- The roles of nutrition and food in health and disease
- The role of toxins and the importance of detoxification in health and disease
In today’s world, food and toxins are more important than ever. The nutritional value of our food has been compromised by factors that range from corporate agribusiness, over-farming, and depleting the nutrient levels of the soil to food companies putting highly processed, high-glycemic-load foods on the market.
The poor nutritional value of our food is further complicated by the extraordinary amounts of toxic chemicals that have entered our food supply and our bodies.
Since the 1800s, more than 80,000 new, largely untested chemicals have been introduced into the environment. Today many are used as pesticides to “protect” our food supply.
Our exposure to poisonous substances doesn’t end there.
Toxins are everywhere – from household cleaning products to plastics in our kitchenware, our water bottles, and even our tap water and air supply.
We are marinating in a sea of toxins, and a large body of growing evidence shows that these toxins are, in part, responsible for the epidemic of disease we see in the 21st century – not to mention our inability to lose weight.
The average American consumes literally pounds of hormones, antibiotics, food chemicals, additives, artificial sweeteners, and MSG each year.
Why should we worry about toxins?
The residue of toxic chemicals is stored in the bodily tissues of every single person and animal on the planet. Many of these chemicals are stored in fat tissue, making animal products concentrated sources.
One hundred percent of beef is contaminated with DDT, as is 93 percent of processed cheese, hot dogs, bologna, turkey, and ice cream, because the soil still contains residue of the pesticide long ago banned.
We are all stewing in this toxic soup, and there is little doubt that it is playing a major role in the current obesity epidemic.
Toxins May Be Disrupting Your Weight
and Turning Off Your Metabolic Engine
A toxin can be defined, in the broadest sense, as anything that doesn’t agree with us. They come from two places: the environment (external toxins) and our own gut (internal toxins).
We generally cope well with these toxins, except when our liver or kidneys fail. However, in the last 100 years we have been burdened with an unprecedented number of toxins, and the total load of all toxins – pesticides, industrial chemicals, mercury, and more – has exceeded our bodies’ ability to get rid of them, leading to illness.
All these toxins affect our ability to lose weight because we store most of the toxins in our body (in our fat).
When you burn off the fat, the toxins come out, and IF they aren’t processed properly, they can cause additional problems.
In addition, our total toxic load can frustrate attempts at weight loss by impairing two key metabolic organs – the liver and the thyroid – and by damaging our energy-burning factories – the mitochondria.
Scared now?
I’m not giving you this information to frighten you but rather to make you aware of what is going on inside you and around you so that you can see how important it is to minimize your exposure to toxins and maximize your excretion of them.
People with a higher BMI (body mass index) store more toxins because they generally have more fat. Those toxins interfere with many aspects of metabolism, including reducing thyroid hormone levels and increasing excretion of thyroid hormones by the liver.
Ever Wonder Why You Are Always Hungry?
Besides directly lowering thyroid hormone levels, breaking down your mitochondria, disturbing your metabolic rate, and inhibiting fat burning, toxins can damage the mechanisms by which hormonal signals control your appetite and eating behavior.
Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain you are full. Toxins (heavy metals such as mercury and chemicals) block these signals. Over time, your brain becomes resistant to the effects of leptin, making you hungry all the time. So exposure to toxins can increase your appetite.
All this is proof that toxins have a serious effect on whether or not you gain weight and your ability to lose it.
However, there is good news. For anyone overweight or concerned about toxins, I strongly recommend going through a sdetoxification program.
I truly believe that environmental toxins cause unnecessary weight gain, and learning how to eliminate those toxins in a healthy way is very important.
That is why, I recommend doing a gentle detox every 3 to 4 months. I am offering a real food cleanse in which you will eat real, seasonal every couple of hours.
Most people begin to experience all or some of the following after only one week:
- Better digestion and elimination
- Fewer symptoms of chronic illness
- Improved concentration, mental focus, and clarity
- Improved mood and increased equanimity
- Increased energy and sense of well-being
- Less congestion and fewer allergic symptoms
- Less fluid retention
- Less joint pain
- Increased sense of peace and relaxation
http://thehealthylifestyleconsultant.com/10DayRealFoodCleanse.aspx
Here is a testimonial from a client who completed the cleanse:
I lost about 6 pounds during the cleanse, but the weight loss wasn’t my real goal, especially because I don’t plan to eat that way forever. My real goal was to clean out my system and to give it a rest. I was more energetic, I think my memory was a little bit better, and my mood improved. I was experiencing the same amount of stress and pressure from work as before I started the cleanse, but mentally, I think I responded differently. I didn’t feel so weighted down and oppressed by it all. Dare I say that the stress and pressure didn’t get me down.
I also found that I didn’t have the same craving for chocolate and salty foods that normally come with my PMS.
And I just loved, loved, loved the delicious, ginormous salads that I prepared for myself each evening. I tried a couple of new veggies that I would’ve never thought to add to a salad before.
Thanks, in excellent health!
Sharon
For more information or to join the 10 Real Food Winter Cleanse, simply use this link:
http://thehealthylifestyleconsultant.com/10DayRealFoodCleanse.aspx
It’s not a long commitment. Within 5 to 7 days, you’ll see your body transform.
However, if you stay with the program for 10 days, you’ll get a deeper experience of the rejuvenation that detoxification can bring.
Wendy Schnitzer
Fit Food Coach
P.S. Did you know that one disease that even conventional doctors now know is irrefutably linked to toxic chemicals is Parkinson’s disease?
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