Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- COVID-19 vaccines
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone tests
- Soy lecithin
- Lowering high levels of creatinine
- Diabetics and kidney damage
- Liquid essential minerals
- Thalassemia minor
- Enhanced collagen protein powder
- The meatless food craze
- Black seed or flaxseed?
Tune in to hear Dr. Martin’s responses!
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 Question & Answer Friday. People have been asking me a lot about COVID and Diane is asking me and many, many others about the vaccine. I just want to tell you right ahead of time, I'm not going to comment on the vaccine. I look at COVID probably differently than most doctors, but I respect all points of view and you guys got to make that decision. I'm not making that for you and as far as the vaccine, so I don't comment on it. You can ask me a thousand times, a thousand times, I'm not going to ever tell someone to take it or not take it. I won't do that. I never did that, by the way, even with the flu shot, I never told people not to take the flu shot. I didn't do it and the reason I don't is because I can't determine for you, a person, an individual. I don't know how you eat. I don't know what you do. I don't know that, so you got to make that individual decision based on the knowledge that you have and you take all of that into account and so do I, by the way.
But at the end of the day, and Diane, thanks for asking the question, because it's a good question, but I think we’ve missed... I've said this so often, I think we really missed the point here on COVID. I really do, because no one's talking about, or generally, no one is talking about the immune system. Listen, guys, we had SARS. We had MERS. We had, you name it and we're going to have more, whether it's COVID 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, I don't know what they'll call it, but every year, obviously, you're going to have the flu. The flu took off this year, took a holiday, but we had lots of COVID. But at the end of the day, as an individual, I always tell people, "Look, you know what? You can't control other people." You find that out, right? Some of you live with a spouse and you can't control them. You can't make them do certain things. You would like to. You know me, I preach. I like to tell people, "Here's what I think you should do." But at the end of the day, if they don't make that decision, I can't make it for them.
The elephant in the room in this whole COVID thing has been metabolic health. So if you're eating well, you're exercising, you're drinking water, and you know how big I am on vitamin W. I'm big on sun, steak and steel. Yesterday's podcast was all about the sun and what it does, because this is new. It came out only in the last week about what the rays of the sun do to the surface of your skin. If you haven't got that, it was yesterday's podcast. It'll be out in a few days. If you didn't watch it live, I talked about when the rays of the sun hit your skin, surface of your skin, your body releases nitric oxide. So vitamin D, the sun, is not only good for your T cells and your immune system, and I've been preaching this for so long. It's one of the reasons that last year, at the start of this thing when they were closing the beaches down, I was vehemently opposed to that. I said that was stupid because the rays of the sun not only kill the virus, but they release nitric oxide when it hits your skin and nitric oxide relaxes your blood vessels. So the side effects of the virus, we talked about this, a cytokine storm, where it got into your lungs and the body overreacted and that's where all the damage came. Again, if you do nothing else, please, sun, steak and steel. How do you like that? If you do nothing else, sun, steak, because you're going to get your zinc in vitamin S. You're going to get your heme iron. You're going to get your B12, all important things for your body and your immune system. Vitamin A the invisible mask. You need a mask, but why not wear the invisible one much more effective than the other one? Much more effective.
Vitamin A shields your eyes, your nose. This is where the virus likes to come in. Not on surfaces. They spray with all these disinfectants and oh, oh, oh, oh, bothers me because it's not good science, guys. You wash everything down. That's not where you get the virus. The virus is air transmitted; droplets. You need the invisible mask of vitamin A, vitamin D, found in vitamin S, sun steak and steel. Good question, Diane. I got no problem you asking it, but like I said, I not going to make an individual decision for you. You've got to make that for yourself. So I know in a lot of ways this morning, I am preaching to the choir. You folks get it. You folks see the news behind the news and you are interested in your health, obviously. You wouldn't listen to my rants every day and you guys take care of yourselves and that's the key. Then as much as you can influence other people, your family and your friends, as much as you can do it, it's a big, big, big factor. So thanks for the question.
Here's another question from Susie. She's asking about her thyroid and she says, "My doctor says that my thyroid is normal, but I don't feel normal." She goes on with a pile of symptoms, fatigue, hair loss, weight gain. She says that her doctor says that her thyroid is normal. Again, I bring this up because it's really important. Even yesterday, somebody sent me their blood work and I said, "Well, look. I don't mind looking at your blood work. I really don't. If you want to send me your blood work, I will give you my opinion on it," but I'm not looking at like the thyroid TSH. I think there has been, I hate to use the word malpractice, but the TSH, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone test is really almost like malpractice. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of women a year in North America are misdiagnosed because their physician has relied on the TSH test. "Ah, it's normal." You know what I always used to say or my dad used to say it, "Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's a duck." I'm more than interested in your symptoms.
In my days of practice, when you come into my office, you ask my staff, they'll confirm this, part of your office visit was filling out a questionnaire, a very specific questionnaire, on what information that I wanted to know. If you didn't fill it out, you didn't see me. I found that to be as important as any blood work, saliva, urine test that I was going to do. I wanted to get your questionnaire filled out. I wanted your history. There's certain questions because with the thyroid, if you're exhausted, gaining weight and you don't feel good, losing hair, your nails and you're brittle. There's a lot of symptoms, but look, that's important. I don't rely on the lab for that. I'm not saying that you dismiss lab results. I'm just saying that it's like B12, for example. I've talked to you about this many, many, a time. The B12 test is a 100 years old. Give it a birthday party and put it to bed because what they consider normal ranges... even vitamin D. These things have been miscalculated. The thyroid TSH has been miscalculated and then they stick with it. It's 50 years old. Time to update.
But again, especially women, some men, of course, suffer with hypothyroid condition. Look, I'm a guy that always looked at the holistic picture. When you want to know what the word 'functional medicine' means, because there's functional medicine doctor, they look at everything. They want your background. They want your symptoms. They want a story. Every patient has a story. Symptoms matter and blood work, sometimes, it's excellent. I got no problem with it, but I want both. I want blood work and I want history. I want symptoms because you know what the word 'doctor' means? Do you know what it means? Teacher. Doctors have gotten away, not all, but generally, gotten away from teaching. "Here's a prescription. Don't ask too many questions." That's not really doctor; doctor means teacher. Teach, make them understand. You don't have to have a medical degree to understand. You're not going to understand everything, but look, you guys, and I say this, and I mean it. Without any reservation, I'm making this statement.
You folks, generally, know more about nutrition than 95 to 99% of all physicians that I know, and God bless them. You guys know more. I see your comments in the Martin Clinic private Facebook group. You guys know more, and somebody comes in and, "Oh, Doc. My doctor said my cholesterol... " and you guys answer the question. I don't have to answer it. You do. But you see, this is one of the reasons that I literally got out of practice. I mean this, okay? I was seeing individuals. I loved it. I did it for 46 years and now, I wanted to teach on a more universal scale. I really felt it was important that I do that, that I allowed my expertise... I wanted to just to get out to the masses, and this is why we have this program. The Doctor Is In program. I was doing it even in private practice, to some extent, because I had a radio show for 20 years, a syndicated radio show, The Doctor Is In. Many of you in the Windsor area or whatever, I was on The Lynn Martin Show for probably 20 years as a special guest once a month. I had the whole hour to talk about nutrition and answer questions. Well, I've been around a long time, but I've always wanted to teach it. Now, this is what I'm doing. But that's it, doctor means teacher. Teach. Teach. Okay, good question.
Lynn. Is soy lecithin an endocrine disruptor? Look, lecithin is a fat. You can get it from soy. You can get it from sunflower. You can get it from eggs. So lecithin than in itself is good. Soy lecithin, look, I'm not big on soy. I got to tell you. We live in a day and age of endocrine disruptors where estrogen, everything, every plastic, soy elevates your estrogen. Now, I like soy isoflavone because that's an extract of soy. That'll actually lower your estrogen. But soy, I don't like soy milk. I don't like soy anything, really, other than the extract. Soy lecithin? I'd eat eggs instead. You want to get lecithin? You want to get a healthy fat? Eat an egg, then you're going to get better, okay? Lynn, thank you.
Muriel. "What supplement should I take to lower creatinine?" So creatinine, you don't want to have high levels of creatinine because that tells you that your kidneys are under enormous stress. So at the end of the day, first of all, it's food, because there's nothing that will affect your kidneys. It ain't the salt, it's sugar. It's crappy carbohydrates. Damaged kidneys is something that we see today much more than ever before. It was interesting because you want to see all these dialysis clinics that are popping up all over the place, dialysis, dialysis. Well, the biggest thing of dialysis, of course, is it's the side effect. Kidney damage is the number one side effect. I know I said, number one, close to it, of diabetes. Diabetics have serious trouble with their kidneys. So at the end of the day, you want to lower your creatinine, you got to cut out your sugars and cut out your crappy carbohydrates. Cut them out. Your creatinine will come down. Drink water. Your kidneys are Niagara Falls. Water, water, water. Go to Niagara Falls at two in the morning or two in the afternoon, it never stops flowing. Drink water. Flush your toxins out of your kidneys. Flush your toxins out of your kidneys.
Somebody was asking a good question yesterday about, I can't remember her first name, otherwise, I would mention it, but asking about a parasite cleanse. She was saying, "Isn't it true, Dr. Martin, that you just don't want to take a parasite cleanse if the dead parasites, because the parasites will kill it and your liver will become overwhelmed and your kidneys to flush those things out?" True, to some extent. But if you're drinking water, water flushes. Water is a great detoxer. Just flush them out. You're going to get rid of your stuff, your garbage. Your lungs gets rid of it. Your liver gets rid of it. Your kidneys get rid of it. Your skin gets rid of it. They need water to get rid of toxins. So vitamin W and keep your liver and kidneys clean by eating low carb. Remember, liver gets all gummed up. Fatty liver is caused by sugar. High fructose corn syrup, same thing with the kidneys. It damages the little circulation, capillaries, the blood vessels. The first thing that happens when you consume sugars and your body, just after a period of time, just can't flush them out the way they should and you're creating all sorts of problems.
Christina's asking about thalassemia minor. This is a genetic thing, by the way, usually in Asians or African-Americans. They can have trouble with red blood cells and the production of them. So, they look like Casper the Ghost, they're pale, and sometimes no energy. They're not making as much oxygen because remember, red blood cells carry your oxygen because of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is Velcro inside your red blood cells that every time you breathe, your red blood cells go by your lungs and pick O2. Oxygen sticks to your hemoglobin. It's Velcro, man. Okay? So what do you do? Eat steak, vitamin S. I probably would have you on my Blood Boost too, if you're asking, but you got to eat steak, man. Steak, steak, steak, so you get your heme, heme, heme iron, H-E-M-E. I always tell my vegetarian and vegan friends. I love you dearly, but you're wrong, okay? I love you dearly, but you're wrong because God didn't want you to be a vegetarian or a vegan if he put B12 only in red meat. Come on. What kind of sense is that, right? Heme iron isn't found in the plant kingdom, nor is cholesterol. You need cholesterol. Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. So don't eat fat free.
Charmaine, "What's the difference between bone broth powder and enhanced collagen protein powder?" It's very, very similar, because bone broth is collagen, mainly, collagen and collagen is a protein that I like the best because most people tolerate it very well. They're very similar. You can get collagen even in the liquid and whatever, and that's alright. I got no problem with that, if you like to take collagen. Bone broth is fantastic because it has everything, L-glutamine and other amino acids, so that's why it's my favorite protein, okay?
Kathy, "Why don't we have to spread our supplements throughout the day, especially when we take so many?" Well, listen, that's up to you. Okay, Kathy? For me, look... you see this face? I'm a senior citizen. I always hide behind that. I use that as an excuse, okay? But no, seriously, if I have to take supplements through the day, a lot of people are very good at that, every meal or whatever, they divide them up and whatever. But I'm a morning guy and look, it doesn't mean sometimes I'll be taking magnesium before going to bed and cortisol or whatever if I'm stressed out, okay? That's all right and I remember to do that. But it's happened to me many, many a time that I have said, "Look, I'm going to divide up my supplements," and so guess where they are in the next day? They're in my pants pocket. I forgot. I like to have my coffee in the morning and take my supplements, okay? That's for me and I take a lot of DHA and this and that. So... but I'm a morning guy when it comes to supplements, Kathy, but it's up to you, okay? Is there any real advantage spreading them out? Eh, not really. No. Just take them. Just take them. They work.
Michelle, "What about pink salt versus a liquid essential mineral?" Well, pink salt is cheap, really, and put it on your food. I like it better than having to take a supplement with liquid essential minerals. I've got every mineral that you can think of in my Blood Boost, besides everything else. I put into the liquid form for people that are not eating well, not absorbing well, they're anemic or they're taking cancer treatments and they're not able to eat. You have no idea how popular that product is and I would put it up against any other mineral product that you ever seen. Believe me. I put everything in there plus the kitchen sink. I mean it, but our manufacturers, "Doc, can't you cut back a few things?" "No, put in everything I tell you to put in there, okay?" But I treat pink salt or Himalayan salt or a good sea salt or whatever, kosher salt, these are all good salts. Salt's not the problem; sugar is the problem. We don't get enough salt. You cry salt. Your saliva is salt. Your tears are salt. Just analyze blood and there's lots of salt in blood. If someone calls you salty, take it as a compliment. You got lots of essential minerals, okay? Good question, though. I like it. Now, let me just see here. That was Michelle.
Fatima, "Is taking one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil every morning good for you?" Yeah. I like it. I like olive oil. Can I tell you what's every bit as good and even better, in my opinion, eat bacon. Take olive oil, and everybody agrees, olive oil is good. "Oh, the Mediterranean diet, the olive oil, olive oil..." Yep, it's good. I love olive oil. Good for you. Take bacon, take a slice of bacon, I had bacon this morning, okay? The fat in all of oil is called oleic acid. The fat in bacon is called oleic acid. You like olive oil. I like bacon. Same fat, oleic acid.
Bacon's got a bad rap because they look at the fat and they go, "Look at that fat on bacon? Isn't that awful? It's terrible. Stop, and nitrites and bacon and this and that and this and that." Nah, not true. Bacon is good for you. If you think olive oil is good for you, then you must agree that bacon is good for you. Yep. They're both very healthy fats and plus, with bacon, you're going to get high levels of protein that olive oil won't give you, okay? So Fatima, I'm not telling you not to take a tablespoon or a teaspoon. What are you taking, a tablespoon? I'm not going to tell you not to do it. I took more than a tablespoon of bacon oil this morning. But isn't it funny... I touched on this yesterday, how the world lies and it sticks, then it becomes the truth, right? So for 50 years now, "What are you eating bacon and eggs for because they're going to give you cholesterol and bad fat and the nitrates in bacon?"
Of course, there's nitrates in vegetables, but nobody talks about those nitrates, "And don't eat the bacon and eggs because they're bad and they got full of cholesterol and that cholesterol is bad for you and it's a bad fat and eat our cereal." So they started with the lie, it was never true, "Eat margarine and don't eat butter." True or false? Did they not say that? The poor farmer, the poor farmer vilified, and I'm just going to make a prediction, guys. I'm not a prophet nor the son of one, but I'm going to make a prediction. You watch in the next couple of years, one of the things that are coming is this meatless craze. It's coming to a theater near you. They're going to jack up the price of meat. They're going to jack up the price of eggs and they're going to have this meatless craze brought to you by... Well, one of them is Bill Gates. They want to get rid of animals for the climate.
My degree is in nutrition. You're going to get rid of that? You want to have soy byproducts in a meatless... That is the worst thing you can eat. I wouldn't feed that to your dog. Nevermind you eating it. Don't touch it with a million foot pole, but you watch... You think it's bad now where they vilify meat? Just wait. I'm telling you, just wait. It's coming big time down the pipes. I'm just a little John the Baptist screaming in the wilderness here with my little crew, you guys. I'm going to tell you the truth, guys. I'm not going to let up. I'm just going to scream. They might shut me up though. I don't know what they're going to do, but I'm going to tell you the truth. It ain't good for you, this meatless nonsense. Anyways, Fatima also asked about royal jelly. Royal jelly, I like it. I like royal jelly extract. I like bee pollen, but I like steak better, but I got no problem with it. Can it help with fatigue? No, not so much. I've never noticed that to be a big thing, much better to take Navitol for fatigue.
Bobby, "What does Dr. Martin think about homemade eggshell calcium?" Yeah. Well, you know what? I got no problem with that. I don't think the problem in the world is calcium. Look, if you can't eat eggs, maybe you can have the eggshell powder to get your calcium. But you get a lot of calcium in eggs, meat and cheese. I'm big on eating calcium, not taking it as a supplement. Supplements of calcium usually end up in your bloodstream and not in your bones where you're aiming. You want to get your calcium to get into your bones. You need vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is found in butter and cheese. That's why people who say, "Dr. Martin, cheese. That's dairy. Oh, dairy. I hear it's not good for you. I hear dairy is acidic." No, it's not because you go to a lot of doctors, a lot of my guru friends, I call them. "Oh, dairy. Dairy's no good. You got to eliminate dairy." Nah. No. Listen. You guys know what I think about grocery store milk. If you got to have something, have cream, not milk, because milk used to be cream.
The grocery store milk, don't touch. White Pepsi, you know that. I call it that. But you get your calcium, guys, from your food, but you need vitamin K2. You see? That's why God gave you cheese. That's why God gave you butter. Eat it. You're going to get your calcium and K2 in the same thing. K2 in nature is going to take the calcium you eat from your cheese and butter and that's where K2 is found. It's going to take the calcium and put it in your bones and out of your bloodstream where it belongs. You don't want calcium in your bloodstream. That's going to harden your arteries.
Kat, What about black seed? Yeah. I like it. You know me. I like flaxseed better than black seed, okay? On its own, you can Google it. It'll tell you it does a hundred things. I've never found that to be all that great. I'm a big guy, you guys know this, on flaxseed. I'm a flax seed guy. Why?
You guys should know the answer to this if you've been listening to me long enough, "Why does Dr. Martin like flaxseed, unlike any other seed?" I'm not against seeds, first of all. Don't misquote me. I'm just telling you. Flaxseeds have, let me just see if there's some answers coming... lignans. It’s 100 times more lignans in flaxseed than anywhere else. That's why I like flaxseeds, to block your extra estrogen. You need estrogen. You're a woman, but you don't need any extra estrogen, especially in this day and age. This is why I like flaxseed. Then you go, Google it. "Oh, that's cancer." No, it blocks cancer, okay?
Susan and Rosa Marie, “fluttering in the heart after the reset?” Well, listen, you're changing fuels, so I will remind you, give your body a chance, especially if you've been a carbolic and you go on the Reset, your body is changing fuels, okay? You're getting rocket fuel now. You were used to eating crappy carbohydrates that is not even 87 octane. Now you're getting 99.9 octane from your food and your body's reacting to the new fuel. It likes it, but sometimes you get a little fluttering. Sometimes some people get a little bit of a, they don't feel quite as good until their body gets used to putting rocket fuel in your body, okay?
"What causes low iron?" Well, it could be a lot of things. First of all, not eating heme iron can cause low iron. A lot of women get the low levels of iron because they're not absorbing. They got leaky gut or a malabsorption syndrome, or they have heavy, heavy menses, estrogen dominance and they're losing a lot of blood. This can affect your iron levels and whatever. A lot of things can do it.
Wendy's asking, "Can you completely eliminate seasonal allergies by eating no sugar and carbs?" It sure helps. Remember, seasonal allergies... allergies start in the gut, not in the air, in the gut, leaky gut, leaky sinuses, leaky gut, leaky lungs. Leaky gut is at the root cause, so fix that, Wendy. Yes, the diet, because then you're not feeding the bears. If you're cutting out your carbs and...
Molloy, I think, I don't know if it's Molly, if you pronounce it, "My hemoglobin is 148 and my sodium 147. Is this okay?" Eh, it depends. What are your symptoms, Molly? You see, those numbers, yeah, they're within normal range, but that doesn't mean much to me. I'm more interested in what you're feeling and whatever. If you're asking me a question without giving me some specifics on you, you just understand. I think I explained that at the top of this program, you can't just have lab tests. When you go to a lab, you should be filling out a questionnaire for the doctor.
Susan is asking, "I was wondering if you take a probiotic every day, does your body get used to it?" No. No. It's just like food. Does your body get used to it? No. You need energy from your food, right? So yeah, I guess you could take a day off from food and you can fast and whatever. That's all right. I get it. But at the end of the day, you are what you eat, right? It's the same with probiotics. Remember, your body don't get used to probiotics because you got trillions of them. When I tell you, get on a scale and take three pounds off, minus three. Why? Because you got three pounds of bacteria in you and believe me, in this day and age where we destroy good bacteria, on our skin, in our gut, in our lungs and whatever. You need to replace that, man. Do you know how many years I've been taking probiotics? 40. Did the body get used to it? No, your body needs it. The more we studied the microbiome, the more we study bacteria, Susan, your body never gets used to that, okay? Never, never, never, never, okay? So good question, though. I'm glad you asked it.
Deb is asking about a program called Ideal Protein. I used to do it. It's a temporary diet. I got no problem with it. I used to tell people, "Look, this is for 30 days." Some people wanted everything programmed, okay? Everything was supplied and you just didn't have to think you were to eat like this. The question she was asking, by the way, is about exercise because they used to tell you with Ideal Protein, "Well, you were eating so little food," they didn't want you exercising, okay? I was never big on that. It depended on how you felt. A lot of people found they just didn't have, at first, the energy and not to do any exercise because they were eating so little. It was a drastic change for them. You know what's better than Ideal Protein? The Reset, 100 times better, okay? So I'm just telling you.
Okay, those are the questions for this week. Thank you very much. I hope I touched on every one of them. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you for making The Metabolic Reset book the number seller in Canada, and we appreciate that. Thank you for our private Facebook group. If you're not a member, please join. Don't be shy. Get your friends, get the people you can influence. Whether they make changes in their life, well that's not up to you, it's up to them, but at least you can give them information. You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it, but you can add a little bit of salt to the water to make them thirsty for it. 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!