There has been a dramatic rise in chronic digestive issues such as IBS, IBD, and other inflammatory bowel diseases in recent years. Dr. Martin has always been a why guy, and can’t help but ask why so many people now struggle with gut problems!
Dr. Martin shares his approach to treating gut issues and how to support gut health in today’s episode.
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. How are you? And once again, welcome to another live this morning. Guys, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Now, I'm just going to make a comment because I got a migraine yesterday, okay? When I say I get a migraine, you guys have followed me at all know what I mean by that. It drives me crazy because yesterday I sat maybe for about an hour and watched the hearings for Bobby Kennedy Jr. Okay? And I'm very interested because he's going to be sort of the health, if he gets confirmed, the nomination as sort of the health czar, right? He's going to be the boss. And that's a huge, huge undertaking. But guys, I got to tell you, I was not surprised at all yesterday because people just don't get it. They don't get it. I mean, my audience gets it. And the status quo, guys, it's not working. Our model of so-called healthcare, because guys, we're far from healthcare. We have a disease care system.
And I'm telling you those in the government, those bureaucrats and those people who are in charge, politicians, they don't want it to change. Yesterday I listened for over an hour and they're so worried, they brought up measles. Somebody might die of measles. Are you crazy? And they never brought up diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's. Guys. I guess it is frightening, maddening. They want to protect the model that's in front of us. They're so worried. Bobby Kennedy said it. It's something that I was saying during Covid. Guys, do you remember that? Do you remember what I was saying? The United States of America is the unhealthiest country in the world. It makes up only 4% of the population, but they had, I don't know what percent of deaths during Covid. Anyone who died of Covid had, this was brought out yesterday, 3.5 chronic diseases already. It was the preexisting conditions. And every one of those preexisting conditions was a chronic disease that make people susceptible to a virus, not the other way around.
Look, I mentioned this yesterday. The World Health Organization says for the first time in history of their recordings, people are dying more from chronic diseases than they are of acute infection or even more. And you know what guys, I'm not confident at all that anything's going to change at all because unless you do a paradigm shift, unless you start talking prevention instead of sickness care. And guys, I don't want to get rid of sickness care. I don't. If someone gets sick. I don't want to get rid of that, okay? I don't want to get rid of that, but I want people to take care of their health. And nobody yesterday was talking about sun, steak or steel, literally nobody was. And they should have been. Anyway, I just had to pontificate about that because it's frustrating. And you see the powers to be, they want to protect the industry. There's a lot of money, big pharma. Do you think they want to change anything? Do you think?
And look, I know there's good people in there, but do you think they want a healthy population? Do you think that's their modus operandi is let's get people healthy? No, they want to treat disease. And anyone that goes against that, my word, let's clean up our food, good luck. But the nice thing is, guys, okay, the nice thing is educate yourself. You do it. Okay? As one of my grandchildren used to say, you dood it, you dood it. You do it, you take charge. And it's amazing what happens. It's amazing that body fearfully and wonderfully made. It's amazing what happens. And start with food. It's the thing you can control. You can't control everything in your life and there's no guarantees. But one thing you can do is look at food, understand it. What's making us sick today?
This is sort of question and answer because I got asked this question yesterday. Doc, my gut, well, you and about 70% of the population, if not more, have IBS or IBD, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and their gut's inflamed. It's like having a sunburn down in the gut. How many people get that? Somebody was asking me yesterday via the private Facebook group, and here is the response to it. Why is it today? Look, there's been digestive issues. The apostle Paul told Timothy in the New Testament to take a little wine for his digestive trouble. I guess he didn't have Pepto Bismol, but you know what I'm saying, digestive issues guys have been around for centuries, obviously, but it's worse now than ever, and I want to explain why.
Why is it? Because, guys, I was a history taker. I love history. I love world history. I do, always enjoyed that. And I love medical history and I love health history and the history of even our food that we're eating and the big changes. But let's talk about why oh why are we getting that high percentage of people with digestive issues? And because I was a history taker, you didn't get to see me in my office. I don't know if you go to your doctor's office and got to fill out forms, but I was adamant you were filling out forms to come and see me. There was a reason for my madness because I wanted history. Give me history, man. Okay? When you do a thesis or whatever, you need information. And my hypothesis on digestive issues came after years and years and years of practice. And here's what I found.
The number culprit for people that have chronic digestive issues, people that have an inflamed bowel, gut, their gut bothers them. They have very few good days. Their stomach is sort of on fire. I've heard a lot of expressions over the years. The number one reason for that, number one, I mean there's others, but number one is antibiotics. The number one reason, according to my research. People that get on antibiotics, look, again, I just always put a disclaimer out there. I am not against antibiotics. I'm not. You need one. They'll save your life. You got a raging infection, come on. Of course you need antibiotics, but it's a double-edged sword, an antibiotic which kills the bug if it's a bug and not a virus, okay? But okay, let's just say it is. It kills the bug. Good problem is it kills all your good guys too. It sets up what we call a dysbiosis.
Instead of having symbiosis, you've got a dysbiosis and now you've got more bad guys than good guys. And you disturb the gut and the lining of the gut. Antibiotic, one antibiotic for five days will kill all your bacteria. And for a lot of the population, what that does, it sets up something down the road. And I've been talking about this since the 1970s and eighties. You get the Trojan horse coming into your bowel. It's called fungus, yeast, candida albicans, and maybe even parasites, maybe even a parasite. And that can invade your gut and take over the gut. It's the Trojan horse. And for a lot of people, that by the way, can start autoimmune. But one thing it does, it starts a real irritation in the gut. And I saw this thousands and I mean it guys and thousands of times in my practice, and even today, people are commenting online and whatever else.
And I'm telling you, if you go back, it's the number one cause, not the only cause. And usually when your gut gets really bad and you've got major digestive issues, you get a perfect storm of things. But the number one thing is antibiotics. I talk about it all the time. But when you want to talk about health, the greatest discovery of the 20th century has become the curse of the 21st. Where did you hear that? You heard that here. I've been saying it for a long, long time. I said it for 20 years before that on my radio show. And I never once ever told the person not to take an antibiotic if they needed it. But a lot of physicians, and God bless them, they over-prescribed antibiotics. A lot of times for kids in ear infections and whatever. And look, who wants an ear infection? And that poor baby screaming blue murder. And of course, parents, Doc, do something.
It's so often viral, but they give an antibiotic and then, oh, the patient got better. Well, I told you, well, not really. They would've got better anyway. It would've been better to give them an anti-histamine and even some pain killer for a few days compared to an antibiotic. And the college of physicians and surgeons in our province and elsewhere too have been warning doctors, would you quit giving antibiotics at the first sign of any kind of infection? Don't do it. Now we got a boatload of new resistant bacterias like C difficile and others, but back to digestive issues, the number one cause. The other one, when you're young, especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatories called NSAIDs. Over the counter stuff, painkillers, anti-inflammatories over the counters, they really mess up your gut guys. I'm telling you, they really can mess up your gut and they can act like an antibiotic and cause a dysbiosis.
And people, I mean, I met thousands of people over the years, patients and a lot of them were living on it. They had pain, Doc, I got pain. I can't stand it. I got migraines. I get migraines too. I really don't, but I say I do. It's only when I hear something stupid that I get migraines and I really don't, but I say I do. Okay, but I understand people living with pain. The problem is you might sort of snip the pain route, you snip it temporarily, but you cause other problems, especially in the gut long-term. Okay? So you got antibiotics, you got anti-inflammatories, NSAIDs, you got bad food. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, and this is where the perfect storm comes in. You get kids, they're on antibiotics, they created dysbiosis, they had ear infections or throat infections, and so they're giving recurring and now they don't have the right group of friendly bacteria that fight infections. And then you get that dysbiosis and then you get the yeast, the Trojan horse coming in, they don't know it. Doctors are not looking for it. And now they got gut problems, they got digestive issues, and those are big problems. They can be lifelong.
When I was younger, okay, I used to be young, honest guys, okay? When I was first in practice, was there digestive issues? Of course there was, but nothing like today. Nothing like today. I mean, guys, today we have, I know I throw this word around too easily, but I got to do it. We got an epidemic of diverticulosis, diverticulitis, irritable bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, all these gut issues. And I'm not saying they weren't around, but they're a hundred fold today. Well, you put that combination of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, bad food, living on sugar, living on crappy carbohydrates. Man, that's hard on the gut. There isn't a dentist in the world that doesn't know this. Okay, so let me just say something. Sugar, rotten teeth, true or false? Yeah. Okay. I mean, there's nothing that'll burn a hole in your teeth more than sugar will. I knew that as a kid in the 1950s. The dentist used to say it as he gave you a sucker on the way out, brush your teeth and quit eating all that sugar or drinking all that pop, okay, soda.
But guys, listen, the same sugar that destroys your teeth will destroy your gut. It will feed the bad guys and it will destroy your gut. Sugar ain't friendly to anything. Leave it in your bloodstream and it will destroy your blood vessels, okay? If you don't believe that, I can't help you. If you don't believe that sugar left unattended in your blood vessels is highly destructive, then you don't know what diabetes is. But that same sugar will destroy your gut like it will destroy your teeth. And to me, it was always difficult in a sense for people to understand that connection. Like, man, you got bad gut, Doctor Martin, it's got to be the red meat. No, like never. Red meat don't bother your gut, sugar does. It'll destroy your gut. It'll destroy your gut lining besides the fact that it will feed the wrong army.
I used to tell people, okay they come in, they got Crohn's, they got ulcerative colitis, they got diverticulitis. Their gut is as raw as a sunburn. I said, okay, do you trust me? Well, doc, I don't know you. Well, what did you hear about me? Okay, you lined up to see me, didn't you? Yeah. Okay, now you've got to trust me. We've analyzed your diet. Now put your hand up. What? Put your hand up and repeat after me. My name is Susie and I'm a carboholic. Okay? Now we're going to turn that around because we're going to turn your digestive system around. Well, doc, I never thought it was really food because it doesn't matter what I eat, my gut bugs me. I know it's irritated. And now we're going to change your diet and it's going to help you in everything you do, and I'm going to prove it to you and you got to give me 30 days of your life. Are you ready? Okay. Are you ready? 30 days. Give me 30 because it's going to take about 30 days to see you turn this thing around. I'm not saying cured, I'm saying much, much better, but we got to change your diet.
You've got a history of antibiotics, maybe anti-inflammatories, eating too much carbohydrates and sugars, and I'll give you another one. I know this is controversial. It shouldn't be, but it is. You know what, I used to get people when they had inflammatory bowel, whatever, you are getting off all that fiber. You should see the looks I got. You got to stop eating salad, okay? They look at me like, what? Well, you're irritating your gut with salad, okay? You live on salad and you're not a rabbit and you're not going to have any more legumes till I tell you. You're not going to have any more beans. You're not going to have any more nuts. You're not a squirrel. You're not getting ready for winter. You're not storing things. So stop, stop eating those things. They're irritating your gut, but Dr. Martin, I need fiber. No, you don't. Who told you that? Well, I've been reading that all my life. I need cereal. No, you don't. I need oatmeal. No, you don't. I need my salad. No, you don't. You got a bowel that's irritated. It's making it worse. Trust me when I tell you that. Yikes. I could hear them. Yikes. This guy is a complete lunatic.
And then I'd always do this. Okay, guys, I'd always do this. How are you doing with that, by the way? Isn't that why you came to see me? Is your way working? No, it's not working, doc. Okay. You need to trust me. I'm taking you off all of that temporarily. I'm not saying you're never going to have another ounce of fiber in your life. I'm not saying that. Okay? I was the one that made up. Okay? I don't know if you guys have heard this before. Well, if on this program you have but elsewhere, I mean. Fber is overrated. Have you heard that before? That came from me, by the way. Remember way before The Doctor Is In podcast, we had The Doctor Is In radio program. And I tell you, I used to say that and man, oh man, oh man, that I get people just, you're kidding me. Everybody else told me to eat more fiber and you're telling me to eat less. Yep, eat less.
I said, you know what the best fiber in the world is? Water and coffee. Drink water and coffee. And don't worry about fiber. You don't need it. By nature, fiber is not soluble. By nature, it's not doing anything except bulking up your stool. That's what it does. And you don't win any prizes for that. And when your gut is already irritated, when you think of all the intestine from the small to the large, you're just making it worse. It's already irritated. It don't need a larger stool. Okay? It's amazing when people would get the memo, and then of course we try and lower their cortisol because stress always makes it worse. Cortisol, right? Like too long, never goes away stress. Cortisol never is really the cause as much as it's pouring gasoline on the fire of inflammation, that's what cortisol does. It pours gasoline on the fire. You already have inflammation, and that pours gasoline on the fire of it. Okay?
So the biggest thing I did was switch the diet. And I mean, it was a 180 guys. It was a 180, and I knew these people were in deep trouble and their quality of life was unbelievably poor, and they had been taught differently, and I had to undo that. I had to undo it. You got to trust me and I'll prove it to you. And for some 30 days was the start of their journey, but they found out them and fiber didn't do well. They found out them and sugar didn't do well, and they found out them and stress didn't do well for the gut that was already inflamed. Okay? I know because the gut answered that question yesterday. Okay?
And then of course, let me just finish with this because I don't know if we'll have time, tomorrow's question and answer Friday, so we won't probably hit that unless that question comes up. But I had them on very specific supplements and obviously with probiotics they needed to do that. I was very, very big on bone broth and regenerating the gut lining through L-glutamine and those amino acids that really helped the gut lining. I had every one of them take digestive enzymes in order to break the food down much, much more before they got into the bowel. That was really important. And a lot of times I'd put them on what they call mucilages to protect the gut with our gut ease, that kind of thing. I did the supplements with it and we monitored it, and we like the results. We got incredible. I'm telling you, I put our results up against anybody else's results, but I went to the root cause and that's.
Anyways, thanks for asking the question yesterday. I said I got to take it up again, and I know it won't be the last time. So we sort of did a little bit of a deeper dive today on that. Okay? Okay, so remember, it's not too late, by the way, send your questions in to info@martinclinic, all one word info@martinclinic.com. Okay? Send it there. We get the questions, then you'll get your answers, okay? We love to answer your questions. Okay guys, we'll talk to you soon.
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