Join Dr. Martin in today's episode of The Doctor Is In Podcast.
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 and hope you're having a great start to your day. We appreciate you coming on when you can and saying hello. Guys, I got a couple of studies, stories. Okay, couple of new ones here. Back in the real world. Okay? Again, do I ever go through a week where I don't talk about cholesterol? Probably not. I have a hard time going through a couple of days without talking about cholesterol, but when it comes to heart disease, which is the number one killer in terms of chronic disease, it's still the number one killer on the hit parade. You got to talk cholesterol because cholesterol has been made out to be the boogeyman and especially LDL cholesterol, low density lipoprotein. And I've always pushed back against that. Always, always have pushback. Okay? Here's a study of 136,000 people. Okay?
People with the lowest HDL have more heart attacks than those who have higher HDL. Who's going to like that narrative? I wonder if we'll see that in any mainstream news media? LDL, okay, so again, and we're going to go into a little bit of a dive here on triglycerides because I read a study yesterday on triglycerides, so I want to bring it out to you, but it's stuff we've been talking about for a long time. Okay? For a long time. Now, okay, listen to this. When you get your blood work done, guys, you have to be, to some extent, your own doctor. You have to. I remember saying this in my radio days a long time ago. My job as a broadcaster was to educate. I educated my patients when I was in private practice and I would get on the radio and we had a syndicated radio show and I just brought out studies and I said that kind of thing. I would pontificate, but to educate.
And then my dream was when I gave up private practice that I wanted to go full-time into education, educating patients, educating audience. Okay? I educated patients. I tried to explain things to them, make it simple. I used the KISS method. Keep it simple, stupid. That was me. Okay? And I didn't call my patient stupid. I was stupid, so I wanted to keep it simple for me so then I could teach it. And guys, this is really important that you get your blood work and analyze it. I'm not saying you got to be a medical doctor to do it. You don't have to be. You have to look at what's really significant in blood work. And so when you do your lipid profile, okay, doctors are ordering lipid profile. They look at LDL cholesterol. What do I say about that? Well, here's what the real research says. When you get through all the weeds and get through all the fluff, study of 136,000 people, people with the lower HDL have more heart attacks than those people with high HDL. So obviously, HDL can't be the problem. It can't be. Think about it.
And you guys know this. If you've been listening for the last several years, and many of you have, you know this. Cholesterol was made the boogeyman, the LDL cholesterol. That was bad cholesterol according to medicine. And the reason they picked on LDL is because they found a medication, statin drugs, the number one seller of all time. They found a med to lower LDL cholesterol. Does it work? A hundred percent it works. It'll lower your LDL. And what does that do? Oh, people with the lower LDL have more heart attacks than people with high HDL. You've heard it here before. So when you get your blood work, it's really important for you as an individual. Look, to question. If a doctor wants to put you on statin drugs, you need to question that. And I know physicians, not all of them, okay? But a lot of them, why are you questioning me? You're not a cardiologist. You're not a doctor. Don't question me. Well, to me, that's silly. Patients used to come into my office. I told them, bring a notepad and a pen. Bring it with you. Before you get in there, write down all the questions you want to ask. I sent them away, by the way, with a very comprehensive report of their findings and what it meant.
I remember a lady, and she was very unhappy following a visit with me. Okay? So she called back at the office, said, "Dr. Martin didn't answer all my questions." At the end of the day, I said, "Well, let me get her on the phone. I'll talk to her." I said, "What questions that I didn't answer?" "Well, I had a lot more questions." I said, "well, first of all, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take the report. You remember the report I gave you? Have you read it?" "No." I said, "read it because under every finding, I gave you an explanation of the finding, what it means," what it means. Okay? So I said, we're going to have another conversation, but before we do, I want you to read the report I gave you. Read it. "Okay." And then we'll talk. We'll talk tomorrow. Is that all right? Yeah, that's fine. I said, and if you have any questions after reading the report again," or you haven't read it yet, "let's talk. I'll answer all your questions, I promise." "Okay." Well, the next day we talked and she had one or two little wee questions. She was happy and I was happy. Information, guys. You know what the word doctor means? Teacher. That's what it means.
So, okay, back in the real world. Now, I want to do a little dive here this morning because there was a new study out here. I think I have it right in front of me. Okay? This study was on triglycerides. And this is really important when you get your blood work, especially when you look at your lipid profile. Doctors, I mean, it's very rare that they would talk to you about triglyceride. They'll talk to you about cholesterol, but they won't talk to you about fat balls because that's what triglycerides are. Triglycerides are fat balls and everybody has them, but you don't want them to be high because fat balls, tri, three fat balls, glycerides in your bloodstream, in your blood vessels, not good when they're high. Okay? Now, when you look at blood work, again, don't be shy to ask questions even from our staff. When you look at your blood work, look at your triglycerides. Circle that. Okay? I'm going to give you Canadian and American numbers, but it's just a decimal point. Okay? That's the only difference.
So in the United States, for example, if you see your triglycerides are 150 MGDL. In Canada, it's just 1.50, 150 in the United States, 1.50 in Canada. Those are normal triglycerides. Okay? What the world calls normal. I like them even lower than that. I like my little sweet spots, but I never look at triglycerides without looking at HDL. So when you go down your blood work, circle triglycerides and then circle your HDL because it's that ratio there that's really important for heart disease. Really important for heart disease. Not LDL, not HDL on its own. You're always looking at triglycerides and HDL. And there are some exceptions, but they're very rare. Triglycerides that are high, you'll find your HDL to be low. Okay? And you want it the other way. You want your HDL to be high and your triglycerides to be lower than that. If they're even, it's not the end of the world. Okay? But I like low triglycerides and high HDL. Okay?
Now here's the mechanism. Here's the science. Here's how this works and why it's so important for your heart. Okay? First of all, where does triglycerides come from? Where do they come from? What organ do they come from? Your heart? Nope. Your liver. Your liver is what produces triglyceride. And it's really important to understand this. There are three fat balls, triglycerides, but they're made from sugar. Sugar in the liver turns to fat. And when the Costco parking lot, your liver gets full, your body sends triglycerides, the fat into a form of triglycerides into your bloodstream. Those fat balls, look, if they're low, no problem. They get high. You got a problem, Houston. We got a problem. How do you make triglycerides in your liver? From what? Crappy carbs. Sugar. And this is really important, guys. Really important that you get this. Fructose. "Oh, Dr. Martin, isn't that healthy?" Depends. Fructose goes directly to your liver. It's processed differently than glucose.
And the problem was, and that's why I've said this to you a million times. I was John the Baptist screaming in the wilderness about high fructose corn syrup, which is the sugar of choice today. It's in Coca-Cola, it's in Pepsi Cola, and it's in your Tropicana orange juice. It's fructose. Well, Tropicana, it has fructose, but it's not high fructose corn syrup, but it doesn't matter. It's still fructose. And high fructose corn syrup goes directly to your liver. 99% of the time when you have sugar at it, it's high fructose corn syrup when it's added to everything from yogurt to ketchup to whatever. It's high fructose corn syrup. They switched the sugar and it's killing us. One of the biggest factors in heart disease, because that sugar is metabolized, like fructose is metabolized like alcohol is in the liver. We all know, right? You learn that in high school. Alcohol is metabolized in the liver. That's why alcoholics get cirrhosis of the liver. Why? Well, because alcohol is metabolized there.
Okay, so now back to these triglyceride. Okay? So what's bad when you have high triglycerides, and it's a teeter totter. When they're high, your HDL is low. Almost invariably. Almost invariably. Okay? When your carbs and your sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup, when they're high in your diet, you're going to elevate your triglycerides because you're loading up your liver and your liver has no choice but to send triglycerides skyrocketing into your bloodstream. And what do they do? They're dangerous, especially when they're unaccompanied by HDL. Okay? Remember, high triglycerides, low HDL. What does HDL do? Repeat, repeat, repeat. What does HDL do? Well, HDL, your high density lipoprotein. You see it in your numbers. Circle it. Circle it. HDL is on your side, guys. Okay? HDL is on your side. I saw one yesterday. I saw a transport with two trailers on the back. Double. Trailer. Huge. Okay. On the highway. And I'm thinking, oh, triglycerides and HDL.
I look at trucks and just show you how weird I am because in the first trailer, what does HDL bring, ladies and gentlemen? What does HDL deliver? Your hormones. Estrogen. Progesterone. Testosterone. It's a transporter. It transports your hormones. Do you want HDL? Of course you do. You know what the nice thing is? HDL, it's got a second trailer on the back. What does that do? It picks up your triglycerides. The fat balls. It picks it up, puts it on the wagon, brings it back to the liver for processing. Do you understand that? And so you can simplify your blood work, guys. You can simplify it. Look, you don't have to be a rocket scientist. Then it gives you enough ammunition to be able to question why you want to put me on a statin drug because you're just looking at my LDL. And I can tell you that LDL. Why do you want it low, doc? Well, heart disease. Nah. I don't know. I'm questioning that. I don't buy that. Okay? I want to know what my triglycerides are. Oh, your triglycerides are pretty good. That's a good sign. What's my HDL? It's good. It's elevated. Good. Hallelujah. That's what I want.
So when I look at triglycerides, look guys, I've been looking at blood work for 50 years. Okay? Doc, they circle it, but look what my total cholesterol is. And I said, "Who cares? You can't make me care." They thought I was so insensitive or unsensitive. "You don't care?" No, I don't care about your total cholesterol. I really, really don't. Why? Well, because it doesn't matter. If it mattered, I'd care about it. They made it up. Cholesterol's not at the root of heart disease. It's just not. I'm sorry. Cholesterol's on your side. You need cholesterol. I learned that in high school. And then all of a sudden it became the bad guy. Don't eat butter. Have margarine. Did you buy that guys? Millions did. I didn't buy it. They were trying to sell it, but I wasn't buying it. I said it wouldn't make any sense. God gave us butter, not margarine. Why do you think the whole seed oil thing came up? Canola oil and all the processed foods that got all those high, high omega-6 oils that were meant for your car and not for your body. Those things, guys? Well, yeah, but oh, they're not saturated. They're poly unsaturated, Dr. Martin. Well, why do you want that? I like fat. I like saturated fat because saturated fat doesn't elevate your triglycerides.
You can have 10 pounds of bacon every morning. Your triglycerides aren't going up. Sugar elevates your triglycerides. Crappy carbs elevate your triglycerides. You don't want that. They'll lower your HDL. That's how your body works. So here's me. Okay? You're in my office. You're a patient. I've looked at your blood work. Your triglycerides are high and your HDL is low. And by the way, guys, now they're in the weeds. Okay. Let me just say this for half a second, then we'll be back on the main topic. Now they're making up, well, you got small particle, apo, small and large particle. They're trying to keep people on statin drugs. They got to make up new stuff. They want to put it in our water if they could. They want to give it to children if they could. If they could get away with it, they'd do it. So you're in my office. You got high triglyceride. You have low HDL. Here's what my plan was for you. And the thing is, guys, got to work. And what do we do? Food. Always started with food. And then I'll tell you about a supplement you need for blood work. That works. Okay?
Now, one, food. The foundation. You got to eat. This is what lowers triglycerides. What lowers triglycerides is when you get off the sugar. I used to tell patients, you are no longer going to have any sugar. So read your labels. Get off the fructose. Okay? I don't want you drinking. You want to have an orange? Have an orange. Don't live on it. But you want to have an orange? You like oranges? Have an orange. You want to have an apple? Have an apple, but you don't drink it. "Dr. Martin, it's Tropicana." I don't care-ah. You can't have it. It's got 27 grams of sugar in it. It's worse than a Coke. Stop it. That was pretty tough. You got to have a heart attack and we're going to fix that. But you got to listen, Linda. And you got to listen, Larry. Do it my way. Your way hasn't worked. So let's do it my way. I did it my way. Don't do it your way. We're going to do it my way. Give me 30 days. I'm going to change your blood work. Okay? I'm going to change it. But you're going to have to go home and implement what I'm telling you to do.
So, you're going to cut out your sugars. You're going to increase your fat in your diet. What? Yep. Okay? You're going to increase your fat in your diet. You're going to increase your animal fat in your diet. Okay? And you're going to cut out the crappy sugars. Okay? We're going to cut down your bread because bread is just sugar molecules holding hands. So we're going to stop that for 30 days and we're going to get your triglycerides down. No muffins, no bagels, no noodles. Okay? No cereals. "Well, Dr. Martin, there's a heart on the box. My cereal's got a heart on the box." I said, I know when you eat it, you're going to have a heart attack. It's going to elevate your triglycerides. So that's what you do. You're going to start with food and you're going to be strict. Within a few weeks, you'll realize that you were a carboholic and you were fattening up your liver and we're going to reverse that. Before I aim at your heart, I'm aiming at your liver because your liver directly affects your heart. We're going to aim at your liver. We're going to change your diet. It's going to fix your liver and then it will fix your heart. Understand? That's what the word doctor means. Teacher.
Now, here's the supplement. And then no one got out of my office without me telling them this. Omega-3 is something you're going to take. Now, I highly recommend you take a high DHA and EPA, but we're going to lower your triglycerides even more with this supplement. And I'm a big guy. You guys know this on DHA. I love EPA, but I adore DHA. That's what your brain is made up of. DHA fat, fat head. We're going to fix, and it really works. And again, the key is to get those triglycerides down. And as the triglycerides come down with your diet, and with omega-3, your HDL comes up. You got more wagons on the highways and byways of your blood vessels. With the second wagon, taking your triglycerides and bringing them out of your bloodstream. That's how your body works, guys. Isn't that beautiful?
And you focus in. I want you to have more butter. I want you to have more eggs. I want you to have more bacon and eggs in the morning. Sausage and eggs. Steak and eggs. If you could afford it. You like butter? Put it on everything, except bread. Okay? So they went to work when they left my office with a plan. A plan to succeed. And then when I saw them again, usually within 30 to 60 days, we compared blood work and they were always amazed. "Doc, it worked." Yep. It worked because you got to know what you're aiming at. And I said, I'm a big guy on results. Yep. Big guy on results. That was my practice, folks. Okay? And someone asked on here, "What number do you like for LDL?" I don't care. I want it to be high. You don't want low LDL. Your LDL's really important. God gave you LDL. Why do you need it? Well, it is really important part of even of your immune system. Well, we'll talk about that some other day.
Okay, guys. Tomorrow, afternoon session. Friday, morning session. Okay? That's the plan. Subject to change. If it changes, I'll let you know. Okay guys, we love you dearly. Oh, by the way, send your questions in for Friday info@martinclinic.com. Info@martinclinic.com. Send your questions in for Q&A Friday. You guys love Q&A because you tell me you do, and I love Q&A because I tell you I do. Okay, 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!