Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- NAC supplement
- Blood thinners and their use
- non-HDL cholesterol
- Berberine to lower high-circulating insulin
- Unsalted nuts elevating blood pressure
- Safety of The Reset for children?
- Long-term fasting
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. And once again, welcome to another Live and this is Question and Answer Friday. Hope you're having a coffee start to your day, vitamin C. Okay... Natalie, “Dr. Martin, can you discuss the NAC supplement, N-acetyl cysteine.” Now, if you follow natural products at all, the FDA got pretty uptight. I think people were talking about using NAC for the virus, and the FDA started to tell even Amazon and that not to sell it. It's been used as a drug in sepsis for quite a while. So I don't want to discuss it too much because, as far as I know, I don't think you can even get it anymore. Companies were told to take it off the market. Now, if you know something different than I know, maybe send me a message, because I think that the FDA made companies pull that product. So I never used it. Never had it in any of my supplements. So just let me know if you can even get it anymore. I thought the FDA had banned it.
Sharon. Blood thinners and their use. Well, are you talking about, Sharon, natural blood thinners or just blood thinners? A lot of people are on blood thinners, and anybody that's had a stroke or had a heart attack, one of the cocktails that if you've had a heart attack or a stroke, you're going to be on blood thinners. A lot of people are on blood thinners for a long period of time if they have any kind of history of clotting and had a blood clot in their leg or whatever, blood thinners. Look, I never tell people to come off a blood thinner. I won't do it. You got to do that with your physician, but I tell you, a lot of people are on it, and they don't necessarily have thick blood. They use it as a prevention, and there's obviously a lot of side effects to that, easily bruising, internal bleeding.
Think of aspirin, okay? I don't even know if it's still available, but I probably had almost a million views of a little teaching that I did on aspirin, and I didn't say it. The FDA said it. They said that, you know how they used to recommend taking aspirin? You have no idea. My generation and probably more my parents' generation, there was millions and millions of North Americans taking aspirin like a vitamin, meaning they had no history of heart attack or stroke, but they took it as a prevention. And this has got to be three or four years ago, the FDA came out and said, "Don't do that. Don't take it every day. Don't take an aspirin every day." Now a lot of people push back on me. I said, "Well, hey, I'm just telling you what the FDA said," because they said the risk of taking aspirin, because that's what aspirin does, aspirin thins your blood, it decreases the platelets in your blood. So I didn't say that. I just brought the teaching that the FDA said, and they told aspirin, they couldn't put it on their... Bayer and other makers of aspirin, they couldn't use that claim anymore, that you should take it every day without your doctor telling you to do it. Okay? So I don't know, Sharon, blood thinners and their use. I hope I answered your question.
Arlene's asking, "What causes drop foot?" Well, usually nerve impingement from the spine, the number one cause of foot drop. You can get foot drop, of course, with a stroke or whatever. But the number one causes coming from the spine. It's nerve impingement. And I've seen it a lot. Okay?
Carolyn. She said, "I Googled non-HDL and read that number, if it's high, is very bad." Well, Carolyn, in all due respect to Google... I love Google, but in all due respect, no. I'm not moving off my position, and that is when you look at blood work, there's a lot of stuff when it comes to your lipid profile, but there's only two I'm interested in... and you can't make me interested in any more. If you want me to look at it, I won't. If you want me to tell you what non-HDL number means, I won't tell you. You Googled it. I don't agree. It's your triglycerides, and it's your HDL. Three fat ball triglycerides and HDL, high density lipoprotein. The FedEx trucks, the Amazon trucks, the trucks inside your blood vessels that hitch their wagon to triglycerides, and they bring them back into the liver to be metabolized. You want low triglycerides and high HDL. You want low triglycerides and high HDL. That is lipid profile 101, and that's what doctors used to be taught in medical school, triglycerides, HDL. Before statin drugs, LDL and non-HDL and non and total cholesterol, it all came out of the pharmaceutical industry, and it's hard to turn that around because that's the way doctors are taught, and I think they forget their biochemistry, and this is the way it is. It's the way it is.
So you can Google, and if you Google, Carolyn, you're going to get a lot of people disagree with me, but I'm going to tell you something, that what causes, what influences triglycerides and HDL is food and the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry and big media, social media and big media, I'm not saying they sit around in board meetings and compare notes, but one of the biggest scams in the history of medicine has been the cholesterol scam. It's a scam, in my opinion, okay? It's a scam. It was never true, and people say, "Well, doc, prove that to me." I say, "Well, look, I mean, I can only give you statistics, and heart disease is higher than it ever was, and yet the number one selling medication of all time is not aspirin. It's Lipitor. It's a statin drug. It's the highest selling medication of all time."
Now I'm not saying the pharmaceutical companies don't have your best interest at heart. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying there's not good people or good scientists there, but there's a lot of money involved, lots of money, and they influence the medical schools. And you've got to undo that, in my opinion. Now I'm giving you my opinion, first of all. I'm more than convinced that I'm right, and I try and rest my case on if statins were so good, what's happened in the world? And I can prove to people, I can share this, I probably share it almost every day. I can prove to people that if they clean up their diet, their blood work gets better, triglycerides and HDL. To me, that's science. Unless you prove to me something else, meh, I'm open. But you've got to prove it. You're going to have to prove it. So Carolyn, I appreciate the question. I do. I want people to think. Socrates wanted people to think. Think. And you're going to get different viewpoints as some often say on our Martin Clinic Facebook Group, "Doc, I'm so confused."
I'm trying to not get you confused because I don't put out a statement and put it out lightly. That triglycerides, when they're high, you're in deep trouble. If you have low HDL and it's like a teeter-totter, if your triglycerides are high, almost invariably, with few exceptions, your HDL will be low. And if your HDL is high, your triglycerides will be low. It's almost invariable, but you can influence that by your food, and it's carbs, it's sugar. It's not cholesterol. It's not eggs that make you sick. It's not steak that makes you sick. It does not clog up your arteries, Carolyn. It doesn't. They don't clog up your arteries. You can have a million steaks in your lifetime. It will not clog up your artery once. That's not what it does.
The cholesterol is a hoax. Cholesterol, your body needs it. Your liver makes it. God makes 85% of it. You're only responsible for 15. Every cell in your body, like you learn that first in biochemistry, your body's made up of cholesterol. Your hormones don't get transported without cholesterol. It's not the boogeyman, and they try and make it the boogeyman because they got drugs to lower it. They found a statin drug that lowers your cholesterol, and they had to create a disease around it, and the whole world went for it. Hook, line, and sinker. They took it all, and I've been talking about this for so long, it'd make your head spin, but I don't mind talking about it.
For the new folks that are on with us. And look, guys, you're not going to hear me tell you to get off medication. I won't to do it. I'm not telling you that. But you live in a day and age, and really, there's a two-edged sword. We live in a day and age with propaganda coming at us like 24 and 7, but on the other hand, we live in a day and age where you can listen to guys like me and get the other side of it. Choice is power. Information is power, isn't it? It really is. And I try and be a common sense kind of guy. I try not to hold anything back and give you the other side of it because like I said, a lot of it is religion, guys. It is. It's religion. It's indoctrination, the boogeyman is. Cholesterol is a boogeyman. The sun is the boogeyman. You need to take aspirin every day, thin your blood. No you don't. I mean, there's a lot of boogeymen. So I'm going to give you the other side of it, guys. And we appreciate it. We appreciate those questions. I want you to think. I want you to come to some conclusions on your own because you're only going to get one side, usually. Okay? Good question.
Mark. “What are my thoughts on berberine and mulberry as a means of lowering high-circulating insulin and sugar?” He says, "Since your insulin balance doesn't contain them,” There's a reason. Well, I'm going to speak about berberine, okay? Because it's getting lots of ink lately, and I don't have any issue with berberine. I'll tell you what my experience has been. Two things. One, a lot of people with berberine, they get digestive issues. It bothers their stomach. It's like metformin, the drug. Metformin, I used to get thousands of patients over the years, and they had digestive issues, and I would say, "Are you on metformin?" "Yep." I said, "Well, you didn't have it at first, but now it's starting to bother your stomach." And metformin was to help to regulate blood sugar. Diabetics, even pre-diabetics are given metformin. One of its common side effects, number one is that you can't absorb B12 with it, and number two is that it caused a lot of digestive issues, just one of its common side effects. So berberine is what I found, and the other one, it's sedative to some extent, and people found themselves lethargic. You know what? I just like my formula. Okay? I do. And people love that form. So again, I'm not against it, though. I'm very well aware of its benefits. But like I said, a lot of people didn't tolerate it very well in terms of digestively. It made them a little bit lethargic. Okay? So Mark, I hope that answers your questions.
Coleman. “Can non unsalted nuts elevate blood pressure?” No, not really. If you're trying to lose weight, lay off the nuts. Okay? Don't be a squirrel. You watch a squirrel. You ever see chipmunks work as hard as they do? They get ready for winter, man, and they work all summer getting ready for winter. Right? And what they're doing is storing nuts and they'll go where they store them. I like chipmunks. They go several feet underground and they store their nuts. They fatten up. But as far as blood pressure, no. And listen, salt... you're made up of salt. Okay? Coleman, you're made up of salt. The problem in the world is not salt. It's not. Again, salt was a boogeyman. True or false? Of course, it was. It was a boogeyman. And again, my generation and my parents' generation, we took it. "Oh, salt. Salt-free." They still, if you go to the middle aisles of your grocery store, even today, you will see salt-free or low-salt. Where does it come from? Well, salt elevates your blood pressure. No it doesn't. Sugar does.
Listen to what I'm going to say, Coleman and others. There's nothing that will affect your blood pressure more than sugar. Why is that? Because there's nothing that will affect your kidneys more than insulin. Your kidneys are super sensitive to insulin. Ask a diabetic. Super sensitive to insulin. So when you have sugar and crappy carbs, there is nothing that will affect your blood pressure like that. Not salt. Now the only little disclaimer I use, the little asterisk that I use is this. When salt can bother you is in the absence of water. We call it the viscosity of blood. If you're not drinking enough water, vitamin W, you could be in trouble, and a lot of people don't drink enough water and only water is water. Okay?
And somebody else asks, okay, let me get that question because James asked the question. “I was given a water pill to reduce my blood pressure.” And I'm going to tell you something, James. Your kidneys, when you have edema, swelling, edema, your kidneys are not functioning properly, and a diuretic, which is a water pill, and they'll tell you to cut down your water. And look, I'm not trying to get you off medication or whatever, but if someone is on a diuretic, they should be doing The Reset, The Reset. So again, please don't ever stop any medication without running it by your doctor, but what I'm saying is fix the underlying problem. Fix it. Because a lot of times you go on a diuretic and then, boy oh boy, you've got to be very careful because now you don't have near enough potassium.
And remember I talked to you about those two oceans inside the cell and outside the cell? Okay? Sodium outside, and inside the cell was that potassium, and it's the balance that you need. And a lot of times what happens is that when you're dehydrated and when you don't have enough salt, a lot of people, they don't realize that because they live salt-free and they buy a lie that was never true. Salt your water for heaven sakes, and salt your food. Don't ditch salt. Did you like that, when I did that podcast? I think it's just coming out now, the podcasts that I did with you. Don't ditch the salt. Switch the salt. Don't ditch it. Okay? I'm not telling you to eat salty potato chips. I'm not talking about that. Okay? All good questions. Fantastic.
Somebody asked this one, and they didn't put their name, okay? “Is The Reset safe for children?” Yeah. It's the best thing for a child. I'm not saying it's easy for a child, especially in this day and age, the way they've been weaned and... goes on to say, "What research do you have?" Well, look, I'm going to give you science. Okay? And again, if you're going to Google it, you're going to get two schools, mostly one and three quarters schools versus a quarter. That's me and a few others. Look, I am huge, as you know, on the animal kingdom. Everything you need is in the animal kingdom to eat. B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, selenium. What is missing? Vitamin C? You've got to have fruit to get vitamin C. Eh, steak's got vitamin C. Our Inuit friends up north don't die of scurvy. They don't. They don't.
Again, I just give you my overall philosophy. Okay? One with kids, don't worry about The Reset. Worry about how much sugar they're eating. Don't worry about The Reset, if you can get a child to do a reset. It's not always easy. I never gave, with few exceptions, and I'll name a few. I never gave a child a plan to fail. When they left my office, I gave them, and I would talk to them, parents, too, of course, but I would talk to them because kids are smart. Kids get it. And when they had troubles, I said, "You know these sugar you're eating? You need to learn what is sugar and what isn't. You need to read your labels." And again, I said this the other day. I had a cereal box I left in my office, and I would show them how much sugar was in there. And I said, "Well, that's going to bother you. So you need to cut back on that big time.” Cut it out? No. Because I didn't do that to kids. I didn't do it to kids, but I gave them a plan to succeed, and I said, "Well, look, every time you have that, it's going to play with your brain. You're not going to do well. You're a canary in the coal mine. You've got a sensitive system."
Nobody really gets away with it, when you're a bad eater. Sometimes you don't pay right away, but you will pay. You will pay. I don't care who you are. Don't talk to me about your uncle that lived to 107 and smoke and drank and ate cake all day long. Don't talk to me about that. If that did happen, that was by the grace of God. That was nothing to do with his lifestyle. People don't get away with it. As a matter of fact, research is proving that 88%, 88% of the population in North America is paying the price for their bad choices. They have metabolic syndrome, and metabolic syndrome, which is insulin resistance, is at the root of heart disease, it is at the root of cancer, it is at the root of Alzheimer's, and it's at the root of diabetes. It's at the root, part of it, of autoimmune disease. It is at the root of, and Dr. MacKeown would agree with me on this, it's at the root of a lot of mental issues. It's why we see so much problems today. It's food guys. It's food.
So what research can I show you? Well, I'm not a researcher. I'm a clinician. I'm a clinician. When I saw ADD or ADHD or autism, behavior problems, cognitive issues in children, I saw lots of it. Digestive issues in children, I saw lots of it. Autoimmune issues in children, I saw lots of it. I would start with their diet. And it's amazing how kids are smart. They're very, very smart. And they'll preach it. If you teach it, they'll preach it. No, seriously. I have had people come up to me. Do I recognize them? Of course not. They see me in a grocery store or whatever. "Dr. Martin, I came to see you when I was a kid." "Okay. Who are you?" But first of all, they're looking at my grocery basket to see what I'm eating. And secondly, they say, "But you really helped me. I couldn't focus. I was on meds. I was on Ritalin, and you taught me how to eat." And I give them a high five, pre-COVID because I wouldn't give them a hug. "Well, thanks. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm glad you did it."
See, I always send people home with a plan to succeed, not to fail. Look, I'd never tell a kid, "You can't ever have ice cream or cookies again." What? They going to leave the planet? But I'd say, "Look, when you have ice cream, not going to do well. When you have those cookies, you're not going to do well. When you have cereal for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs or sausage, you won't do well. And now you've got to take charge of your life, and your parents will help you. But you've got to do it. You're the one to go make those choices for the rest of your life." It's amazing how you can form good habits. It's amazing. I always give kids credit because they're smart as whips. They are, and they would get it. I'd look them right in the eyeballs. I said, "You can get this."
Are you going to tell a kid, "You're never going to have pizza again in their lifetime"? Come on. That's not going to happen. So I tell them, "Look, see the crust?" "Yeah." "That's the bad part." Okay. Don't live on that. See those noodles? Don't live on that because that will turn to sugar in a nanosecond. So don't live on that. And they're smart. "Okay, doc. That's hard.” I didn't say it was going to be easy, but you can do it. You just got to figure yourself out, and you want to feel well, the reward, guys, and this is for all of us, isn't it? The reward is we get better. I would tell people on The Reset, "Look at the future. Don't look at today. Today's a tough day. It's a tough day today." I don't feel so good. It's day seven on The Reset. Then you know what? This is not easy, and you know what? We're having a birthday party for someone and I'm on the reset. I said, "Well, yeah, but you've got to look forward. You've got to look to the end of it. You've got to look at the reward." That's what it is. Most people, they don't have self control. It's so important, isn't it?
Guys, one thing about food, we're surrounded by it. It's not like drugs. We're surrounded 24 and seven, in the fridge, in the cupboards. It's not easy. It's a very difficult addiction. I joke about a carboholic, but it's a difficult addiction. And remember, the food industry did everything they could to hook you. They did it on purpose. Hook. I got you. They went after kids. They hooked them. And we see such a tragedy today of this metabolic syndrome, guys. It's a terrible thing because it leads to disaster. Okay?
Guylaine is saying, "What's your reasoning not to fast past 72 hours?" Well, look, don't do it without supervision, first of all. This is me, okay? I'm going to give you my opinion. You know I like fasting, but I believe in intermittent fasting. I'm not a big guy. Look, if you have cancer, I actually wrote about this in a book, Are You Built for Cancer? There's some good research that shows if for three days you get that diagnosis and you want to kickstart three days of no eating at all, but remember, I almost called the reset "fasting without fasting." You've literally sent your body in motion to fast if you eat the right foods. So if you want to do, like I said, 16 hours will turn your body into the self-cleaning oven. Okay? Your body goes into the self cleaning.
You turn the button on, and research is showing about 16 hours of no food at all. So if you stopped eating at six o'clock, 12:00 would be six in the morning, 8:00 would be 14 hours, right? And 10 o'clock would be 16 hours, and some people don't eat until noon or whatever, and if you can do that, I got no problem with it. I don't. Eating within windows. But I'm a big guy on eating the right food, the right octane foods. I've proven it to thousands and thousands of people. If they switch the fuel, go from crappy carbohydrates and sugars and whatever they burn so terribly, bad oils, that is not good fuel. But if you switch your fuel, it's amazing how your body develops that high octane from ATP, from your mitochondria, when you're eating the right foods. So I'm big on that. And past 72 hours, look, your body, it'll burn the fat. But when you get past 48 hours, your body is going to turn inside now and start not only burning fat as fuel, it'll burn muscle as fuel. It'll start going to ketoacidosis. And look, again, I'm not big on that. I'm not big on long-term fasting. I don't think it's good for the body, and there's people that disagree with me.
Okay. There's a few other questions. I'll try and handle them next week. Okay? Now hope you're having a great day. We love answering your questions, and sometimes I'll pontificate. I'll go off on a tangent. But that's me. Okay. No, we appreciate you guys. We appreciate you guys. Have a great weekend, and we love you dearly. 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!