What are macros, and why should we care about them? Dr. Martin teaches about macros in today’s episode and why we need to understand them.
If you’re trying to lose weight and are consuming seeds and nuts, or snacking all the time, you’ll have a difficult time losing that weight. You need to understand that protein is king, and getting that high quality fuel is essential to being healthy.
Listen to today’s episode to learn how we really do have it backwards in terms of the foods we are told to be eating.
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 afternoon guys! Welcome to another Live this afternoon. Different time, but good to have you on with us. A question was asked of me the other day about snacking. I think it's only been in the last 50 or 60 years that people snack and it's a big part of the food industry. I think we would all agree with that. It's huge. People are eating more frequently than they ever have and it’s not really beneficial. If anything, it's been detrimental to our health. If you left the planet, happened to jump on a spaceship in the '70s and came back 50 years later, and here you are in 2021, you'd look around and wouldn't have to be a rocket scientist to realize people have gotten bigger. Now we have what we call “twins of disaster” of obesity and diabetes, diabesity. This is one of the points I've been making for a long time is we are in serious metabolic trouble.
One of the reasons is, we don't understand food. You almost got to throw out everything that you've been taught, what's taught in medical schools or even dietitians. It's craziness. We're a carb crazy world. Bread, pasta, rice, cereal, sugar, sweets, pastries, milk, store bought milk, we're crazy about snacking and we're crazy on carbohydrates. I want to remind you of the three macros that your body needs and what your body doesn't need. So you have three macros when it comes to food; protein, fat and carbohydrates. Now, I've done podcasts, and you can go back and look at protein is king. It's the king of the castle. It's the fuel that your body needs the most because protein builds and repairs, protein builds and repairs.
You take out a strand of hair and ask, "What is that made up of?" 99% of your hair is protein. A lot of women, I know hormones make a big difference, thyroid makes a big difference, but a lot of people, they just don't eat enough protein. For my vegan and vegetarian friends, and I mean that, I'd call you friends, a real friend, they'll tell you the truth, they won't deceive you. I'm a friend to vegans and vegetarians. Why? Because I'm going to tell them the truth.
I saw something on a magazine cover the other day when I was in the grocery store that showed you get all the protein you need from the plant kingdom. Well, that's not true. That's a false statement. You know what, one of the things I love is peanut butter. I've liked it since I was a kid. When I take my supplements in the morning, I like my peanut butter. But here's science, guys. In order to get let's say 100 grams... I just did a calculation. If you want to get 100 grams of protein, you would have to eat 500 calories of steak. You know how many calories of peanut butter you'll have to eat? I'm talking about natural, no sugar peanut butter. You would have to eat 2,600 calories of peanut butter to get 100 grams of protein, steak, 500 calories.
See, there's a big difference, guys. You need to understand your macros. Protein is king. Yes, you can get protein from the plant kingdom, but as I have always said, Popeye didn't get those big muscles from eating spinach. He just didn't. He lied. You need animal protein to get high quality essential protein. It's just not found in abundance in the plant kingdom. It's not. This is a sidebar here for a second. When you're trying to lose weight, ladies... Look, why do I pick on women? Because men don't listen to me. Look, ladies, when you're trying to lose weight, remember this. Here's what's snacking. “Oh, Dr. Martin. They're nuts and seeds.” I know. But that's how squirrels get fat. If you're trying to lose weight, don't eat nuts or seeds. You can have a little bit of flax seeds because that'll lower your estrogen. I like that. But a little bit. That's how squirrels fatten up and they put all that stuff away for the winter time. So don't snack on nuts and seeds. Don't do it.
“Oh doc, I heard they're good for you.” Well, you heard wrong, okay? Not that they're terribly bad for you, it's just if you're trying to lose weight, and in this day and age of diabesity... I know I get emails and whatever, "Doc, how can I gain weight?" Well, don't say that too loud. You're going to get people angry when you're saying you're trying to gain weight. In this day and age, most people are trying to lose weight. Again, the healthiest weight loss program in the world, there's nothing like it, I'm telling you, it beats keto to bits and that is The Reset. Am I against keto? Of course I'm not. I'm not against it. I'm just telling you, nutritionally, it's not the best. I know you're going low carb. That's good, but it's not the best. It's good, but it's not the best. The best is not low carb. The best is high protein and fat.
The second way you gain weight, so think about this, one, how do you gain weight? Snacking. It's one of the worst things. I understand the need for it when you're eating the wrong fuel. So I'll come back to that in a minute. But don't don't snack on nuts and seeds. They're not for snacking. Two, how do bears get fat? A bear will eat up to 30,000 blueberries in a day and bears understand something. If they want to gain weight for the winter, they gorge on fructose because fructose is a different type of sugar. Fructose is a storing sugar.
Now, does that mean you can never have any berries or never have an apple? But in this day and age, here's a statement from me, an apple a day doesn't keep the doctor away anymore. A steak a day does. That's a new saying. Let's make it popular. An apple a day, no more. Because, again, diabesity, the twin disorder in the world. One of the biggest problems is snacking and what they're snacking on. They're snacking on fructose which is a storing sugar. It's one of the reasons that high fructose corn syrup is the antichrist of all sugars. It is a Frankenstein sugar. I don't even know when they discovered this in a lab if they knew how bad it really was. It's very addictive and makes bee-line for your liver. It's creating havoc in our society today. I scream, scream and scream at high fructose corn syrup. But even fructose, even good fructose like a fruit, and remember what I always say, never ever drink fructose. Never drink fructose. Don't drink orange juice. Don't drink apple juice. Don't drink any juice. You can have a smoothie made of cream, okay? So what will derail a weight loss program is snacking.
Now, let's get back to the macros. Protein is essential. It's essential. It makes enzymes. It makes hormones. It transports and stores nutrients. It's a big part of your immune response. It's a big part of repair in the body, protein, and the vast majority of people in North America are upside down because their food pyramid is upside down. They are carb loaded and protein is up at the top and protein has been vilified. I saw a picture again the other day coming out of the grocery store in a magazine and it had look at this terrible fast food. It always shows you a picture of a hamburger with bacon and cheese, okay, and a big hamburger like that. But you know what kills you on the hamburger? The bun, not the bacon, not the cheese and not the hamburger. It's the bun that kills you. It's the bun. That's no good for you. Now, I know that doesn't make me necessarily popular, but when it comes to nutrition and nutrients, I'm telling you the truth. Protein is king of the castle, followed very closely by fat, the second macro. Fat don't make you fat. Because it's not calories, guys. Remember that. It's not calories. Fat is essential for your body. Your body can't live without fat.
Protein is essential because of the things that I just mentioned. It provides energy. Fat provides energy. But fat is very important. Your brain is made up of fat, okay? Never forget that. Every cell in your body, the membrane is made up of fat. Fat forms your cell membranes. Fat is part in your brain neurotransmitters. I tell you, one of the biggest reasons that people are so depressed today, that people have so much mental health problems is because they eat fat-free. Whenever I see fat-free in the grocery store, I get a headache. Low fat yogurt, low fat this, low fat that. For heaven's sakes, they got it wrong. They've been wrong for 50 to 60 years. Fat is essential. Protein is essential. I've said this to you many a times and I'll say it to you again. Remember this now, God in nature put fat and protein together in its perfect proportions. That's why steak is so good for you. That's why eggs are so good for you. That's why cheese is so good for you. Why? Because it has the perfect balance of protein and fat. Those things don't make you fat. Protein is essential. Fat is essential.
But here's what people do because they've been taught the wrong way. They are carb loaded. Their snacks are carb loaded and carbs is non-essential. How do I know that? Because if you never ate, and I'm not telling you to do it, please don't misunderstand what I'm saying, if you never had another carbohydrate ever, not one gram of it, your body would take fat and burn it as fuel. Because the only thing that carbs do in terms of its macros, they don't repair, they don't give you cell membranes, they give you energy. Your tissue is not made up of that stuff. You analyze blood and protein is essential for blood. Fat is essential for your blood and for cells, but not carbs. Carbs aren't. Carbs are strictly for energy. Of course, we know what the problem is.
Now, you guys know more, the followers of the Martin Clinic, I'm going to say something about you right now. If I could, I would give you an honorary degree in nutrition. You know why I would do it? Because you know more than 99% of the population, because 99% of the population think they cannot live without carbohydrates. Oh doc, I couldn't live without carbohydrates. Well, you could. I've told you the story in 1958 of a fellow out of Saskatchewan, I think he was originally from the Netherlands. He got caught up in the Arctic in 1958. He got caught up there and he couldn't be rescued. He was on a scientific journey and he couldn't be rescued. The ice came in and it froze. It was the Arctic. This guy, Stefansson, got caught up in the Arctic and he was a researcher and he had to spend a whole year with what we used to call Eskimos until apparently that's offensive and now we have to use the word Inuit. But anyway, he got caught up with the Inuit for a year.
You know what? He decided, "Well, if I'm going to be here for a year, I'm going to observe these people, how they eat and I'm going to observe how healthy they are." He couldn't get over it. He actually wrote a book. He wrote a book on why Eskimos don't get heart disease. He couldn't get over it. Eskimos, they lived on blubber. Even the muscle of seal, they wouldn't eat it. They'd give that to their dogs. They were looking for organs only and fat. No carbs, zero carbs. He said, "I never seen people as healthy and as robust and never get infection or sick."
Somebody asked me, "Well, how did the Inuit die?" I said, "Because the polar bears eat them." They don't die of heart disease like us. Heart disease, guys... Can I give you a little clue? If you read anything about the history of medicine, it's fascinating, because before the 20th century, people didn't have heart disease. I mean, they might have had a defect, I guess, once in a while, but people didn't die of that. They didn't, "Oh, you know what, I'm running in the field and I had a heart attack." People didn't die... Did I say they didn't die? I didn't say that. I just said they don't die the way we die.
Folks, we eat too much, numero uno, and number two, we snack too much, and number three, we eat the wrong foods. They're loaded with carbohydrates that only provide energy. If you don't use energy from a carbohydrate, it will be stored as fat. The proof, my friend, is in the pudding. Look, use your eyeballs. Look around, look at the size of people, look at their size. Watch an old movie and look at today and the proof is in the pudding. Here we are. We've been taught the wrong way for foods. We got our macros upside down.
“Oh, I couldn't live a day, Dr. Martin, without a carbohydrate. How am I suppose to?” We have a new religion today. It's a religion of veganism and vegetarianism and it's a religion, folks. It is not science. It's a religion. It's a belief system. I've been consistent, you know that. I've been consistent. I haven't come off the mark. I feel sorry for young people today, especially, because they are being indoctrinated today. Young people are being indoctrinated in school. You want to eat healthy, well, you got to live on vegetables and carbohydrates. No, no you don't.
So I'm against snacking. If you're going to snack, make sure that snack is protein. When you are eating the right fuel, by the way, and I know this because... Remember, guys, before I wrote The Reset, I did it with thousands of patients every day in my office. If you came to my office, you got The Reset. “Oh, Dr. Martin, why are you telling me to eat like that?” Because you got problems with your hormones or you got problems with your liver or you got problems with your heart or you got inflammation or you have autoimmune or you have leaky gut. I don't care what it was. When it came to food, I was giving you nutrition 101, 101. You got it from me. I teach you the macros. I teach you that carbohydrates are not essential foods. They're not.
Now, I'm not telling you not to have another carbohydrate. I'm not saying that. But if you're struggling with diabesity, diabetes, pre-diabetic and pre, pre. A lot of people don't realize that. Medicine has been hijacked by labs, by the way, labs. Because they have certain numbers, they make up a disease. If diabetes, for example, here's the numbers. If you're under it, you're not a diabetic. Yes, you are. So that's really, really essential. So remember, if your goal or one of your goals is weight loss, very commendable, there's nothing wrong with that, okay, you name me any kind of weight loss program, any one of them, and I can give you a Coles notes version of them, what it means and why they do it. I'm not big on them, guys. I'm just not.
I don't want you to go on a diet. I want you to go on a lifestyle and I start that lifestyle with the reset. I want to reset your body, reset on the inside. I aim at your mitochondria, your battery packs. I aim at your pancreas to stop over-secreting insulin. We fix insulin resistance. That's the key, fix insulin resistance, change fuels. Understand, you need protein. You're never going to eat too much. Oh, doc, I eat too much protein. No. No, you didn't. Protein is king. Nobody got fat eating protein. Nobody. You don't get fat eating fat. “Ah, cheese, Dr. Martin look at all the calories in cheese or butter.” But nobody gets fat doing that, okay? So that was a good question that somebody asked me. What about snacking?
Okay. So guys, tomorrow is Question and Answer Friday, so it's not too late to send you questions in. We're happy to answer them. Not too late to get your Christmas gifts, the reset book. Not too late. If you're not a member, I saw this afternoon lot of people were signing up to our Martin Clinic Facebook group. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. What a beautiful community in there. We appreciate you guys. Again, I'll just mention those podcasts, The Doctor Is In Podcast. You can automatically set it up for a download to your smart device, okay? The Doctor Is In Podcast. Thank you for making that such an enormous success. The reset, the book, an enormous success. Thank you folks for doing that. Okay, we love you dearly. 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!