Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners in today's episode.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
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Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone. Once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. And we're going to do Q&A Thursday. Okay, here's a question. Marcy asked this question last week and she said I missed it. Wouldn't be the first time. Marcy, I'm glad you brought it back. Her husband has oozing liquid coming out and sores from his legs. Not in good shape. He's a type one diabetic and he had a heart attack a year and a half ago and has a reluctant cough ever since that day. Okay, look. Marcy, it's complicated. The oozing, look, your husband's a diabetic. I don't think I'm stretching this. He is suffering from congestive heart failure. That's what it sounds like. He's full of fluid and the heart is not pumping near enough to do that. His cough, I'm just going to say possibly it was always something that I tried to eliminate right away in terms of a diagnosis because his cough, I guarantee he's on blood thinners. I can almost guarantee you he's on blood pressure medication. The blood pressure medication, one of its common side effects is a persistent cough. He's not in good shape.
I mean, what can be done? Well, I mean, look, to me, it's very serious, obviously. And the amount you can turn that ship around in terms of food, do everything you can. He's a type one diabetic, so it's an autoimmune diabetes, very advanced. And how much damage is already done when you see those sores and they're not healing, they're oozing, no magic. Okay? So just look, I don't want to be negative, but I'm a realist too. Okay? So if your husband had come into my office, I would look for every deficiency because that's what I do anyway and see what his status is because this would be important. As much as possible, change that diet. I don't know what he eats like, but him and carbohydrates wouldn't get along. He needs much more protein, eggs, meat, and cheese. And we'd look for deficiencies from omega-3 to vitamin D to B12, magnesium, all of these things he might be very deficient in. But I don't know that without absolutely testing it. So I'm just saying to you, Marcy, there's no shortcuts. And if you could get him in, I don't know where you are, like in terms of where you live, to a physician that thinks outside the box to maybe direct them in another way, it would be well worthwhile, but it's not easy because of the advancement. Like I said, it sure sounds like he has congestive heart failure too, and that's not easy when it's advanced. Okay?
Eileen is asking, okay, she used to be hungry. "Typically could eat anytime. I know I shouldn't be hungry yet, but I want to eat. But a week ago, I noticed I'm not hungry. I eat at meals, but not a lot, and I'm satisfied. Is there anything that I'm taking from you that could affect that?" Well, possibly. And one of them is cortisol, because what cortisol does, if your cortisol is high, your stress hormone, it elevates your blood sugar. What goes up must come down. And then you can get the yo-yo effect of your blood sugar. And then what happens is you better eat. You feel like eating. If that has been regulated and it's not fluctuating like that, it's because the cortisol control that you're taking is helping you. It would be that one probably more than others. B12, yes, that would help, but it's more the cortisol. That's what I would say, the cortisol formula that's helping to balance out your cortisol.
Myra is asking a question about saffron for sleep. Well, look, when it comes to sleep supplements, when you have like saffron, GABA, people have used melatonin. One of the reasons we formulate is to put different ingredients, okay? Because I found, and this has just been my experience with saffron. On its own, hey, some people get good results with it. It helps them, but it usually has a shelf life and it doesn't work over a period of time as well. Everybody's different. Every individual is an individual. So what might be really good for you is not necessarily working for someone else. And sleep, by the way, it's finicky. And remember, I use this all the time. 80% of the population never get into the five stages of sleep. Have trouble with sleep. And there's a lot of reasons for that. I like our formula. Cortisol formula is made to lower cortisol. If you don't sleep, your cortisol's up. If your cortisol's up, you don't sleep. It's a vicious cycle.
And cortisol is supposed to be secreted by your adrenals in relationship to your circadian rhythm, meaning that your cortisol is going to be higher in the morning. And then as the day progresses, and especially getting into evening, it should be at its lowest level, but people are secreting cortisol 24 and seven. It never gets turned off. We live in that kind of world. There's a lot of stress. It doesn't necessarily always come from personal things and family things and financial things and relationships and that. That can be a big factor. But just living in this world is stressful. The environment stresses people and our food stresses people. And that's why you get such a fluctuation in blood sugar. So if saffron, Amara works for you, I got no problem at all. It works use it. My experience with saffron alone, it's not great. It's not bad, but it's not great. I would put different supplements ahead of that. One of the best things you can do, the sun, because you get melatonin just on a sunny day. So get in the sun, go for a walk. I love magnesium. You know that.
Anyway, Kathy is asking about Reta. What is that? Well, okay. It's similar to Ozempic because you have GLP drugs. What do I call them? Designer drugs out of Hollywood. Hollywood always brings out stuff that they can lose weight on. Ozempic, remember, guys, and Wegovy. They're diabetic drugs, but now people are using them for weight loss that are not diabetic. Okay? And they work. But the same with Reta. This is a GLP-3. It has three antagonists. Ozempic is a GLP-1 and trizepatide or whatever they call it is a GLP-2. So a GLP-3 has got sort of three branches. And by the way, it is not approved by the FDA yet. And it's going through its phase three stage before approval. So they're looking at it. They've had thousands of people go through the testing with them.
Look, here's the problem. Okay? Do they work for weight loss? Yes. Here's the problem. And this is not the first time I've said it, and it won't be the last time I've said it. When I used to get patients in the office and they wanted to lose weight, I had a weight loss clinic. A huge majority was working with their personality and their habits because I knew this. It takes three weeks to form a habit and about six weeks to cement it. When I developed an eating program, changing fuels, the Reset, that was based on science, guys. Okay? This was a scientific approach. Now, the primary goal was not weight loss. The primary goal was insulin resistance, fixing that because if you're gaining weight, you got a problem with insulin. Insulin is a fat storing hormone. So what did I used to do in my office? Educate.
And here's an eating program that is going to be very helpful. It has nothing to do with calories and nothing to do with movement. You're not counting calories. It's not calories in calories out because all weight loss programs, a lot of them was calories in and calories out and move more. Eat less, move more. Well, that's yo-yo. 100%. That's yo-yo dieting and people are starving. What I liked is changing habits. When you change fuels, you go from carb loaded to protein and fat loaded. You change fuels. Your body changes fuels. And that is a key because when you do that, when you get to week three, it happens earlier in some people, their body makes a huge adjustment and people realize, "You know what? I found out that I worked better on better fuel. My cells appreciate it. My brain appreciates it. I'm starting to notice how much better it is when I eat the right way."
Carbs, like I say, the wood stove theory, right? Well, do you get your metabolism going with a wood stove by putting paper and twigs on there? No. Logs. Nutrient dense foods. So the 30 day program is to fix insulin resistance at the cellular level. Insulin is a fat storing hormone. You're going to have to eat anyways. What are you going to do? Stay on Ozempic for the rest of your life? Stay on Reta for the rest of your life or try Zepatide the rest of your life? Well, what happens is in one year, this is a fact, guys, almost 50, 60%, you know what happens after they take the medication, GLP medications? They stop. They're getting too many side effects because it delays the emptying of your stomach. And there's a lot of digestive issues. There's a lot of malabsorption issues and that kind of thing, and they stop taking it. There are too many side effects. But at the end of the day, if you don't change habits, the second you stop that medication, all that weight is coming back.
And here's another fact. When you take these GLPs, you're losing muscle. Fat has an unlimited capacity to stay in your body. Okay? You lose muscle and you don't want that. Muscle is one of the best things you have for your metabolism. It's an organ onto itself. It's storing bins. It keeps glucose away from your liver, which will turn into fatty liver. So look, at the end of the day, these designer drugs, do they work? Yeah, they work, but there's a big but with it. And at the end of the day, if you don't fix your habits, if you don't change the way you eat, if you don't understand the concept of fuel, what your body, your mitochondria in your battery packs, what they really want in terms of food. And I'm not saying you're never going to have a carbohydrate the rest of your life. I'm not carnivore. I am not. Okay? But you understand you formed some very good habits and you find out you and sugar don't get along. You find out you and carbs don't get along. You might like them, but they don't like you. And you find out how toxic sugar is. And you find out, my name is Tony and I was a carboholic. And once you're a carboholic, you pretty well always are.
If you don't have discipline, and I mention this all the time, guys, if you don't have discipline, I don't care, guys, you're never going to win when it comes to food. It's not easy, but it gets easier because habits are formed. You understand, you learn the toughest word in the English language. No. You get to say no to food. And I know, I got to say something else. We have millions of downloads on the podcast The Doctor Is In, probably around five million between the Facebook and the podcast. Hundreds of thousands of people know exactly what I'm talking about, exactly what I'm talking about. They've done it. They've learned to say no. I learned. I always tell you the story of my dad. I learned some very, very important lessons when I was 16 years old, when my dad became a diabetic. He called it sugar diabetes. And I watched my dad never have another ounce of sugar again. Oh, he was severe diabetic, and he changed his life, changed his lifestyle. And I watched him, and my dad was my hero. And I said, okay, dad, you're doing it. I'm doing it.
I went to school, guys, and I'm taking 2000 hours of nutrition, and most of all, I have to unlearn it. Like to get a PhD in nutrition, I had to study it and you still, you have to study what they teach you, but I knew better from my dad. It wasn't moderation. It was elimination. I can tell you personally, I have never had a soda in the last... I'm 74. I was 16. You figure it out. I just stopped drinking soda. I might've had a few diet sodas. I don't even drink that, but I never had another soda. Never another Pepsi or a Coke or whatever. I had patients come into my office, "I'm not giving up a Pepsi. Doc, look I'm only having one a day." Well, that's 14 teaspoons of sugar. You think your body was made for that? And it's not only sugar, it's high fructose corn syrup sugar. I never had another chocolate bar. I guess if I was on an island and I hadn't eaten in a few days, maybe I'd eat a chocolate bar, but I just don't eat it. That's me. I look like my dad. I got his genetics. Genetics load the gun, but the diet pulls the trigger guys. So you know what I'm saying?
So when you ask me about GLP, I go, "Yeah, okay." But listen Linda and listen Larry, that is a band-aid. You need to change habit. You have to understand how your body operates and what its preferred fuel is. You're a rocket. Your body was made for rocket fuel, not for 87 octane, carbohydrates. You'll live, but you won't do well. And I'm not saying you can never have the plant kingdom.Okay? Fruits and vegetables. I never say that to people. Never. For 30 days, yes. You're a diabetic, you're really limiting your fruit. And you don't drink fruit juices. I've been consistent, guys. You know anybody that followed me? I had a radio show for 20 years. I've been doing podcasting for what? Eight, nine years? Consistent. But you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it. Okay? You think I don't like chocolate cake? But it don't bother me. You can have a chocolate cake in front of me and you know what I mean? It gets easier because you learn to say no. Okay? And I'm not saying it was my birthday and somebody put a little piece of cake there. I take a corner of it and say, thanks for thinking about me. You guys, it's your birthday today. Like enjoy, guys. Okay?
My wife is Italian. My wife is the number one numero uno cook in the world. Ask my grandchildren. I love pasta, but I don't live on it. I love it, but I don't live on it. That's what I'm saying. So when you ask questions like Kathy has asked me, yeah, Reta, these things are coming down the pipe. This is a GLP-3 and it's probably going to be approved by the FDA very soon. And okay, I'm not burying my head in the sand and saying all this stuff is going to go away. No. But at the end of the day, there's no shortcuts, guys. There's no shortcuts to good health. You got to be disciplined. And that's why I try and teach and educate so that people get it and you guys can figure it out for yourself. Beverly's saying cheesecake is her weakness. Oh, I could live on cheesecake.Eggs, meat and cheese, but not cheesecake. Do I love it? You bet your boots.
Okay. That was Kathy. Judy's asking the question. "What does Dr. Martin think of beetroot powder?" Yeah. It's all right. Beets and beetroot powder. It elevates your nitric oxide. Okay. Now, Judy, I got to tell you, I am very biased. Okay? I'm telling you ahead of time. I'm biased. I like Navitol for nitric oxide better than beets. Look at the research on pine bark extract and nitric oxide. And it does a lot of other things besides that. I'm sorry. Good, better, best is the way I think. Is it good? Yep. Is saffron good for sleep? Yep. Is there something better? Yep. Okay. Beet root powder. I see the advertisements. You can chew them and get chewables and beetroot and good for you. I have no problem with it. It's good. It elevates nitric oxide. I just think there's something better. I'm biased, but I was in clinic and I had to elevate nitric oxide. And by the way, the sun elevates your nitric oxide. Merci for the questions, Judy.
Joni. Joni, you're asking about, I guess I confused you. "On April 4th podcast," okay, that's not that long ago. "You talked about a big study on LDL. In the next sentence, you refer to HDL. Then you go back to LDL. I sent several emails trying to figure out what was the study and what was actually saying. Are people having a heart attack on low HDL or low LDL?" Joni, look, let me go over it again because I got no problem repeating, repeating, repeating. Okay? Because I might have that day and I might have been going fast. I talk fast sometimes and I'm a senior. I get a pass and I don't want to confuse anyone. Let me just start with LDL. Okay? Because you're going to see that if you get blood work done. Doctors hate high LDL cholesterol. They hate it. And there's a medication called statin drugs to lower LDL cholesterol. It really works.
But here's the big but, Joni. LDL has nothing to do with your heart disease. They made it a boogeyman. It's not a boogeyman. Your body makes LDL. You need LDL. And now they've gotten into the weeds, okay? Small particle, large particle, because they get into the weeds and the reason I've said this now for as long as they've been testing LDL, they're going to do everything they can. There's actually a movie coming out on Netflix. I don't know when it's starting, but I saw it advertised the other day. The cholesterol hoax coming on Netflix. They should have interviewed me for that. I've been talking about this for 40 years. I just didn't buy it even in school. I didn't buy that cholesterol was bad for you.
Here's why, because just high school biology tells you your body makes cholesterol. What have I said about cholesterol? Well, God don't trust you. Your body provides 85%. You're supposed to eat cholesterol. And cholesterol is in the animal kingdom only. It's found in eggs. It's found in meat. It's found in dairy. And that's why a lot of the world don't like that stuff. A lot of people are vegetarians and they don't eat any animal products and they've been lied to. They've been told, "You see, there's cholesterol in animal products and cholesterol's bad, especially LDLs. Bad." And we've been told this for 40 years or more. I never bought it, Joni. So don't get into the weeds. LDL, the study was, okay, and you know what? I don't want to spend time because I'd have to go through my notes because when did I say it, April 4th?
I'll tell you the most recent studies on LDL is this. The higher, the better. You live longer because it's a big part. LDL cholesterol is a big part of your immune system. It's a carrier of your hormones. They made it a bad guy, but I don't believe it's a bad guy at all, at all, at all. They say if it gets oxidized, it's bad. Nah. They're at the crime scene. And here's a fact. Why do people who have a heart attack, why do almost 60% of them, their cholesterol levels are completely normal. They can't answer that. When it comes to HDL cholesterol, you want that to be higher, Joni, than your triglycerides. So what they don't talk about are triglycerides, they should. And when you get your blood work done, your lipid profile, you look for two numbers. Look for your triglycerides and look for your HDL.
When it comes to your lipid profile, okay? Look for those two numbers. And you want your triglycerides to be low and you want your HDL to be at least equal to it, but even preferably higher. It's like a teeter totter. If your triglycerides, fat balls in your blood are low, your HDL usually will be up and that's exactly what you want. But most people, and I mean it, because they don't even look at it because they're so focused in on that total cholesterol. Your cholesterol's high. Good. Your LDL, because that's boogeyman. It's high. Don't tell anybody I said that. But you see, if your triglycerides are high, that's the dangerous fat. That's the one that tells you that you have severe insulin resistance. That's the one that tells you if you've got high triglycerides that your liver is full of fat. You got fatty liver because you don't want your triglycerides to be high.
You want your HDL cholesterol to be high because HDL cholesterol has a wagon attached at the back of its first wagon. The first wagon is bringing your hormones. You know why women are so low oftentimes in their thyroid and they don't feel good. It's because they don't eat any cholesterol. They believe the salad thing. They live on salad. Well, there are no cholesterol in salad. Okay? So they've been lied to. And you want your HDL because it has a back wagon on it. Look at the trucks on the road and you got two. One of them actually says, "Triglycerides come with me. I'm going to take you back to the liver so that you get processed out." You don't want low HDL. You don't even want low LDL. We've been lied to. Joni, I didn't mean to confuse you. Believe me. Okay? But sometimes I talk real fast and I get going and maybe I made a mistake. I don't remember. Okay? And the study, if I can find it, I'm sure I could. I'll post it. Okay? But thanks for the question.
Okay. Well, obviously, guys, we are not done, but we're going to do this on Monday. Tomorrow, I'm off traveling. On my way to Tennessee, to a conference, speaking at the University of Tennessee with Dr. MacKewn, and I'm looking forward to that. So I'm traveling tomorrow to Martin, Tennessee. Okay. Guys, we love you. Thanks for supporting this program. We appreciate you big time. Talk to you soon.
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