eat well. Eggs, meat and cheese." If that's predominantly what you eat, you will do really well. I don't care if you go into ketosis or not. I mean it. Now, ketosis was used for epilepsy. Go back a hundred years. And they were using it for epilepsy. In a lot of cases, it cured it just by changing the fuel and the brain. I like changing fuels. You guys know that.
My whole eating program, the metabolic reset, is changing fuels. It's not calories. It's not calories in and calories out. If you need to lose weight, it's the best way to do it better than GLP-1s. Why do I say that? Well, look, I mean, if you want to use Wegovy or whatever they call it, or Ozempic or whatever they call it. Look, those medications were for diabetics and now they're using them. I wish I would've invested in them. I wish I would've bought stock in them. But the second you stop, you're going to gain all your weight back. And most people, look, we've had enough research to look at this stuff now. There's a boatload of side effects, one. And two, when you stop, guess what happens? The weight comes back. Because the idea, and this is why I preach this to you guys all the time, is change fuels. When you do the metabolic reset, you're changing fuels. My name is Tony. I used to get my patients to do this. Put your hand up and repeat after me. Okay? My name is Susie and I'm a carboholic. And they'd look at me like, "Dr. Martin, have you flipped your lid?" No. Well, maybe. I am a little crazy.
But I used to tell them this, "Listen, I know from your blood work, I tested you. I know that you and carbs don't get along and you're a carboholic." You never thought of it because nobody ever told you. Now I'm going to get you to change fuels. You're going to do it for 30 days. You're going to thank me later, by the way. And because you do this for 30 days, you're going to find out, you know what? I used to eat a fair amount of sugar. And sugar molecules like bread, pasta, rice, cereals, and juices and that kind of stuff, bagels and muffins and all this kind of stuff. I thought I needed fiber. And you find out, well, I didn't really need all that stuff. And it was very detrimental to my health. And when we switched that over and you're now burning high octane, 99%. When you eat an egg, 99% fuel. Meat, 99% fuel. Good dairy like butter and cheese? 99% fuel. Okay?
And when you do that, you'll find out and your cells will tell you. Your brain cells will tell you, especially. They'll say, thank you. I don't have all that debris I used to have. My brain is functioning at a much higher level and thank you for changing fuels. Instead of the garbage. Listen, once the 30 days are over and you want to have some fruits and vegetables, go for it. I mean it. Okay? But you'll understand. And tens of thousands, we're probably over a hundred thousand now. People have done the metabolic reset. They find out that me and sugar, we don't get along very well. I was addicted to this stuff. I was a carboholic and now I've changed and I realize how much better I'm doing when I change fuels. That was my whole reasoning behind the metabolic reset to get you off the Titanic, to get your insulin resistance down, to get your A1C down. And then it affects your triglycerides. They come down. Your HDL goes up. Your blood pressure comes down. Your blood sugar comes down. It's good for you, man. It's good for you.
And remember what we've said. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat Dr. Martin. Okay? What does he do all the time? Rinse and repeat. Metabolic syndrome is at the root of heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. Okay? It's at the root of those. You want to fix that. That's why I'm so adamant about it. Okay? Do you understand me? That's what I do. I'm very dogmatic. I'm very narrow minded when it comes to eating. Eggs, meat, and cheese. There's nothing better. Nothing. Fiber is not better. You want to have some fiber? Have some fiber. The best fiber is water and coffee. I've said that since the 1970s. Okay? I mean it.
Anyway, listen, tomorrow, okay, just you guys know it right here. Afternoon session tomorrow. 4:00 PM Eastern. We'll post it. Okay? Tomorrow. Afternoon session. Okay? And we realize that our bigger audiences in the morning, you're used to me being in the morning, but tomorrow we'll go in the afternoon. Friday, send me in your questions for Q&A. We love Q&A, and often it goes into Monday, doesn't it? And we got some new studies that have come out that are really and so we'll touch on those this week. But don't be shy. Ask your questions. Okay? And remember, if you haven't got the book, Rebuild Your Temple. Number one, health book. Number one. Thank you. Make sure you get it. martinclinic.com. Okay? Martinclinic.com. Guys, we love you dearly, sincerely, and every other way. Oh, apparently Olga, okay, part of our family here at the private Facebook group, Olga is still hanging on. I think she's still in a hospice as far as I know. I saw an update the other day on her and she's still hanging on. So our prayers go out to Olga. Okay? Remember too, Friday morning, I'll go on at 8:00 AM Eastern and then we review the book, Rebuild Your Temple. So if you're not part of that, it's a book club. And boy, is it ever good? Okay. So you can get into that. If you have the book, Rebuild Your Temple, you want to join our private book club there, Rebuild Your Temple. Okay, love you, 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!