Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Homocysteine levels
- Heart attack, now with stent
- Brain inflammation
- Zeolite
- Radiation & damaged arteries
- Lipoprotein A
- Baking soda & low testosterone
- Blood marks under skin
- Maintaining low carb lifestyle
- Glucose monitors
- Emptying your liver in 6 days
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 this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day and we sure appreciate you guys coming on with us. Okay, let's get going guys. Got lots of questions. We'll see if we can get through all of them this morning. Okay, now numero uno. Let's go right to Angie. Good question, Angie. "If your homocysteine levels are moderately high and you have cardiovascular disease, how can you lower it?" Well, homocysteine is an amino acid test. Test is amino acid homocysteine. It's a real good test. I write about it in my book, Sun Steak and Steel, the importance of the homocysteine test. It tells you that you're low usually. You know what Tony Jr and I were talking about this the other day and we kind of just agreed about this, that if you have high homocysteine testing, usually because your B12, they talk about B6 and B9 measurement too. But I'm big on B12.
I find that when you do a homocysteine test and it's high, it's really like an inflammatory marker and it'll give you a better indication by the way of what your B12 levels are. Remember the B12 test itself is a hundred years old and have always said, give it a birthday party and put it to bed because there's better ways of testing B12 than strictly taking a serum B12 test. There are better ways, and one of them is homocysteine. I like homocysteine because I think it's an inflammatory marker. It's another way along with CRP. And I'll tell you, if your homocysteine levels are high, your B12 is low. If your homocysteine levels are high, your vitamin D is low. And there are integrative doctors, functional medicine doctors that really like homocysteine when it comes to cardiovascular disease. It can sort of tell you.
But again, guys, think about this for a minute. If your B12 is low, you've got a good chance that your homocysteine levels are high. If your vitamin D levels are low, you've got a good chance that your homocysteine levels are high. So what is that telling you? Inflammation And B12 is a really important vitamin and so is vitamin D when it comes to inflammation. And inflammation can be silent just like you have high levels of homocysteine. How do you know that? Unless they test it. But a lot of doctors understand the importance of that test. Okay, so how can you lower it? B12, vitamin D. It's amazing.
Suzanne, "if you are very skinny and on the reset," okay, but you don't do the reset for weight loss, okay, you can. It's the best. If you need to lose weight, it's the best way of eating. If you need to gain weight, it's the best way of eating because if you're skinny, skinny don't mean healthy, by the way, okay?Because a lot of people think that, oh, I'm skinny, I'm healthy. Well, you just can't see ordinarily fat that may be surrounding your organs and you have no idea, okay? But the idea with the reset is you're eating eggs, meat and cheese, dairy, butter. So why is that good if you're skinny because you're eating a lot of protein and fat, healthy fat, it's exactly what you should be eating. And if you're big and you've got weight to lose, it's exactly the way. Guys, you got to eat anyways.
So this idea that you just count calories and eat less, move more. Guys that's been around since eons of time, but it's not sustainable and it's not workable, and most people look, eat less, move more. What if you got thyroid problems? What if you got all sorts of hormonal problems? What if, what if. Guys, you got to eat the best way that your body needs. You need those nutrients, okay? So yeah, protein is king. Protein surrounded by fat is the best food. Think of an egg. Is it full of protein? Big time? Has it got fat? Yes. Has it got saturated fat? Yes. Satisfied fat. Look at meat. Okay? Now you can get lean meat, but I like fatty meat better. It's got more fat soluble vitamins, okay? And so is dairy. Dairy's famous for fat and that's why the geniuses in the nutrition industry for years tried to lower fat. Let's eat fat free yogurt. How stupid is that? We went fat free and look what happened to us. Okay, thanks for the question, Suzanne.
German or Germaine, I don't know. "I have been forgetful while on the reset wondering why." Well, German, let me say this. Look, sometimes when you do the reset for a lot of people, they get sort of a brain fog or whatever, and that is just your body making a huge adjustment. Everybody's different, but a lot of people, they have to make an adjustment because they're changing fuels. The body is not as used to burning carbohydrates as fuel, glucose as fuel. Now it's burning ketones as fuel, much better fuel for you, much better for your little battery packs, much better output of ATP from your cells at the cellular level. Much better for your brain, much better for your heart, much better for everything. You might be getting a little brain fog. Don't worry, it'll pass.Because people sometimes abandon ship because I don't know what they were expecting, but sometimes you can get a little bit of an adjustment and my name is Tony and I'm a carboholic, and then all of a sudden I'm not eating carbs or very little and oh, your body makes an adjustment. You're changing fuels. I can tell you that it's the best thing that happened to you, okay? Don't give up whatever you do. Thanks German.
Sarah, "if you've already had a heart attack and a stent, what can we do to help?" Well, here's what you do, Sarah. Or here's what your family members can do. Keep your blood vessels, one lubricated, okay? Because when you already had a stent, you already had what they call atherosclerosis and you were getting hardening of your arteries, okay? So one of the things you want to do is lubricate, that's what I love, oil. The best oil is high DHA oil. There's no lubrication like it. The other thing, keep your nitric oxide levels high. What is that? Well, that's where your blood vessels have that elasticity and open up nitric oxide is a molecule that your body makes, but as you get older, whatever, you don't make as much of it and nitric oxide really, really important. Okay? B12 is important in nitric oxide. That's why I love people eating red meat. And the other thing is Navitol. Navitol will open up your blood vessels. It really helps. Okay? So those are the things Sarah, that I would do.
Connie, "a friend of ours is in the hospital with brain inflammation wondering what is good for her. She's been on chemo for years." Well, look, probably one of the side effects of chemo is a lot of side effects to chemo, obviously. Okay? And again, I can almost guarantee it if she's got brain inflammation, if they did her blood tests, her B12 would not be optimized. Her vitamin D would not be optimized. Those are anti-inflammatory, just like their anti homocysteine. Really important and I would have her on the high DHA again. Brain, okay, DHA. Your brain is made up of DHA. Curcumin. Very anti-inflammatory. Okay, thank you.
Dale, "what is your opinion on taking zeolite?" Zeolite is a mineral. What do you want to take it for? Oh, detoxing the body of heavy metal. It's a chelator. I don't know. I never, I found things better than that. One thing your body will do if you keep your liver clean, keep your kidneys functioning properly, your body is smart. It knows how to get rid of heavy metals. Now, the other way too, I like too is like exercise, sweating, saunas. Those are good things. Chelating, I used to do a lot of chelating in the office. Zeolite. I never found it to be, look, I guess it's all right. I just never found it to be the best thing to do. Okay, thanks Dale.
Sherry, "my friend has had radiation 10 years ago due to breast cancer. Now because of the radiation, she had damaged arteries. Cholesterol builds up." Okay, "the doctors want to put her on statins to stabilize the plaque." Look, can you see me getting a migraine? I particularly me, okay, I don't like statin drugs per se. Why? They don't do nothing. They lower your cholesterol. So what? What does that do? It hasn't even made a dent in heart disease. Now look, I'm not telling this person what to do, Sherry. Okay, look, the doctor put on statins, that's between her and her doctor, okay? I can't not my patient first of all, I'm not telling people what to do. Here's what I don't like. For me, I don't like statin drugs. There's too many side effects. You don't get any bang for the buck. What does it do? Doesn't protect you from heart disease, in my opinion, okay? And it's looking for love in all the wrong places. You're much better going on an anti-inflammatory diet. What's an anti-inflammatory diet? Eggs, meat and cheese. Okay, cholesterol buildup. What are triglycerides? What's her HDL cholesterol? That's what I'm really interested in. Okay? And anyway, I hate to get negative, but I'm negative.
Liette, every week I get asked this, okay, "what does Dr. Martin think of methylene blue?" I don't. I don't care. I think it's a bunch of nonsense. No, no. Listen, every week I get asked about, I don't know why. I guess it's big on the hit parade. Guys, listen again. Every week somebody asking about a different product. If you haven't heard about it before, it's almost like there's nothing new under the sun. I've been around for 50 years. A long, long time in natural medicine, a long, long time, a long list of supplements. Methylene blue, it's sort on the hip parade right now, and people are talking about it when it tells you it can cure everything from a cold to cancer, run Forrest, run. I don't buy it. It's fluff. It's on the internet and people are trying to like, if it's not methylene blue, nothing else works. Ah, run Forrest, run. I don't buy it. Okay? I don't buy it. You want to buy it, you buy it. But don't ask me to approve it because I've looked at it, I asked every week and I don't know. I don't buy the fluff that comes with it. Okay? I think you understand what I'm saying. I hope you do.
Okay, see, John, you're asking a question again, and I'm glad you guys asked this, okay? Because John's saying, what are your thoughts on LPE? Okay, lipoprotein A. Again, this is getting, in my opinion, John, this is what big pharma does. They're not stupid. They're marketing geniuses. So for 30 years they talk about we have found a medication to lower cholesterol. They're called statin drugs, and they lower LDL. They lower LDL, whoopy dupey. Now that they've done that, who cares because that didn't work. So here's what they're doing. They're smart. The marketing plan B, what's plan B? Let's talk about weeds. Let's get into the weeds so that people will still take their statin medication. That doctors will still recommend it. Let's get into even more testing and let's do the LPA. Let's look at the small density and the larger density, and let's look into the weeds. I don't buy it. I don't buy even for one second that cholesterol of any kind is dangerous.
I don't buy it because of biochemistry. Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. Your brain needs cholesterol. Your eyeballs need cholesterol. You can't have hormones without cholesterol. Cholesterol delivers. Cholesterol helps you to absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Cholesterol, cholesterol, cholesterol. It's only good. And the only thing I'm concerned about is not your cholesterol. Well, two things, your triglycerides, which are fat balls, which come, they get high when you're eating too much, not fat, too much carbohydrates, and you're living on carbs and sugars. And two, you don't have enough cholesterol. And we measure that by your HDL. Guys, that's what comes, and I don't care any way they couch it. I know that's controversial, but again, I always, always bring you back, John to facts.
If cholesterol, any kind was at the root of heart disease, high cholesterol, I mean we would've got rid of heart disease by now because the number one selling medication of all-time are statin drugs, cholesterol lowering medication. Guys, when the premise is wrong, the premise is wrong. I see it every day and I get asked every day and I'll get asked every day as long as I live, I'm sure of that. Dr. Martin, my doctor wants to put me on statin drugs. I'm not telling you not to do it, I'm just telling you what I know. I'm giving information, okay? And I don't like all of it. Cholesterol components that are considered bad, nah, I don't buy it. Oxidized cholesterol, I don't buy it. I'm not buying. And I thank you, John for asking because I'm going to get asked every day and now I'm telling you, they're getting so complicated and they're not stupid. They know how to market.
Anna, "scoliosis." Well, look, get strong, Anna. What makes up in scoliosis? Muscle, anchor your spine, scoliosis, curvature of the spine, anchor. The stronger your legs are and the stronger that upper back is, the better you will do. Okay? The better you will do. Keep your inflammation down. Eat a lot of protein. Laser therapy? Yeah, it can be helpful. I like laser.
Joanne, "my A1C was 5.7. I did the a hundred day challenge in September." What's that? What is that? The a hundred day? Is that me? I don't think so. 30 day, but not the a hundred days as far as I know. Unless I made something up in my sleep and I didn't tell myself. Okay, Joanne, so berberine, does it help? Berberine, chromium. I like chromium, cinnamon. Love cinnamon. Bitter melon. Yeah, I like that too. Try it. I like it. Okay, eat eggs, meat and cheese. I don't know what that 100 day challenge is. That didn't come from me, did it? I don't remember.
Charlie. "Does taking baking soda increase your testosterone?" No. I like baking soda, okay? I love it because your body makes it. Your body makes sodium bicarbonate. Did you know that? I don't like you just ingesting baking soda. I don't like that. I'll tell you why. Because now you are lowering your acidity in your stomach. You don't want that. You don't want to be taking baking soda, in my opinion. I understand why they say, well, for pH, but your body makes it already. Your body knows how to tightly control your pH of your blood. So testosterone, sun, steak and steel. Sun steak and steel. Got it? Okay. That's the best thing for testosterone. Okay? No, I had never heard that before, baking soda, increasing your testosterone levels. I don't get the link. Vitamin E exercise. You better believe it. Sun steak and steel.
Theresa, "what causes blood marks under my skin?" You're weird. I'm just teasing. Theresa, "I've been getting cortisone injections in my back every four months." Send me a picture. I don't know exactly like are you getting thinning? You're seeing your blood vessels? Give me a little bit more information, Theresa, because I'm not quite sure. It could be cortisone. I'm trying to figure out if cortisone, if you're getting cortisone infections, if that can thin out the blood vessels. I can. I dunno. I dunno. Okay, I got to think about it.
Suzanne. "I have an anal fissure. What do you think of citro magnesium oral liquid for a laxative?" Well, if you're constipated, I like water. I like coffee better. But magnesium, yes. A lot of people will use magnesium citrate as a laxative. I'm not quite familiar with citro magnesium oral liquid. Maybe people on here can answer Suzanne if they've ever tried it. I'm not against that If it works.
Nema, "what diet and supplements do you recommend for someone to conceive?" Well, elevate your progesterone. Bioidentical progesterone is something that I recommend if you're trying to conceive, get your progesterone levels higher and one way you can do that is dim out your estrogen. A lot of people don't realize they're, oh doc, what do you mean my estrogen is high? Well, we live in an estrogen dominated world. Dim it out. That's why I like flax seed. That's why menopausal formula, we put dim in there, dim out that estrogen and it boost up your progesterone.
Melody, okay, "since many of us are finishing the 30 day reset," good for you, "and January 31st is today." Good for you for you guys that have done it, "please talk about how we maintain our health. What numbers are considered low carbs?" I'm not into numbers. Okay, so Melody, you ain't getting no numbers out of me. I'm not big on numbers when it comes to grams and all. Nah, look when you come off the reset, okay, now you can introduce from the plant kingdom, fruits and vegetables. My rule of thumb is be a low carb eater the rest of your life. Not no carbs, low carbs meaning that you're always going to emphasize protein and fat, eggs, meat and cheese. Okay? And now you're introducing the plant kingdom back into your life. You like veggies? I don't care. Go for it. You like fruit? I don't care. Go for it. As long as you're metabolically better, which you should be after the 30 day reset and sort of find your way, Melody just to get to your sweet spot in your life.
You've done the reset, your insulin resistance is fixed, your liver is empty, your organs and your brain are running on the best of fuel and now you're introducing the plant kingdom. Just you've got a paradigm shift in your life. You're understanding now how much better you are on eggs, meat and cheese, high density foods and nutrients, and now you're introducing the plant kingdom back into your life. No problem. You want to have a salad, good for you, but don't live on it. And people go, well, give me numbers. I'm not into numbers. What's good for Dr. Martin may be a little bit different for you in terms of numbers grams. And I know people like to measure. I don't like measuring. When your hormones are right, when your insulin is right, when your leptin is right, when your ghrelin is right and you've already fixed that. Don't go back to eating all carbs and sugars and whatever. Don't do it. Don't go back.
Look, it's your birthday. You have a little piece of birthday cake. I don't care. I really don't. Just don't live on it. And you know that now it takes people to get into the reset to really do it, to understand, and they know they're burning a better fuel. They know their inflammation markers went down, they know that their triglycerides went down, their HDL went up. They know all of that. Every benefit, your homocysteine went down, everything went down, got better. And now this becomes lifestyle. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. Your body understands what fuel is the best for you. And you know what high octane fuel is, Melody. So now, yeah, you can have some plants, you can have fruits. You like fruit? I like fruit. I just don't live on it and never drink it. You want to drink something? Drink water and coffee and Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie. Okay? And it becomes a lifestyle.
I talked to people, this is 20 years now, they've been eating reset like they were diabetic and they're no longer, they were carboholics and they're not. But once a carboholic, you're always, my name is Tony and I'm a carboholic. When you do that, you realize that me and carbs don't get along that well. I learned that years ago about me, me and carbs. No, I like them, but they don't like me. We don't get along. Okay? And many of you were in a bad marriage with carbs for years, and now you separated and now you got a new lifestyle and your old boyfriend, your old flame is calling you everyone, hey, come back to the ice cream. Come back to the noodles and the pasta and bagels and the muffins and come back. We miss you and you go, nah, not really. Okay? I'm not coming back. I tried you before. I wasn't doing well with you. I got rid of you. Okay?
You know what I'm getting at Mel? That's what I'm getting at. Now you have a lifestyle, you want to count, count, but I'm not a counter, okay? I'm not big on counting. I never operated like that in my office. I never wanted to get people in the weeds. I don't want you to get into the weeds. Every day I get just about, Doc, I don't know if I'm into ketosis or not. They get all uptight with a little strip and I say, well, if you're eating eggs, meat and cheese, believe me, you're burning the right fuel whether it shows up in your urine or not. Why do you need that? You don't need that. Who's that satisfying? Your curiosity. That's about it. Okay? Okay. Thanks Melody.
Let me just see. How many more do I got here? I don't know if I'm going to get done here. Penny, "can you discuss what happens if your pancreas is removed?" Seriously, and you live to talk about it? It's amazing, right? But you've got a pump on and you're getting insulin. That's what your pancreas, I mean, your pancreas does more things than that, but I guess I'm trying to think if I've ever met a person that didn't have a pancreas. I'm sure I have, but I don't remember. Okay, Penny, will you have to take insulin? Absolutely. You are going to have to get insulin. You'll have an insulin pump that I guarantee.
Wendy, "what is an ideal iron blood work number for an 80-year-old man?" I don't know, Wendy. I don't know. I'm not big on numbers when it comes to iron. I am not. Not that I won't look at iron. If you got too much iron, you got hemochromatosis. That's usually because your insulin levels, you got insulin resistance and probably some fatty liver. And if you've got low levels of iron, you're going to be pale like Casper the ghost. And I used to just look at people, I'd say, well, you're anemic. Oh no, my doctor says my. No, you're anemic. Okay? And usually you're 80 years old and you're dragging a little bit. You're probably anemic. You need to eat more steak. You need to eat more liver, okay? And get on our blood boost our multi nutrient. Okay, Wendy? Okay. If they're feeling good, not too worried about it, Wendy. Okay? If your dad feels good, ah, he can't be too anemic. That's for stinking sure. Okay. Not dizzy, not lightheaded, not getting any palpitations in the heart. Okay?
Charlene, "scrambled eggs with cheese, retain its K2 nutrients when cooked?" Yep. I mean, I guess you can eat some raw eggs if you want, but you cook 'em up, you still get your vitamin K2, you get all your vitamins, you get all your minerals. Okay? Get cracking. Okay? Thanks Charlene.
"Does Dr. Martin recommend a CGMs, which is a glucose monitor, right on you." Well, if you're a diabetic, but even now, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you, Francis. Okay, it's Francine. I don't know what to tell you because I don't like monitoring all the time. People drive themselves crazy and they'd used to drive me crazy in the office. They'd bring me a book with their blood pressure. Do you want to look at this, Dr. Martin? Why are you trying to put me to sleep? I've got my blood pressure 10 times a day for the last three months. You want to read it? No, I don't have insomnia. If I did, maybe I would read that book. Okay. They love monitoring. Why? Okay and it's the same with a glucose monitor. I eat this and I check my blood sugar right away. Look, okay. I guess if you're insulin dependent and you're a type one diabetic, yeah, you want those monitors on, but just for the average population, they would give me a migraine. You're monitoring too much Anywho, that's just me, by the way. That's just me. You ask. So I tell you.
Susan, "can Dr. Martin talk about IGA deficiency?" Well, Susan, if you have it, your immune system is compromised. That's what it means. Some people just don't have the IGA, which is antibodies or whatever that you're not making properly. And that's usually autoimmune and that can be a deficiency. Or you can be too high, too low, not normal, and you're sick all the time and this and that. Okay? Take care of your immune system. Vitamin D, vitamin A, B12. You need that. Lay off the sugars. Eat good eggs, meat and cheese.
Gerti, "what do you recommend for a 19-year-old girl last period in September, she has gut issues, acne." Well, I guarantee you she's got way too much estrogen, not enough progesterone. And if she's got acne, she probably has PCOs, polycystic ovarian disorder. Get her insulin down to nothing which she's doing and fix that leaky gut. Guaranteed she's got that. Probiotics, I'd have her on bone broth and fix all those gut issues and get that estrogen down.
Claudette, "what do you think of black seed oil to help with the thyroid?" I mean, I wouldn't be my number one choice for thyroid. I like a combination of things for thyroid and our thyroid formula. Nothing better. It's a formula. It has the perfect ingredients, including selenium. I'm big, big, big on selenium. That's why I love vitamin S. Eating steak. That's got lots of selenium for your thyroid. And a lot of women have trouble with their thyroid.
Mary, "can you reverse osteoporosis?" I've seen it happen. Yep. I don't care so much to reverse it, but to keep it where you're strong. Muscles, muscles, muscles. And I would be on the multi nutrient too. Okay. Muscles, muscles, muscles. Get strong. Get strong. For a lot of reasons, muscles are another endocrine organ. The more we study muscles today, the more we realize how good muscles are for you. I don't care how old you are, I don't care if you're a man, woman, boy, girl, you need muscle. And we don't have enough muscle in our world today. We don't. And I like cardio, but nothing like muscle. Get strong for osteoporosis. Bone and muscle go together.
Joanie, I answered this last week I thought, but maybe I didn't. "What does Dr. Martin recommend for gluteal tendinopathy?" Well, you got weak glutes. That usually happens when you're sitting, get your hammy strong. One of the exercises I like is even on a treadmill, elevate, climb a hill on a treadmill can be good for gluteal tendinopathy. Okay, Joanie says, she used to be my patient and she said she misses me. Like a toothache?
Okay, Brenda, "what do you think of oral probiotics?" I wouldn't bother. You get a good broad spectrum probiotic. Different tribes do different things and they'll go to different places. It's unbelievable. You get a good broad spectrum probiotic and you will cover yourself from your brain to your toes with a good broad spectrum probiotic. Brenda.
"My son," this is Carrie, "with dyspepsia." Well, dyspepsia is stomach problems, right? I mean there's acid reflux. That's too much acid that's going up the esophagus from not having enough acid. Dyspepsia can be lots of things causing it. Just digestive issues mostly. And could be SIFO, could be small intestine fungal overgrowth. Can be not enough acidity in the stomach. Can be H pylori, can be a pile of stuff that's going on there. Don't feed the bears. Don't feed the bears, lay off the sugars and get on digestive enzymes.
Okay, "hiatus hernia," France, the reset. Well, food wise, yes, the reset is good for everything. Yeah, I've seen hiatal hernias reversed themselves, but it was rare.
Okay, Kathy, last one. "Can you mention your empty your liver in six days?" Six days on the road, and I'm going to get home tonight. I don't know if you guys remember that song, but that's when I think of six days. I think of the liver. The studies have shown that in as little as six days, you can empty the liver of fat, fatty liver. That's what you're getting rid of when you don't eat carbs and sugars and you don't drink any juices like fruit juice and fructose, empty the liver. Yes, that's what you're emptying. Kathy. Fat. You're getting rid of that stored glycogen.
Okay guys, thank you very much. It's much appreciated. Okay, we love you guys. Thanks for all the questions. We really appreciate it. Hopefully I didn't forget any, I mean, sometimes I go through stuff too fast and I miss it, but generally I think I got everybody. Love you guys. 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!