Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Magnesium citrate
- B12 vs. B complex
- Myeloma of the liver
- Causes of celiac
- Prednisone & probiotics
- Digestive enzymes
- Hypothyroidism
- Daily coffee intake
- Kidney stones
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: Hi guys. Good morning. How is ya? Hope you're having a good start to your day. Question & Answer Friday. Always fun. Okay. Let's get going. Let's get going. Margaret asked this question. Listen to what she said. Okay, here's the question. "It has come to my attention," well, that's good, Margaret, "that magnesium citrate might be very helpful. Is it true?" Margaret, listen, magnesium is essential for about 600 things in your body. Magnesium is an essential mineral. Absolutely. And whenever I think of magnesium, this is a good way to remember it, okay? I think of the word relax.
I found myself saying that to my grandchildren the other day. I don't know if they were doing something, and I said, "Relax. That's grandpa's way of saying, cool it." Okay? Relax. And that's what magnesium does. It does more than that. It helps relax your blood vessels. It helps relax your muscles. It helps you to relax from stress. It helps to relax your bowel. So the word relax is, I remember in school, that's sort of how I remembered magnesium and what it does. I had that word relax in my head. Makes things relax.
So you're right, Margaret. Magnesium citrate is very good. Neurologically, helpful. Good for your brain. We like it. And magnesium citrate is the form that we like. You know what citrate means? It's been chelated already. What does that mean? It means it's been broken down already. It's ready to be immediately absorbed by the body. There's different forms of magnesium. You can take magnesium baths, Epson salts are magnesium salts. Are they good for you? 100%. Epsom salt bath. We love magnesium citrate. And the only side effect, if you take too much magnesium, you're going to get a loose stool. So I like it. Absolutely, I do.
Chantal. "Why does Dr. Martin prefer B12 over B complex?" Well, that's a good question. I'll tell you why I do. First of all, B12 is an essential vitamin. All the B vitamins are important. B12 is the king of the castle, as far as B vitamins are concerned. And the reason I like it more than a B complex is because B12 is absolutely necessary for good health. If you don't have good levels of B12, you are not going to be healthy. It's as simple as that. Neurologically, for nitric oxide... You know what nitric oxide is? That makes your blood vessels relax. Well, nitric oxide is elevated with B12.
And I'm going to give you a real good estimated guess. 80% of the population are low in B12. And by the way, you know how you get a B complex? You can eat a B complex without thinking a B complex vitamin. Eat eggs, meat, and cheese, and you're going to get a B complex, the B vitamins that are found in the animal kingdom.
Plants have them too, but plants don't have B12. You have enough B12 in a plant for mice, not for men and women. It just isn't. Don't fool yourself. I worked with thousands of vegetarians and vegans over the years. And I would tell them, "Okay, you've made a decision. Now you have to be careful because you're going be low in B12. Don't fool yourself." "Oh, my doctor said..." No, your doctor and nutrition. I hate to be negative. They forget the importance of B12. Doctors in the 1950s, they had B12 shots in their little doctor's... I know you don't see doctor's bags anymore.
My dad had a little doctor's bag. I loved that bag because he had a stethoscope in there. And guess what? Every doctor had, in the 1950s, in their bag, B12 shots. You were tired, you got to B12 shot. You had a pimple on your nose? You got a B12 shot. From your nose to your toes, was B12. But they don't do it anymore because the pharmaceutical industry took over. They took over medicine. They did. So you don't hear about vitamins. They don't even want you to talk about vitamins. They don't want you to talk about vitamin D and what it does.
It's too bad. So sad. But that's the way the world is. That's why we got to educate. I got to educate doctors, if they'll listen. They don't take any nutrition. "B12, wait, wait, be careful." I remember this was a patient of mine, a physician. She calls me one day. "Doc, I have one of your patients who is one of my patients." Okay? Yeah. "Their B12 is high. What should I do?" I said, "That's what I'm aiming for. Aim for high B12 in the blood." "Oh yeah?" Yeah. The higher, the better. The higher, the better.
You need to optimize B12 so it works properly. Your nerves don't work properly without B12. Your brain doesn't work properly. Why do you think I want you to eat steak? B12 is found in red meat. I'm sorry. It ain't in chicken. It's not in your plants. Now, you can take a B complex if you want, but I'm not big on it. You won't hear me talking about it. I would rather you eat your B vitamins. And if you need to, you better take B12 as a separate sublingual. And now they know for a fact, this is a fact, that the sublingual form... Listen, I gave thousands of B12 shots.
When I first got married, my wife's a nurse, she gave thousands of B12 shots. But you know what they know today? And it's what I've been saying for a long time, better to take B12 every day if you need it and take it in a sublingual, dissolvable, because you don't want to swallow B12. If you take a B complex, they'll have B12 in there. But if you swallow it, you're not getting it from the vitamin. If you eat steak, it's different.
But B12, again, is a very finicky vitamin. It is because, structurally, it's a very large vitamin. And if you have any digestive trouble, like if you don't have what they call the intrinsic factor, you're not even going to absorb it. That's why they gave B12 shots. And today, and the best is pumping up your B12 on a daily basis. Am I against B12 shots? Nope. I'm just telling you what's better, proven. So some people out there are listening to me this morning. Take B12 shots. Again, no problemo.
But the jury is in. Sublingual B12 is a better form than the shot. It works better. And it's a daily thing. Thank you for the question, Chantal. Much appreciated. Maureen. "My 60-year-old brother's got myeloma of the liver, cysts on the liver, and he's referred to a gastroenterologist to keep an eye on it. What should I do about it? Can it cause cancer? Can you put it to bed?" All good questions, Maureen. All good questions. Okay.
Now, let's talk about the liver first. Your liver is the Costco parking lot. I went to Costco this week and I was laughing. You know why? Because the parking lot was full, as always. That's what happens in our modern society today. In this day and age, forget the parking lot. Just go into Costco and look at the food that they get. Look at the garbage that people consume. Go to the grocery store. Look at people's carts. It's carb loaded. People, they've been duped. They've been lied to. "Oh, you need carbs. You've got to have carbohydrates." No you don't.
And if you insist on eating carbs and sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup... Maureen, I don't know your brother from a hole in the ground. I don't. But I know enough about your brother from just what you told me. His Costco parking lot is full. Empty it. Cancer needs fuel. Two things. One, don't give it sugar. There's a book out that's been republished. It's called Ravenous. It's research that was done in the time of Nazi Germany by a scientist who worked in Nazi Germany. He was a Jew. They didn't kill him because he was so smart.
But he wrote a book even way back then in Nazi Germany, before the Second World War. He wrote a book called Ravenous, and talked about cancer cells looking for sugar. Imagine, in the 1930s, cancer cells are looking for sugar. They need fuel. That's what he said. They're ravenous. They're like a teenager looking for fuel. Now, here's another thing. Empty the liver, because the liver is the Costco parking lot. Empty it. It's really important to empty your liver. Your liver works 1,000 times better if it's empty, it's not full of fat from carbs and sugar. Crappy carbs and sugars. High fructose corn syrup has been the curse of the liver.
Why do we see so much trouble with the liver today? Why do we see so much liver cancer today? It's exploding, folks. Listen to me when I say this. Liver cancer is exploding in our society today, and it always amazes me. It always amazes me why people don't ask the question, why? Why is it happening? They don't ask the question. It's like pancreatic cancer. Why is it so prevalent today? Why is colon cancer so prevalent today? Especially in young people. Why?
Well, it's food. It's not the environment. That may be a factor, but it's food. The liver, it is filled up with fat. That turns into cirrhosis. Non-alcoholic fatty liver is caused by food, and drinking sugar when you should eat fruit, but never drink it. And never, never, ever drink sugar. Don't drink it. God wanted you to eat fruit. Don't drink it. That sounds like a book. Okay?
So don't feed it. Tell your brother to do the reset. It'll reset your liver. It'll empty the Costco parking lot. Now, here's another little tip brought to you by the Martin Clinic. Here's the tip. Cancer cells, what are they looking for? Sugar. When it becomes a tumor, you know what they're looking for? Bad fat. Crappy oils. It's true. They're looking for another type of feel. Cancer cells look for sugar, tumors look for fat, the bad fat. But if you give it, listen, Linda, high DHA, proven. It's one of the greatest discoveries in the last 10 years of medicine. And you didn't even hardly hear about it unless you were on our program here. That tumors, cysts, look for another type of fuel.
Don't give it bad oil, man. Don't give it that vegetable oils. They call it vegetable oils, which are really not vegetables at all. They're seed oils, making people sick, fast foods and processed foods. Don't give it that. Because that's what they're looking for. Cells looking for sugar and tumors looking for fat. Give it high DHA fat and they explode. It kills cancer. And I know we got so hijacked by the pharmaceutical industry. They actually suppress the news. They don't want you hearing that.
Look, you can't control everything in life. You just can't. I'm sorry. But you can control what you eat. And I didn't say it was easy. Maureen, tell your brother. Dede. "Why does my 33-year-old daughter get so many age spots?" Well, I'm going to tell you why. It's the diet. There is nothing, listen to what I'm going to say, it's not the sun. The sun is not your enemy for skin. I know they say it is, but it's not. Skin. See your skin. It loves Viderma and hates sugar. Your skin hates sugar. There's a process called glycation that will take your collagen in your skin and age it. Glycation is a loss of elasticity. Age spots, they don't come with the sun. They come with sugar. There you go.
Okay. Catherine. "Can you tell me what causes celiac?" Well, celiac, when I was in school, we called it sprue, S-P-R-U-E, sprue. Celiac sprue. What is it? Well, it's when you can't eat gluten, honey. And you know how to put celiac to bed? Well, live on the EMC, eggs, meat, and cheese, and you got nothing to worry about, honey. It's when you eat bread, pasta, cereals. Lay off the sugar. Crohn's is autoimmune in the small intestine, not the large intestine, the small intestine, and they tell you, you get all...
Go to the store and you've got gluten-free. I can't stand it. I can't stand it because it's all garbage foods. Because people insist they want to eat cookies. I used to tell my celiac patients, "Yeah, but if I eat gluten-free cookies..." That taste like cardboard, by the way. I said, "It's full of sugar. Why are you eating that garbage?" I said, "You don't need garbage like that." I said, "You have celiac. You know what? Live on eggs, meat, and cheese and be surprised how good you feel."
You're a person that shouldn't need carbohydrates. You don't need any of them. You can have some fruit. You can have some vegetables. But you're not having any bread or any noodle or any of that stuff. And you know what? You'll get used to it. "Oh doc, I don't like that." I didn't say you're going to like it at first. It's like a diabetic. I used to tell them, "You have an allergy to carbs. No more carbs." "But, can I negotiate, Doc?" No, I don't negotiate with diabetes. I don't negotiate with terrorists. I used to tell him that.
Diabetes is a terrorist. I don't negotiate with terrorists. It's going to kill you. Stop eating it. "What?" Stop. I was thinking yesterday. I remember a guy coming into my office and I don't know if I was in a funny mood that day or I don't remember exactly what mood I was in, but I got right to the quick, because what he didn't know is I found sugar in his urine. I looked at all the other tests before I came in the room. I had his results.
But when I saw sugar in his urine, I said, "You're a diabetic." And he said, "No, I'm not." And I said, "Listen here, Buster," and I used the word Buster. I should have called him, sir. But I called him Buster. I said, "Listen here, Buster. You're a diabetic. You have sugar in your urine. When you have sugar in your urine and you're peeing out sugar, you're a diabetic. 100%." And I said, "Here's what you do." Very short. "Go home. No more carbs. No more sugar. No more bread. No more pasta. No more noodles. No more nothing, honey. You're going to eat eggs, meat and cheese the rest of your life." And he wasn't a happy puppy.
I forgot my Dale Carnegie course that day. How to win friends and influence people. I was too abrupt, but I don't know, I was in a funny mood. So you got celiac? Stop eating carbs. There you go. But you can have a few fruits and veggies. No problem with that. Okay? Are we having fun yet? Good questions. Thank you very much.
Linda. "How long after stopping prednisone can I start taking my probiotics?" Well, Linda, you asked sort of the wrong question. Because if you're on prednisone, you should have been taking probiotics when you're on it. It's like antibiotics. I always tell people, listen, if you're taking antibiotics, you need to take probiotics with it. If you want to separate it by a couple of hours, go ahead. Look, everybody should take probiotics, everybody. Everybody. But if you're on prednisone, my word, that'll kill your bacteria like nobody's business. So, Linda, get on the probiotic. Don't wait till you stop taking the prednisone.
It's the same with an antibiotic. And here's another one that kills your friendly bacteria. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. Oh, people that live on Tylenol, people that live on Advil. They take it every day, or whatever. You know what? You need probiotics. You're killing your friendly bacteria. So Linda, get on them immediately. Cynthia. "Can you tell me how I will know when it is time to start taking digestive enzyme? Will my body give me specific clues?" Well, listen, Cynthia, for sure, if you have any kind of digestive issues, like acid reflux, burping, bloating, discomfort, diarrhea, constipation, you name the problem, digestively, take digestive enzyme.
Now, I'm going to tell you, I don't have any of those issues digestively, but I take digestive enzymes. Why do I do that? Because they're so good for you. Look, as we get older, we don't make as many digestive enzymes. We don't make as many pancreatic enzymes, like amylase and proteases and lipase. We just don't. Our acidity in our stomach is going down. So I'm being very proactive. I tell you, folks, I'm just going to say it. If you can find a digestive enzyme that is as good as the Martin Clinic digestive enzyme, I will send you a free bottle of our enzymes. And I mean it.
You find me one that's got a better formula than that. Somebody told me this morning, this morning, "I gave that digestive enzyme, Doc, like you said, to my kid. And it was like overnight. He was always complaining about his stomach, and whatever. Overnight." Yeah. I said they work. Listen, I had a clinic. I had people come in with the worst digestive issues you could think of, from serious IBS and serious ulcerative colitis and, you name it, autoimmune and blah, blah, blah, diverticulosis and diverticulitis. And CBLE. Better get results. You better get results or you're out of practice. Good question, Cynthia. We appreciate it.
"What is the best way for a 53-year-old-female," emphasize, Catherine, the word female, "to lose weight after the reset?" Catherine, you're a female. Now, I'm not into this gender stuff. You're a woman. What's a woman? A woman has, often, horror-mones. Okay? Horror-mones. 53 years old. You're coming in for a landing, copper. Remember my airplane analogy. When you are balanced, you're in an airplane and it's smooth. The seatbelt light has been turned off. You can move in the cabin. But here's a woman, turbulence. We're in turbulence. Often happens when you're coming into menopause, perimenopausal. And what is that? It's a fluctuation. It's turbulence, horror-mones. There out of balance, when you're not losing weight.
Now, weight loss. Remember the reset, please. The reset wasn't meant primarily for weight loss. Now, most, well over 90%, well over 90% will lose weight on the reset. If you're skinny, you're not going to lose weight on the reset. You'll actually gain weight, muscle. Because you're eating so much protein and fat. It's carbs that kill you. Crappy carbs, sugars. Now, when you can't lose weight, Catherine, you've got to get your hormones balanced. I'm going to do a session on the misconceptions in weight loss. It ain't calories, babe. I hope you don't mind me calling you that, Catherine. It ain't calories. It's hormones. And remember, though, when you did the reset, you did a lot of things that you didn't even realize you were doing. You were emptying your liver. The whole idea of the reset was to fix your insulin.
It's to fix insulin resistance. It's giving your pancreas a restart, a reset. And that's key. It's key for your liver. It's key for your brain. It's key for your heart. It's key for your kidneys. It's key for your joints. It's key for your gut. It's key for you name it. Because when you fix insulin, you're really healthy. Now, like I said, the vast majority of people will lose weight. And the reason is because when you eat eggs, meat, cheese, your body loves the fuel so much, you're not packing weight on. You're changing fuels.
So Catherine, you've got to get your hormones fixed. Now, the reset helps with that. It does help hormonal balance. Read the testimonies. They're incredible. But don't give up, Catherine. Don't give up. Can I tell you something about your scale? Here's what people found on the reset. I tell them, "Look for inches. Look how your body shapes, rather than the scale." Now, look, I understand. I've been in this for a long time. I had a weight loss clinic. So you can't say that I don't know anything about weight loss.
But if you fix your goals, change them, weight loss will come. And Catherine, don't stop walking and doing all the good things you're doing. But don't think you're unhealthy because you haven't lost weight yet. Don't think you're unhealthy. You did a lot of good things. Good for you.
Betty. "I seem to have a clear fluid leaking from my nose when I put my head down." Well, some people put their head back and they get postnasal drip and some people put their head down and they get draining of their sinuses. That's usually an indication that you've got some candida. Your body's trying to get rid of the yeast. Yeast loves moisture. Why? It's the cousin of mold. And if you're constantly dripping just by putting your head down, not if you've got allergies or whatever. I'm not talking about that. People get postnasal drip. They're always either coughing or they're trying to clear their throat. Or if you put your head down and you're leaking. Yeast. Clear that up. Takes time. Probiotics and don't feed the bears. Thanks, Betty.
Gerdy. "What's the protocol for fibroids in hyperthyroid women? Did the reset diet." Well, that's the real good thing. And the other thing, remember, this is really important. Whenever you have a fibroid, don't feed it. Estrogen. Hypothyroidism primarily is a problem of estrogen over progesterone. It's too much estrogen. It's estrogen dominance. Estrogen makes things grow, grow, grow, and they'll grow, grow, grow. Estrogen. It's a growth hormone. So is insulin. Insulin and estrogen can really become your enemies in cancer, in fibroids. Thyroid, when it's sluggish, it's an estrogen dominance in women, and men too. Men become women. They got more estrogen than their wives. And then they got trouble with their prostate. Usually not their thyroid, although that's can happen. Okay. Good question. Thank you, Gerdy.
Paulette. "I had brain surgery 20 years ago. Small portions still there of a meningioma." Well again, Paulette, the reset. Don't feed the bears. Cancer needs fuel. A tumor needs fuel. When it first gets there, it needs sugar, and then it'll look for fat. Not good fat. Good fat kills it. Steak kills it. Steak kills it because it's got DHA. You only get DHA and your brain is 90% fat. So someone calls you fathead, take it as a compliment. You want fat and the best fat is animal fat, fish fat. I have fish every day. Yep. I eat fish every day, in a capsule. I do. Every day, seven days a week. I want this brain to work. I need it, although some of you would argue that it's not working.
Kathy. "You say that four cups of coffee a day is the sweet spot." Yep. "Do you literally mean 32 ounces, four times eight? Or do you mean four mugs? Which could be 12?" Well, Kathy, I like the question, because I know some people are really, really strict when it comes to instructions. I'm giving you a ballpark. And when I say a sweet spot, first of all, all coffee is good. Even decaf. Because somebody asked me the other day, "I don't do well with caffeine." Well then, drink decaffeinated coffee. The sweet spot is four times 12 or four times eight. It ain't the ounces. It's in the ballpark is what I'm saying.
I use four cups of eight ounces. That's me. And I have four cups of coffee every day, seven days a week. You can set your watch on my habits. I'm a creature of habit. And in the morning, all I can think of when I get out of bed is that cup of coffee, but I don't even allow it. Discipline. The first deep discipline. Tony, have your bottle of water before you have your cup of coffee.
That's me. And I'm telling you because, like I said, guys, I was in practice for years and years and years and years. How do I get to sweet spots? By observation and repetition in the clinic. And when I would tell people, first of all, they're dehydrated, it wasn't because they were drinking too much coffee, as much as that they weren't drinking water. And I found that that four cups, in that area, if you're five, I'm not going to scream blue murder. This is the sweet spot for coffee is four cups. If you want to have 12-ounce cups, man, go for it. And then just monitor how you're feeling and whatever. Because somebody asked yesterday, I saw it after the program. Somebody asked me, "Why do you say that you need decaf after?" I'm very careful to protect my sleep, and for me, once I hit about 50, I had to start drinking decaf at night.
I like a cup of coffee after supper. I do. It's part of my good habits. I'm thinking of my vitamin C. But it better be decaf or I'm up all night thinking about you. That's just me. I got a good neighbor and friend and he used to laugh and be like, "You're in old age, what do you mean you got to have decaf?" And then all of a sudden he turned 50 and he said, "Gee, I was up all night. I used to be able to drink a coffee five minutes before going to bed. Not anymore, pal." Thanks Kathy. Okay. A couple more and we're done.
"Can you explain low cortisol?" Well, we talked about cortisol all week, right? The stress hormone. Having low cortisol isn't good either. That's usually when you're completely exhausted and then your cortisol goes from high, instead of leveling out, goes to very low. That's what I usually found in chronic fatigue syndrome. Their cortisol levels were very high for too long. We talked about that all week. And then they can get into the point of exhaustion and below. Well, you still want cortisol formula because cortisol formula is cortisol balanced. You want to balance it out.
Very few people, by the way, very few, have low cortisol. Some do. You can have low cortisol, but usually you're at the point of complete exhaustion. You still need to fix it. You still need to get on the reset. You still need to get on cortisol formula and things for your adrenal gland. Low cortisol comes with, usually, exhaustion, when there's exhaustion taking place. Laura, thank you for the question. One more.
Theresa. "What do you do if you have kidney stones? Where do they come from?" Kidney stones are 75% oxalates. Kidney stones, guys, come from the plant kingdom. Now, I know people don't like to hear that, but that's a fact. When you eat oxalates, oxalates are things like spinach. You're not a rabbit. You can't break down oxalates. Okay. Spinach, [inaudible 00:40:45]. Be careful because you form oxalates and oxalates are 75% of kidney stones. You know what's hard on the kidney? Sugar, a lack of water, oxalates, and then the other one, 25% of the other kidney stones, 75% are oxalates and 25% are uric acid. How do you get uric acid stones? Sugar, honey, honey, you are my candy girl. It's sugar.
And today, especially, it's high fructose sugar. The worst sugar for your kidneys. The worst sugar for your liver. Fructose. High fructose corn syrup. That's why we see so much problems with uric acid. Uric acid. Remember gout? That doesn't come from meat. It wasn't because the king was eating meat. It was because the king was drinking wine and beer. Okay. Alcohol, sugar, too many vegetables. Oxalates. I don't know where else you're going to hear this, guys, but that there is the truth. Okay.
Man, oh man, I don't even have to work out today. I've had fun. And sweating at the same time. Okay guys, you guys are great. Thanks for all the good questions. The smartest audience on the internet is my audience. The smartest. I mean it because I've tested you. You guys get it. Okay. Now, share the message if you can. Share the message. Get people to watch the podcast. The Doctor Is In. Share your Facebook with them. You can do it. Okay. Guys, we love you. 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!