Dr. Martin discusses 8 different “gut busters,” or things that can cause digestive issues. Primarily he talks about IBS and irritable bowel, and why it happens to people.
Dr. Martin also goes over 5 reasons to get rid of artificial sugars. The jury is finally in, and the verdict is guilty – that stuff is no good for you!
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 evening everyone. Hope you're having a great day or you had a great day and looking forward to our little session together here tonight, different in that doing a live at 7 PM. I want to talk about gut busters and what will destroy your gut tonight, okay? We're going to talk about that. Do you have gas, bloating, belching, diarrhea, constipation, uncomfortable gut? We want to talk why that happens. Now, there's such a thing that I've talked about so often and that is leaky gut, and that's part of it, but we're not really... We're going to talk about more about IBS and irritable bowel, why that happens. I'm going to talk to you about eight, nine things that cause or can cause digestive issues.
Now let me start off by saying this, the number one reason that people get digestive problems is the use of antibiotics. Again, antibiotics are wonderful. You have an infection, you have no choice. The problem is, double-edged sword, antibiotics destroy your bacteria. Yeah, that can give you leaky gut, but it can also... When you destroy the bacteria in the gut, you can start a cascade of problems and irritation in the bowel. In practice, I saw this on a daily basis, people with bad plumbing. Their gut wasn't good, hypersensitive, really had to be careful what they were eating.
But if you go back, usually there was a history, at least the number one cause would be that of antibiotics for digestive issues, okay? So that's well established, and again, we're not ever telling people not to take an antibiotic. I don't do that, unless you've had recurring urinary tract infections. I would rather, just from my experience, tell patients that try not to take another antibiotic. If you have to, take it til the symptoms go away then stop taking it. Don't finish the antibiotic because the research is showing what I've been saying for over 40 years because they always warned you, "Yeah. The bug will come back." No, it'll actually destroy all your friendly bacteria.
It only takes five days to destroy all of your flora. Again, I'm not saying don't take the antibiotic, but when the symptoms disappear, stop taking it, and always take probiotics. If you have any kind of infection, take probiotics. Now, you might kill some of the friendly bacteria in the probiotic, but you are introducing 50 billion, at least in ours, a broad spectrum probiotic. Take probiotics so that you don't get a fungal, a yeast, a leaky gut afterwards, okay?
So, the number one cause is antibiotics. The second cause, and people don't realize this because they don't make the connection between sugar and their gut. You don't have to tell a diabetic, you better cut back on your sugars. You usually don't have to tell them that. They understand the connection between sugar and their blood sugar. But sugar is one of the worst things you can do and one of the causes of digestive issues.
One of the reasons is if you've got our magnet, don't feed the bears because sugar feeds yeast. Everybody has some yeast in their gut, okay, everybody. Actually, it's helpful in digestion as long as you don't have an army of it. Problem is antibiotics, sugar. Sugar feeds yeast. You know what yeast does. Outside the body, what does yeast do? Makes bread rise. It makes things grow. It will absolutely create havoc in your gut. So once people get off sugar, it's amazing how many people have found an enormous difference in their digestive tract.
Now, there's two types of sugar. There's the old fashioned sugar and there's high fructose corn syrup. Don't be fooled, guys. Almost everything you buy that has added sugar in it, almost everything, it's not the old fashioned 50 years ago sugar. It's the new Frankenstein sugar, the Frankensugar that is high fructose corn syrup. When you're consuming that extra sugar and it's high fructose corn syrup, it's going to take a beeline to your liver. That's why we have so much fatty liver today. That's why triglycerides are so high. That's one of the reasons.
High fructose corn syrup is one of the biggest factors in diabetes and the biggest factor in diabesity. You like that name, diabesity? We see it. But what people don't realize is that connection between the sugar, and especially high fructose corn syrup, even though it's making a beeline. Studies have shown that even though it's on its way to the liver, because high fructose corn syrup is stored in the liver, okay? That's very dangerous, but on its way, it is very disruptive in the gut. It's very disruptive in the gut and it feeds yeast like no tomorrow, okay? So remember that. So what are the common causes? Antibiotics, the diet, especially sugar, and the worst, high fructose corn syrup.
Here's another one, alcohol. Alcohol is very hard, again, on the gut. Because alcohol, look, I'm not telling you to be a teetotaler. What I am you is be very, very careful. If you've got IBS, if you have any kind of digestive irritable bowel syndrome, I highly recommend you have no alcohol for several months until you clear it up, okay? That's why even on The Reset, we do not allow alcohol for 30 days, okay? The reason is because, well, first of all, alcohol like fructose, over to the liver in a nanosecond. But the other thing is it really can be disruptive in the gut, okay?
Here's another one, and these are hidden in a sense that people don't think of it. Do you know that one of the biggest factors in IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, SIBO, which we call SIFO, small intestine fungal overgrowth. One of the biggest factors is the use of artificial sweeteners, aspartame, sucralose. Those are very disruptive. I wrote down five reasons to ditch artificial sugar, okay? Guys, here's another thing, okay? They're called sugar alcohols. Whenever you see maltitol or erythritol and xylitol with that OL at the end, you're getting what they call a sugar alcohol, okay? Doesn't have any calories to it, but be careful with that stuff, especially if you have irritable bowel because your gut can be hypersensitive to it.
But let's talk about the artificial sugars. I want to tell you five reasons to get rid of the artificial sugars that you find in diet soda, for example, and a lot of foods, they add these artificial snacks and whatever artificial sugars. Guys, be careful because you know what, your gut really doesn't know what that is. You're starting a cascade of problems. I think one of the reasons we see a lot of autoimmune disease today, yes, sure, antibiotics and this and that, but I'm telling you guys, one of the reasons we see autoimmune is because of artificial sweeteners.
They're not that sweet. They're not sweet to your gut. Your gut doesn't know what that is, okay? It can't process something that was made in a factory, okay? Your gut's smart. It recognizes natural foods, okay? Natural sugars. You're having an orange, well, your gut knows what that is. You're having some berries, your gut knows what that is. But when you're having a diet soda, your gut doesn't know what that is. It irritates the gut and then the gut responds to it with inflammation.
One of the things it does is wrecks your good bacteria. It won't help you to lose weight. They've shown this over and over again. I remember in the 1970s, my dad was probably the first guy that I knew of anyways, I'm going to say 1968, because my dad became a diabetic and he used to like drinking sodas and having a rum and Coke or a rye and Coke or whatever. My dad went to diet Tab. Now, I'm pretty old. If you know what Tab is, and Fresca. Ooh, were they ever awful. I said, "Dad, how in the world can you drink that stuff?" He said, "Well, I'm a diabetic, no more sugar for me."
People used to ask me when I was in school in the seventies, "What is that artificial? What does it do to you?" I remember to telling people, telling patients, I said, "You know what, the jury is still out." But now the jury came back in with the verdict and you know what it is? Guilty, it's not good for you. It destroys, like an antibiotic, it actually destroys your friendly bacteria in your gut. Remember, your gut is home to not millions, not billions, but trillions of bacteria, and you're drinking diet soda or whatever and you're destroying the bacteria in your gut. Not good for you. The jury came back with the verdict. It's guilty.
People often make the mistake with a diet soda thinking it's good for weight loss. I tell you, friend, it is not good for weight loss. The only drinks that are good for weight loss is water and coffee and tea for my people that insist on drinking tea. No sugar. You can have cream. Water. But you know what we know now about those artificial sweeteners? It triggers hormones. It makes you hungrier. It has an effect on suppressing lectin. I'm full.
So actually, when you're drinking a diet soda or whatever that has artificial sweeteners in it, you think you're tricking yourself but you're really not. It's not meant for weight loss. I know it doesn't have any calories, but who cares? It doesn't matter. It's what's its doing inside your gut. They overwhelm your taste buds. Artificial sweeteners have a real effect on taste buds. They overwhelm them and you often will crave even more sugar. They interfere with hormones. The jury's in, guys. It's not good stuff. They actually train your body to want more, more food, more sweetness. You don't want that, do you? You don't want that.
So let's get back to the gut. Stay away from the artificial sweeteners. You got a bad gut, do The Reset for 30 days. 30 days. Again, I use the example and I know I'm right about this only because I've had so much experience, and ladies, I'm talking to you. I know you love your veggies, okay? I know you do. You eat 10 times better than your husband, most of you. But let me put a little bit of asterisk here, okay? If you have a gut that is hypersensitive, if you have a gut especially with diverticulosis, that'll be on your lateral side, down the transverse colon, okay, that's on your left side of your body, your gut on the left side of your body often will get these little pouches and they can get infected and they get infected because you're eating too much salad, okay? I know fiber, the nutritionist often will say fiber is king. Fiber is overrated.
If you have digestive issues, be very, very careful with any extra fiber, okay? That's why I love the reset. Don't worry about your bowels movement, okay? If you're taking probiotics, probiotics are fabulous for helping your bowel, they really are, in getting a bowel movement. But what you're trying to stop is the irritation of the gut, the irritation of the gut. A lot of times, and I talked about this to someone today, I can't remember someone was asking a question about oxylates. Well, I said, "That's from veggies, man." Again, I'm not telling you never to have veggies, okay? I'm just telling you don't live on it. Too much roughage. You're not a cow. You're not a rabbit, okay? You're not. Cows have four stomachs. They eat grass so that you can eat their steak. Don't live on salad. Because salad can really get caught, especially in cases of diverticulosis. Salad, it's like spinach getting stuck in your teeth, okay? So be very, very careful with that.
Another factor, big, big factor in digestive issues starts in the upper GI. That is with people who have low acidity and they're taking antacid, okay? People that take antacids are asking for trouble later on in their gut, it'll go downwards. Remember what I've said all along, when you have acid reflux, it's not because you have too much acid. It's because you don't have enough acid in your stomach. You want acid in your stomach. It's a furnace. You want that pH to be very, very low, acidic so it'll burn your food.
A lot of people because they're carboholics and they love their sugar, there's nothing that will destroy the acidity in your stomach like sugar does. Sugar destroys your acidity. You need acidity in the stomach. Then people get on antacids because they're just using a bandaid. Antacids don't fix the problem. They actually create another problem. Because when you're using an antacid, not only are you not absorbing your calcium, your magnesium, and especially the vitamin that you really miss out on if you don't have enough acidity in your stomach is vitamin B12. But that's for another discussion.
All I'm saying is one of the big gut killers is when you use antacids. You're suppressing the acidity. I know, it's no fun to have heartburn and acid reflux. “Dr. Martin, that is no fun.” I didn't say it was any fun. But I'm telling you it was caused by sugar. Nothing that will lower your acidity more than that and then your body overreacts to low acidity. What does it do? Your proton pumps, okay? You have pumps inside your stomach that send acid. The problem is when the proton pumps do it and they're trying to make up for the acid that you don't have in your gut, it goes right up the esophagus and that creates heartburn and that no fun at all, guys. It's no fun. By changing your diet, using digestive enzymes, using maybe a little bit of apple cider vinegar helps. I like balsamic vinegar, just a touch. Maybe a tablespoon of it, okay, is very, very good to help in a natural way, okay?
Here's another reason that a lot of people have trouble with their bowel. They have irritable bowel or inflammatory bowel. They don't have a gallbladder. God gave you a gallbladder, guys. So often, it's amazing, anytime I talk about the gallbladder, I'm always surprised how many people, they put a little comment afterwards and say, "Doc, you're right. I haven't had a gallbladder for years." It happens mostly in women for two reasons. Women lose their gallbladder because they don't use it. It's use it or lose it.
A gallbladder is a little storage bag, a little reservoir for bile. Bile is used, very important in digestion. Bile is very important. But your gallbladder, people that get gallstones are people that didn't eat enough animal fat. That's what bile is for, it's to emulsify fat so that you can absorb, you need fat. Your body needs fat. Your brain is fat. Your skin is fat. Your eyeballs are fat. You need bile. Bile helps with the pH. It helps in digestion. Listen, even if you don't have a gallbladder, your liver is what produces bile. Gallbladder is only a reservoir, but a lot of people have had nothing but digestive problems, especially diarrhea, when they lose their gallbladder. Use it or lose it.
The second reason that women more than men, much more than men lose their gallbladder, it's their diet. They love salad. They don't like fat. They have chicken and they don't even like the fat on the chicken, okay? Because they've been lied to. Like I said, you're not a rabbit. You're not a cow. Salad is just glorified grass. That's all it is, guys. I'm not saying you never have it, but as far as nutritional value, that's for mice, okay, not for human beings. There's not a lot of nutrition there, okay? “Oh yeah, but Dr. Martin, there's fiber.” I know. I know. But okay.
But here's the second reason for your gallbladder. Because your gallbladder is a smooth muscle, and women, just like your bladder, estrogen, when your estrogen dominant, you don't have enough progesterone for the bladder. You need progesterone for the smooth muscle in that bladder. You need progesterone in the smooth muscle in not only the gallbladder, but your bladder. It's another reason that women get so much more problems with urinary tract infections, not only their anatomy, but their physiology. They don't have enough progesterone compared to their estrogen and that can affect the gallbladder.
Here's another one. You know what really bothers guts a lot for women? Oral contraceptives. You know why? Full of estrogen. They mess up your gut. They can mess up your gut. People don't even think of that. I said, "Are you on birth control pill?" "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah." I said, "Well, you've been on it for a while. There are always some side effects to those things." Again, I'm not telling you not to do it. I'm just telling you what we know, okay? So I just wanted to hit on that tonight, of the reasons we have IBS. So listen, obviously, diet, guys, diet, diet, diet, diet. Change your diet. It's so important to change your diet. Do The Reset for 30 days. Give your gut rest. It really does make a big difference, okay? Secondly, probiotics. Okay, you need to replace the bacteria. Look, if you've had IBS for years, Rome wasn't built in a day. Give your gut time. You got 26 feet of it there, okay? You want to be able to give it some time, okay?
Another one, really important. One thing that's tremendous, bone broth. I love bone broth, collagen. Collagen protein, L-glutamine. Very good, okay. Do you know what mucilages are? Mucilages are marshmallow root and other things that I really like I put in our IBS formula. If you got a bad gut, guys, you got to take care of that and regenerate it. Drink enough water, please, please. You want to wash out that gut. Take out the toxins. Water is better than fiber for taking toxins out of your gut, okay? I mean it. Wash it away, guys. Wash it away. Water and only water is water. So make sure you're doing enough of that. I love our digestive enzymes. They're really important because I was talking to you about upper GI often goes down and creates problems and havoc in the lower gut. Fix that acid reflux. Make sure your stomach is acidic. You can regenerate, guys. You get a brand new gut. Did you know that? You get brand new gut every few months if you regenerate it right. You can get brand new cells in there and bacteria. They're on your side. Take care of it.
Okay, now tomorrow, Question and Answer Friday. So I always look forward to that. I know there's some new people on here tonight. If you're not a member of our Martin Clinic Facebook group, please join, okay? Please join. If you don't get our emails, go to Martinclinic.com and get our emails. Okay, we love to have you. The book, The Reset, not too late to get it for Christmas, okay, and Christmas gifts. Thank you for making that book so successful. Okay guys, we love you and we'll 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!