Dr. Martin shares a study on chronic constipation and fibre. The study points to your thyroid as a factor, but the biggest factor is dehydration. It's a lack of water why you’re constipated and not because you need more fibre.
If you ask a physician today about constipation, well over 90% would tell you you're not eating enough fibre. This is the lie cereal companies have made us believe. Dr. Martin says it was his parents’ generation who became the cereal eaters. They were told to get rid of bacon and eggs and replace it with cereal.
To this day, many people are still convinced that they need fibre to have a bowel movement. Listen to today’s episode to learn why “vitamin W,” water, is so important, especially for the proper functioning of the bowel.
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 this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. There was a study out of... As soon as I saw it, I had to flag it. If you have been following me, this is one of my pet peeves, okay? I've told you in the past that I don't like to be lied to. I don't like deception. I find in medicine and in health in general there's lot of deception out there. It bothers me, and it's just not right, and one of them has been brought to you by the cereal companies. The advantage of being my age is I've been around long time. I tell that to people all the time. I've been around long time. A lot of the stuff that I talk to you about, I've experienced it. I've watched it happen, okay? I graduated in 1974, and I've been around long time. But you know what happened in the 1970s that you really didn't hear about before that? A little bit maybe, but you really didn't. Of course, there wasn't venues like we have today, and social media, and podcasts, and Facebook Lives, and this and that.
Most people, I can tell you, were very ignorant of their health. If something came out, there wasn't the social media that you see today that starts questioning generalities that you see in medicine and you see in health today. Okay? Because I like social media obviously, but I mean, there's a lot of stuff out there today, but that's all right. God gave you a brain, use it. I'm giving you information. I admit that I am very biased, but I think I'm right. Some people don't like what I say. It goes against yesterday. I talked about being a vegetarian or being a vegan. I'm against it. I think it's wrong. It's indoctrination of the worst kind because they tell you not to eat red meat.
Anyway... But I flagged the study yesterday, and I had a little chuckle because it talked about chronic constipation. Okay? Now, if you were to put the question out to 100 doctors of any kind, and maybe just a hundred people in general. If you ask the question, okay, what is the cause of chronic constipation, I'm going to tell you something. Well over 90% of all physicians would tell you you're not eating enough fibre. Fibre is the key to your bowel. I don't agree with that. I could write a book about it. Fibre is overrated, okay? Because now fibre, it's got prebiotics, and without fibre your gut isn't going to work properly, and this, and this, and this, and that. I hear it every day, and I'm very patient. Someone wants to say something, I respect their opinion. I just don't agree with it.
You know me. I've said this thousands of times, and I will say it again. Fibre is overrated, and fibre oftentimes is at the root of IBS. It's one of the root causes of irritable bowel. The case that I make is if fibre is so effective to help your bowel, why is it today that... What is it? What are they saying? Somewhere around 70% of North Americans have some kind of digestive issue, IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulosis. Diverticulosis, by the way, is like an epidemic today compared to when I started practicing. Look, there's always been bowel problems of course, but today we see an enormous amount of bowel problems. Now, there's other reasons for that.
Again, you've heard me say this, antibiotics, the greatest discovery of the 20th century, has become the curse of the 21st. What it does to the microbiome and the bowel, it strips away the protective lining between your gut and your blood. Lots of problems there, but let's come back to fibre because this study was saying when it comes to chronic constipation, the problem is not a lack of fibre. Listen to this. The problem is a lack of water, a lack of water. Aha. It's exactly what I agree with. Okay? Not a lack of fibre, but a lack of water. This is why people on the Reset have said to me... And I get it. I understand it, is, "Doc, we're not eating any fruits and vegetables. How am I going to get my fibre?" I said, "Well, don't worry about fibre. Worry about water." You see, what makes the bowel work properly is H2O, water. Water and nothing else, guys. Nothing else is water. Just water.
What's the best water? Spring water. It's the best one. If you want to use tap water, filter it, filter it. I like mineral water because of salts. You need minerals, and I drink mineral water. Okay? So if people ask me, I like mineral water. Spring water has a higher pH. It's what your body needs, but water is water, guys. Don't use distilled water. I don't like that. Don't distill water. You talk about reverse osmosis. The problem with that is that now you don't have any minerals in it, but all water is good, just some are better. Okay? Some are better. But this study is saying your bowel needs vitamin W. Vitamin W. Look, chronic constipation, okay? Chronic constipation. Look, there's other causes... I mean, sometimes the thyroid slows to a crawl. A vast majority of thyroid conditions, I've talked about this, are misdiagnosed because physicians today unfortunately are married to the lab. They're married to it. "Ah, your lab results are normal." Yeah, but don't be married to the lab. This is what I try and tell physicians.
I mean, I'm not saying you dismiss lab results, but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck. "Oh, I'm losing my hair. My nails are brittle. My skin is dry. I got chronic constipation. I'm gaining weight, and blah blah blah." I'll tell you one thing, your thyroid's not working properly. Now remember, the thyroid is a puppet. The thyroid never works on its own. There's a lot of factors that can affect the thyroid gland and slow it to a crawl, especially you ladies because of estrogen. You're too much of a woman, and too much estrogen affects the conversion of T4 to T3, and T3, the hormone T3, is the one that makes your thyroid work at its optimal level. It'll work, but it won't work properly if you're not converting T4 to T3. It's one of the peeves I have about calories. I can't stand that. How many calories are you eating every day? If you've got horrormones, your thyroid's not working properly, ooh, you look at food and gain weight. That's why I love the Reset. Again, it had nothing to do with calories, but it helps hormonally.
Let's get back to the gut, and the study that's saying, "It ain't fibre, babe." Remember, where does that whole fibre thing come from? Like I said, mostly in the '70s from the cereal companies. They said it, and they said it, and they said it. "Bacon and eggs don't have any fibre." "Bacon and eggs is full of cholesterol." "Bacon and eggs is full of grease." "Bacon and eggs are just going to give you a heart attack. You're going to drop dead on the spot, and you need our cereal. Frosted flakes are great." It's funny because my generation especially, I mean it, my generation plus even my parents' generation became cereal people. "No more butter for me. It's going to be margarine." "No more bacon and eggs for me, even though I love them. It's going to be cereal." And you know what? "I just got to have my oatmeal every day because, boy oh boy, do I ever have a big number two." Seriously? And then medicine goes for it, and 99% of every doctor I know. "Cereal's better than bacon and eggs for sure." Nevermind the cholesterol, but now you got fibre. You got fibre, right?
Most fibres that people eat are insoluble. What does that mean? They end up in the toilet. You know what? That's why I love nutrient-based food. It ends up in your bloodstream where it belongs. A lot of people on the Reset, they're so used to number two. "Oh Doc, I'm regular." Well, what does that mean? You going to win a prize? "I'm regular." Well, good for you. What does that mean? I'm not telling you never go to the washroom. No, but seriously guys, when you think about it, and by the way, what this study is saying, if you drink enough water, you're going to go number two. I told you this story before, but I kind of laugh at myself a little bit. You know what? Laughter, the Bible says, is merry medicine, isn't it? Well, I like to laugh at myself too. I do because I'm kind of weird, okay? Anyway, I did some seminars, public speaking, in terms of health, but there was a company... This is 25 years ago, I think. I did a little tour for them. They paid me well. I was happy to do it. I love speaking on health.
I didn't even speak about their product. I just spoke on health. Because I'm bilingual, they sent me through... I did a few stops in Ontario, but I generally spent I think about a week traveling around every night, giving a seminar in French. I would just speak about what I speak about right now, things like that. I change it up every day. I get tired of hearing myself, but I was sort of the attraction. They would fill up a hall, and then they would sell their product afterwards, and it was a fibre product. Okay? Well, it had other things, but it was mostly a fibre product. The biggest thing in there was... I don't want to laugh too much, but every time you went to the bathroom, number two, they wanted you to look at your poop and analyze it. You got to understand guys, you can read too much into that. Like, come on. Are you kidding me? But guys, if you drink enough water... You know what? Maybe over the next few days, I'm going to do a deeper dive on water. Vitamin W at the Martin Clinic. Vitamin W. Water. It is so important for everything. The bowel.
If you're chronically constipated, according to this study, one of the biggest factors... It could be your thyroid, yeah, but one of the biggest factors is dehydration. It's water. Look behind me. You see a microscope. I used to measure, it was very easy to do, the viscosity of blood. It was amazing. One of the big issues when you got thick blood is a lack of water. Friend, you have 60,000 miles of blood vessels, 60,000 miles, one and a half times around the equator, in your body. "Doc, I can't see that." But you do, trust me on that. The river, it's a river, your blood vessels, your little capillaries, from your brain to your eyeballs to your gut, your bloodstream needs water. That's what makes the river flow, and the vast majority of people have a slow flowing river. Not good. "Oh Dr. Martin, I don't like water." I didn't say you had to like it. Your body loves it. "Yeah, but I like to flavor..." Well, you can put a little lemon, but don't do anything else to water please unless you're putting a little bit of salt in it.
Put a little bit of Himalayan salt in it. Salt your water. You cry salt. Your saliva is salt. Your blood is salt. Salt and water, water and salt, and nothing else is water. Now coffee... You know me. You should see the new studies on coffee. I might bring that to you. Vitamin C, the real vitamin C. "Oh Doc, my coffee is 95% water." No, it's probably about 97 or 98% water. So what? Your body takes that differently. Juice isn't water. As a matter of fact, in the bowel, when you drink juice... Now please, never drink juice. You can have Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie, but don't ever drink juice. Don't drink orange juice. Don't drink grapefruit juice. Don't drink it. Don't drink tomato juice. You want to have a tomato? Eat it. Don't drink it. You want to have orange juice? Eat an orange. Don't drink it. Grapefruit, eat it. Don't drink it. Because what happens, especially something that is acidic... Okay? I've talked to you about this in the past. Your body has sodium bicarbonate. What is that? Baking soda.
What? Yeah, your body makes baking soda, but if you have juice, here's the problem with that. It's acidic. That's all right. Your body knows what to do with it, but it overcompensates with juice. I mean, there's a lot of bad things, especially blood sugar, and how much insulin you need when you drink. I usually focus in on that, but let me just talk about your gut for a minute. When you release too much sodium bicarbonate to take that juice... Isn't that amazing? Guess what releases baking soda. Your pancreas. Isn't that crazy? You know what the body senses? The body releases histamine. What is histamine? Histamine is a reaction. You know when you take an antihistamine, like allergies? You take an antihistamine to knock down histamine. See histamine, you know its primary focus is, histamine? Is to tell your body you're dehydrated. Histamine. That's why a lot of times with allergies... I mean, there's other factors. I know all that, okay, like the gut, leaky gut, and bad bacteria. Kids develop allergies.
We got so many more allergies today than we ever used to. Again, what's new on the planet? Think about it. When I was a kid, there wasn't anybody going with a puffer. Did you ever notice that? I mean, nobody had a puffer. When I was a little boy in school, "Asthma, what's that?" I'd never heard of it. I'm not kidding you. Listen, I know you think I was born in the days of Noah, but I'm not that old. No, but you know what I'm saying? We never... Asthma? Every second kid is asthmatic today. There's reasons for it. I think antibiotics have played a huge part in that. It destroys the normal bacteria, and that's I usually focus in on, but a lot of times these kids are dehydrated because they're secreting so much histamine because they are living on juices. The number one fruit in North America, you know what it is? Orange juice. Crappola is what I like to call it. That's terrible for you. God wanted you to eat an orange, not to drink it for several reasons, but you see?
Your bowel, the 26 feet of your bowel, needs water. Your kidneys. Again, these are just sayings from me. Your kidneys are Niagara Falls. Go to Niagara Falls. Well, you can't go now. Everything's closed. I don't know, can you even go walk down there? I don't know. Anyway, I don't want to be too negative, but go to Niagara Falls. I'm sure many of you, if you've never been there, one of the greatest things to go watch. I never get tired of going to Niagara Falls, and going to the actual falls, and watching water, and 24 hours a day. It's not like it gets turned off. Oh, I guess Niagara Falls is not open today. The water stopped. No, it flows all the time. Well guys, that's your kidneys. One of the biggest problems in kidneys is dehydration. So much kidney disease. People don't drink water. Men, you big babies. You're big babies. "Water? I don't drink water. I don't like water." I'd get men in the office all the time. They were the worst. Ooh, they're big babies. We're big babies.
We don't like something... I said, "Well, you're going to have a heart attack. You're destroying your kidneys. Not only are you a carboholic, but you don't drink any water." "Well water, I like beer better than water." Yeah, I know you do. It's killing you. "Listen, Linda." Oh, men. Ladies, you're so much smarter than men. I got proof in the pudding, okay? Anyway, I don't want to be too negative on men. I just like to... because they're stubborn. They don't listen. They don't take care of their health like women do until they're really sick, and even then, "Oh, I didn't know that this was going to be so hard." Well, you've been abusing your body for all these years. Let's turn the ship around, but you're going to have to change some habits, and one of them is I want you to drink two liters of water every day. For my American friends, that's 64 ounces every day. "Every day, Doc?" "Every day." Here's what you do. Get up in the morning and start your day with a half a liter of water.
I will not allow myself to drink a coffee... Because that's all I can think of. When I get up in the morning, all I can think of, as soon as I have my coffee, I am going to be at the top of my game. But I do not allow myself to drink a coffee until I've had a half liter of water, 16 ounces. Through the day, minimum now, minimum, you need to drink four half liters or two liters of water. How did I come to two liters? Are you asking? Well look, it's mostly by observation, mostly by observation with thousands of patients. It's two liters. Now, some people need more, but I haven't met a person yet that needs less. If you're sweating, if you're working out, whatever, two liters a day. "Oh Dr. Martin, if I drink two liters a day, I'm going to have to pee." Yeah, but what do you think cleans out your kidneys? One of the reasons we see so much bladder cancer today. I know women. They won't drink water because, "I got to find a bathroom when I go to the mall." Well, go to the bathroom.
Peeing is good for you. It is. It gets rid of toxins. That's what your kidneys are there for. Niagara Falls, pour water on them all day long. Now look, you don't want to be up 10 times at night. I know that, okay? As we get older, whatever. Okay, I get that. Remember, that's what you need. I'm having fun. Are you? Okay. So the moral of the story is fibre's overrated, and water is underrated. That's the moral of today's teaching. Okay. Guys, love you dearly. I really do. Have you done the Reset yet? You need to do the Reset, okay? That is so good for you. I recommend it for everyone. Everyone. If you have a pancreas, you need to do the Reset. If you want to know what the Reset is get our book The Metabolic Reset, The Diet Your Doctor won't Share with you, number one in Canada. Thank you for that, guys. Okay? We appreciate that.
The Martin Clinic Facebook group, are you not part of that? I think you are, but if you're not, you need to join and get your friends and family to join to. What a community, and it really pumps your tires up if you're doing the Reset is to join that group, because they'll pump your tires up. They'll keep you on the straight and narrow. We all need encouraging, and it's the greatest group for encouragement. I'm telling you. Wonderful. We love it. Okay. Friday, question and answer, so send in your questions for Friday's very popular program, the Question and Answer program. 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!