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 doctor 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. I think you're going to find this interesting this morning. There was a story that came out. It was a study actually on the [00:00:30] thymus gland. Now, how many people know what the thymus gland is? Well, I'll tell you what, it's important. And I don't talk about it that much because I talk about something else that goes along with the thymus gland. But I want to talk about that gland this morning. It sure don't get a lot of ink, but it's really important. And here was the study, let me just put the study out and then we'll go into a little bit of detail on what [00:01:00] you can do about this. And all things COVID, because every day there's COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID.
I think the media can't give up on it, because it's been a gift that keeps on giving for them. Anyway, sometimes you got to turn that media off. Just because it's always bad news. It drives me crazy. Anyway, this story is about COVID, but it has far [00:01:30] reaching implications way beyond COVID. And what they were saying in the study was, it was why seniors are so much more susceptible to COVID. And why those in the extended care for the old age homes, why there was so much death in there, some 50 or 60% of all the deaths that occurred with [00:02:00] COVID. And by the way, this happens every year or two with the flu. So, the flu kills a lot of seniors every year.
So just understand that whether COVID was any worse, it sure seemed like it. But I want to talk about immunity and why seniors? Why would their immunity go down? I want to talk about that this morning. But the emphasis is on a gland. [00:02:30] And as we age, the thymus gland doesn't work like it did, it goes down as we get older, it goes down. And the thymus gland is very important part of, your thymus gland is, it's right around, a lot of people mistake their thymus for their thyroid. And it's in that area. It's part of your lymphatics. And its primary responsibility, [00:03:00] the thymus, is to teach or mature your T cells. So I don't want to get into the weeds too much, but I want you to understand what I'm saying here.
Whenever you have a virus, whenever you have any kind of infection, bacterial viral, fungal infection, your body knows what to do. And your bone marrow produces T cells. And T cells are Navy SEALs, [00:03:30] but they need to be trained and matured by your thymus gland. And as we get older, your thymus gland doesn't work near like it used to, and I want to talk to you about that today, because I think it's important. Well, it's certainly important for COVID. It's one of the reasons that someone that has very little immunity, we're much more susceptible to dying of COVID. Most people with a [00:04:00] good immune system, we all know that, they swat it off like a fly. And I don't want to talk about individual. I know someone in Texas that got really sick with COVID. Yeah. But there's some people that get really sick with those flu, 25 year old, and almost die. They get influenza A or B. And they can be really sick. They get pneumonia and all that kind of thing. But it's rare. We all agree with that. All medicine agrees with that, that it's a rare occurrence.
But there is [00:04:30] a certain segment of the population. I don't even want to talk about preexisting conditions, because we've talked about that a thousand times already, the preexisting condition. I'm literally talking about one gland, your thymus gland. And I want to show you how to anti-age your thymus so that your immune system works at its highest level, because the thymus makes your T cells. So two types of cells help you [00:05:00] in infection and immunity. And that includes cancer. Someone said that cancer, all cancer is fungal. I don't know if that's exactly true, but even if it's partly true, it's important to keep your immune system in its tip-top shape.
So how do you do that? And a big part of your immune system is a gland that gets no ink at all. [00:05:30] I mean, you rarely, you might hear about lymphatics, that's the drainage system of your body, but you don't realize that T cells come out of your lymphatics, originally made in your bone marrow, but matured in your lymphatics and especially the thymus gland. So as we age, known fact, there's two types of T cells. There's [00:06:00] active T cells that when they see an infection, your body, which is fearfully and wonderfully made, will go right after those bacteria, viruses or fungus, T-cells.
And secondly, the problem is as the thymus gland goes down and its function doesn't work as properly, there's another type of T cell that doesn't work as much and actually produces inflammation. [00:06:30] Now we know, as we talk about inflammation, it's present in COVID, again, one of the biggest killers of COVID is what would happen in the lungs, all this inflammation. And it was overreacting, that was partly due to these wayward T cells overreacting instead of killing the virus actually was creating an inflammatory [00:07:00] response in the body and especially in the lungs. And this is what happens to seniors when they fight a flu bug or a bug that, for a lot of people wouldn't even bother them very much, other than maybe get a cold or the flu for a few days. It's never fun.
But for people that don't have much of an immune system, it can be deadly. And the thymus gland has a lot to do with that. It's part of your lymphatic system. It's [00:07:30] very important to keep that in very, very good shape. So I found it interesting when I was looking at this particular study of senior citizens and why in the homes, where this virus was devastating in some homes. And I think the mistake that we made right at the onset of, and I said this right from the beginning, [00:08:00] in my opinion, we shouldn't have closed, because we were trying to flatten the curve. I understand all of what they were trying to do, but they were trying to flatten the curve and not overwhelm the hospitals.
But what I was saying is, "Let us go out, we're going to be surrounded by this bug or other bugs forever. Not going away, it'll be something else." And when they tell us just for four or six weeks, "Put a mask [00:08:30] on." I don't believe that. It's just going to be, there's fear takes over. But not to get sidetracked, where this was deadly was in the extended care, in the homes. Because when the virus went through, any virus goes through, these people don't have an immune system. Like they should have.
Part of it is aging, but the biggest part is not [00:09:00] so much the aging, although that has a factor. There's no doubt about it. I mean, when you're 80 years old, you don't have the immune system that you have when you're 50 years old. Although I know some 80 year old people and 85 and 90 year old people that have a tremendous immune system. But they work on it. So we're going to talk about that this morning. What do you do to anti-age your immune system is very, very important to understand [00:09:30] it. And what I was saying at the beginning of COVID is lock those homes down and not the rest of the world. Now that was just me.
I believed if you are young, go to school. And I still believe that. And you can disagree with my opinion. And I respect you very much. If you feel that government and everything did the right thing. Well, I think that they, [00:10:00] I was saying right from the beginning, "Let's get the vulnerable, especially the seniors and let's protect them big time." But now today, and I don't even want to go into some of the politics where people were dying and you couldn't even see them. You couldn't say goodbye. I didn't think that was right, but anyway, I'm not the government. But I do want to emphasize that in spite [00:10:30] of our aging, and all of us are aging, you can do things to really help your thymus gland producing those T cells.
And by the way, the other type of cell. So there's T cells and there's NK, natural killer cells that your body makes. So the T cells is more specific to your lymphatics. And the natural killer cells are just cells that are [00:11:00] always present in your body. And they're on guard. They're always watching for viruses and bacteria. Those are called natural killer cells. And they're looking for cancer cells. And as you age, those are not as good as they used to be either. But I want to emphasize the T cell activity, the Navy SEAL activity, that when there is, the natural killer cells will call in the T cells for help when [00:11:30] you get a bug.
But what if you're not making mature T cells? What if they don't work properly? Or you're sending in the wrong ones with this huge inflammatory response? So, that's what I want to emphasize today. So here's another factor. So let me talk about the factors of your immune system. Then I'm going to tell you exactly what to do. What decreases your immune system? What decreases [00:12:00] your immune system? What decreases your thymus gland from working properly? Part of it is aging. So it's part of nature. But you can override that by taking care of yourself. Now you know what I'm going to say, first of all, your diet, your diet. And the most important part of your diet is getting rid of what really hammers your thymus gland. [00:12:30] And that is sugar. Sugar is highly toxic and it suppresses your immune cells.
There was an experiment done years ago. I used to show patients that a white blood cell, a natural killer cell chasing a parasite or bacteria. Viruses were too small, you really couldn't see them. You could get evidence that you had a virus, but you really couldn't see it. But a bacteria [00:13:00] under that microscope, you could see it. And I used to laugh because every once in a while, we get a real show and you could see that the white blood cell literally chasing the bacteria to eat it up and surround it and destroy it. It was always incredible to watch. I never got tired of watching that, how white blood cells used to line up and latch on to a bug. It was incredible how your [00:13:30] body works. But the experiment was done, I never did it, but an experiment was done. You take one teaspoon of sugar, one teaspoon, and those white blood cells, those natural killer cells would go to sleep.
They'd take siesta in the middle of a war. You could put them to sleep with sugar. So when people tell you, "Oh, doc," I hear this every day, by the way, "All [00:14:00] in moderation." You ever hear that? Just eat in moderation. No. Moderation was 100 years ago. We live in a different world today full of sugar. We got two poisons, sugar and vegetable oils. All the crappy carbohydrates that are in your grocery store made with canola oil and grape seed oil and [00:14:30] all of the safflower oil and all of those vegetable oils that you could run your car on, highly synthetic oil is actually good for your car. I have a motorcycle. You have to use a highly synthetic, 100% synthetic oil for that motorcycle. But not for your body. You don't want those bad oils for your body.
You want natural [00:15:00] oil. What's natural oil? Saturated fat that you eat in eggs, meat, and cheese and coconut oil. I don't mind coconut oil, olive oil. I don't mind that. Good for you. Bacon, better than olive oil. But do you understand what I'm saying? Your thymus gland isn't going to work properly when you're eating sugar. So you can't have it in moderation. You can't have it. And seniors, especially [00:15:30] people that live in extended care homes, what are they feeding them in there? No wonder their immune system doesn't work. So the negative thing is food. It's sugar, man, and crappy carbohydrates. And that's why I'm on the warpath every day about that. Beating the drum so people will get the memo.
And I know there's a lot of voices out there. You get [00:16:00] inundated. A lot of people, and again, this is something that I hear every day, every day, "Doc, it's so confusing." Yeah, I get it. But I tell people, "You have to trust someone." And when I speak to you, I try and get all the fluff out of the way, because there's a lot of people with agendas. They don't want you to eat meat. They want you to be a vegetarian or a vegan. They don't want you to have any red meat. And so [00:16:30] red meat, without any science, has been vilified. "Oh, Doctor Martin, what about the nitrates in bacon?" But what about the nitrates in vegetables? There's more nitrates in vegetables than there are in bacon. So why is bacon bad?
"Well, my doctor said my cholesterol." Your doctor, I love them, in all due respect couldn't pass a nutrition. If I gave [00:17:00] a nutrition course and I had a test at the end of it, or I had a test before they started it, they wouldn't pass, because they get to ask the question every day, "Doc, you can't eat a lot of red meat." Red meat doesn't, it's only good for your immune system. I'll explain that as we go this morning.
So your diet is number one, guys, your diet is number one. You can actually Google this. And I think you can actually watch it. Google a white blood cell chasing [00:17:30] a bacteria or a parasite and watch it. They'll show you what I've shown my patients 1000 times over the years. Watch it. Watch white blood cells come to, they come to the bug. It's unbelievable. So don't put them to sleep. Don't put your thymus gland to sleep by eating sugar. It's one of the most important things you can do. If you don't take everything I say, [00:18:00] I'm trying to get you to do the reset or whatever. But if you don't do anything else, just cut your sugar out of your diet as much as you can. Have very little of it. And nada, if you got any metabolic syndrome, just cut it out of your diet. You'll get used to it, it takes three weeks to form a habit. Did you know that? Why do you think I have the reset on four weeks? Because it takes three weeks to get rid of all your addictions.
"My name is Tony [00:18:30] and I'm a carboholic." It takes three weeks to get rid of that. I took enough psychology in university just to know that it takes three weeks to form a habit. I never forgot that. And you know what I say? It takes six weeks to really enforce that habit. That's why I tell people, "Listen, you can do it, man." But it's like the gyms are full in January and empty in February. Why is that? "Well, I didn't know it was going to, I didn't know exercise was going [00:19:00] to be hard." Well, everything you do in life is hard. If you're a carboholic, it's hard. It's hard changing. Of course it is. Anything you do in life. I used to tell that to my kids and I'll tell it to my grandchildren if they'd listen. You want to do something in life worthwhile? You're going to have to put your nose to the grindstone and do it.
You're going to have to be disciplined in your life. And food, it's around us, it's one [00:19:30] of the worst addictions, isn't it? Can I be honest with you? I think other than on TV, I've never seen cocaine. I'd never seen it. I known a lot of people that used it, but I've never seen it. I know I'm ancient, but I've never seen it. And a lot of people get hooked on cocaine. But if you're hooked on sugar, it does the same thing in your brain that cocaine does. It takes the same route. Again, I think you can Google this. They [00:20:00] were showing MRIs, cocaine users. It takes a route directly up to your feel-good center in your brain immediately. It builds a pathway, that's why it's like a forest. And the first time you take cocaine, it builds a path. It's like cutting down trees so it can build the path to get into your brain.
And then your brain says, "I liked that. Give it to me again." And it [00:20:30] goes up that same pathway, it doesn't take another route. It takes the same route. And you know what they've shown? Cocaine, sugar, same pathway. Your brain says, "Give me that fix again." This is why I do the metabolic reset, because I can get rid of that pathway. The forest grows again. And the pathway to your brain is gone. You can fix that. That should be a whole other discussion. But I'm just telling you how sugar [00:21:00] is so stinking toxic. It's like cocaine. And the point I was making too is that, well, cocaine, I've never even seen cocaine. Like I said, I've seen it on TV, but I've never seen it in life. But food is around us 24 hours a day it seems. So when you're addicted, you're a carboholic, you're a sugarholic.
And how many of us know, and even children, what do you think [00:21:30] the food industry did? You think they were stupid? They actually invented a sugar in a lab called high fructose corn syrup. And that's what they use more than anything else today, almost exclusively. And they knew, just like the tobacco industry knew, that it would hook you. They're not stupid. The food industry wants you. They want your first sale, but then they want repeat business. Very addictive. [00:22:00] So one of the most difficult addictions to conquer is when you're a carboholic or a sugarholic. It's one of the most difficult, because like I said, I'd never even seen cocaine.
I guess if I went down downtown Sudbury and hanged around long enough, I'd find somebody to sell it to me. But food it's around us 24 and seven. It's sitting in your cupboards and it's sitting in your [00:22:30] fridge. True or false? True. And it affects your immune system. It shrinks your thymus gland. So food is very important, isn't it? Even for your immunity. And as seniors, they are hooked on sugar and they're fed sugar. And they don't even realize that they might be drinking orange juice, or they put sugar in their coffee or sugar in their tea. And they drink a lot of sugar, seniors. [00:23:00] They like their, because sometimes they can't even chew on food properly, they're not eating a lot of red meat and they don't eat a lot of protein.
So their macro is carbohydrates. And that sinks your immune system like the Titanic. Very important to understand that. So isn't the thymus gland interesting? That it never gets any ink. And your immune system, as you get older, someone was [00:23:30] saying to me, I laughed about it. But when I was talking at first about COVID way back in March, I said, "Let's lock the seniors down." They said, "Dr. Martin, you're a senior, they're going to lock you down." Well, I wasn't talking me. And I didn't mean to keep them locked down. And I would have shown people if they would have ever asked me. They never asked me. But if I, well, I mean, you guys might ask the question, but I'm talking about the authorities. They never asked guys [00:24:00] like me, "What should we do other than lock them up and throw away the key?"
I would have said, "Well, let's go build their immune system up. Let's help them to change their diet. And talk about a few things." And listen, I've talked to you about this many times. And so let me just finish with this. I mean, obviously the negative thing is get off the sugars and get off the crappy carbohydrates. And if you're a senior, well, this is for [00:24:30] everybody, but especially if you have loved ones in any kind of extended care, or living at home or living on their own, and it's not easy. Because they don't know half of this stuff, but they need vitamin D, your thymus gland does not work properly without vitamin D. The sun.
And they don't get sun. And that generation, especially, they're scared skinny of the sun. If [00:25:00] you could get them butt naked and get them out sunbathing, the best thing that could ever what happened to them. I'm just teasing. But no, I mean it, not butt naked, but get them outside, get them some vitamin D. There's no important vitamin more than, you can talk about vitamin C all you want, vitamin C is coffee. So get them drinking coffee, but with no sugar, because sugar negates the benefits of coffee. Don't put sugar in your [00:25:30] coffee.
I get easily sidetracked. I'm not going to spend a lot of time, because we're out of time this morning. But the other thing that they really miss, and this was proven in COVID too, seniors don't get any zinc and you're supposed to eat your zinc. Steak, vitamin S gives you zinc, and zinc ain't in chicken, ladies. It's in steak. It's in red meat, vitamin A, I talked about [00:26:00] the invisible mask, vitamin A. Better than the [inaudible 00:26:04]. Don't get me going on the [inaudible 00:26:06]. Look, if you have to wear a mask, wear a mask. In Sudbury now we have to wear a mask going in. Do I wear it? Yep. I want to go to the store. If I want to go into a restaurant, I got to wear it. Thank God they don't make it.
I don't know how you're going to do it if they say, "Well, you can eat, but you got to eat with your mask on." I wear my invisible mask every day with vitamin A, how do you get vitamin A? Eggs, meat and cheese. [00:26:30] I eat my vitamin A every day, vitamin D, probiotics. We could talk about the microbiome and how that influences your immune system. Anyway.
This week we've got some tremendous, I want to talk to you about a study that was done on your metabolism. I think you will find that fascinating. I'll probably do that tomorrow. We're going to talk about the hidden causes this week, at least I'm planning on [00:27:00] it, of inflammation. We already talked about one of them, and that is as you age, you're producing another type of T cell that actually overreacts. But we'll talk about inflammation, because there was a new study out. So we've got some interesting topics this week. So please join us every morning if you can, at 8:30. If not, you can watch it certainly later on the Martin clinic private Facebook group. If you're not [00:27:30] part of that group, please join an invite your friends to join that group. What a tremendous group, some of the testimonies, and some of the stories are tremendous. It's really good. It's very encouraging.
And we try and answer all the questions as much as we can. Get in there and we answer questions. So take advantage of that, folks. And then if you get a chance, share this on Facebook with your friends and family. It's important story, especially with the seniors. So, love you, guys [00:28:00] and God bless you. Talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast with your hosts, Dr. Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode. And thanks for listening.