Transcript Of Today's Episode
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Dr. Martin: Good morning, everyone. So you know what we're going to talk about today? We're going to talk about your brain today. Never too early to start protecting that [00:00:30] brain. I have written a chapter in my new book called Don't Outlive Your Brain. You know, because I get people telling me, "Well, I want to live till I'm a hundred." Well not without your brain, you don't. And I think in an email that we sent out maybe last week or the week before we talked about, is it 50 or 60% of the people that live past 85 have Alzheimer's? So do you want to live past 85 if you have [00:01:00] Alzheimer's? You want to live into your 80s and your body's working but your brain's not working? I don't think so. I think it's sad when you see people with dementia, Alzheimer's, it's hard on them, it's hard on the family and we've seen it. So I'm into protecting the brain and regenerating the brain.
I want to go over that today. And how your brain operates first of all. And it's really not that [00:01:30] complicated to regenerate it. And we're going to go over all of that today. The study came out that it's called neurogenesis. Neurogenesis; what's that? Genesis, right? Start, restart, and neuro, your neurons, your brain cells regenerate; neurogenesis. When you go to sleep at night, your brain regenerates, neurogenesis. What happens [00:02:00] at night? The night shift comes into work, they're called glial cells. So it's important to sleep. But let me go over everything. Why in this day and age do we see so much Alzheimer's, so much dementia and starting at a very young age? It's incredible. People in their 50s, in their 60s with early onset dementia and Alzheimer's. It's an epidemic.
I've mentioned [00:02:30] this before, that in the United Kingdom, it's the number one killer in the United Kingdom. It's surpassed heart disease. It's surpassed cancer. In North America, it's the number three killer, behind heart disease and cancer, closely followed by Alzheimer's and then diabetes. But diabetes is at the root of all of it; insulin. So let's just go over some basics of the brain, [00:03:00] how we can protect our brain. And a lot of people, and they don't realize this, Alzheimer's is like a fuse. It's lit and it burns slowly until you get the actual condition. But a lot of times the brain is already started that downward trend towards Alzheimer's. And that's what we'll talk about today. So neurogenesis, [00:03:30] regenerating the brain, you can start at any time and start.
Now, if you already have Alzheimer's that's the problem. You have dementia or someone in your family has that, it's always, always much more difficult once the brain is actually hit that level. Now I've seen it, where patients have gotten better and a fair amount better, but it's so much better to prevent because [00:04:00] once the explosion takes place, once there's actual vascular damage in the brain, little tiny blood vessels, and we'll go over some of the physiology and how that happens. So let's talk how your brain is made up. I know you guys know me. Someone calls you fat head, take it as a compliment. Okay? One of the biggest factors in Alzheimer's is that we eat [00:04:30] fat-free. Society, even today, listen to these statistics of food since the 1980s.
Listen to this. Saturated fat is down 50%, red meat consumption is down 54% since the 1980s, whole milk, now you guys know what I call milk, white Pepsi. But whole milk, what comes out of the cow, which is half cream is down [00:05:00] 90%. The consumption of whole milk. Now they're still drinking milk, but that's grocery store milk today, and I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Butter, since the 1980s, listen to this, down 85% the consumption of butter. Isn't that crazy? The consumption of vegetables has gone up 300% since the 1980s. Am I against vegetables? No. I'm just telling you what this fat-free [00:05:30] craze did to society, how they hook, line and sinker went fat-free. Your brain is made up of fat, especially the DHA. 30% of your brain is DHA, but we don't ea it. "Oh, doctor, that's fat, makes me fat." No, it doesn't. You need saturated fat. Your brain needs to undergo [00:06:00] neurogenesis, regeneration. You need fat to be a big part of your diet. Your brain will regenerate with it. So these are just things.
I was reading something on the weekend that the American Medical Association says, "Well, make meat and dairy optional." It's optional. You see how the world has been duped by, I believe it's like a religion. [00:06:30] It's a philosophy of, "We can't eat animal fat. It's not good for us." And they just push it and push it and push it, and here we are today, saturated fat down 50%, red meat down 54%, whole milk, 90% decrease, and butter, 85% in the last 40 years. The poor farmers, I feel sorry for them. But I feel sorry for our brains. [00:07:00] You need fat in your diet. You can't substitute that. You need fat in your diet. So, a lack of fat is one of the big reasons that we have so much Alzheimer's today.
And the best fat is saturated fat. You know what it is? You look at saturated fat, you look at it and you think, "Oh, that's clogging up my blood vessels." The farthest thing from the truth. Your [00:07:30] brain is made up of cholesterol, so don't get your cholesterol down. Don't get your cholesterol down. Everybody, "Doc, my cholesterol." No, no. They're looking for love in all the wrong places. You don't want to get your cholesterol down. Get your belly fat down. Fat doesn't make you fat. Sugar makes you fat. And you need extra fat in your diet. Why do you think I love Dr. Martin's Perfect Smoothie? [00:08:00] You can put a few berries in it. You know what? Blueberries are actually good for your brain. You see, I don't know this because we're so smart in Northern Ontario but we got lots of wild blueberries. Put a few blueberries. Blueberries are good. They're anthocyanins. It's why I love pine bark for the brain. Cross of the blood brain barrier.
So one of the things you need to do to regenerate the brain is fat. The second one is sleep. You need sleep [00:08:30] because sleep is the night shift. They come in and they clean up the brain of toxins and help to neurogenesis. Okay? And how many people have trouble with sleep? 70% of the population don't sleep properly. One of the problems with that is the amount of, and this is the third one, the sun for your brain. The sun. What happens when you [00:09:00] sit in the sun? You affect the pineal gland in your brain, the pineal gland in your brain, which releases? You guys should know this. Melatonin. I don't have to take melatonin as a supplement because I sit in the sun, especially in the morning, get your sun. And by the way, let the sun come in on your eyeballs. Don't put sun glasses [00:09:30] on right away. Okay? Now, don't burn in the sun. I'm not telling you to burn in the sun, but you need the sun, vitamin D.
Vitamin D is essential for your brain. Vitamin D lowers inflammation in your body. There's nothing negative about vitamin D. The more they study it, from COVID to cancer, COVID to cancer, you name it, and in between, you need vitamin D. [00:10:00] So you see, for your brain, these are things that are missing in our society today. The vast majority, about 80%, listen to this, 80% of the population is low in vitamin D. 80%, they're scared skinny of the sun. They bought the lie, "Oh, dark skin cancer." Yeah, I know, but for everybody person that gets skin cancer, 250 people will die [00:10:30] from a lack of vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential, from the immune system, to your brain. And you know me, I've been consistent telling you the sun is not the boogeyman. You need that for neurogenesis. Your brain needs to be regenerated. It needs fat. It needs fat. It needs sleep. It needs the sun. And if you can't get in the sun, take vitamin D.
Remember, vitamin D is a [00:11:00] hormone. It's a hormone vitamin. The odd time you get somebody taking too much vitamin D, yes, it's possible. It's a fat soluble vitamin, but it's a hormone. Your body can't live without it. It's too bad that we don't have a little flashing light, "You don't have enough vitamin D. You don't have enough vitamin D. You don't have enough fat. You don't have enough fat." Wouldn't that be beautiful? "You don't have enough sleep," because your [00:11:30] brain, wouldn't it be nice if we just had a little indicator that said, "Fill up with fat." Because 90% of the population would need to fill up with fat. They need to regenerate their brain. They need to regenerate their brain. Sleep, sun, fat, fourthly, vitamin E, exercise. Every time you move, you're helping your brain regenerate. Neurogenesis, [00:12:00] your brain regenerates with exercise, especially when you do your legs. Do your legs, make your legs strong. The stronger your legs, the better your brain works. Did you know that? Vitamin E.
Now, I'm not that big on jogging. Although you can jog, but make sure you do weights. We always talk about resistant exercises, and the best exercise, they've proven this for everything. The best exercise is [00:12:30] 15 to 20 minutes intensity. Guys, look, if you do 15, 20 minutes, three times a week, it doesn't matter what age you are, it helps your brain regenerate. Exercise, vitamin E is so important for the brain. It helps the vascular system, the blood supply. One of the things of course is fat, and the other one is sleep, and the other one is [00:13:00] your exercise, the sun, all common sense things for your brain. On a negative point, get off the sugars. Insulin. Let me tell you how sugar destroys your brain. Now, what is well established, put your hand up, you know this. What is well established, that sugar is poison. Sugar is poison. It's poison. It's the new smoking. There's nothing [00:13:30] that will destroy your blood vessels like sugar.
If you don't believe that if I could empty out your... Even after you've had a big meal, give your body about an hour, empty out your blood, and you will find less than a half a teaspoon of sugar in your bloodstream in five liters. Everything in your body works to get sugar out, out, out, out, out, out. Here's the problem with the brain. When you have insulin resistance, okay? If you have insulin resistance, [00:14:00] now, remember what insulin's job is. Insulin's job is the traffic cop. It must take you sugar out. "Hey, sugar, you cannot park there. Come out. I'm going to put you in your muscles, I'm going to put you in a liver, or I'm going to put you, sugar, in fat cells. And I'll make as many as I need to make and I'll surround your liver with fat."
But if you have insulin resistance, here's a study, [00:14:30] and I brought this to you in the past but I'm going to teach it to you again. When you have insulin resistance, if your cells don't like insulin because you've used it too much. How do you know if you have insulin resistance? Look at your belly. Don't fool yourself. Look at your belly. You might be skinny as a rake. You got a belly, you got a belly. You got to sugar belly. It's not a beer belly. It's a sugar... We used to call those beer bellies. You see them in kids, [00:15:00] you see them in women. You never used to see that in women. A sugar belly. That's one of the things in insulin resistance, you have a belly, you have high blood pressure. That's insulin. It's insulin. You've got acid reflex, that's insulin. Your body is screaming, "Hello? Hello? Hey, you there, quit eating crappy carbs."
So in the brain, if you have, let's say you have a chocolate bar [00:15:30] or a piece of cake or whatever. And am I telling you never, never, never? Don't eat lots of it. It's your birthday. Okay, I get it. But here's what happens. Your brain is headquarters. It'll go, "Come here, fuel." Whatever you give it, it'll go, "I want 20% of that." It's like the bank. They want the first, right? Pay your mortgage before anything else. You see, your brain is headquarters. It wants fuel. So if you give it crappy [00:16:00] fuels, it can go here, "Here, come here, sugar." 20% of that will go straight to the brain. But that's not the issue. The issue is insulin. Insulin goes to the sugar inside your brain, "Hey, come here. I'm moving you. You can't stay there. You can't park there. It's a no parking zone."
Problem is if you have insulin resistance. Again, here's some of the signs. You've got a belly, [00:16:30] and you'll never out exercise a sugar belly. You got an insulin belly. It really is an insulin belly. You have insulin can no longer, once you have insulin resistance, the traffic cop can't get across the blood brain barrier. So sugar, instead of saying, "Come here," sugar stays inside the brain and it saturates brain cells, especially in the area of... For [00:17:00] the sake of knowing your brain, there's two areas in your brain. There's more than that, but there's two I want you to focus on. One is called your hippocampus. Campus, memory center. And the other one is hypothalamus. Hormones, your thyroid, your adrenals, even your insulin. Hypothalamus, hippocampus, the memory center in your brain. Sugar saturates the memory center of the brain, [00:17:30] the hippocampus. What happens? It kills brain cells, memory cells when you have insulin resistance.
This is why listen Alzheimer's has been called, what? What is the other name for Alzheimer's? Again, this is a teaching moment. What is the other name that has been given to Alzheimer's? Type 3 diabetes. Well over [00:18:00] 50% of the people that get Alzheimer's have what they call type 3 diabetes. And I just showed you how that happens. It's food. People that eat the most sugar, eat the least amount of saturated fat, they eat PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids found in crappy carbs. We can spend so much time, more time on the brain. Okay? So let's do a recap. [00:18:30] Eat fat, eat saturated fat, eat cholesterol. Cholesterol is only found in animal fats. So when you see a piece of steak, vitamin S, that saturated fat. Don't get the lean mean meat. Why are you getting lean? "Oh, doctor, I only eat lean." Why? You want to know you want to have neurogenesis in your brain, you need to eat that fat. Saturated fat, especially the DHA.
By [00:19:00] the way, there's more DHA in stake than there is in fish, if you get the right cut. Eat your meat, neurogenesis, fat, sun, vitamin D, sleep, vitamin S. On my Martin Clinic alphabet, vitamin S is sleep. You need it. Get your 10 minute power nap during the day. For those that don't sleep well, get your power nap during the day. The day shift will come in and [00:19:30] help regenerate the brain. They've shown that, even in a 15 minute power nap. I learned from my dad, my dad used to get... He'd come home from the office at lunchtime and I watched my dad fall asleep in about five seconds. He'd have lunch and then just go sit in the chair and sleep for about 10 minutes. And he got up all the time real quick, but he always fell asleep. We ought to do that. Have a little siesta. You need the sun. You [00:20:00] need sleep for a good brain. You need fat. You got to cut out your sugars.
What sugar does to the brain is incredible. And we're up to 200 pounds a year of sugar, compared to the 1970s when the Canadians were consuming about 50 pounds. And it was 25 pounds in the 1950. Yep, because it's in everything. And quit eating those PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids. "Oh, Dr. Martin, the vegetable oils." They're not vegetables. [00:20:30] They're called vegetable oils but it's the last thing. You can run your car on those type of oils. It's completely made in the lab. I know canola oil. There's fields of canola oil. Don't eat that garbage. That's not nature. It's not nature. So we talked about exercise, vitamin E. You need that. What's the best? All exercise is good. You go for a walk, tremendous. Try, ladies I talk to you, but men too, [00:21:00] try and do resistant exercises. Get some bands, get some of those stretching bands and be faithful to it. 15, 20 minutes, three to four times a week, it's proven to be the best to regenerate your body and your brain. Nevermind what it does for osteoporosis. Really important to regenerate the brain.
Maybe tomorrow we'll talk about one of the things [00:21:30] that happens in the brain, glycation. So free radical damage, how that affects the brain. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow, because there's a fair amount on that too. So do you have any questions? Send them in. If you can wait, we'll answer them on Friday. We'll do a question and answer. Boy, we had a lot of questions last Friday. I barely got through them all, but we sure appreciate it. If you can, share [00:22:00] this with your friends and family if they're not part of our exclusive private Facebook group, the Martin Clinic private Facebook group, become part of that, because you can ask any question you want on there. And our staff is happy to answer. And when I see it, I'll answer it myself. So again, thanks for watching this morning. We love you. God bless [00:22:30] you.
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.