599. Q&A with Dr. Martin

THE DOCTOR IS IN Podcast


Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.

Some of today’s topics include:

  • Digestive enzymes
  • Germ and terrain theories
  • Vinegar 
  • Types of probiotics
  • Hyaluronic acid injections
  • Low hemoglobin
  • CRP and inflammation
  • Filtered water
  • Overdosing on vitamin K2

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. Once again, welcome to another Live. "What's the difference?" Anne Marie says. "What's the difference between your digestive enzymes and those I can buy at the market?" Meaning I guess, at any store. Well, look, this is an overall principle. So let me say it. My experience is clinical experience, meaning that I didn't always have supplements. I would recommend supplements, vitamin D or whatever. Have been doing that from day one in practice, 47 years ago. But the problem is, is that not even the quality, it's the mixture. So for me, over the years, I had to get results. I'll give you an example, okay? You can go to a Canadian company, American company. They're all good. I mean, look, yeah, have standards and whatever. 

So if you get vitamin C, for example, and you go to the store and buy it, you can go buy probiotics. You can go buy digestive enzymes. But for me, I had to get results. So if someone had digestive issues, I wanted results. I got to fix this thing. So I found, and this is many, many, many years ago, that I wanted my own formulas. Remember, we go back even as a family, the Martin Clinic, I mean, of 1911. My grandfather had his own formulas. He went into the bush, and I get a chuckle out of it because he was light years ahead of his time and using these teas and these saps and these ointments and these, oh my word. Actually, I watched my father make up stuff, even in his office and had formulas for a cough syrup and liniments. 

I mean, it wasn't like I had no experience in it. I saw my dad do it. I didn't see my grandfather do it because he died in 1952 and so I was born in '52. But we have a long history. So I bought my own products. So when you say digestive enzyme, yeah. If you go to Costco or whatever, you want to get a digestive enzyme, well, good for you. All I'm telling you is, is that I needed to get results. My formulas, I'll put them up against anybody's formula. I mean that. Our digestive enzyme, not only do we have the strongest enzymes in the best blends and the best bioavailable... My manufacturer, I'm a pain in the butt to him. Why? Because I'll give you an example, last year because of COVID, we had trouble getting the magnesium citrate that I liked. Ours is bioavailable at 99%. Now, you can get different grades. You can get 75% if you go to the store, you go to Costco, whatever, you can get magnesium citrate there. You can. It was available to them. But at about 50% absorption or less. I'm waiting. I'm sorry. I'm not doing that. My man said, "Well, you can't get that citrate that you want at 99% absorption rate." "I know, but I'm waiting till you can get it. I'm not going to change it." 

My digestive enzyme formula, guys, look, you know me, I'm not sitting here to try and to promote my products. I don't talk about them very much. I talk about in generalities, use digestive enzymes. But I don't apologize for, in my opinion, having the best, okay? Somebody was asking, let me get the question. For example, in the digestive enzyme, you're never going to see a blend of enzymes like that. Secondly, I put oil of oregano in there. Why do I do that? Because of SIFO, not SIBO, SIFO. When you have an overgrowth of candida, yeast or fungus, SIFO, it gets into the small intestine. Now, you have a malabsorption syndrome. Our enzymes are the ones that completely break down all the fats, all the proteins, all the carbohydrates and absorb them. But I put oil of oregano. Why do I put oil of oregano in the digestive enzyme? To get rid of candida. Candida.

Let me just get the other question because it was similar to that. Two more on that thing. Pam was told that the human strain probiotics are superior. You were told wrong. Now, again, I'm not against probiotics of any kind. You have dairy probiotics. They're good. Oh, you have to refrigerate them. Yeah. You have human probiotics, and I know some of the gurus on there will say, "Well, those are the best." I disagree because when you have, like we have, soil, spore probiotics in a broad spectrum, what do I mean by that? That it has to be all the different strains that you can put in. Why? Because that's what your microbiome needs. That's what those bacteria you want because different strains do different things. 

The thing with the spore bacteria... They're the best. Why? Because you can't kill them. You can heat them up. You can do whatever you want. They are the best. It takes them three years to cultivate these things. It takes three years to cultivate our probiotics, but they last forever. You can't destroy them. And again, I had to get results. I had to get results. I talked to a patient, former patient the other day, and they had a real severe fungal infection. You could see it on the skin. I mean, it was gross looking and whatever. I said, "Well, I know how to fix it. You need to get on digestive enzymes with the oil of oregano. You need to get on candida formula because you got a yeast coming out the wazoo. You need to get on our broad spectrum probiotics."

They've been on steroids for years trying to get rid of this thing. I said, "Well, steroids, I get it because it's a tremendous anti-inflammatory." But I said, "You're just making more yeast. It will always come back. You got to fix the real problem." So, guys, that's where I come from, okay? So look, dairy is good. You got a dairy probiotic, make sure you put it in the fridge. I wouldn't even put it in the fridge. I'd put it in the freezer because you're going to lose its potency within 24 hours if you don't freeze them in my opinion. So I'm not saying they're no good. That's why I tell people, "What are you eating yogurt for?" Surely you're not eating yogurt for probiotics. One capsule, one of our capsule, just one. You would have to have 16,000 yogurts, 16,000 of them, four ounces. Plus, you still wouldn't have broad spectrum. You'd only have lactobacillus acidophilus. That's all that's in there. There's no other strains. You need a multitude of strains. Like I said, different strains do different things. There are certain strains of bacteria that actually kill fungus. They kill yeast. So that's why I do what I do. 

Okay. Kim is saying, "Dr. Martin, what are your thoughts on the germ theory and the terrain theory?" Well, that's a very good question. Well, I think you know my thoughts on it. We have been in the last over a year now, we have seen in general 100% and it's always sort of been that way, but it's even worse now, the virus, the virus, the virus, the pandemic, the pandemic, the pandemic, right? What do you need to do? You got to wash your hands, wear a mask, social distance, get a vaccine and all this, right? I mean, because when you're trained in public health and they're running the show right now, that's what you do. We have a virus, we have variants and this is what we do. That's my training, and the world, that's what they did.

Now, I think you know the difference in the germ theory, virus, bacteria, and the soil or the terrain. The terrain, all that means is, guys, you and I are always going to have to deal with bacteria and viruses. You can't live without bacteria by the way. You can't even live without viruses. You can't say, "Well, I'm going to get rid of viruses forever." Nah, you're never going to do that, please, please. The terrain theory means that since there'll always be bacteria and viruses around, it's what you are inside is going to decide, not the virus isn't going to decide whether you're going to get sick or not. It's you and your immune system. That is the terrain. 

Medicine divided, I can give you the history of it, it divided 100 years ago. Louis Pasteur, the germ theory. I'll do a teaching on it again, if you want. But medicine was sort of at the crossroads 100 years ago and Louis Pasteur and ones like him had this, "Well, it's the germ. It's a virus or it's a bacteria and we got to take care of that." Then you had the other side of it saying, "Yeah, but we've always had bacteria." I'm talking 100 years ago. Now, what we have to do is build people's immune system. So you know what side of that issue I'm on. Am I dismissing the virus? No. Am I dismissing the severity of the virus? No, I'm not. 

What I try and aim for is for you to take care of yourself. I wrote a book one time, I talked to you about this the other day, Are You Built For Cancer? We fight cancer every day. You and I, this morning, you didn't even know it. Your body, listen to what I'm going to say, this morning, your body was attacked by bacteria and viruses. Your body was attacked by cancer cells and tomorrow it will be attacked again. The idea is who's going to win that war. Who's going to win that war? Well, medicine waits till you get the problem. You got cancer. Here we go. Until you get cancer, you can hardly get a hold of anybody. But the day you do, holy moly, here we go. Here's the treatment plan and whatever and they never talk about food.

But anyway, doesn't matter. I don't want to get there. I just want to tell you that is a good question because what theory do I believe in? I don't believe in a theory. I know for a fact, you got to get your body... Guys, listen. You're always going to be dealing with bacteria. Believe you me. Somebody was saying, "Well, it's back to normal next fall." I said, "Hmm, nah. I have a feeling now the world has learned how to shut down because the first outbreak at a school, for example, they'll shut the schools." Guys, I don't want to get into the politics of that. But all I'm telling you is every year there's going to be the flu. When does the flu occur? When there's no sun. True or false? That's true. We're getting a variant now. Is it the variant or is it our immune systems? You know me, I'm always telling you, you want to take care of your immune system. 

So number one, number one is food. I always put food before vitamin D, even though you know what I think of vitamin D. Your immune system doesn't work without vitamin D, but you want to kill your immune system, then eat sugar. God love dieticians, but oh, you can't live without carbs. Yes, you can. You can live without carbs. I call carbs wolves in sheep's clothing. Oh, they must be good doc. No, not if they're going to turn to sugar and if you are fighting cancer or whatever, I think you got to lay off the carbohydrates. I need balance. No, you don't. You are in balance. If you get sick, you're not in balance at all. You're not in homeostasis, which we call the homeostasis, big word for balance. You're out of whack. So I really appreciate the questions because that's a good one. 

Lawrence, "Can vinegar thin your blood?" No. I guess if you drank enough of it, but it's not really a blood thinner. I like a little bit of vinegar. I do. I like balsamic vinegar, okay? It's got more nutrients in it. Apple cider vinegar. It's good for you. By the way, you know when they talk about pH, when you have balsamic or apple cider vinegar, is there anything more acidic than that? Is there? But again, your body has a buffering system. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. God gave you a buffering system. So when you have apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar, your body knows what to do with that. Now, you're not drinking a liter of it. I guess that would thin your blood Lawrence. But when you take a tablespoon of it, it helps with digestion. Does a lot of good things, apple cider or balsamic, okay? It's good for you and your body actually makes you more alkaline with that. "Doc, it's acidic." I know, but not when it gets into your gut. Your body will release sodium bicarbonate, baking soda. Lawrence, Good question. 

Earl. Good question, Earl, you're asking, "If someone has had bariatric surgery, is The Reset good for them?" The Reset is good for everyone. There isn't anyone, Earl, that shouldn't do The Reset. Some people are like, "Doc, that's a lot of fat." Well go slow, start slower, eat eggs, meat, and cheese and don't overdo it. You're eating exactly what your body needs. Somebody asks, "Can you do The Reset nursing a toddler?" Well, yeah. You want your toddler to be healthy? Give them eggs, meat and cheese and breast milk. 100%. You're pregnant, yeah. This is the best food in the world. I don't apologize for telling people that. 

Remember what I was saying, was it yesterday, the day before? Don't be confused. Don't be confused. The world is confused, but you don't be confused. Stick to your guns, guys. We got to put it like it's already in the book. We have so many testimonies... But we got thousands of testimonies. When they say today, "Follow the science." I have never seen so much nonsense as there is in the food industry. I mean it. It's like we're living in the Dark Ages. Eggs have every vitamin you can think of and choline and leucine and all the amino acids that your body needs. They go, "Yeah. But it's got some cholesterol and you got to be careful." Steak. How does steak get a bad rep? There's nothing better for you on the planet. Liver. But I don't like liver.

Charmaine, "Dr. Martin, what do I think of hyaluronic acid injections?" Well, I've never had one. I know what hyaluronic acid is. Hyaluronic acid gives you nice skin too. That's why we put it in our Revera. I use Revera every day. It's an anti-aging cream, but let's face it. I mean, everybody's going to age. You can't completely stop it. I should bring a picture of me when I graduated in 1974. I should have done that because this is the week. In May of 1974, I became Dr. Martin. That's a long time ago. My grandchildren look at my picture that I have down in our rec room, "Grandpa. Who's that?" I said, "That's me? What? That's not you." I said, "Yes, it's me. Honest." They can't see the resemblance between this face and my face in 1974. Guess what, guys. Happens to the best of us.

Okay. That was Stafford asking about nursing a toddler. Sophie's asking, "What do you do for low hemoglobin?" Well, look, vitamin S. Have steak every day. Have hamburger. Have steak, have hamburger, have roast beef for hemoglobin. The best iron in the world is heme iron, H-E-M-E. It's found in vitamin S. Now look, if you need help temporarily, get on our Blood Boost. By the way, just going to say it. If you find a product that is as good to build your system in terms of blood better than Blood Boost, I invite you to try and find it. You want to see my manufacturer uptight, is when they got to make that stuff. I put everything in there. 

Okay. Wendy, "If your CRP numbers are good, but you still have chronic widespread pain." Well, Wendy, all I can say is you still got inflammation. Your CRP has gone down. CRP is a good indicator, but it's not the only indicator, okay? I love CRP in terms of getting that as a blood test, but it's not the only indicator of inflammation. If you got pain, you got inflammation still. If your CRP has gone down, that's good. That means usually you've been a good girl, Wendy. But you're not there yet. If your CRP, it's not the only indicator of inflammation. I talked about this this week. I reminded folks.

Let me give you an example. I'm a doctor, pretend, okay, that I'm your family doctor and I just got your thyroid numbers, okay? Now, you're tired. You're losing your hair. You're sluggish. You're gaining weight, blah, blah, blah. Those are not just the thyroid symptoms, but generally those are thyroid symptoms. But I just got your blood work and your TSH, your T3, your T4, they're normal. So you are normal. No, you're not normal. You're not right. So what's right? The lab or your body telling you that you're not right? I'll take your body every time. Wendy, I get your CRP results. Boy, they're pretty good. I want them below one by the way. But I want your symptoms. Oh, I still got pain. Well, you still got inflammation. 

I'm not saying that the lab is wrong. I'm just telling you, it's not all the information I'm looking for. I do that with the thyroid. I do that with CRP. I do that with your all sorts of tests. Last night I read somebody's cortisol readings. With cortisol, when you take the test of it, highly unreliable. I want your symptoms. "Oh doc, I can't sleep. I don't feel good. I'm stressed. My heart is racing," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, you're not right. I don't care what your cortisol reading is on the blood work. You see what I'm saying? I don't like to be hijacked. When somebody is in what we call functional medicine is we look at your symptoms. We look at your history. We look at everything and then we get a complete picture. The lab is just part of it. It's just part of it. Wendy, I want you thinking, it's a good question because you're thinking.

Okay. "What's Dr. Martin think of filtered water?" I like it. I don't recommend you drink water out of a tap, filter it. If you really want to get the pH up, put a little bit of salt in it. Put a little Himalayan, put a little pinch of salt in your water. I like spring water. That's me, okay? I like spring water, natural spring water. That's a very high pH. It's very good for you. But all water is good. It just that some are better than others. I'll give you an example. 20 years ago, I got paperwork from the City of Sudbury for their water. It was scary. How many chemicals are processed to get that water to your tap? It's unbelievable. So I recommend filter your water. You got a well? Might not have to filter it. But if you're on city water anywhere, yeah, I recommend you do, okay? I do, okay? You don't have to spend a fortune. Look, you got extra income and you want to put a real filtering system in your water and buy these expensive machines and all that. Well, I'm not telling you not to do it. I'm just telling you, if you go to Walmart or whatever, you can get a filter and put your water through it and then add a little bit of salt to it. You'll get alkaline water.

Toni with an I not with a Y. Hi, Toni. Toni's asking, "Why do I wake up stiff every morning?" Well, there could be several reasons. I'm going to give you one. You have what we call glycation, okay? What's that mean? It's called glycation or AGE, okay? It literally is like a hardening of your muscles and your skin and your cells. Glycation comes from sugar. I'm going to tell you, Toni, that the first thing you ought to do is do The Reset and see the testimonies, how many people said, "Holy moly, doc. I was in pain all the time. Now, I'm not in pain." Because they got rid of glycation. I write about it in my book. That's the number one reason. Now, you might have fibromyalgia too, right? That can make you stiff and sore every day. But generally Toni, it's diet. Change it. 

What's my thoughts on Suramin. That’s a drug. I don't have any thoughts on it. Usually, a lot of side effects. Kim, you should have gave me a little bit more why you're even asking me that. Why would you take it? Tell me why you want to take it and then I'll give you my two pennies on it. 

Deanna says, "I take your vitamin D." Good for you. It's the best. Let's say I told you to take 10 drops. That would give you 10,000 IUs because we put vitamin K2 in it... the best. What's vitamin K2 do? It takes calcium out of your bloodstream. Could I overdose on vitamin K2? No. I've never seen a case of it in 47 years... ever seen a case. You know why you're in the hospital today? Can I tell you why you're in the hospital? You're sitting in the waiting room? You're taking too much vitamin K2. No. Look, if you have a block of cheese, you're getting vitamin K2. You're going to get a lot more than we put in the vitamin D. It's in international units, man. Those are small. It's like vitamin D. I get too much vitamin D. Well, you're not lined up in the hospital because you're taking vitamin D. It's the opposite. You're in the hospital because you don't have enough vitamin D. You're going to get heart disease because you're not eating enough cheese and butter where you get vitamin K2 that takes calcium out of your bloodstream. What do you think hardening of the arteries is? It's calcified. Calcium in the wrong places. You want calcium all right, in your bones, not in your blood vessels, okay? 

Now, look, these are good questions. I don't mean to belittle the question. Sometimes I'm a joker. You know me. I want you to laugh along with me, okay? I have a sense of humor. I was brought up in a house with 11 children, okay? Every time I think of that, I go, "My mother. Oh my word. How did you ever do it?" You want to talk about respect I have for women that raise kids, we had 11. You know what you'll learn when you have a lot of kids in your family, you better have a thick skin and you better start laughing at yourself and laughing. Have a sense of humor, okay? But no, I don't mean to tease too much. I'm a big tease, but I don't want you to take it personally. 

Catherine, "I'm sneezing. Is sneezing part of detoxing?" If you've never sneezed before and you did The Reset and you start sneezing, I guess you're trying to get rid of candida, phlegm or whatever out of your lungs and you're sneezing and maybe in your sinuses it's dying off. Could be part of a die off. Yeah. Good question. 

Lisa, "What do I think of fulvic acid supplement?" Well, I never used it and I don't know why you would use it. So again, when you ask those questions, you might say, "I heard fulvic acid," I know what it is, "is good for this, doc. What do you think?" Then I'll tell you what I think. But what do I think of the supplement on its own? Well, I don't use it so I'm not saying there's no benefit for it. I would tell you that I can think of five things that would be better than that, but I don't mind you asking, okay? I think I got them all. Yeah. I think I got it all.

Oh, Faye is asking, "When your ears feel hollow and you're hard of hearing. What can I do?" Well, a lot of times what happens in the ears is sinuses, okay? Could be a buildup of wax. But even then, you know what that is, that is your body reacting, in my opinion, to a fungal infection in your sinuses. I am very big on that, Faye. A lot of people lose their hearing or tinnitus and insulin. They're sugar eaters. They're feeding candida, yeast, fungus. That's my opinion. I'm a simple guy and that's what I believe. 

Okay. Guys, you're wonderful. I want to thank you. I mean that. Where's my Reset? Number one selling book in Canada. Thank you for that. We appreciate it. Thank you for making the Martin Clinic private Facebook group. Boy, I'm telling you, that's going to be one of the best groups in the world. I love it. Thank you for joining and thank you for bringing your friends and your relatives and things like that, okay, to the group. We appreciate it big time. Okay. Love you guys. Will 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!

Back to blog