In today’s episode, Dr. Martin teaches on HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and shares how to increase your levels of it.
HDL is often referred to as your good cholesterol, and the purpose of HDL is to pick up bad lipids in your bloodstream. These bad lipids are in fact triglycerides which clog up your arteries. It's not cholesterol that clogs up arteries, it's triglycerides!
Cholesterol has long been made the boogeyman. It gets blamed for what sugar does, and it’s all because of a researcher in the 1950s who theorized it was the root cause of heart disease. Cholesterol is not a bad thing. Cholesterol is a good thing. You need cholesterol!
Listen in to learn more about the importance of raising your HDL.
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. I hope you're having a great start to your day. Now, this morning, what we're going to look at is the importance of raising your HDL. The importance of raising your HDL, why do you want to do that? First of all, and how to do it? So, we're going to say why, and then how to raise your HDL. Now, let me give you a little teaching here. HDL, high-density lipoprotein. If you Google it, you'll see that it's really what they call the good cholesterol. Now, at the Martin Clinic, I don't even believe in bad cholesterol, because they call LDL, low-density lipoprotein, bad cholesterol, and really there are medications to hammer down your LDL, to hammer it down.
Really, I know that strategy has not worked. We have more heart disease than ever before. I always tell you guys that it's because we're looking for love in all the wrong places. It's not the right place to look. Why do you want to hammer down cholesterol? You're made up of cholesterol. Your body needs cholesterol. 85% of your cholesterol comes from your liver. You know my little saying, "God doesn't trust you enough with your cholesterol, that He provides 85% and you are supposed to provide the other 15% from your food." Now, remember this, cholesterol is only found in the animal kingdom. So, that's just a basic overview of cholesterol. Just a basic overview of cholesterol. Your brain is made up of cholesterol. Your cells are made up of cholesterol. You need cholesterol. Why it became the boogeyman is an incredible tragedy, an incredible... I can't even hardly describe the impact on society of trying to lower cholesterol.
It started really with a guy named Ancel Keys. His theory was cholesterol was at the root of heart disease and the whole world... And there is a reason for this to happen, you have to understand, it wasn't just him. He started it. He, a researcher, came out with that in the 1950s. And the food industry, especially the cereal companies, really hooked into this. Their whole marketing strategy, at the beginning, was let's lower your cholesterol, so stop eating bacon and eggs for your breakfast, and then switch it to cereal. And you know what? I got to give them credit in terms of marketing, wow, I mean, they fool the whole world, including the medical profession, because what happened, biochemistry 101, is that you need cholesterol. Your body is made up of cholesterol. Your hormones can't be circulated without cholesterol. And then all of a sudden it became the boogeyman. Especially by the 1980s, the cereal companies hooked up with the pharmaceutical companies and then you had a classification of medications called statin drugs that were meant to hammer down cholesterol, especially the LDL.
Every day, as I look at blood work, and I mean this, every day as I look at blood work, people want to ask me, and I understand why, is they want to know what to do about cholesterol? I always tell them, "Well, get it up, man. Get your cholesterol high." So, I'm going to talk to you about that today. And why is that important? Because especially HDL, high-density lipoprotein, is FedEx, it's Canada Post, it's the US Postal Service. It is Amazon trucks on the highways of your blood vessels picking up bad lipids. Bad lipids are not cholesterol. Bad lipids are triglycerides, three fat balls that are very dangerous inside the bloodstream. And the more you lower cholesterol, the more your triglycerides are going to be elevated. And those are the things that are very dangerous, that clog up your arteries. It's not cholesterol that clogs up arteries, it's triglycerides.
And you know, again, another little saying, when I teach I try and use little illustrations so that you understand. So, "Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming the policemen because they're at the crime scene or blaming the firefighters because they're at a fire." Of course, they're at a fire. They're the good guys. And of course, the police are at a crime scene, they're the good guys. They're not the bad guys. Cholesterol is not a bad thing. Cholesterol is a good thing. And 85% of it is made in your liver. The other 15% you are responsible for. I was talking to someone yesterday and they were told by their doctors actually. And this doctor is not a dummy, he's a cardiologist. And he said to one of my patients, former patients, "Be a vegan and that is good for your heart." I was speechless almost, because I know where it came from, but it's ignorance. How could that be? How could that be? It doesn't make any sense, common sense.
You need cholesterol. Cholesterol isn't the bad guy. You get no cholesterol... I mean, your body will still make it, 85% of it, even if you're a vegan, if you're a vegetarian, your body will make 85%, but you're missing out on the important HDL. And HDL takes those triglycerides and hitches their wagon to them and takes them out of your body. That's the primary job of HDL. It's important to have high levels of HDL. So, you see that? Why? The why is, cholesterol, you need it. Your brain needs it. If someone calls you fat head, take it as a compliment. Your brain needs cholesterol. When you see cholesterol, they show it to you sometimes in arteries, look at cholesterol, it's all fat. So, what? So, what? You want that, that substance, cholesterol.
Now, let me give you nine or 10 ways to elevate your HDL. If you want to talk about LDL, I won't do it. I'm sorry, I won't. It doesn't mean anything to me. I know that you have medications. An old commercial a few years ago in the United States and a fireman was coming down the pole in a fire station and he gets to the bottom, he's giving everybody high fives, because he got his cholesterol numbers and they went down and he was a happy puppy. And I was screaming at the TV, "Don't be so stupid. Why do you want to have low cholesterol levels? But all it means is you're going to die young. Why are you so happy about that?"
Anyways, let's talk now about how to elevate your HDL, high-density lipoprotein. How do you elevate it? Numero uno, eat cholesterol. Yeah. Well, eat it. You want to elevate your HDL? Eat cholesterol. Where is cholesterol found again? In the animal kingdom, eggs, meat, and cheese will elevate your HDL. It's one of the reasons, again, for the reset. So, elevate your HDL. Got it? Numero uno, very important. In 30 days, most people, and I mean most people on the reset, see a significant improvement in what we call their lipid profile. Their lipid profile, part of it is getting your HDL up.
Now, number two, lower your triglycerides. So, remember, I call this the teeter-totter. I call this the teeter-totter effect. What is that, the teeter-totter effect? I like that. I think I'll keep it. What is the teeter-totter effect? When you lower your triglycerides, three fat balls, when you lower triglycerides, the teeter-totter effect is triglycerides go down, HDL goes up. It's just the way... Now, if you're one of those 1% or less, and I mean that, that that doesn't happen right away, don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. But it's been proven a kazillion times, when you lower your triglycerides, the teeter-totter effect takes place and your HDL, your high-density lipoprotein, goes up. It's just the way it works in the body.
How do you lower triglycerides, Dr. Martin? Good question. Food. Eliminate your carbohydrates and sugars. Remember, the three fat balls are made from sugar and carbs. Carbs, remember, like bread and pasta and noodles are just long chain glucose. That's what carbs are. When you cut your carbs out or cut them way down, cut your sugar out, guess what happens? Your triglycerides go down. So, how your body operates is, it's food. The positive, get your HDL up by eating more cholesterol, number one. Number two, the negative is lowering your carbs and sugars will lower your triglycerides, because triglyceride, remember this, please, triglycerides are made in the liver. When the suitcase is full of fat, when the Costco parking lot is full, or when the minivan is full, you've got all the suitcases in. How does that happen? Because you're a carboholic and carbs are stored in the liver as fat.
When you have too much fat in your liver, one of the ways your body tries to get rid of that is by sending the fat into the bloodstream as triglycerides, three fat balls. It doesn't come from fat. It comes from sugars. Please. Day one of biochemistry. They've forgotten all this. The world went for a lie. It's carbs. It's not the animal kingdom. So, number one, elevate your eating of cholesterol, elevate it. Cholesterol is found in the animal kingdom. Now, I'm going to mention one extra food, because this is a way to rapidly increase your HDL. You know what the best food to rapidly increase your HDL? It's called oleic acid. Now, you're thinking maybe, "Well, that's olive oil." Yeah, but olive oil doesn't have any cholesterol. It has oleic acid. But, you know what has oleic acid and a lot of cholesterol? Bacon, eat your bacon.
Number three, I put it on number three on the charts, eat bacon. Who doesn't like bacon? No, I know, it's a matter of taste. Is there anybody that doesn't like bacon? You can live on bacon. It will help elevate your HDL. I'm trying to give you things that most people like. Kids like bacon, don't they? Who doesn't like bacon? It has oleic acid. It has more oleic acid than olive oil. You see, the problem with olive oil... I like olive oil, I got no problem with olive oil, but it has no cholesterol in it. It doesn't have cholesterol. Olives are fruits. Now, you don't put them in a fruit salad, but olives are fruits and they have oleic acid. They always talk about the Mediterranean diet being so good for people, but it's not because of olive oil. Do you know that? It's because of the amount of fish and meat that those people eat, and cheese and butter.
Just go to France, they love their “canard”, duck, and they love duck liver. I don't, but they do. And they love “la beurre”, butter. It's not the olive... Look, again, please don't come after me. Olive oil, I like it. It's good for you. I'm not saying that. Bacon is better for you, how's that? "Aw, Dr. Martin, it's got nitrites. It's got those... you know, bacon." Yeah, yeah, yeah, but so do plants. Really, it bugs me. It's got salt on, bacon was... Salt is good for you. You're made up of salt. You cry salt, your saliva has got salt. Your blood's got salt all in it.
Vitamin E, number four. Because I said bacon and I separated it from eggs, meat, and cheese, didn't I? Number four, exercise, the real vitamin E, will elevate your HDL. Isn't that nice? Isn't that nice? Move. And remember, the stronger you are, the better it is. You elevate vitamin E, you elevate your HDL. It's a tremendous benefit of real vitamin E. You know me, I'm talking to somebody yesterday. They asked me, "Well, doc, what do you think of vitamin C?" You mean coffee? And he looked at me like I had three heads. Like, "What? What did you say?" I said, "Well, the real vitamin C is coffee." Coffee's better than vitamin C, because it's got all the polyphenols. It's a much better form of vitamin C. Drink coffee. Oh gee, hello. Then, vitamin E, the real vitamin E, much better than the other vitamin E, is exercise.
A thousand times on podcasts and lives I talked to you about that. The benefits, the reason of exercise. Is there anything negative about exercise? Yes, if you do too much, you can do too much exercise. Like a marathon runner. I don't like that. I don't like that. I've been consistent about that too, by the way. Man was not made to run 26 miles without stopping. I don't recommend that. But I am a guy, you know me and here's... I'm just going to say it straight out because repetition, repetition, repetition, 15 to 20 minutes, three to four times a week, make sure you're doing resistant exercises and I mean that. Strong muscles, strong heart, strong muscles, strong brain, especially your leg muscles. Go back on a podcast, it's probably a long time ago now, and I talked about the importance of your legs and your brain, the connection. But when you do the true vitamin E, you're elevating your HDL. Science, I love it. Good.
Here's one, it's obvious maybe, but maybe you haven't thought about it. I always get a kick out of smokers and I feel sorry for them. Because I never had that habit of smoking. I never did. And I probably told you the story before of my parents, my dad smoked four packs of Buckinghams a day. Man, oh man. I don't know how he had time to work. He was smoking all the time. But in those days, just about everybody smoked and my mother never stopped smoking. But when you quit smoking, you elevate your HDL, isn't that interesting? Quit smoking. And you know what, I'm just going to say this, because this bugs me is when people have a mask on and they go outside and they just flipped down their mask and have a cigarette. Geez, anyway. Again, I want to be sympathetic, I am. It's not the end of the universe. I'm just telling you things that bug me.
Oh, here's one, lose weight. The thing is, when they say that, and I understand why it's sort of in the list of, it's obvious, but the biggest thing that... This is why I tell people, because every day on our private Facebook group, we have people that are doing the Reset. And some of them complain, "Doc, I only lost five pounds." You know what? I don't even have to go on there most of the time even to answer this, because you guys do it. You understand that. Five stinking pounds. Have you seen the size of five pounds? Somebody put a picture of it, of five pounds, on Facebook yesterday, the private Facebook group. Yeah. It's massive. But it's more important than that. Listen to what I'm saying. On the Reset, you're burning visceral fat, the fat around your organs. You might not be able to necessarily see that, but if you can lose a pound away from your liver, you have no idea how good that is for you. Nevermind that it will increase your HDL, it gets more FedEx trucks on the highways of your blood vessels to take away the bad fats by losing visceral fat, losing visceral fat.
That's why, guys, this is so important. Please, please, don't stop doing the Reset, people, "Ah, doc, I didn't feel good in the first week. It bothered me." And you know what I say? "Well, look, man, you got to suck it up, because we're trying to save your life here and it is happening inside your body. Even if you don't appreciate it right away, you're getting rid of insulin resistance. You're emptying your liver. You have no idea how good that is for your body. You have no idea." I scream blue murder that we're looking at cholesterol instead of looking at elevating good cholesterol, HDL, you have no idea how good that is for you. High DHA oil. Yes, the more high DHA oil you use, the better it is to elevate your good cholesterol, HDL. Yes, the long chain fatty acids that are found, the longer the chain, the more your HDL goes up.
That's why, in my opinion, when someone has heart disease, they should be given a prescription. You don't need a prescription, but the doctor should write out literally on a prescription pad. Instead of giving out a cholesterol lowering medication saying, "Here, I want you to elevate your HDL. So, go home and here I'm writing it, use high DHA oil." And EPA is good too. EPA is good too. But the higher the DHA, because that's the longest chain, that's the one that your body absorbs the most, that's the one that your body takes in. It helps to elevate your HDL trucks that are going through your blood vessels. It's part of you taking the 15% that you owe, you need to eat it, high DHA. One that they've shown, avoid trans fats. Again, it's another reason to get on the Reset and avoid all cookies, crackers, pizza, and all the stuff that has the fries that are cooked in the wrong oils and if you lower trans fats and even omega-6, that is found in these canola oils and all this kind of stuff, lower that and it actually elevates your HDL. Isn't that good news? That's good news.
I hope you understand how passionate I am about getting your cholesterol levels up, not down. I don't want them down. I want them up. And I think, you guys... Hopefully this sinks in, you're going to have a lot of opposition to this. I understand that, I get it, because we're going against the grain. We're going against dietitians. We're going against the medical profession. We're going against the food companies. We're going against the pharmaceutical companies. You're going to go against them, because they have a mantra, they have a narrative. Their narrative is just the opposite of what I taught you today. Just the opposite of it.
I tell people, if you were my patient, for example, I used to tell them, "Look, you got to trust me, trust me for 30 days, you came to see me. You gave up your time to come and see me and now I'm teaching you something. I know, it's going to go against the grain of anything that you've ever been taught, but I'm telling you, it works. And I'm telling you." Look, I don't apologize for this. I always tell people, "Look, I'm not a researcher per se." I mean, I guess there's different types of researchers. The ones that do it in the lab and they do all this and God bless them, good for them. But I had real patients, hundreds of thousands of them over the years, and I had to get results. I didn't want to give them a diet and then they have a heart attack. I said, "Well, look, I'm going to show you food. And I'm going to show you the true science of food. I know you've been taught something different." "Oh, that's bad, red meat is acidic." I've heard it a million times, but it's not true. It's not true.
Okay, now, listen for two days. So, if you listen to this on a podcast, it doesn't affect you. But for those who were on this morning live, for two days, I'm out of here. Just the way it's working out. So, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I'm not on. Friday morning, I think we'll do Question and Answer on Friday morning. That's our regular time, I'll be back. I always say this, Lord willing. Okay. Love you guys. Remember The Metabolic Reset, The Metabolic Reset, it will save your life. Give that book to a friend. Let them read. We appreciate it. Love you.
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!