Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Vitamin K2 in meat and butter
- Serum calcium
- NAC (N-acetyl cysteine)
- Curcumin & kidney stones
- Liposomal C supplement
- Almond flour
- Digestion time for meat
- Ketone powder
- Arterial plaque
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
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: Oh, good morning, everyone. And once again, welcome to another live question and answer Friday. Always a fun time. Okay, Janet asked a good question. Janet, you're the first one up. "What meats have K2 in it?" All meats. Because there's a lot of questions about vitamin K2, and I'm glad you're asking. I'm glad you're asking. So Janet says, "What about vitamin K2 in meat?" Yeah. Look, there's K1 and K2. K1 is pretty well in the plant kingdom and K2 is in the animal kingdom. The highest sources of vitamin K2 are in butter and cheese, especially cheese curds, okay. Those are the highest sources.
And Hannah is asking, How much butter do I have to eat to get K2?" Well, just eat any butter, you get K2. Therapeutic doses of K2, I put vitamin K2 in vitamin D in our supplement of vitamin D. Why do I do that? Why do we have vitamin K2 in vitamin D? Is vitamin D not good on its own? Of course it is. It's VitDerma. But vitamin K2 in a therapeutic dose helps... Look, vitamin D, everyone knows it helps to make calcium. It helps to make calcium. And your body knows how to take care of that and convert vitamin D. And vitamin D is a hormone, really not a vitamin as much as it is a hormone. You need it.
Vitamin K2, it's good for a lot of things. But the main thing that vitamin K2 is good for is taking calcium and putting it in your bones, in your teeth, where it belongs. For example, in nature, and think about it, God put vitamin K2 in cheese, and in butter, and in meat. And eggs have vitamin K2. But the highest source is butter and cheese. Now, think about it, you're eating cheese. Does cheese have calcium? Yep. But right in it, when you're eating it, it's got calcium, which is good for your bones, but it also has vitamin K2 in it to take the calcium that you're eating and deliver it out of your bloodstream, into your bones, where they belong. You got it? So, every time you have butter... It's bread that kills you, not butter. Butter's good for you. Cook with it. You wouldn't believe how much butter I put on my steak. Because it's so good for you. And I love cheese. I love cheese curds, vitamin K2. Don't take calcium as a supplement, take vitamin D as a supplement, with K2 in it.
Again, lots of questions about that. Carolyn's asking, "Can elevated vitamin D cause elevated serum calcium levels?" Possibly. Possibly. Look, 90% of people are low in vitamin D. But people that are high in vitamin D, they usually have an underlying condition. Most common is that they are low in magnesium. They don't get enough magnesium. Again, that's very common in our society. There's not a lot of magnesium in the soil. It's all been stripped away. So, when I see someone, because you guys send me your blood work, and if I see high levels of vitamin D, it's very rare, usually people are very low in vitamin D, they don't know it because no one's testing them, but if you do get tested and your elevated, you either got kidney issues, liver issues, you got to start of a fatty liver, that can elevate your vitamin D levels, and the fact that you don't have enough magnesium. I usually look at those three things. So, those are good questions.
Chantel is asking about NAC, which is N-acetyl cysteine, NAC. It's an amino acid that is a precursor to a glutathione. Now, what's glutathione? Your body makes it. It's like Velcro in your blood. And whenever you have toxins or heavy metal, glutathione takes that and hitches its wagon to it. It sticks to it and it pulls it out of the body. The question Chantel is asking, "Should someone be taking, for example, NAC? And is it good to protect the liver when someone is using too much acetaminophen, like Tylenol?" Yeah, I guess so. Look, NAC, I'm a big guy on... Chantel, I got to tell you, what's better than NAC, in my opinion, is [inaudible 00:06:43] for the precursor of glutathione. I found that, over the years, pine bark extract to be much superior to anything that I found. I know I repeat that all the time, but what can I tell you? That's my clinical experience. That's why I used it. I got results.
But at the end of the day, let me share something too that's very important, your body makes glutathione. It makes it. You know when it can't or make very much? When your liver is full. Now, your liver can become toxic with Tylenol and Advil. Tylenol being the worst. Advil is more kidneys. People that live on that, they got migraines, they got headaches every day, they have pain every day, they take that stuff every day, very hard on the liver.
But the best thing you can do for your liver is the reset. Why is that? Because it will empty the liver. Your liver knows how to detox itself. It really does. It's amazing. Your liver, it's the most regenerative organ that you have in your body is the liver. The liver will take care of itself, if you empty it. Empty the liver. And remember, the liver's like the Costco parking lot, the liver's like the minivan, the liver is like you're packing up a suitcase, and you're packing it, and packing it with carbs and sugars. There's nothing harder on glutathione, which comes out of the liver, like packing it, packing the liver with sugar and crappy carbohydrates.
So, at the end of the day, I'm a big guy on food. But if you're going to take a supplement, I would say, Chantel, better than NAC is pine park. It's got more studies. It's safer. It's water soluble. Your body doesn't accumulate it. So, that's me.
Karen: "I would like Dr. Martin's answer as to curcumin's cause of kidney stones." Well, oxalates. Look curcumin is an extract of turmeric. And its benefits are legion. I love curcumin for the brain, for the heart, for cancer. Curcumin's got study, after study, after study, after study. Now look, can it be an oxalate? Yes, but not as the extract. Turmeric would be an oxalate. The extract, curcumin, not so much. By the way, you know what gives you kidney stones? Spinach. That's a real oxalate. Kidney stones, oxalates, now there are two types of kidney stones. There's uric acid, and the vast majority of them are oxalate. Good question. Thank you, Karen.
Sharon: "Should I add liposomal C that is made from sunflower lecithin?" Well, Sharon, do you want me to answer it honestly? No. Well, look, if you want to take it, I got no problem. You know what vitamin C is? The real one is not like liposomal C. It's coffee. You got more vitamin C and polyphenols, a thousand phytonutrients, in a cup of coffee. So look, I add vitamin C, the other one, to our pine bark extract. It comes from an acerola cherry, which is, in my opinion, the best form of the other vitamin C. But the best vitamin C in all of the world, it's coffee. So, if you want to take liposomal C, what's liposomal mean? It's delivered in your body in a fat lipid. It's a different delivery system. It's delivered in fat so that your body will absorb it even more. Good question though, Sharon.
Elizabeth: "What are your thoughts on the article my sister sent me saying, 'Stop using almond flour. Almond flour is inflammatory.'"? Well, I guess if you lived on it. "Almond flour is deceptive." What do you mean by that? What did she mean by that? It's deceptive, meaning, well, look, it's a lower carb flour. So keto, the keto people, they love almond flour. They love coconut flour. Why is that? Well, it's lowering carbohydrates. Is that deceptive? I don't know. "Large amounts of oxalates." Well, almonds have oxalates. Nuts, and seeds, and vegetables, legumes, they have oxalates. True, I don't want anybody living on almond flour. Why do you need that? A little bit, okay. But, "Fats from almond flour are not heat stable," I'd never heard that. "Almonds contain a large amount of toxin." Nah. "Has enzymes inhibitor content." A lot of that is fake news.
So Elizabeth, look, I don't want to knock your sister, but there's a lot of stuff on the internet. I'm glad you asked me the question, because I can filter through the nonsense. Now, am I huge on almond flour? Nah, but it's a better flour. It's got less carbs. But like I say, don't live on that stuff. Don't live on it.
Alexis: "Is it true that it takes seven days to digest meat in your system?" Meat sure gets a bad rap, like unbelievable. No, it don't take seven days to digest it. Seven hours? But not even not much. You're getting all the nutrients out of meat over a period of time. Let me just share this again. Meat, especially red meat, is the best meat in the world. There's no food, no food, number one on the hit parade, in terms of vitamins, in terms of amino acids, in terms of B12, in terms of heme iron, in terms of those amino acids I was talking about, like L-carnitine, and L-arginine, and all the essential amino. It is a perfect food.
What's the best? Liver. I hate to put liver on the top, because I don't like liver. But liver's on the top. I just don't like it. I don't like the taste of liver, but I sure love the taste of beef. So, it does not take seven days to digest meat. No. That's fake news.
Monek: pre-made President Choice burgers that contain meat, spices, water, sea salt would have the same nutritional value as steak." Well look, hamburger, okay, steak, hamburger, I mean they're right up there. So much better having a hamburger than a piece of chicken. No. Am I against chicken? No. But hamburger's better than chicken. It's got more amino acids. It's got B12. It's got heme iron. You see, that's the iron that your body needs. It's heme, H-E-M-E. So yeah, I like... What were they called? President Choice burgers. Yeah, they're good. Put some salt in... Oh, somebody asked me about salt. We'll get to that.
Oma: "If I have a dairy farm and want to use fresh milk and fresh yogurt, can I use that instead of cream in the perfect smoothie?" Yeah, because fresh milk, if you have a dairy farm, Oma, I envy you. Because, real milk is very good for you, whole milk that comes out of a cow. Just don't go to the grocery store to buy it, because then, by then, they denature it. What do they do? They take that cream off the top. Yeah, if you get fresh dairy farm, you can use that milk and yogurt in a smoothie, absolutely you can. The rest of us, Oma, are envious of you.
Now, Fern was asking about prolotherapy. I'm not going to go into it. I can answer that on the side. I mean, it's really not in my wheelhouse so much, Fern, okay? But I know all about it and am I against it? No, no, no, no. But to be honest, I haven't seen tremendous results over the years with that.
What are my thoughts, Dale is asking me, on ketone powder, when you aren't on the reset? Well, I wouldn't waste my money, Dale. There's a lot of what they call exogenous ketones. You know what that means? You can get MCT oil, and that's an exogenous ketones, and it goes directly to your liver. It's metabolized different. It gets you to burn ketones. But you know what? I've never been big on exogenous ketones. So, I would tell you don't waste your money. You're better off to eat eggs, meat, and cheese. You know what I mean? You want to use a powder, but I'm big on bone broth, collagen protein. I like that better. Anyway, that's me.
Shirley: "Can you please discuss the composition of arterial plaque and why it builds up in the arteries and causes heart attack?" Well, I've discussed this many a time. Plaque, hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis, there's a couple of ways it happens. What starts in the liver? Doesn't stay in the liver. When your triglycerides are high and your HDL is low, that starts sending bad fats, triglycerides, through your bloodstream. And they have a tendency to clog up your arteries. The other way, of course, is inflammation. What happens is, if your insulin is high, we call it insulin resistance, that sets off a cascade of problems, one of them being your body responds by an inflammation response.
What does inflammation do? Inflammation is your body's ambulance system. But if it stays long, it starts to become destructive. It can damage the little endothelial on the Teflon layer of your blood vessels. They're not as slippery anymore. And it starts to damage it. You start to get the plaque developing. The other way is free. Radical damage. Free radicals is oxidative damage, bad food. There's nothing that will damage your blood vessels faster than sugar. They damage blood vessel. That's why, you see, it starts with the capillaries. Your blood vessels get damaged. And how does that happen? Because, oxidative damage. You're resting out. And one of the forms of oxidation is what we call glycation. It's AGE's, glycation end products. When you eat sugar, there's nothing that destroys blood vessels like sugar.
And then, you add the double whammo of crappy oils, vegetable oils. Your body doesn't know what that is. So what does it do? First of all, it elevates your omega six compared to your omega three. That creates inflammation. It's a compounding effect. But butter doesn't clog up your arteries. It makes your arteries slippery. Saturated fat doesn't clog up your arteries. It makes your arteries slippery. High DHA, long chain, fatty acids doesn't clog up your arteries. It makes your arteries slippery. You know what makes your artery slippery and what takes plaque calcium out of blood vessels? Vitamin K2, eggs, meat, and chase.
Okay. Well, Colette's asking a question about this again. Okay, Colette. "Vitamin D with K2, does it interfere with low-dose aspirin?" No. Because, what you're doing, Colette, is you are mistaking vitamin K2 with vitamin K1. See, K2 doesn't thin your blood, K1 does. And that's not bad. You don't want molasses for blood. But if you're on, for example, aspirin, low-dose aspirin, or a blood thinner, like Eliquis or whatever. And don't eat too much salad. Good question, Colette.
"Does being on an antibiotic affect blood sugar?" This is Gail's question. It can. It would be more of a rare side effect. One of the things that really affect blood sugar is prednisone. That's famous for elevating blood sugar. An antibiotic, sometimes, can create havoc in your body. And that's why I'm big on take an antibiotic only as you need it. And soon as the symptoms go away, stop. That's the way antibiotic should be used. Great question.
Gene, I knew I would get this question. I get it all the time, because it's a dichotomy. Here's what Gene is saying. And Gene, thank you for the question. "If flaxseed is supposed to lower estrogen, why do doctors tell breast cancer patients not to eat flax seed?" Now, you guys know this. Now, maybe Gene doesn't. But the ones who have been following me for a long time, I want you to give me the answer, because this is... It's not a trick question, but again, I want to know if you're listening. Okay, Monica. Okay, now you say, "Yeah, if you're using flax seed." I want you to use flax seed, but please tell me why flax seeds are good. There, Wendy. Lignans. Lignans, you got it.
What does flax seed have that other seeds don't have? What does it have? Lignans. Now, lignans, L-I-G-N-A-N-S, you know what they do? They block estrogen. So, I know that flax seeds have phytoestrogens. I know that. But because they have a hundred times more lignans than any other seed, they are good for blocking extra estrogen. So, ladies and gentleman, that's good for breast cancer. That's good for ovarian cancer. That's good for prostate cancer. I'm big on flax seeds. Not flax oil, don't touch the oil. The seeds. Now, if you have diverticulosis or whatever, well, don't go near seeds. Good question though. I'm glad you're thinking. I want you to think with me.
Judy: "I have polymyalgia rheumatica and on prednisone. I have many supplements of yours. And my question is, should I try taking something for my bones?" Well, you just make sure, Judy, that you are on vitamin D and K2. If you got polymyalgia rheumatica, you need to be careful with your blood sugar, because when you're on prednisone, it really elevates that. But as far as your bones, because prednisone is very, very, hard on bones, very hard, hard on muscles too... Prednisone is a wonderful drug. It is. There's nothing that lowers inflammation like prednisone. But oh boy, it's a double-edged sword, lots, and lots, and lots of side effects. Really suppresses the immune system. That is to why you need vitamin D and K2. Good question, Judy. Thank you for it.
"What are your thoughts," Eileen is asking me, "on an article that says alcohol consumption is a level one carcinogenic, the same as cigarettes?" Well look, cigarettes, smoking ain't good. We all agree with that. Look, alcohol, I think you need to be careful. And I often caution women. I often caution women. Be careful, because the studies have shown, especially for breast cancer, that alcohol really can affect the inflammation level in the body and elevate your free radicals and that. So, be very careful, very careful. I'm not telling people to be teetotalers. I'm not. But alcohol is a drug. You just got to understand that. And you don't hear me talking a lot, "Well, why don't you just have a drink?" I don't do that. Like I said, I just want people to be very... If you got any thought that you have any kind of cancer, don't touch alcohol, in my opinion. Is it as bad as cigarettes? I don't think so, for me.
Lisa and Laurie asked, "Is it possible to have too much apple cider vinegar?" Yeah. Apple cider vinegar, I mean, it had a run about, I don't know, 10 years ago or so that it was the greatest thing since slice bread. Apple CI of vinegar was good for your colds, your nose, wrinkles, toes. It fixed everything. When I used to read that stuff, yeah, nah, it don't do that. Do I like apple cider vinegar? Yeah. A little bit. You got some digestive issues, I mean, you can use that, a little bit to increase the acidity in your stomach, and that kind of thing. But don't swish it around. Drink it. And a little bit, if you want to.
Rosalinda, "Butyrate." I don't even know if I say that, butyrate. What is it? Because they're asking, it repairs the mucosal lining. I agree with that. Butyrate repairs the mucosal line. And you know what? The best thing to get Butyrate... Spelled B-U-T-Y-R-A-T-E. So, tell me how to pronounce that? Butyrate. But it's a byproduct, a fermentation in your stomach. You know when they were asking about... I should have even mentioned it when... Who was asking about red meat? Alexis. Does it take seven days to digest meat in your system? Nope. You know what meat does when it ferments? It creates butyrate. You know what butyrate does? It helps restore the lining of your gut. So does cheese. So does butter. Because one of its byproducts is butyrate.
So, don't buy a supplement of that. Why do you need that? You get it when you eat eggs, meat, and cheese. It's found in the animal king. That's why God wanted you to eat animal kingdom foods. It makes butyrate. It's a byproduct of the fermentation in your gut. I'm glad you asked that question. It's a good question. I like it. I wasn't even thinking of butyrate.
Tammy: "How much iodine would you supplement to keep your thyroid functioning, when our thyroid is out of stock?" I'd go about 10 drops, maybe about 10 drops of iodine. I like iodine. I put it in a thyroid supplement. But I put it with a lot of other things too. I'd say, go about 10 drops till we get our thyroid supplement back in.
Rita: "On occasion, I fall asleep, and then sometime later I sleep, I become aware that my brain feels like a humming or buzzing through the night." I'd say that may be a little bit... I don't know, Rita, without getting more information, is that a little bit of a form of tinnitus or the brain humming? I hum all the time, because I'm always singing. I like singing. But that, I don't know. Let's put it out there and see if anybody else answers that question, Rita.
John: "Can you speak a little on hyperinsulinemia?" Well, I spoke already on it. High insulin, high circulating insulin. Hyper, hyper means more, lots of insulin. And that's the problem in the world today. It's the biggest problem. It's the problem in every chronic disease, John, I'm telling you, has an attachment to food. We talked about diabetes yesterday. We're the worst in the world. Canadians and Americans were the worst on diabetes. But it's the [inaudible 00:31:30], because diabetes is 100% food. And when you eat crappy food and sugars, you're going to elevate your insulin. And when you elevate your insulin, you are creating a cascade of problems. Because, that's what metabolic syndrome is. And diabetes, remember, is the last thing that happens, because way before diabetes occurs is changes within the liver, changes in the kidney, changes in the blood vessels. That's way before diabetes. And it's food. You have an allergy to carbs.
Unbelievable how simple it would be to fix diabetes. And type one diabetes, of course, is an autoimmune disease that attacks the pancreas. And they need medication. But I tell type one diabetics too, "You still have an allergy to carbohydrates. You have an allergy to them. They're no good for you. Live on eggs, meat and cheese."
Chromium for weight loss? Well, not for weight loss, nah. Look, you can't out supplement the bad diet. So, Terry, listen. Chromium, I love. Chromium picolinate, I love. I've been using it for years, and years, and years. And I put it in my insulin formula. It's good for insulin. And it helps with insulin resistance. It makes your cells more sensitive to insulin, the opposite of insulin resistance. But for weight loss, there's no magic pill for weight loss, let me tell you that. There's none. I like it though. I like chromium picolinate.
Deb: "Because is more expensive, can a person survive on B12 supplements, cheese and eggs?" It's not the same benefits though, Deb, as eating meat. Yeah, I understand. It's expensive today. You really have to make an investment into your health. So, I tell people, look, I get it. You know what? You can get cheaper red meat by going to the cut that has got the most fat on. Because, people are looking for lean meat, because they don't know what they're doing. But you can get a steak with lots of fat on, it's usually a cheaper cut, and lot less expensive. But I understand that. It's expensive. Inflation has really hit the meat industry big time. But you're never going to get the effect that... Look, B12, yeah. But red meat has a lot more than just B12. Look, I tell vegetarians even, "If you insist on being a vegetarian, okay. But you better be taking B12. You need to take B12." So yeah, if you're not going to eat red meat, then you need to take B12.
Dan is asking, "Why no homemade pork rinds on the reset?" Well look, homemade pork rinds, do I like them? Yeah. They're a snack. I'm trying for 30 days, though, Dan, not to get people snacking. I want you to eat eggs, meat and cheese and don't snack. But it is a better snack. If you're going to snack, then have that. But on the reset, I don't want you snacking really. Because, I'm trying to reset the body. And look, if you're going to snack, yeah, pork rinds, especially if you make it, I got no problem with that. But I try, people ask me on the rest, I said "Look, do 30 days of really being careful." That's what it is. If you're going to eat keto to, hey, go for it. You want to eat low carb lifestyle after that, you can have that. I got no problem with that whatsoever. But, you got my but? Okay.
Tina says, "Can you please, please, do a talk on sugar in a toddler's brain?" Well, I've done that, and I will do it again, Tina. Because, you ask any teacher, one thing teachers know about the nutrition, they don't know much, but they know this, sugar sure makes for a bad student. Now, they might not equate that with cereal and all this and that. Yeah, it does mess up their brain chemistry. I talked yesterday about how addictive it is, and the food industry knows it, and high fructose corn syrup. I'll tell you what, Tina, I will do a session on that again, because there's a couple of new studies that came out that I will bring this out. But in general, it's a good question, because I could go into a lot of detail on what happens in children's brains.
Alki: "Can you stay on the reset indefinitely? Absolutely, you can. Absolutely, you can. I know people that they're on the reset 12 months of the year. Is it good for you? 100%. They're on 99% octane.
Well Cheryl, I think I answered this. "Does taking high dose of vitamin D give you plaque in your veins from calcium?" Nope, it doesn't, not from vitamin D. But to be sure, we put K2 in it. But if you eat cheese, and you eat butter, and you eat eggs, and you eat meat, you're going to get vitamin K2.
"Himalayan salt has a lot of sodium. Then with cheese, horrible sodium." Well Jenny, that's your opinion. Horrible sodium. What's so horrible about sodium? Now, sodium chloride, table salt, I don't like. But salt's good for you. Himalayan, or kosher, sea salt, I like that stuff. It's good for you. You are salt. Your saliva's salt. Your eyeballs, you cry salt. Your blood is salt. Lots of salt in your blood. It's not salt. Just make sure you're getting enough water.
And Deb, last question, "Where does dandruff come from?" Leaky gut. Leaky gut, leaky skin. You have fungus. Dandruff is a fungal. You got to start in your gut and don't feed the bears. If you want to use Head and Shoulders, that's all right. But that ain't going to fix it. You got to fix it inside out.
Very good questions. Thank you so much, guys. You guys are unreal how smart you are. I hope you know that. I'm giving you guys an honorary degree in nutrition. You know more than the average bear, I can tell you that. I know dieticians and nutritionists that know less than you guys. And I mean that, because they drink the Kool-Aid. Anyways, okay guys, we love you dearly, 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!