Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Dry eyes
- Strophanthus seed extract
- Plant sterols
- Stiffness & tingling
- Stool softeners
- Tinnitus
- Sugar feeding cancer
- Probiotics
- Healing of damaged capillaries
- Carcinogens
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. Welcome to another live. Hope you're having a great start to your day, you had your vitamin C. Okay. Let's get to the questions, kind of question and answer Friday here. Elsie, what causes one eye to water? Well, could be a couple of things. Believe it or not, even allergies can cause one eye to water more than the other one, but generally what I find when there's one eye, you're getting a condition called dry eyes, okay? It'll start with one and then it'll go to two. Not enough lubrication in the eyes.
Sometimes, Elsie, what's happening, it's much more common today because the people with always on their iPhone or their iPad or their computer and their eyes, they dry right out, so other than get off the computer or spend less time there, I often tell, and young people suffer from this big time, high DHA is one of the best things you can get for your eyes, and I'm on the computer a lot. I'm on my iPad or my smartphone quite a bit. I have to be very careful with that, but I find that just my combination of taking Navitol and DHA, high DHA, my eyes actually have gotten better. My eyesight, I mean, has actually gotten better, and since 55 to 70, my eyes got better. I still need glasses to read. I really don't need them other than that, but my eyes have improved, so look for allergies. It could be something that bothers you. You would think it'd be both eyes, but often starts, Elsie, with one, and be careful on that.
Darlene, what do I think of strophanthus seed extract? I know what it is. There's three or four questions this morning on these things, okay, because Katherine is asking about plant sterols. What do I think of them? I like them, but I always compare to what, clinically, I use. When you tell me about strophanthus seed extract, I'm going to tell you something that's better, guaranteed. Much more research, pine bark extract. I talk to you about it a lot. I discovered it well over 30 years ago, and with consistent clinical results, I'll put it up against any extract. There's nothing like it. Pine bark extract. Now, we have our own blend at the office, Navitol, and it's one of our fabulous five supplements, so, yeah, look, if you find something else that you like, go for it. I got no problem with that, but clinically, I needed to get results, and where I discovered pine bark extract primarily, first of all, is with chronic fatigue syndrome. You know why? Because it crosses the blood-brain barrier. We didn't even know that 35 years ago, but research has shown it crosses the blood-brain barrier, brings more oxygen to the brain. It helps with capillaries, because somebody asked that question. We'll come back to that.
Dale's asking a good question. Any benefit to taking ginger, pepper, cinnamon, moringa, turmeric, apple cider vinegar daily? Yeah. I have some of these right in my supplements. Like pepper, I have with curcumin. Dale, look, I got no problem with that. You know me, I'm first of all food. Eat right, eat high fuel. Eat low carb, processed foods, sugars. Be very, very careful, and make most of your diet eggs, meat and cheese and you will do very well.
Now, I love probiotics. I love curcumin. Turmeric, somebody asked me, and we'll get to it, about turmeric. Now, curcumin is a extract of turmeric, so do I like turmeric? Yes, but if you're going to just use the powder, you're not going to get the benefits, the major therapeutic benefits that you'll get from curcumin. Turmeric is poorly absorbed. First of all, it's fat soluble. You better have it with that, if you're going to use it in cooking. I mean, the Indians loved that, East Indians, and it's good for them. I got no issue with it, but like I say, therapeutically, you want to get it in the form of curcumin, and curcumin needs a certain ratio of black pepper in order for it to be absorbed, so it's a finicky supplement. You have to do it right. Do I like it?
I love it. I love curcumin. Do I love turmeric? Less. Just because, again, it's good for you, but you're not going to get the therapeutic benefits unless it's done right. Has to be heated. Can't just put powder. You don't get the benefits, and so, anyway, they're all good questions because I want you to do the right thing, but some of the things like, Dale, you mentioned apple cider vinegar. I like it. I like balsamic a little bit better. Has more antioxidants, okay, for acid reflux. I remember when apple cider vinegar came out. Let's go back 15 years. Everybody was saying apple cider vinegar, the greatest invention since sliced bread. ACV, ACV, ACV, and I'm going, "Oh."
From warts on your nose to colds, like, it fixed everything, "Eh," I said. "Hold the presses." Like, I said, "No, it don't fix everything." Is it good for you? Yeah. It's good for you. I got no problem with it, so, Dale, I got no problem, you want to use those things. I love cinnamon, by the way, for blood sugar. I have it in my insulin in the morning, and oh, here it is, right in front of me. Sorry, Dale, is it necessary to use black pepper for absorption of fresh turmeric? Yeah. Yeah. I'd get the curcumin capsule, if you're going to put it in your smoothie. Open that up rather than the fresh turmeric, okay, Dale? Again, not that one is bad but that turmeric is better absorbed and it's better for you, okay?
Katherine was asking about the plant sterols, O-L-S, sterols, for cholesterol. Do I like them? No. Why? Why do you want to lower cholesterol? I'm waiting. I'm just teasing you, Katherine, okay, because there's a lot of, let's lower cholesterol. Let's give each other a high five. Why do you want to lower cholesterol? Because they have this idea ... Remember, this has been going on a long time, okay, and cholesterol's the boogeyman. It's really not. If you want to have low cholesterol, you can give each other high fives, but you're going to die younger, so you have to change the premise.
Every day I look at your blood work, I got no problem, send me your blood work, but you can't make me, you can't make me care about lowering your cholesterol. You can't, because it's not science. It's not biology, human biology. Cholesterol is needed from your brain to your toes. Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. I'll tell you, it's been the biggest deception, I think, in medicine. The biggest deception in medicine, and they focus in on cholesterol. You don't die of a heart attack because you got high cholesterol. You can die of a heart attack if you got low cholesterol, and I'm looking at two numbers. I want to know those numbers. I want to know what your triglycerides are, and I want to know what your HDL is.
LDL, you want to show it to me? I won't look at it, because they have a medication to lower it called statin drugs. I lowered your LDL. Okay, so what did that do? Not much. Not much, so you want to elevate your cholesterol. Look at HDL, and teeter totter, you lower your triglycerides. How do you lower your triglycerides? Not with plant sterols. You lower your triglycerides by getting off carbohydrates and sugars. It's as simple as that because they're made in the liver. Empty the liver, the Costco parking lot, okay? Empty it. Plant sterols, do I like them? Why are you taking them? Now, I love antioxidants. You guys know that. Anyway, Katherine, look, I'm not picking on you, okay? I'm glad you brought me the question, but soon as I get into it, I'm going to go on a rant, because I mean it. It is the biggest scam in medical history, and the number one selling medication is to get LDL down. I mean, it was made up that LDL is bad for you. Who says?
Francis, my feet, been difficult to bend, first step after walking. I'm wondering ... What do you mean? First stepping after walking. Francis, it could be a couple of things, some degeneration in the joints. I'd have to examine them in the sense to tell you exactly why I'm suspicious that there may be some arthritis in there, some degeneration. Difficult to bend, you may be low in vitamin D. Better check that. That'll give you bone pain, okay? Henna, my sister's on the rest and losing, well, you say, high protein in the urine. Losing protein in the urine. Is it safe for her to continue?
Absolutely. Listen, when you have protein in your urine, I used to look at thousands every year. Urine was one of the tests I liked the best. First of all, if you had sugar in your urine, I used to turn around and tell patients, "You're a diabetic. You know that, eh?" "No, doc." "well, you got sugar in your urine, so you're a diabetic," and a lot of times, they were on medications, even like metformin, that would get sugar in your urine. It had to get rid of the high sugar, but when you have protein in your urine, see, the reason I'm doing this because I'm getting a headache a little bit, okay? I mean, you learn this day one in medical school. When you have protein in the urine, it's because your kidneys are stressed, and your kidneys get stressed because of high insulin or even sugars. 99% of doctors, because they know nothing about nutrition, when they see protein in the urine, oh, you're eating too much protein?
It doesn't work like that. Protein is king. It's the kind of the castle, and carbs are the dirty rascal, okay, so when you eat protein, it fixes your kidneys. It doesn't damage your kidney. Oh, you're eating too much protein. I haven't met anybody yet that eats too much protein. Not one. Nada. No one, and the thing is, when you're eating protein, it's the king. Why? Because get amino acids. You get everything you need. Your kidneys find it easy when you're eating protein, okay? What really makes your kidneys work a hundred times overtime is sugar. That's when you get protein in the urine. It stresses the kidneys. I know, it's protein. I know, but it's not protein that's causing it. It's sugar, crappy carbs, and if you don't believe me, think about this for a minute.
Why are diabetics so prone to kidney failure? Why? Because of high blood sugar. Too much insulin. Yeah. That's why dialysis ... Not that only diabetics have trouble with kidneys, but it's common for them to have trouble with kidneys because sugar destroys the kidneys. The first thing that sugar does is it affects your capillaries. What are capillaries. Tiny attachments between your arteries and veins. You have a little, wee, and they're so narrow that red blood cells have to go through capillaries in single file, but if you got sugar in your blood stream and you got insulin, it has to start with insulin resistance, it's going to start damaging your eyes, full of capillaries, full of capillaries, your legs, full of capillaries, men prostate, full of capillaries, okay?
Good questions. I'm glad, because it gets me on a rant. Okay. Paula, any remedy for tingling in the head with no sleep at night? Well, something's going on, tingling. Look, it could be 20 things, okay? It could be 20 things. I don't have enough information, Paula, okay, for your friend, okay? I don't have enough information. Get them to send some more history. They can do it through the private Facebook group or whatever because I need to know more things. Tingling in the head, I mean, look, that could be the start of MS. Tingling could be tinnitus. It could be a number of things. No sleep. It could be high levels of cortisol. It's the first thing I would check, but again, you have to do it by a process of elimination, so I just don't have enough information there, okay?
Jane is asking, what do you think of stool softeners? Not much. Not much. Metamucil and others, you see the commercials on TV. I don't like it because these are things that, they're really hard on your microbiome. You're better off, and this is just for me, people that really suffer with, and even if you read Metamucil or whatever, read the label on it. It'll tell you, it's not meant for prolonged use, because it changed the stool. It changes the gut. I'm very reticent. I like to get to the bottom of it, because a lot of times if people have constipation, usually, like me, I want to go step back and I see it especially in women, especially. Not always, especially in women. You got a thyroid problem. Ah, my doctor didn't tell me that.
I know, I know, but you got a thyroid problem. Your thyroid has slowed to a crawl, and if your thyroid is slowed to a crawl, everything slows to a crawl including your digestion and bowel, so I really want to fix that first, okay, before stool softener. Like, if you're going to use a stool softener once in a while, okay, I guess, but you're not fixing the problem. You're not fixing the problem. I'd rather fix the problem, okay? Good questions. Thank you very much, and that was Jane about the stool softeners.
Alma, is it possible to take too much K2? I guess so. Guess so, and the reason I say it, Alma, is because I've never seen it. Now, I guess you could. It's a fat-soluble vitamin. You know me. I love vitamin K2. I would rather you eat it. Now, I put it in our vitamin D supplement, because vitamin D will always increase calcium, which is good for you. It'll increase it, but with K2, K2 takes calcium and puts it in your teeth and bones where it belongs. Doesn't belong in your blood stream, so if you're going to take a straight supplement of vitamin K2, do I like that? Nah, because you know how to get vitamin K2, and I always say God put it in perfection in cheese, cheese curds being the highest source.
Butter, very high source of vitamin K2 and vitamin A and a lot of other things, but you see, in nature, you eat it the right way because it's got vitamin K2 right with the calcium. Everybody knows there's a lot of calcium in dairy, right? Everybody knows that, but when you eat it, you got K2 right beside it. Calcium? Oh, good for you. Yeah, as long as it doesn't stay in your blood stream, so can you take too much of it? Yes, I guess, but I've never seen it, so, how to get rid of tinnitus? Well, I always go, Vicky, to the cause of tinnitus, and that could be industrial, you work in a place where you get high, high without protecting your ears and that can give you tinnitus, but the vast majority of tinnitus, okay, this is just what I believe that it is glycation of the eardrums.
What do I mean by that? Well, glycation, okay, A-G-E-S, advanced glycation end products. Okay, that's a big word, doc. What do you mean? Well, there's two types of free radials, oxidative damage, glycation. There's two types. One, you rust out. Just get older. I celebrated my 70th birthday this week, okay? You guys were great, by the way. Thank you very much, and I'm very thankful. I'm healthy, I feel good. I don't take that for granted by the way, okay? I'm very, very thankful for that, but I don't look like I used to look, okay? Okay? I've aged. Happens to the best of us. It's just the way it is, guys. That's oxidative damage, and then you get glycation. That's another form of aging, and you know how you get that one? Sugar, and it glycates, it caramelizes, your agents, your middle ears, your skin. Mm-hmm (affirmative). It's another form of aging. That one you can control.
The other one? Yeah. You take an antioxidant. I love pine bark. I mean, as far, I always tell people, look, if you're going to take an anti-aging product, really? You can play with the outside of the skin. You know I love Rivera. I use it all the time. It's an antioxidant, but you better work on the inside first, okay? Work on the inside. Anti-aging has to start on the inside of your body. Your skin is just a large organ. It's the one you see, but it really is in a lot of ways a reflection of what's going on on the inside of your body, those other organs, and glycation, advanced glycation end products is a result of people eating sugar. Remember when we used to talk about smoking really ages a person, what it does to their skin?
Well, it creates a lot of free radicals, right? Is there any doctor in the universe anymore, "Oh, by the way, start smoking"? Of course they don't say that. They used to, but they wouldn't say that anymore, but they don't tell you to get off sugar because you should, because that creates a different type of free radical and it's glycation, and I'm telling you, tinnitus, it's one of the biggest factors in tinnitus. Get rid of sugar. You don't need it, and don't drink it. Good question, Vicky. Thank you. Well, look at this, Sue. Look at this. Can you explain why sugar feeds cancer?
Okay. The Mayo Clinic site says it's a myth. Well, if I didn't have my hat on, I think you could see my head exploding. The Mayo Clinic ought to take Nutrition 101. Does sugar feed cancer? Uh-huh (affirmative), and one of the best proofs I can give you, Sue, is the PET scan, okay? The PET scan. It's not for your pets. PET scans are the newest technology to detect cancer. They're strictly a cancer detector, and they're very good. They're very expensive, and you know how it works? Well, it only works if you take glucose, sugar. They give you a cup of it or they put it right into your veins, and if you have cancer, in a PET scan, you light up like a Christmas tree, wherever you have cancer, because the sugar goes right to it.
Cancer cells feed on sugar. Interesting, eh? Let me just give you a little side bar here for a second. Cancer cells feed on sugar until they become tumors. Now, this is new research. I've brought this before. You want to go back and get the studies that I've done on the podcast on high DHA. It's fascinating, and we didn't even know this. You're constantly learning. Never stop learning. This is why I do the podcast every day, five days a week. Why? I want to teach, and guess what, before I point a finger at you, Sue, I got four pointed back at me, okay, because teacher here, better never stop learning. Science, by its definition, is constantly, constantly learning, okay? What I know about nutrition today in 2022, oh, boy, I'm old. I looked at 70 year olds when I was 20 and I said, "Man, they are ancient. I wonder if they lived in the days of Noah," and here I am.
All I'm saying is this. The new studies give us more detail. I love it, and I didn't even know this. Cancer cells need sugar. Cancer hates steak. Cancer cells hate steak, love sugar. They need something quick. Cancer cells are like teenager. They want sugar. Give me something sweet now. When I say these young people going into Starbucks and ordering these lattes and all these things and you see the barista or whatever, they're putting ... My grandchildren used to work in there and tell me, "Grandpa, you'd have a heart attack if you knew how much sugar we put in those drinks," because they know me. They always laugh at me because grandpa is always preaching the same thing.
Anyway, but cancer cells feed off sugar until they became tumors, and then they look for fat, and this is why I'm a big guy on eliminating processed foods, because if you've got a tumor and you're giving it omega-6, it loves that. It goes, "Give me, give me, give me. I like that because I'm now feeding on lipids." Sugar to start, lipids later on when they're tumors, ladies, in your breast tissue, but you know what destroys it, is when they take the wrong fat, DHA. Why am I so big on DHA? Because the studies show when you take that oil, when a tumor gets exposed, and actually, I should post it again. Post it, girls, if you have it. I have it on my phone somewhere, the explosion, that, like, they took the Trojan horse.
They let it in and, oh, it's fat. I like that. I'm going to grow, except DHA, they get destroyed, tumors, in about 10 to 13 days. Incredible, okay, but coming back to sugar, don't feed the bears. Candida. Most cancers start candida, yeast, fungus. They're fungus-based, and fungus loves sugar, so don't feed it, okay? Really appreciate the question there, okay? Tina, what do you do for relief of hand cramps? Well, you're losing electrolytes, that's 100% for sure. Electrolytes, okay, so add salt to your water. One of the best ways I love is pickle juice. Just drink an ounce or two of pickle juice. When you go to the grocery store, look for pickles. No sugar, but lots of sodium.
The higher in sodium, the better electrolyte drink it is. I like that. I find it to be very effective. Debbie, what is coronary calcification test or scan? Should I be asking for it? Well, I like it. It can be scary sometimes when you got a high calcification, but again, the key is, Debbie, is to fix the problem. You can fix calcification by taking vitamin K2. That's why I'm so big on eggs, meat and cheese, because you're going to get your vitamin K2. Taking vitamin D with K2, but eat your K2. That'll get the calcium out of your blood vessels. Nothing like it, and look, there's chelation therapy and stuff like that but I'm big on vitamin K2, the vitamin that very few people talks about.
Norma, what is recommended for ear aches. Well, look, if it's recurring, it could be the same thing that I was talking about in tinnitus, or there could actually be a little bacteria or fungus in there. If it's chronic, whenever sinuses are chronic, or post-nasal drip or whatever, always look to the gut first. Leaky gut, leaky sinuses. Leaky gut, leaky ears, because the sinuses go right there, okay? Good question. Lorette, why to take the probiotics on an empty stomach? Well, look, probiotics are good no matter how you take them. I like the empty stomach, and what I mean by empty is I wouldn't take them with a meal, probiotics. We enterically coat our probiotics so that they get past the stomach, but you don't want them sitting in the stomach.
It's always better for the probiotic. Not other things, but probiotic, they go first, so a lot of people take them at night. I take them in the morning with my coffee and if I have my bacon five minutes earlier, my stomach's not full, but the idea is just so that they get into your gut in a hurry, because you want that, okay? That's the reason for it. At the end of the day, it's not the end of the world if you take them with food. It isn't, but I always tell you what's best. Everything's good about a probiotic. I'm just going to tell you out there, okay, to my listeners, if you're not taking a probiotic, you're making a mistake, okay?
I'm going to say it because I believe it. If you're not taking .... Yeah, but doc, I get used to it. No, you don't. You're talking about trillions and trillions of bacteria. You need it. You live on this planet. Take a probiotic. Okay. REM sleep recommendation. Well, look, I mean Sandra, I bring it back, okay, and that could be cortisol. You got to get that right, because if your cortisol is high you don't sleep properly, you won't get into a REM sleep. Whatever you do for REM, don't take a sleeping pill. I hate to use a blanket statement like that, but those things, oh, I slept like a baby because I take my sleeping pill.
Oh, I used to look at my patients and say, "You're going to get Alzheimer's. It's destroying your memory. Pay now or pay later." Let's fix your sleep. Let's fix it now instead of you getting Alzheimer's because you took medication. By the way, you weren't getting REM sleep. You weren't getting recovery sleep. The night shift didn't come in and clean up your brain. As a matter of fact, you sedated yourself to sleep. That's not natural. It's not good for you, and you can fix it. A lot of people get their sleep fixed when they do the reset, okay? Cortisol, get that down.
We talked yesterday about vitamin E, walking. Okay, Sandra, very good question, and Sharon, can capillaries damage be healed? Absolutely. We talked about capillaries. Joy is asking about damaged capillaries. Sharon and Joy, Sharon and Joy, yes, yes, yes, yes, your body is fearfully and wonderfully made. You can regenerate capillaries. Your body will find blood supply to go around and make a detour around it to fix it, okay, so capillaries can be fixed, and this is why I'm so big on Navitol, Navitol. Best thing you can do to fix capillaries. Sheryl, can eating high protein raise albumen? Well, here we go again, right? Okay, so kidneys, protein. Doesn't come from protein. Comes from sugars and carbs. Liver, albumen, that's a protein your liver makes to carry certain things, okay?
Albumen is a carrier, and by the way, if your albumen is high, it never really bothers me too much. It usually means, though, with other enzymes, that your liver's stressed, but your liver gets stressed from sugar. The Costco parking lot, it's full. Empty it. Do the rest. Okay. I'm almost done. Babita, how do I treat Lupus? Lupus is autoimmune. You start with the gut. You eat a very anti-inflammatory diet. What is that? Eggs, meat and cheese, okay? Fix the gut, because there's no Lupus without leaky gut. You have to fix that. That can go back years and years and years. That started with antibiotics, a bad diet, feeding the bears. I've never seen Lupus where they didn't have a massive, massive yeast infection in their body, okay?
Andre is asking me about marshmallow. Well, that's from France. It's less sweet. Don't eat marshmallows. I wouldn't even eat [inaudible 00:37:14] marshmallows. I guess you could use it as a treat. I've never had one, but I wouldn't live on that stuff, okay? Melissa, how can you get carcinogens out of your body? Well, don't feed it. A good detox ... Your body, by the way, detoxes itself. I talked to you about the brain. It has its own detoxification process when you're sleeping. That's a good way to get rid of stuff. Your liver, empty it. Do the rest. Your liver is your number one detox organ. It works at night when the rest of your body is sleeping. Your liver cleans out everything, including cancer cells, and, look, to get rid of it you want to have your T-cells.
Look, that's a whole show that we could talk about how to get rid of carcinogens, but at the end of the day, you want to get rid of any carcinogen. Quit using chemicals. Now, you can't get rid of all of them, but there's 100,000 new chemicals created. Okay, that was fun. Look, I thought I was near the end, but there's so many questions which are all good, so, you know what? I'll answer these, I promise, okay? We'll probably do it Monday. Now, if you have any questions for next week, send them in ahead of time, okay? I went on too many rants. Anyway, you guys asked a question, I don't want to avoid them, okay?
I'm not scared of your questions. I'm really not, okay? I like them. Okay, so, housekeeping. Member of the private group yet? Martin Clinic private Facebook group? Are you? You're not? Why not? Okay. Have you read the book The Reset? You haven't why not? Okay, and do you get our emails? You don't? Why not? Do you want to sign up for them if you're new to this program, okay? Get our emails. We put a lot of information in there. Get into the Martin Clinic Facebook group. Why? Because we have such a good community. A lot of questions, a lot of answers, a lot of recipes, lots of good stuff, okay? Please join. We welcome you. 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!