Toxins: Are They Making You Fat & Sick?

There is a real connection between the amount of toxins stored in your body and your weight.  Toxins are much more prevalent than you'd think, and they completely hold your metabolism hostage!  The good news is, there's much you can do to eliminate toxins and drop some weight.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman in his book, Ultrametabolism,”We live in a sea of toxins.  Every single person and animal on the planet contains residues of toxic metals or chemicals in their tissues.”  Toxins are defined broadly as anything that doesn’t agree with us.  They are poisons that contaminate our bodies.  However, one does not have to work in a chemical plant to worry about toxins.  There have been 80,000 new chemicals introduced since the turn of the twentieth century, most of which have not been tested for safety.  Basically, we’re swimming in toxic soup!  They contaminate our bodies, but our liver and kidneys usually do a good job to cope with them.  Unfortunately, with the unprecedented number of chemicals bombarding us every day, that burden can sometimes outweigh our bodies’ ability to get rid of them effectively.  This leads to illness and to metabolic problems that promote weight gain and prevent weight loss.

How toxins cause weight gain:

When there is unresolved toxicity over the years, any toxins that the liver can't clear on an ongoing basis cause it to become overwhelmed.  It stores the toxins initially in the fat cells of the liver itself, which degrades the health of the liver.  When the liver fat cells get full, the toxins are stored in the fat cells anywhere in the body.  (Unfortunately, people who have a higher BMI will store more toxins because they usually have more body fat.)  Stored toxins have a significant impact on slowing down metabolism and contribute to weight gain. 

This happens in several ways:

• Toxins interfere with the proper functioning of the thyroid.  Thyroid hormone levels are reduced and more are excreted by the liver.  Toxins compete with thyroid hormones by blocking thyroid receptors and hijacking their transport proteins.  This slows the body’s metabolism.
• Toxins inhibit normal mitochondrial function (they are the powerhouses of the cells and energy-burning factories) and reduce the ability to burn fat and calories.
• Toxins damage or block the mechanisms that control the hormonal signals for appetite and eating behaviors.  This can interfere with the hormone leptin, causing resistance to the hormone and ongoing increases in appetite.  
• Toxins interfere with other hormones that are major players in weight management, including insulin, estrogens, testosterone, cortisol, and growth hormone.
• Toxins interfere with our stress response and our circadian rhythms that dictate eating behavior.

There are two basic sources of toxins, 
External & Internal:

Internal toxins come from our normal body functions, which we normally eliminate through our kidneys (via urine) and our bile (via liver & stool).  Internal toxins can also come from bacteria, yeast, or other organisms that produce waste products and debris in our body.  These can interfere with many functions, increase inflammation, oxidative stress, add to our toxic burden, and affect the body’s ability regulate weight.

External toxins include chemical toxins and heavy metals.  The metals that cause the most harm to health include: lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, nickel, and aluminum.  The chemicals include: ubiquitous toxic chemical substances found in every kind of product, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), solvents (cleaning products, formaldehyde, tolulene, benzene), drugs, alcohol, pesticides, herbicides, food preservatives, and food additives such as artificial coloring and flavorings.  Many personal care products that are applied to porous skin are laden with toxic chemicals.  Some medications can also have toxic effects and cause weight gain such as MOA inhibitors, SSRI’s, and many, many others.

A standard American diet with a high amount of additives and processed foods will produce a large amount of toxic waste that gets stored in the fat cells, year after year. In women, fat cells are primarily around the waist, hips, breasts and brains. According to Paula Bartholomy at Hawthorn University, “I think it is no coincidence that is where our primary cancers are showing up, the breast, the uterus and brain tumors”. 

​The solution is threefold:

​1. Read my short e-Book, "Make a FRESH START with Whole Foods"!

The book tells you most everything you need to know to eliminate toxic foods and adopt healthy eating behaviors that support detoxification.  

click here

​2.  Help your body detoxify: Naturally cleanse your body of toxins by mobilizing and releasing them.

The human body continuously works to detoxify the body.  The liver metabolizes the toxins in Phase 1 of detoxification.  In Phase 2, the toxins are excreted through the skin (sweat), bowels (feces), kidneys (urine), and lungs (breath).  The detoxification process can be induced or slowed depending on pH balance, plus medications, supplements, and food.  It is important that the detox process is neither too slow nor too fast, both of which can lead to excess toxins circulating in the body. 

(Aggressive detoxes and cleanses are not recommended, unless under the strict guidance of a qualified professional. These can leave a person feeling weak, undernourished, and worse than before, because if done improperly, un-excreted toxins can remain and recirculate in the body.)

A nutrient-rich, whole food diet can provide many of the elements needed to detoxify properly and is the best, safest lifestyle strategy. Eating healthy, whole foods, with the right balance of protein, fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients is needed for the body to effectively detoxify.  Adequate protein is needed to supply the building blocks for our detoxification system, especially the most critical antioxidant, glutathione.  Phytonutrients from plant foods boost detox pathways.  Fiber helps regulate the digestive processes and regularly flush-out toxins.  
(More info about antioxidants and about phytonutrients.)

A toxic person will need sufficient herbs, vitamins, minerals and trace minerals to begin to buffer the toxicity, to help the organs detoxify, and then regenerate themselves. The person will need adequate amounts of antioxidants to neutralize the free radicals caused by oxidation.  

• Helpful herbs for detox include Milk Thistle and Green Tea.  
• Helpful supplements include natural vitamin C, NAC, taurine, glycine, ALA, bioflavonoids, quercetin, grapeseed extract, rutin, and probiotics.

(Work with your personal practitioner for dosing.)

3.   Learn to minimize your exposure to toxins.
It is very important to look around your home, work, and entire environment to recognize how many chemicals you are exposed to.  Reduce and eliminate the ones that are possible, and the ones you have a choice over. This includes the selections of the foods and drinks that you consume.  Generally, anything that has a label on it that has chemicals in it. There is always going to be a choice for a cleaner, healthier product available. Whether that is a body care product, something that you clean your clothes with, or house and lawn care products.

Sugar is one of the most abundant toxins in the American diet.  (This includes refined carbohydrates.)  Sugar is turned directly into triglycerides (fat in the liver) and fills up the liver cells and others.  Excess sugar further damages the energy factories of the body, damaging mitochondria, and slowing metabolism.  A fatty liver is inflamed and cannot protect you from toxins.

Making small steps every day to lower your toxic burden will be great for your health and increase the odds of weight loss.  Some individuals are genetically disposed to detoxify better than others. However, detoxification can be easy.   

Some things you can do include: 

• eat organic food, 
• drink filtered water, 
• use air filters, 
• clean and monitor your heating systems, 
• keep houseplants, 
• air out your dry cleaning, 
• avoid excess exposure to environmental petrochemicals, 
• eliminate or reduce the use of toxic household products,
• eliminate or reduce the use of toxic personal care products, 
• remove allergens and dust, 
• minimize electromagnet radiation, 
• reduce ionizing radiation, 
• reduce exposure to heavy metals, 
• avoid cooking with Teflon, 
• exercise regularly, 
• use saunas

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Now, head on over & check out my Online Resources page!
This page is designed to help you find various non-toxic resources online.  
Get an idea of where to begin or where to improve. The stores here have it all!  





References:
Bartholomy, P (2014).  Weight Management Behavior. MHNE 609. Lecture conducted from Hawthorn University.

Hyman, M. (2006). UltraMetabolism: Awaken the fat-burning DNA hidden in your body : The simple plan for automatic weight loss. New York: Scribner.

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