Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Postbiotics with butyrate
- Ketone salts
- GAPS and Mediterranean diets
- Flaxseed and estrogen
- Repairing diverticulitis
- Alternatives to Himalayan salt
- Overdosing on zinc or B12
- Inositol vs Insulin Formula
- Detoxing of the body
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: And once again, welcome to another Live this morning, Question and Answer Friday. Hope you're having a wonderful day. Did you miss me? I took a day off with my three youngest grandsons and it was grandpa heaven, okay? I just got to tell you that. We went to see a baseball game and those boys are boys after my own heart. You know why? They love baseball. Grandpa loves baseball. We went to a baseball game and we got into all kinds of trouble. We laughed and laughed and laughed, and we just had such a good time. They put up with grandpa, it's unbelievable. Anyway, if I'd known grandchildren are much fun with, I'd have those first, okay? I stick to that statement.
Now, Leila is asking, "Is butyrate…” ba-ti-rate, I don't know how to pronounce it, okay, but it's B-U-T-Y-R-A-T-E, and you're going to hear this stuff, if you want to Google, what's a postbiotic. So you have a prebiotic, a probiotic, and a postbiotic. Post, meaning that it is produced by the bacteria in your gut, okay? Is it good for your gut? Yeah, if your bacteria produce it. Bacteria, it's unbelievable, isn't it? When the more we studied the microbiome, the more we realize just how important it is and really is. That's why, even at The Martin Clinic, we used to talk about probiotics. I'm talking 35 years ago, more than that, and we've changed our minds. We recommend it every day now, just because everything that comes at you from your environment, from the food is going to destroy your friendly bacteria.
Prebiotics are what they call FOS, fructooligosaccharides. Big words, right? Well, we put them in the probiotics. We put them in there. Like, what would be a prebiotic? The best ones, in my opinion, are like maple syrup; honey is a prebiotic, if you want to put a little touch, but I'm very careful with that because of what it does to your insulin. So it's right in a good probiotic, and there's like lactobacillus and a couple of other bacteria. If you take a broad-spectrum probiotic, you're getting a postbiotic. You're already getting, your body produces it, because those bacteria inside your body, they're on your side. They're already producing fermentation inside when you eat, and the best foods to produce a postbiotic, which is really, really healthy for your gut, I wouldn't take it in a supplement. You're already taking it if you take a probiotic. You're already getting that. But the foods that actually feed your bacteria are butter and cheese.
So coming back to the question, Leila, you're going to see stuff on the internet and I appreciate you asking the question. Look, guys, if you want to spend money, go do it. But you are already eating them. That's why I love butter. I love cheese. Don't ditch the dairy. Don't ditch the dairy because they do have the bu-ty-rate, butte-rate. I don't know how you say it, okay, I don't. But you already got it, it's in nature. I do recommend though you take a probiotic every day. I do recommend that and I'm sticking to that. I take probiotics every day because it is a foundational supplement.
Okay, and then Fran is asking about another thing. Just again, it's a supplement. It's BHB and these are salts. They're called ketone salts. Let me explain them, and again, there's a lot of, not information as much as sales, going on in what they call exogenous ketones. Look, if you go on a ketotic diet, meaning very little carbs. For women, less than 20 grams of carbs a day, even probably less than not for a woman. A man might make ketones under 50 grams, they get to eat more carbs, okay? But usually that will send you into what we call ketosis. Now, you must differentiate that from ketoacidosis, because most... I promised myself, I wouldn't be negative. Today, I said, "You went on a one day holiday, no negativity," but I got to be a little bit negative, so let me just be negative for a second.
Most people, physicians, what they can't understand, most of them, is the ketotic diet. Why can't they understand? Because they can't differentiate it from ketoacid... all they can think of ketoacidosis is deadly, and that is when your body starts turning on itself. You're starving to death or you're dying. If you're dying, you're going to go into ketoacidosis. It's dangerous for a diabetic to go into ketoacidosis because their body is turning on itself. It's not really autoimmune, but it's turning on itself and trying to capture fuel because it can't break it down anymore. We call that ketoacidosis that is dangerous. Ketosis is not ketoacidosis. All you have to do for ketosis is cut your carbs out, or just about out and your body has to burn a fuel. When it burns fat, it goes into what we call ketosis, and nothing wrong with that, okay?
Now, there's an industry, in the supplement industry, that wants you to purchase exogenous ketones so that you burn even more ketones. Is it really important? Nah. Is it going to help you to lose more weight? No. Is it good for your brain? Maybe. Look, you can get like an MCT oil. You know what I mean by that? You've heard of that, the bulletproof coffee. You've heard of that. You put a medium chain fatty acid in there, a derivative of coconut or palm oil, and you can put it in your coffee with butter and you're going to make more ketones.
The problem with these things, and even the salts, the ketone salts, you got to be careful. A lot of people cannot digest that. It really affects their digestion. I tell you, you don't need to do that. If you like your bulletproof coffee and you want to spend extra money on an expensive oil, I'm not telling you, you can't do it. I just... When you don't hear me praising it, been there, done that. I tried it, patients have tried it, and what do I think about it? Meh. So I'm not against it, I'm just saying it's not part of my essentials. So if you want to get a ketone salt, I'm not big on it. When it tells you it's for weight loss, nope, it's not going to help with weight loss. Well, it help you with a little bit of energy, maybe. I like different things rather than that for energy, okay? So look, I don't want to be negative. Like I said, I sort of said I won't be negative today, but I'm a little bit negative.
Kim, can I discuss polyps and how to prevent them? Well, look, you get a polyp... and she's talking about in the colon. How would you know it? The only way to know if you've got a polyp in the colon is if you get a colonoscopy. And polyps, are they pre-cancerous? Yes and no, okay? Yes and no. But, Kim, let me just always say this about any growth, like a polyp. If your GI specialist, after a colonoscopy, if they see a polyp, they usually remove them and then they usually, usually, they analyze them. They send them to the lab to make sure they're not cancerous. Now, remember, what, Kim, makes things grow? Polyps, are they more common today? Well, it's because they do more colonoscopies today, right? I mean, 50 years ago, good luck getting a colonoscopy. I'm not against them, okay, I'm not. They're invasive to some extent and... Anyway, but at the end of the day, polyps need fuel to grow and, one thing, I'm going to talk to you about bowel cancer, a 100%... bowel cancer. Why do we see so much bowel cancer, colon cancer, especially in young people today? Well, I'm going to tell you the number one reason is because they're junk eaters, big time, and the amount of sugar that they eat. I mean, carbs, crappy carbs are the worst thing for your gut. So polyps start from there and they get their fuel from that garbage. So cut it out. I mean, that's how you prevent it.
Like I've heard this so many times, and to me it's not true. Fiber, fiber, fiber. No. Fiber is overrated. Now, I'm not telling you that it doesn't have a place in your diet, I'm telling you it's overrated. Fiber will not prevent bowel cancer. It will not. Fiber will irritate your gut and can be a contributing factor to polyps. Irritation to the gut, too much fiber. Salad. Salad. You're not a rabbit, okay? You're not. And you're not a cow that's got four stomachs that can chew on salad all day long because salad is glorified grass. Now, guys, listen, don't feed a polyp. It needs insulin. Insulin is a growth hormone. Keep your insulin down. That is the best thing you can do for your gut. It's the best thing. Okay?
And we'll get to the gut again, because there's another question... Maybe I'll go ahead of time and talk about it. Oh, here it is. Linda: What are Dr. Martin's thoughts on the GAPS diet? Okay, I like it. GAPS came from Dr. McBride, and what she did, talked about the psychology and the gut. And guys, I don't know if Dr. McKeown is on with us this morning, a psychologist at the University of Tennessee, a dear friend to The Martin Clinic. She tell you all about it, the connection between the gut and the brain, the gut-brain access. I liked Dr. McBride, the GAPS diet. I'm not exactly in tune with her, but I like it. What it is, if you've ever read anything about it, is that she used that to apparently cure her daughter of autism, daughter or son, I can't remember now. Well, I like the way she's thinking because of the gut and the brain connection. Your gut's got more hormones. Hippocrates had it right, the father of medicine. Everything starts in the gut. So, yeah, I like it. I like, personally, and I would put my diet, The Reset, up against the GAPS diet. And it's similar. It's similar. It's getting rid of crappy carbs and the sugars. She allows more vegetables and fruit, some fruit, but she doesn't want dairy. I can't remember what else now.
But, anyway, in a way I like it because it's focusing in on that and I tell you guys, I like The Reset better. I like to get people off legumes, 30 days. Legumes, the lectins, all of the oxalates. There's a reason... gluten, all of it's gone. In 30 days, you just don't have any of it. Do you know what the gut says? Thank you. Your gut will say, "Thank you. You're giving me a rest. You're sending me healing foods for my intestines," and your gut says, "Thank you. You've been overworking me for years." All this fiber, you insisted on fiber and cereals and grains and your gut's saying, "You know what? Stop it." "Oh, Dr. Martin, I'm just going to have such trouble going to the bathroom." I know. I know. But your gut, it likes having a holiday too. Not only on The Reset are you sending your pancreas to Hawaii for a holiday, but you're also sending your gut, really. It helps it to regenerate. I just can't tell you how many thousands of people have found that out. Found that out. "Oh, I used to have indigestion and bloating and I had..." like, I just had so much gas and I had SIBO, which is really SIFO, small intestine fungus overgrowth, and I had candida coming out the wazoo, and you know what, gee, doc that got better. How come? Well, you gave it a holiday. It's amazing how your body can regenerate. But I like the GAPS diet. I do. Like I said, I do a modification of it, but I like it. I do, okay?
"Dr. Martin, what do you think of the Mediterranean diet for cancer patients?" from Ivana. Well, again, cancer needs fuel. Cancer cells primarily are looking for glucose. We talked about that the other day. Don't feed it. Don't give it sugar. People, when they think Mediterranean, ordinarily, they're thinking olive oil. People over there, they eat a lot of salad and this kind of... Meh, no, they don't. The true Mediterranean diet, there's a lot of oil in it, agree. When you eat bacon, you're getting olive oil. Did you know that? All the benefits of olive oil. Oleic acid. Now, guys, that's just the fact. The benefits of olive oil, and I like olive oil, but I like bacon better because it's got oleic acid, the same thing olive oil. Is there anything in olive oil that bacon doesn't have? No.
Grandparents and parents, are you listening? I have a feeling your kids, I have a feeling, will like bacon more than olive oil. Which one is better for them? Bacon. Why is that? Well, olive oil has that healthy fat, oleic acid, and it is good for you. I like it, but bacon's got protein, lots, and lots of fat. It's got lots of that good oleic acid. So, guys, Mediterranean diet, they make it sound like it's meatless. It is far from meatless. In the Mediterranean diet, there is an enormous amount of fish and meat and cheese and eggs. That's what it is. And there's vegetables and fruit. Do I like it? Yeah, I like it. I do. But just understand what it is. It's not meatless because that's what people... "You're very... you don't need meat." You know what I mean? The Mediterranean diet, they throw that at you. Well, the Mediterranean diet. Yeah, but they lied. That's not what the Mediterranean diet is. The Mediterranean diet is eating from two kingdoms: the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. That's what it is. So as long as you know what it is, then you can, "Okay, yeah, I like the Mediterranean." But I know what mainstream media says, what they mean by the Mediterranean diet, right? It's like a meatless craze and it's far from it. It's far from it, just understand that, okay. So thanks, Ivana.
Okay, let me just... because I missed a couple here, okay? BB: "Does flaxseed lose its ability to block estrogen if it's baked or cooked?" No. No, flax seeds, okay, you know me, I like flaxseeds. It's really the only seed I like, I mean, okay? I like hemp seed a little bit. Don't smoke it. Don't get high on it. But flax seeds have lignans, hundred times more than anything else and that blocks estrogen. So you want to put them in cooking. You want to add them to your smoothie. That's where I like them, Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie with flax seeds. Only if you have diverticulosis or whatever that you might want to grind them up. Otherwise, your body grinds them up. That's overrated by the way, "Oh, you got to have ground flaxseed." No, you don't. Your body grinds them up. Now, if you've got a bad digestive tract and diverticulosis, then...
Hey, Eileen is asking, "Can you repair the pouches from diverticulitis or diverticulosis?" Yeah, you can. It'd take you a year to patch those things up and it's a long-term process. If you have diverticulosis and, by the way, 99% of people that get diverticulosis, that's why we see so much of it today, is because they over fiber their diet. They're on grains. They are on cereals. They are on salads and they eat way too much of it. Your body wasn't made for all of that and that really irritates part of the long intestine, the lateral intestine, and that can form pouches, and then feces gets in there, gets infected, and then you have a perfect storm of diverticulitis and it ain't no fun. It can be very, very serious, but yes, it can heal.
You need probiotics. I'd put you on bone broth. I would put you on what we call mucilages, just to completely re-coat and rebuild that wall. Can you do it? Yep. Your body's unbelievable, fearfully and wonderfully made. It's amazing. If you give your body the tools, what it can do. Now, you might always have some weakness. I always tell people, generally, everybody on the planet has a weakness, a blind spot. They don't appreciate. It's just who they are. You know what? Some people, "Doctor, if I eat too much fat..." Okay, but don't eat too much fat. Be careful for you, but don't paintbrush the entire world because that's your weakness. See, my weakness, guys, you know what my weakness is? Insulin. Me, see this face, and carbs don't get along very well together. I do very well not eating a lot of carbs. That's me. Now, some people have a bad digestive tract. It's almost like it's their weakness. They got to be super sensitive to what they eat. My wife is like that. Tony, Jr. is like that. Everybody's different. You got a different fingerprint. You have to figure out. Me, I just don't do that well. Put that in your computer up here, and I got to be super careful. Super careful. Figure yourself out, guys. It helps and just say, yeah. I know it says online that this is really good for you and then you say, "Yeah, but for me, hmm..." You know what I'm saying? Okay?
That was a rabbit trail, I think. Okay, well, Bonnie is saying Himalayan salt for her. Bonnie, you're not weird. You're unique. I don't use the word weird anymore, but Bonnie, if Himalayan salt bothers you it's you. Don't do it, okay? Now, remember it's not, "Oh, there's millions of people that Himalayan salt, which is a pink salt, guys, bothers them. Sometimes people say, "Ah, that's no good for you." "Why?" "Well, it's no good for me." I know, but 99.9% of the rest of the population... you know me and Himalayan salt, I love it. It's real salt. So is a good sea salt, by the way. So for you, Bonnie, I don't know. Have you tried sea salt? Like a real good sea salt? And you get what you pay for, guys, because it's got all the minerals in it. Not table salt. I'm not big on table salt. Why? That's sodium chloride. It's stripped of all its minerals. Table salt is no good for you. Don't go to the restaurant, and get off that table salt. That's no good for you. Bring your Himalayan salt with you. I love salt. We're going to do a whole thing on salt, I promise, the two oceans. We're going to talk about that next week. Somebody reminded me yesterday, "Doc, you keep saying it, but you haven't done it yet." I know. I know. Do I forget? Well, I'm a senior. It's not that I forget. I have it in my notes.
Okay, Louise, "What is the recommended dose of zinc to add?" Louise, you just have to understand my philosophy. There are some things I want you to take as a supplement. There's other things that I want you to eat. I'm actually writing a book right now about all that. What you take as a supplement and what you eat because some things are meant to eat. Zinc is meant to eat. If you're really, really low and your immune system is low, then I recommend somewhere around 50 milligrams but not any more than that, of zinc. But don't go out and buy zinc if you like steak, because if you like steak you're eating zinc. See, some things are made to eat like Vitamin S, steak. Now, if you don't eat red meat, you're not going to get a lot of zinc. Now, zinc is found... remember, zinc is only... listen, vegetarians, listen, vegans, I'm talking to you; your grandchildren that are vegans and vegetarians, they don't get zinc. They don't. It's not in the vegetables. It's not in the plant kingdom. I'm sorry, it's not there. It's in the animal kingdom. Eggs, meat and cheese, and especially steak, okay?
So, see what I'm saying, Louise? And what else were you asking about? Can you overdo it on zinc? Yeah, you can overdo it. Have I ever seen it? In 46 years of practice, did I ever see? Oh, I know what's wrong with you. You got too much zinc. No, I've never seen it. Now, is it possible? Yeah, I guess so, I've just never seen it. It's like vitamin D3, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the waiting rooms are full. People, they're just sitting there waiting to hear that they're taking too much vitamin D3, and you're going to drop dead and croak, right there. No, okay? But is it possible? She's even asking about B12. I also know that we can overdo B12.
Louise, I'm going to say this very slowly. I disagree with you. Look, I guess, it's possible. But you see, B12, that's a water soluble vitamin, meaning that your body knows when to pee it out and when not to pee it out. Doctors, they take a reading. It's a hundred years old. First of all, the B12 test is 100 years old. Give it a birthday party and put it to bed, the way I think about it, because B12, now you want to optimize your B12. Now, if you're up in the 1400, just stop taking it. You don't need to take it. Just eat it. If you eat B12 and steak when your numbers are high in your blood, that'll top it up. It's just like I told someone via email yesterday or the day before. "Oh doc, my vitamin D is high. What should I do?" Make sure you're not taking a supplement. You don't need it. Go out in the sun. You'll never overdose on vitamin D in the sun. You won't because your body knows exactly how to control that. Isn't that amazing? Yeah.
So I'm a big guy on eating vitamins and I'm a big guy on certain supplements that you need to top up, and one of them is B12, for a lot of people, because when you get older and you got any kind of digestive issues or you're on any kind of medication, Louise, any medication, you are kicking your B12 to the curb. B12 is a finicky vitamin, at the best of days, most people have no idea. "Oh doc, my doctor said that my B12 is normal." Yeah, I don't want it to be normal; I want it to be optimized. Normal is not good. Oh, it's 300. Yeah, well, that's for a mouse. Not for you. I get too excited, don't I?
Noelle was asking about, I think this is the last one, Noelle; inositol used as a form of metformin. No. Look, I'd never seen it to be that effective, to be honest with you, Noelle, okay? Now, look, again, there's some ink on it then, you know. If you look at our insulin formula, those are things over the year, including ashwagandha and including NAC, including cinnamon that I put in there, the cinnamon bark and fenugreek, and it's the combination chromium picolinate, I put it all in there because I just found over the years and a lot of patients have too, over the years, they found that they didn't need metformin when they took that. I'm not telling you not to take metformin. I don't do that. I always just say, "I want you to do this because your insulin, you got so much insulin resistance or you're a diabetic, whether you know it or not. You're on the Titanic," and I tried to get them to balance their insulin.
Anyway, if you have leaky gut and sluggish thyroid, what do you try and heal first? Okay, this is the last question. What do you try and heal first: leaky gut or thyroid, sluggish thyroid? That's a good question, Monica. I like that question. Well, I would start with the gut, but if you do The Reset, which is really what everyone should start with, it's food. So, of course, I want you to take care of your gut with probiotics. But if you do The Reset, I'm aiming at your horror-mones, too, Monica. Because when you cut out the crappy carbs, when you cut out those seed oils, the crappy vegetable oils, it's amazing what your thyroid does because the thyroid is a puppet. It relies on the adrenal glands. It relies on the gut. It relies on your liver. When you clean your liver out, it's amazing what happens to your thyroid. Thousands of testimonies have found that out. People have found that out.
So what you really should start with is an overall detox of the body, and that is The Reset. It is a detox like no other detox. It hits the gut and it hits the thyroid. It hits the brain. It hits all of that because it is holistic in its approach. That's what The Reset is. Guys, like I said, without any apologies, I tell you this, The Reset, clinically proven. Now you can talk keto. You can talk this. You can talk that. You can talk GAPS. You can do the Mediterranean. Look, guys, I've heard it all, I've seen it all, but I would put The Reset up against any of those other, all of them. Any of them. Why? Because it is total, total, total nutrition. It's exactly at the cellular level, what your body needs. Every vitamin, every mineral, every macro that it needs, protein and fat from the animal kingdom in a 30-day program. I don't know how else to sell it there. It is the greatest program clinically proven before and after blood tests. Clinically proven. Testimonials, but clinically proven with real people, real people that had real big problems. It's who I am, guys. This is who you get.
Okay, thanks for all the questions, guys. Thanks for putting up, like Nic said, "I miss your rants." Well, you only missed a couple of days. But, guys, we appreciate you. You have no idea. Thank you so much. If you want, share this. We will make it into a podcast, so The Doctor Is In podcast. Thank you for making that such a powerful health show. We appreciate that. We thank you for that. The Reset is coming back in September, the book we sold out again. But Tony, Jr. tells me that we'll have it back and stocked in early... we sold it out. Now we're into our third major printing. That's you, guys, that did that. We thank you very much. We love you. 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!