Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Pine needle tea
- Certified organic food
- Vitiligo
- Fat-soluble vitamins
- Plant-based omega-3
- Low platelets
- Causes of low potassium
- Losing visceral fat
- Benfotiamine
- Magnesium absorption
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 this morning, Question and Answer Friday. Good to have you on with us and we're looking forward to answering your questions here this morning. Brenda says this, “I know the doc loves pine bark.” Whoever told you that, Brenda? Yeah, pine bark is famous at the Martin Clinic, okay? And I've often told you the story of discovering pine bark extract, tremendous. One of the greatest extracts that ever has been put into a supplement. But she's wondering about pine needle tea. Now, I thought I answered that last week. Maybe I didn't. Maybe it was only in my dreams, Brenda. Look, I got no trouble with those teas. I've told you the history of the Martin Clinic and my grandfather, 1911. I mean, what do you think they used?
I mean, there wasn't a lot of medication around. They had their own concoctions and herbs and things that they would put into all sorts of different medications. I mean, when you look at a medication, by the way, think of aspirin, willow bark. The only thing they do is they synthesized it. They make it synthetic. I mean, almost all of them come from a natural product from a bark or from a herb or a tree or whatever. So if you find, Brenda, pine needles are good, hey, go for it. You drink it in a tea, right? Well, why drink tea when you can have coffee? That's my expression. No, but in all seriousness, hey, go for it. Nothing wrong with it, okay?
When you're taking a supplement, a pint, it's very powerful. It's 50 times more powerful than even the old vitamin E because it's a polyphenol. Flavonoid, antioxidant. Elevates your glutathione. It elevates your nitric oxide. The research on it is unbelievable, okay? Most of our research has been done in Europe. It's tremendous, okay? I did my own little clinical studies. That's one of the ways I got my PhD in nutrition was doing a study on pine bark extract, okay? It was part of my thesis.
Now, Farzani. Farzani, and Farzani, please, if I tortured your name, give me lots of grace, okay? But Farzani is asking about, "Will you explain the difference between certified organic food, especially the meat and regular ones?" Okay. So just to understand, okay, so I'm going to give you a little bit of teaching here so that you understand where I come from. When I say eat vitamin S, and I mean it, steak, the highest food on the food chain is steak, liver is probably a little higher but I don't like liver, okay? I don't like the taste of it. But you know what I'm getting at. Vitamin S the greatest food on the food chain when it comes to vitamins, when it comes to protein, when it comes to healthy fat. Fish would be just about right there, okay? Very close to it. So when I say meat, I mean fish.
So Farzani is asking a good question. What about organic? What's the difference? Well, the difference in organic is usually what's not in it, okay? So when it's certified organic, it means that generally they are not using any pesticides or herbicides or antibiotics or whatever in the feed and this kind of thing, okay? So it's really what's not in the non-certified organic, okay? Generally, okay? But now listen to what I'm going to say. You don't hear me talking about that very much. Why is it that I don't talk about it? Because I am not a purist. Do you know what a purist is? A purist is like no chemicals in my life. Everything's organic. Look, if you can afford to do that, I mean, good for you, okay?
So I always tell people, look, eating organic food and you're not doing anything else is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. First of all, you better get rid of sugar. You better get rid of carbohydrates. I generally want people to eat meat and eggs and cheese. You know me. When you're finished with The Reset, you're eating vegetables and you're eating some fruit, okay? So that is a general picture. Now, do you want organic? Look, it's probably better. But if you eat what I just said, eggs, meat, and cheese, fish, and when you're off The Reset, you're doing vegetables and you're doing some fruit, some fruit, then you're going to do well. You'll do well. It's been proven tens of thousands of times by my patients.
The ones that choose to look for organic in everything, good for you. You go to the organic section. You know what? You got the cash. Good for you. I got no problem with it. But understand where I come from. You will get results. It's better to get grass-fed beef than grain-fed beef. It is because you're going to get higher levels of Omega-3. But you're still better to eat beef than you are to eat a piece of bread. I don't care what kind of bread it is. You're better off to have bacon, whether it's organic or not, because it's better than your cereal. I don't care if it's oatmeal, okay? I don't. Because bacon is better. As a matter of fact, you know how much you like olive oil because it's good for you? Well, bacon and olive oil have the same oleic acid. What makes olive oil good for you is oleic acid. What makes bacon good for you is oleic acid plus the protein and plus... You know what I'm saying? And plus the fat. Okay, good question.
Hela. She's got a hoarse voice. Well, couple of things, Hela. She's 78. Hoarse and squeaky voice. Okay, well, what can be the cause of that? You could have a couple of things. You can have some scarring, a little bit of fibrous tissue on your vocal cords, happens when you get caramelization. I hate to use that big word. When you create AGE, which is glycation end products. Your muscles and even your vocal chords can change because you lose the elasticity in there. A lot of that comes from sugar and insulin. There's other causes. You can get squeaky and hoarse voice by having a constant post-nasal drip. You can get that, even your thyroid affects your voice, where you could have fibroids or nodules on the thyroid. That can all affect your vocal chords, okay? So one of those things, Hela.
Charlotte, a good protocol for vitiligo. A lot of people ask me that. Is there a lot of people that get that? Well, first of all, it is an autoimmune disorder. Anytime you see autoimmune, I think I've answered this in the past, you got to start with the gut. It's leaky gut, leaky gut, leaky skin. Therefore, you start with the gut. You need to change that. I believe it's possibly a fungal infection, candida. You got to clean that up, fix that up and go low carb. I mean, look, if you're going to be able to change it. Can cortisol, high cortisol, sluggish thyroid make it worse? Yes, it can. Cortisol pours gasoline on inflammation. It pours gasoline on inflammation. Leaky gut can lead to inflammation. It can be silent. You don't even know you have it.
When I say leaky gut, guys, remember what I'm saying. I'm not saying to you that leaky gut is necessarily giving you any digestive symptoms. Your symptoms might be referred. We call that in medicine referred symptoms, meaning it's like you can have a pinched nerve in your back and you have no pain in your back. You only have pain in your leg. We call that referred pain. You can get referred symptoms from your gut without having any gut problem. Doc, my gut is good. Yeah, but that doesn't mean you don't have leaky gut. You can have leaky gut and have leaky skin. Leaky gut, leaky brain. We talk about that all the time. Leaky gut, leaky lungs. Leaky gut, leaky sinuses. What have sinuses got to do with my gut? It's called fungus, candida, yeast. Don't feed the bears. That's why sugar is really important. But Charlotte, probiotics. Get on The Reset. Change your body.
Wendy, vitamin D, fat-soluble. Yeah. If it's too high, does it stay in your tissues? Yeah. Yeah. It's a fat-soluble vitamin. It means if you get a water-soluble vitamin, whatever your body doesn't need, it pees it out. Fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, the old E, not exercise, and K, ADEK. That's how you remembered in school, ADEK. A, D, E, K are fat-soluble vitamins. Now what does that mean? Well, you can be scared skinny of fat-soluble vitamins and never take one. Let me just say this generally, medicine is terrified of vitamins because they don't know anything about vitamins. They really don't. Anyone that listens to me and let's do a little quiz, 99% of you guys would win the quiz compared to 99% of, not 100%, but 99% of the medical doctors I know.
Because here's a medical doctor. Vitamin D, it's fat-soluble, okay? The waiting rooms in Canada, and the United States are not full of people sitting there going, "You know what. I took too much vitamin D or I took too much vitamin K, okay? Now, I'm in the waiting room at a hospital because I'm sick, okay?" Hello. Can I show you 10,000 studies of the importance of vitamin D? They should have given VitDerma, vitamin D, sunlight as a treatment and prevention of the virus. But of course not. So yes, Wendy, vitamin D is fat-soluble. Can you become toxic? Yeah, I guess so. But I'm going to give you studies that have been done, okay?
For six months every day, six months every day, they gave 50,000 IUs of vitamin D, okay? This was a study done by the Vitamin D council, okay? They still weren't toxic. Now, am I telling you to take 50,000 IUs of vitamin D? Of course not. Not without the supervision of a healthcare practitioner. Of course, you don't do that. But I'm just telling you, and that's why the waiting rooms are not full in the emergency departments of people taking vitamin D or vitamin K. It's not. Then of course, and you guys know this, vitamin D is a hormone. It's not just a vitamin. But if you ask a physician, okay, just ask a physician. Oh, that's for your bones. Vitamin D is for your bones. So when you're a kid, they don't want you taking vitamin D. What are you worried about your bones for?
So when you're an adult or you're 70 years old and they go, "Yeah, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take 1,000 IUs of vitamin D because for your bones." That's all they think of. They don't think of your immune system. They don't think it's anti-inflammatory. They don't know what it does for colorectal cancer. They don't know what it does for breast cancer. They don't know what it does for any of those things. That's why you listen to me because I'm telling you the opposite. I'm not saying vitamin D is no good for your bones. Of course it is. Everybody knows that. But, and remember, you have to go and think of cod liver oil. Why did they give that? They used to give it out. Grandma used to give it out to you, right? Why? For rickets, softening of bone.
They realized they better give vitamin D and cod liver oil, which has vitamin D and vitamin A. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. Can you take too much? Yeah. Have I ever seen it? No, I haven't seen it. Oh, no wonder you're dying. You've got vitamin A in your body. Guys, you know me. I want you to eat your vitamins mostly, okay? I want you to eat it in vitamin S. You've got vitamin A in eggs. You got vitamin A in cheese. You got vitamin A. What do I want you to eat? Eggs, meat, and cheese. Eat your vitamins. Now, what we know today and what we knew 50 years ago, it's like night and day. That's why I call it VitDerma.
When you go in the sun for 20 minutes, listen to this... Doc, I only take 1,000 IUs of vitamin D, okay? Only take 1,000 because that's dangerous. Okay, okay. But when you go in the sun for 20 minutes, 20 minutes, no sunscreen. You got your shorts on. You got a short sleeve shirt because it's summer. Guess how much vitamin D you get in 20 minutes in the sun. 1,000 IUs, 2000 IUs, 3000 IUs? No, you get 10,000 IUs in 20 minutes. You know me, I would wheel out every senior, take them out of their homes, take them out of the hospitals and roll them into the sun for 20 stinking minutes. You have no idea how good that is for people. The sun, VitDerma. Get your booster shot of VitDerma.
Guys, can you at least admit this? I'm so consistent with that, right? Look, I get it. I understand. It's a fat-soluble vitamin. Okay. I got it. Let me give you another observation. If your vitamin D hydroxy levels are high, okay? So that's how you measure vitamin D in the bloodstream. If those are high in people, which is rare, but if it is, okay, because 90% of the population are low in vitamin D. Now, they may be low normal, but it's not optimized and vitamin D should be optimized. But if let's say you got your vitamin D is very high and your doctor's concerned about it, well, first of all, then stop taking the supplement and just get in the sun because your body never, never overdoses on vitamin D from the sunlight. Never.
I mean, you can get too much sun and burn, but it's not because you're getting too much vitamin D. That is well controlled by your body. Amazing. The body's intelligence. But if you do have high levels and every once in a while when I look at blood work, you have high levels of vitamin D, it's your kidneys. It's your liver. You are eating too many carbohydrates. You got kidney stress and you got liver stress. Now, even your serum vitamin D levels are going to hike and your kidneys are stressed because you're a carboholic. I don't mean to be personal. Good questions. I love them. I mean it. Wendy, you just got me charged up, okay?
Sonia, "I'm going to get an Omega fatty score of three. Does it check my Omega-6 levels?" No, it checks your Omega-3 levels. I love that test. It's a good test, okay? I know I got real high Omega-3 levels because I take it every day. High DHA. I'm trying to protect my brain. I'm trying to protect my heart. It's an anti-inflammatory. I love it. Love it. Love it. How do you check Omega-6 level? Well, you don't want high Omega-6 levels, okay? The problem in society today is everything is Omega-6. Omega-6 comes from mostly plants and that they have Omega-6. Those are all right. They're not going to hurt you if you are taking enough Omega-3. The problem happens when you have an imbalance. This is what's going on in society. It's one of the reasons there's so much silent inflammation is every time you go to a fast food, packaged goods, all those things that are done with what they call vegetable oils, soy, it elevates your Omega-6 and Omega-6 to Omega-3 should be no more than three to one and it's in some people 30 to one ratio. Because they live. They don't get enough of the Omega-3.
Now, the other question, somebody asked it, and I think I'll answer it right now, okay? DB, DB. How are you DB? What is your take on plant-based Omega-3. Well, I've done this and I'll do it again, okay? So the idea with Omega-3 the longer the chains, the more your body absorbs. So let's say you're a vegetarian, right? You want to remain a vegetarian or a vegan. Can I please, please, okay? I'm praying. Can I please get you to at least take a supplement, DB, of fish oil. If you're a vegetarian, if your friends are vegetarian or your family is a vegetarian or a vegan, they're not getting enough long-chain EPA, DHA. DHA is longer. EPA is shorter. In the plant kingdom, you have Omega-3, hemp seed, flax seed, seeds.
You get Omega-3 in there, but they're short-chain ALA fatty acids. Dairy gives you another fatty acid. It's CLA and CLA is longer than even the plant-chain fatty acids and it's good for you. All of those things are good for you, all of them. But the better is what you find in fish or steak, guys, because it's got DHA. DHA and EPA are found only in the animal kingdom. I'm sorry, vegetarians. I'm sorry, vegans. I'm sorry to give you the facts I used to get in the office. I think you guys know me enough, but if you don't and you were the first time coming in to see me, I can be pretty intimidating. I used to get right up close to my patients before social distancing. I would look at them in the eyeballs and I say, "Hey, pay attention. I'm going to talk to you for a second." A lot of times it was just these young teenagers, okay? Girls. My heart broke for them because they're indoctrinated. Oh, doc. I can't eat anything that's got eyeballs. I don't want you to eat their eyeballs. I want you to eat the meat. You don't have to eat the eyeballs. But I knew what they were saying. They were indoctrinated by their friends and at school, 24 and seven that animals are higher than people on the food chain. You know what I mean? It's unbelievable, okay?
I just say, "Look, listen, listen. If you're insisting on being a vegetarian, you insist on it. Okay. You're wrong. You're wrong because there's a lot of things you're not going to get in the plant kingdom. I'm sorry. You were not meant to eat just plants. I'm sorry. You need to eat from the animal kingdom. Okay, you're not going to do it. Okay." Then I would say, "Here's what you got to do. I'm going to work with you now because I love you and I care for you. I'm going to tell you the truth, okay? Remember, Galatians 4 and 16, in the Bible says, have I become your enemy because I told you the truth? I'm not your enemy. I'm going to tell you the truth because whether you believe this or not, I really do care for you." That's what I would tell my patient, okay? You came to see me. You put your trust in me. Now, I'm going to take care of you and I'm going to tell you what to do. If you insist on being a vegetarian and a vegan, number one, you're wrong. Okay, it's not science. It's indoctrination. It's not true. It can't be true. Therefore, here's what you need to do. Number one, you need to supplement with B12. You don't get B12 if you don't eat red meat. So you're not going to eat red meat? No. Okay, then you need to take B12. “How long doc?” For the rest of your life, as long as you're going to eat that way, then you need to take B12.
Number two, you need to take vitamin D because you're certainly not going to eat vitamin D because vitamin D3, the one that you absorb from food is found only in the animal kingdom, okay? You got that? Do you like the sun? Then if you go in the sun, promise me, you'll go in the sun, then you'll be alright. Otherwise, you've got to take vitamin D. So in the winter time, you got to take vitamin D3 every day, okay? You're not going to get half of your amino acids and you're not going to get vitamin K2. You're not going to get vitamin K2. You're going to get K1. That's in the plants. But you're not going to get K2 and you need K2. So you're going to have to supplement. If that's what you want, then you are going to have to supplement.
So you guys understand where I'm coming from, okay? It's really important to understand that. Then I would tell them here's another supplement that I really insist on you taking and that is Omega-3, a fish oil. Well, I can't take a fish oil doc. Some people are so religious, they won't take a supplement of fish oil. Well, I would tell them, "Don't say that I didn't warn you. Don't say that I didn't warn you. I tell you this because I care for you. You put your trust in me. You came to see me and now I'm going to tell you the truth and that's the truth." I've never wavered. I've never come off of that. I don't care how much the world talks about Bill Gates and all his friends and the climate and no more meat and let's... Nah, you don't even feed the meatless craze to dogs. Please don't do that to a dog, okay? If you love your dog, you won't feed them that crap.
I go crazy. I know I'm a senior and I'm old and they want to put me out to pasture. But have I become your enemy because I told you the truth? Under no circumstances, zero circumstances, none, nada, nyet, that's no, any circumstance should anyone at any time become a vegetarian or a vegan. Under any circumstance. Oh, doc, I got cancer. Some guru told me don't eat meat and all this and that. Well, I don't care what that guru told you. You're deficient. You're becoming deficient. How can that be good for you? No, guys. I know, every day I got to answer to that because people, they try and convince themselves that vegetables... And they're good, don't say they're not good because I didn't say that, but they try and say that vegetables are better than meat. No. They're not. They're not.
Take a list of all your vitamins, all your minerals and put up broccoli because I always used to do this to people. I said, "What's the best thing? What's the best out of the plant kingdom that you have? Bring the best to me. What is it?" Oh, it's broccoli. Well, broccoli's good. Don't put it up against a piece of steak, though, because it's going to lose 10 to one. You know? It's just science, amino acids, vitamins, B12, vitamin D. I don't care what it is. You're not getting more in the plant kingdom. You're just not. You're not a rabbit. God gave you a gallbladder. It's one of the biggest arguments I have for people, okay? God, didn't give you a gallbladder for avocado, okay? God, didn't give you a gallbladder for avocado. Am I against avocado? No.
You got a gallbladder because God wants you to eat eggs, meat, and cheese. The only reason you're going to have trouble with your gallbladder is when you listen to the nonsense of fat-free. It's propaganda. It's not science. I am sorry. Well, I'm not sorry, but I'm sorry if I'm offending you. Okay. Or your grandchildren. It's the young generation today. Listen, you know what? One thing I know and I know I'm way off here today, one thing I know, I'm in the minority. I know that. But I'm going to scream, John the Baptist, okay, in the wilderness. I don't care if I'm the only person left on the planet, I'm going to say you're wrong. I'm sorry. You're wrong. Not true. The truth shall set you free.
Okay, Wendy and Sonia asking about the Omega-3 test. Bill and Dorothy asking about low platelets. Well, there's a lot of things that can cause low platelets, okay? If you're having low platelets, you're going to have very thin blood and you're not clotting. One of the things that you build blood with, guys, one of the things you build blood with is eggs, meat, and cheese. You need all the amino acids. You need all the vitamins. You need all this stuff. Look, it could be cancer. It could be a lot of things, okay? So understand that, okay? One of the things, okay, and I got to do a teaching on this is the difference between K1 and K2. People that have low platelets oftentimes are eating way too much K1, which is found in the plant kingdom. K2 is found in the... finish the sentence... the animal kingdom, cheese and butter, especially. It's found in meat too, K2. But I love K2. Do I love K1? Yeah, but not as much. K1 will thin your blood. K2 will take calcium out of your blood vessels and put it where it belongs. Calcium don't belong in your blood vessels. It belongs in your bones, okay?
Marcy, heat sensitivity. Okay. Yeah, some people, they just don't do well in humidity and the heat. Marcy don't move to Florida. Don't move to Arizona, okay? You're going to be in trouble. For the two or three days that we get in Canada. No, there's no supplement. I mean, really there isn't. Everybody's different, right? The all done are different fingerprint. We're all unique. I don't use the word weird anymore. Marcy, you won't hear it from me. You’re unique Marcy. But there's more of you than one. I mean, I've seen it. Make sure you're well-hydrated. A lot of times people dehydrate very quickly compared to others. A lot of times you don't realize that. So make sure you're well-hydrated and make sure you got enough salt in your body.
What could be the cause for low potassium? Well, look, if it's been happening, low potassium can be insulin because it stresses your kidneys, Glenda, okay? It could be medication, diuretics. It could be chronic diarrhea and whatever. You lose your potassium. Usually, you don't feel well. You can be very lethargic on low potassium and your muscles and you get twitching and you go into spasms for no reason. That can be all signs of low potassium, okay? Guess where you find potassium, eggs, meat, and cheese, and avocado too. Don't eat bananas for potassium. Bananas are too sweet, okay?
Lerma, what do I think of NAC? Well, it's a little controversial in the United States. The FDA is really cracking down on NAC. You can use it as a supplement. But it's an amino acid. You know where you get amino acids? All of them? In the animal kingdom. So you don't need to take a supplement. I'm not against it, but I'm just telling you, okay?
Connie wants to know, “How do you know if you're losing visceral fat?” Well, that's a good question. I mean, generally if you take your urine and you're into ketosis, it means your body's burning fat. But your body will burn fat in two ways, the fat that you eat, and if you use that primarily as fuel, which I really like, you know me, eggs, meat, and cheese is going to give you fat and protein and very little carbohydrate, you are losing fat. By the way, here's what they've shown, Connie. Here's what they've shown. Visceral means around your organs or in your organs, okay? So proven, six days on the road and I'm going to get home tonight. I heard that song the other day. I liked it when I was a kid. Six days on The Reset and you're emptying your liver while you're burning visceral fat. Six days. So that's how you know if you go on The Reset, you're losing visceral fat. Okay, Connie? But you can check your urine too for ketosis because you're going to have ketones in your urine. Now, it's not keto acidosis. It's ketosis. Different, okay?
Benfotiamine, Noel, is it good to take? Well, that's a synthetic B1, Noel. Eat your B1, Noel. Steak. You don't need to take a synthetic B1. I'm not big on B-complex, guys. I really am not. Not that I would never give it. I would rather you eat it. When your blood is very low, then I give it to you. Like in our Blood Boost, I mean, that is a multivitamin on steroids. It's so powerful, okay? It's so good for you. But generally, if you eat eggs, meat, and cheese, you're getting all your B vitamins, including B12. A lot of times I get people to substitute or at least supplement their B12 because they're low in it. They don't absorb it properly even when they eat it. It's part of aging, okay? I like optimized B12.
Heather, “How do you know if you're getting good absorption of magnesium?” Blood pressure meds can affect that and especially diuretics, okay? I just talked about magnesium, potassium. Well look, generally, if you got bad digestive issues, I mean, look, you're going to absorb some magnesium. I love magnesium citrate. People asked me that yesterday. It's the most absorbable kind. Your body likes citrate, okay? But if you think you're not getting enough magnesium, then go jump in an Epsom salt bath because those are magnesium salts. It's a tremendous way to bypass your digestive tract. Epsom salts, cheap. Put a cup full in a hot bath. So good for you, okay? Then you won't be low in magnesium. I love magnesium by the way. I don't talk about it maybe as much as I should.
If you take a K2 supplement, okay, optimized. Well, I don't know. Nobody's ever really measured on much K2 you need, okay? So again, have I ever seen too much K2? No. Have I ever seen maybe too much K1? Yes. When the blood's too thin, okay? I'm going to do a teaching on it, guys. I promise, okay? Because a lot of people are asking me this. But I don't even measure K2 because you can have 50 eggs a week, 100 eggs a week, you ain't going to get too much K2. Butter, put butter on your steak. K2, cheese curds. How many cheese curds can I eat? As many as you would like. One thing about cheese curds, you'll have some and then you'll be pretty full. True or false? Usually, you're full. Okay.
Al, “What metabolizes carbohydrates?” Well, it's a supplement. I like our insulin formula because insulin balance really does help, okay? That's why I put it together. Okay, guys, out of time. Thanks for the questions. I apologize for my ranting. No, I don't. It's me. Sorry, guys. I'm sorry for being me. You ain't going to change me, okay? I'm pushing 70. Just the way I am, okay? But you guys are so sympathetic. You are so loving. You are so supportive. I appreciate that, okay? I do. I love you guys so much. I mean it. Thanks so much. Okay. 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!