1904. Q&A with Dr. Martin

Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners 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. And happy Labor Day. Okay. One thing that we do in Canada and the United States is celebrate Labor Day.

So, and for most people, it's a holiday, but here at the Doctor's in, we want to talk to you guys. Okay. Why does it take so long to get A1C lowered? And what can it be done to lower it?

This is coming from Craig. You guys know how much I love A1C. Okay. I love looking at it.

It's a great number to look at. That's the average blood sugar over a period of three or four months. It's called glycated hemoglobin. Why do I like that test so much?

Well, it gives you a pretty good indicator of where you're at. It's a pretty good indicator of how you break carbs down. It really talks about a relationship with carbs. Now, I use that test as part of a diagnosis for metabolic syndrome.

What is metabolic syndrome? It's insulin. When you have trouble breaking carbs down. Remember, when you're eating a steak, your insulin is on the sideline.

It has very little to do. But when you eat a piece of bread, a carb, generally, what do you got? Lots of insulin. Bread, pasta, rice, cereal, sugar, sweets, juices, milk, grocery store milk, bagels, muffins.

What are they? Carbs, mostly. Need a lot of insulin. Okay.

You can measure that. If you're above 5.4, that's my little sweet spot. You and carbs don't get along. Craig's asking a good question.

Well, what can I do to get this down? It's taking so long. Well, Craig, I mean, if you are doing the diet, and for some people, you might even have to eliminate carbs. You might have to do the reset and do it again and again.

It's just the way you're built. Now, Craig, let me put a little asterisk here. Okay. Because I think you need to understand this.

What are your other numbers when it comes to metabolic syndrome? For example, what is your triglycerides? What are your HDL numbers? That's really important that you put it all together with your lipids.

Okay. What is your uric acid, if you know? What is your vitamin D, if you know? What is your B12, if you know?

I don't know if you know any of those things, but I don't isolate A1C. I never have, and I never will. I like looking at it. I mean it.

It's a big part of what I look at when I look at blood work. What I looked at for years is A1C. I like it. The doctors are not hesitant ordinarily to test your A1C.

They'll do it. They don't know how to interpret it because all they're looking for is diabetes. Well, diabetes is the last thing to have. But Craig, just make sure.

Okay. Make sure. Look at your other numbers. What's your blood pressure like?

Because that's a part of metabolic syndrome. Okay. Now, here's another thing. Okay.

And Craig, I just got to tell you because this is a fact. The more muscle you have, the better your A1C is. Why? Because muscle are bins.

Muscles are mops. They mop up sugar. They are so important in your metabolic syndrome. Okay.

They are so important as to have muscle. Now look, you don't have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, but get stronger because that helps to lower A1C because you're building bins. You're building storage space for glucose and your body will choose muscle. First, insulin loves muscle in a good way.

The problem is most people don't have enough of it. And insulin has a job to do. It has to store sugar. Sugar cannot stay in your bloodstream.

Therefore, insulin will say, oh, well, there's no more room in the muscles. I have to use the liver, the Costco parking lot. And if there's no room in the Costco parking lot, insulin will create fat cells, lots of extra fat cells. And most people have an unlimited capacity.

Think of fat cells as parking spot. Why are people today so big today? Why is there so much obesity today? Why?

Well, yeah, food, but the obese hormone is insulin. It's looking for parking spaces for those carbs you're eating. Carbs turn to sugar rapidly and you need parking. You can't stay in the bloodstream.

If you understand that, guys, you're way ahead of most physicians. Sugar is destructive. It can't park in the bloodstream. It can't stay in your arteries.

Why? It destroys them. So insulin smart. It says, okay, you're insisting on living on bread and noodles and pasta and crappy dinner or whatever.

Well, come here. I got to park you. I got to take you out of blood. You can't stay there, sugar.

Come with me. It looks at the muscle. Oh, no room. Liver.

Oh, no room. There's already full of fat. Well, you know what? You know what insulin does?

More fat cell. Let's take more parking spots and we're going to have extra parking. And guess what it does? It parks it on your hips.

It parks it on your belly. It parks it. So when you look at fat, okay, let me get it out. As you know me, I love visualizing.

Okay, what do I have in my hand? Five pounds of fat. Holy smokes, Dr. Martin.

I didn't know five pounds of fat was this big. A foot long and almost six inches wide. Oh, I only lost five pounds. You know, many times I heard that on the reset.

I only lost five pounds. Yeah, but you lost five pounds of fat. And usually this fat is hanging around your organs. It's called visceral fat.

Okay, so insulin has a job to do. And insulin will take even a skinny person and pack on fat that they can't see. And it's around their organs. That's called visceral fat.

Very dangerous fat, by the way. But when you look at people, because the vast majority of people have an unlimited capacity to create fat cells and pack them up. They're parking spots, guys. You don't need fat cells for steak.

Okay, you don't. You need fat cells for carbs. And again, my audience, you're in the small percentage of people that even understand that. We had a weight loss clinic.

It wasn't calories in and calories out. I know why you're fat. Eat less and move more, says 99% of the doctors. Says 99% of all nutritionists and dieticians.

Oh, move more, eat less. They don't understand the concept of insulin. They don't understand what it has to do in your body. They don't understand it.

They don't look at A1C the way I look at A1C or my audience looks at A1C. They don't look at it. Now, all they can think of A1C, well, you're not a diabetic. We had a question this week.

On Friday, my husband's A1C is 8 points something. He's a diabetic type one. The doctor says, I'm not concerned about that. I am.

And guys, at the end of the day, it's a relationship you have with carbohydrates. And 93% of the population, 93, okay, 93. They don't have a good relationship with carbohydrates. They just don't.

And nobody told them. But you can actually do blood tests to find out. So coming back to you, why does it take so long? Well, it probably took a long time to get there if you're up high on A1C in the first place.

And if you're on the right track, then don't get discouraged. I always tell people that, okay, like, look, I love looking at your numbers, but I, you know what I mean? If you are eating right and you're building muscle, you're on the right track. If your liver is empty, you're on the right track.

Rome wasn't built in a day. It was destroyed in a day. It didn't take long. Okay?

So all I'm saying is, guys, okay, so for you, Craig, those are the big things. And what are your other numbers? Because don't just isolate A1C. Okay?

Don't just isolate it. A1C is meant to be looked at with your other markers, like triglycerides, in your HDL cholesterol. I love looking at those things. Okay?

Okay. That was Craig, and that was a good question. And how do you like my five pounds of fat? Every time I look at this thing, I can't get over it.

Okay? Can't get over it, how much fat that is. Hey, Cydalia, she picked up duck eggs. Is that a good thing?

Yeah. You like them? You do? They're good for you.

They're probably more nutritionally dense. I think it's been measured. I can't remember. It's the last time I've ever looked at anything on duck eggs, but they're good.

And they're good for you. And I don't think there's any issue at all. Eat 100 a day. I don't care.

They're good for you. So go for Cydalia. What supplements are good for PCOS, Glenda is asking about PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Disorder or Syndrome. Okay?

Let me give you some news, Glenda. Okay? Because we did a whole program on this. Do you know that they've changed the name of PCOS to PIMOS, Polymetabolic Ovarian Syndrome?

Not even cystic. They took the name cystic out. They actually changed the name. Were they listening to me?

Maybe. I doubt it, but they got it right. Let me explain. Okay?

They got it right. Polycystic ovarian disorder. They've always known this, but they're changing the name because they've known that insulin drives ovaries to grow cysts on them. Insulin.

What are two growth hormones? Insulin and estrogen. And I'll tell you why medicine is known for a long time. Because they would give women that had polycystic, really polymetabolic, but they would give them a medication called metformin.

What is metformin for? Diabetes, high blood sugar. So obviously, sugar, carbs have an effect. So Glenda, understand that because you can't out supplement a bad diet.

With PIMOS, used to be PCOS, it's insulin. It's food. It's food. And insulin drives growth.

What did I say? What does insulin do? Okay. See the fat?

See the five pounds of fat? Okay. What does insulin do? It packs it on.

And then the cells resist insulin. They can't stand it anymore. It's diet. So what would I do when I saw a patient with PIMOS?

You know what I did? With great success? The reset. I had to explain to them that their bad skin, the growth on their ovaries, the hair on their chinny chin chin, the elevated estrogen, the elevated testosterone in women goes along with PCOS.

That's now called PIMOS. So we're going to start with your diet. We're going to lay off the carbohydrates and for 30 days. You'll thank me later.

That was me. No one had ever talked to them about their diet. And their hormones were completely out of whack. They had acne.

Even in their 40s, acne, hair on their chin, growing hair where they didn't want it, thinning hair on the head because it slows the thyroid to a crawl. So what did I do? Start with diet. Let's lower insulin.

Let's fix insulin resistance. You'll thank me later. Then I would dim out their estrogen with flax seeds. And I dim it out on our menopausal formula.

Dim, dim, dim. Get the estrogen down. Amazing what happened. Amazing.

Okay. I had them drinking coffee with their meal. Why? Acts just like metformin.

You mean, doc, you're giving me a supplement of coffee? Yeah, not the bean. Drinking. Do you like coffee?

Oh, yeah, I love coffee. Good. Now lay off the sugar in it. Stop it.

Guys, that's what I did. I did it in my office. I saw thousands of women with hormones. That's what we used to call them in the office.

You got hormones? I didn't even have to ask. Even though I tested, I could see it. Okay, Glenda.

Christina's had a whooshing, a whooshing sound in her ear. Sounds like an ultrasound machine. Hearing that. Now usually this is me.

Okay. This is what I usually saw in people that had that. One, oftentimes anemic. Oftentimes.

They didn't know it. No one told them. And there's different forms, guys, of anemia. It's not just iron.

But I used to see it a lot. Low levels of B12. They didn't know it. No one told them.

No one tested. Not always, but could be. Okay. Low levels of nitric oxide.

Their blood vessels in the middle ear were not opening properly. And sometimes I got real good results with Navitol, Pine Bark extract. Okay. Not always.

B12, not always. Sometimes I would give them a blood booster. Not always, but those are the things I had them consider. It's sort of a form of tinnitus too.

Could there be inflammation in there? In the middle ear? Yep. There sure could be.

So I like high DHA for that inflammation or curcumin or the combination of both. And sometimes I had people taking curcumin, Navitol, okay, together, Cursitin, DHA. Curcumin. Look, Christina, those are the things I want you to consider.

I saw it a lot, by the way. A lot more than people realize. Joni. Oh, look at this.

Okay. Wendy, let me do this before I go to Joni. What do you recommend for vertigo and tinnitus? Insulin resistance.

Well, I just said it, Wendy. Okay. Because a lot of times you get not only anemia, but you get insulin resistance, can cause vertigo. You know, I've done this with you in the past.

Often you look at food first. Sugar. Sugar is destructive. Sugar is very inflammatory.

And it's amazing people found this out. When they did the reset, they cut out the sugar completely for 30 days. It was amazing to them a lot. Not everybody, guys.

Okay. It wasn't everybody, but a lot of people. And I mean that. Man, my joints are better.

Man, my tinnitus is better. My plantar fasciitis is better. My bursitis is better. Not everyone, but a lot of people.

So insulin resistance creates a cascade of problems, including inflammation, itis. It's worth a try. It really is, guys. Okay.

So that was Wendy. I want to, because she was talking about tinnitus and vertigo. And again, I always look at B12. I look at, especially in the swishing sound.

A lot of times they were anemic. They just weren't getting enough blood supply, red blood cells. Joni, how does your thyroid support supplement compared to Nutri Med's bovine glandular capsules grass fed? I don't know.

Joni, I don't know. I've never compared the two. No. I've had a lot of patients in the past on glandulars.

I've had a lot of people on Armour thyroid. Lots of patients over the years. Look, I was a guy, my son and I, when we were in practice together, we got to get results. You had a hypothyroid.

You had a thyroid that wasn't working properly. Now remember, the way I look at thyroid may be different than a lot of other people. I don't isolate the thyroid gland. I don't do it because it's a puppet with lots of strings attached.

So I did the whole schmazzola. I looked at everything in a pyramid. The ovaries, the adrenals, the pancreas, the liver, because they all are connected to the thyroid. Now, my thyroid formula, it's very popular.

Go read the reviews on it. It's incredible. Look, is it a cure? No, but it really helps.

Everything in that formula, every ingredient in the formula, including selenium. Because the thyroid, guys, people think iodine. Yeah, I think iodine too, but not only iodine. Because if you don't have selenium, your thyroid won't work properly.

And a lot of women, their thyroid functions at a poor level. It's working on half its energy. And the reason is, can they eat chicken and saline where there's no selenium and their liver is all gummed up? Because they're carboholic and their liver is gummed up.

If your liver is gummed up, you're not converting T4 to T3. See, a lot of things have to happen for your thyroid to work properly. Okay, so our thyroid formula was built with that pyramid in mind. And there's a couple of ingredients in there because remember, it's your hypothalamus, to your pituitary gland in the brain and the brain stem, which tells your thyroid to produce.

Right? So it comes from headquarters up top. Again, you go back to your brain and energy because that's headquarters. Your hypothalamus controls your hormones, your hippocampus, memory center, the librarian in your brain.

Okay? But the hypothalamus, so you got to work on this too. So the particular bovine glandular that you're talking about, I've never tested that one. And I'm trying to think if I had patients, I'm sure I did, that were on that.

I'm sure I did. I just can't remember. So I don't want to give you, Joni, a comparison. I just know what our thyroid supplement does.

I know what that does. I'm not sure about the glandular bovine nutrients. I don't know. I don't know.

I've got to be honest with you. Ruth's talking about swollen ankles and I feel I wonder if there's something I can do besides elevating them. Well, look, what's causing it? What causes swelling in your ankles in the first place, Ruth?

Okay? A lot of things can be happening. You can have one, congestive heart failure. You're just not getting the push back.

Your blood ain't going back to your heart the way it should. Congestive heart failure, that can give you swollen ankles. You can have kidney issues. You can be dehydrated and the body is holding on to fluids, holding on to salt.

You can be eating way too much sugar, not salt, but sugar. That stresses the kidneys like nobody's business. You might have to wear compression socks. I've got no problem with that.

You've got to figure out, Ruth, what is causing it. Okay? Is there a product out there that helps release the toxins from the lymphatic system? Well, that's not the issue.

Okay? It's not toxins in the lymphatic issues that are causing your ankles to swell. Look, you want to do a detox of your lymphatic system? Drink water.

Do exercise. I love the rebounder. Always have and always will. Tremendous for lymphatic drainage.

Okay? But you've got to be drinking water. It's a sludge system. Your brain has its own lymphatics.

They're called glymphatics and it only works when you're sleeping and not when you're sedated. Don't sedate. Thank you for the question. That was Ruth.

Kim wants to know Dr. Martin's thoughts on Pepsin. Well, Pepsin, we did a whole email on it, on Pepsin. What is Pepsin?

It's an enzyme that belongs in your stomach to break protein down. Okay? It belongs in your stomach. It don't belong anywhere else.

And a lot of people, okay, they have Pepsin in their esophagus. It's often part of silent reflux. And Pepsin, if your valve, okay, your valve between your stomach and your esophagus, if it gets weakened, and you know how it gets weakened? Because you got too little acidity in your stomach.

Not too much. Too little. So the body overcompensates. And that can lead to Pepsin leaking out.

The enzyme that belongs in your stomach can get in your throat. It can get in your sinuses. It can even get in your ear canal. A lot of people think they have post-nasal drip.

They do. But why? Well, can be Pepsin. And this is why we love digestive enzymes with every meal.

Don't leave home without them. Okay? And guys, you know, you don't want to be on PPIs because PPIs actually make it worse. Like they might give you symptom relief.

But at the end of the day, you're not fixing the problem because you're suppressing the acidity. Oh, I feel better. Yeah, I know. But the problem is you don't have enough acidity.

You need more acidity. And you want that acidity to be contained in your stomach. You don't want to be acidic anywhere else. Just your stomach.

Okay? Good question. Okay. I think I got through them all.

I'm pretty sure. Yep. I think I did. If I missed any, let me know.

Okay. Guys, thank you for joining me on this Monday. We appreciate it. Holiday Monday.

Okay? Labor Day. Don't labor today. Pick the day up.

Enjoy. Okay. We love you guys. Got a great week.

We got some, oh, I read some stuff there. Incredible. We'll take it off this week. Okay?

Okay, guys. We love you. 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!