Dr. Taz MD, Solutions for Living Healthy Naturally: Toxins, Weight Loss and Exercise
“Detoxification” is not often used in relation to weight loss and exercise. We hear it more often in regards to treatment for drug addiction, or in some of the more extreme diets on the market. Toxins have a greatly underappreciated effect on your body’s ability to regulate its own weight. Fortunately, detoxification does not only take place in saunas and on juice cleanses. Your body has its own detoxification systems that work to expel all the crud that goes into our bodies on a daily basis. However, we have to keep in mind that our bodies are not equipped to handle all of the foreign chemicals present in our environment. Infants are born with an average of 200 different chemical contaminants in their cord blood . Just imagine how many more toxins accumulate after birth. All these toxins overwhelm our detoxification system and the toxins stay in our bodies.
Many official reports claim that because these toxins are present at low levels, they are not affecting our health. However, in 2008, a study found that in obese people with low amounts of organic pollutants in their bodies did not have the usual association with diabetes . The study also found that as the levels of pollutants increased, so did the population’s association between obesity and diabetes. Clearly, these toxins are doing something to our bodies and it is not good.
Toxins come in all shapes and sizes. Most of these chemicals have not been tested on humans because they are not meant for human consumption; they soak into our skin or get absorbed into our produce. We have few
What is clear is that they disrupt your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and metabolize cholesterol. Many toxins have obesogenic effects and can cause inflammation in adipose (fatty)
tissue. The fatty tissue in your body acts as a dam for the flow of toxins into your blood stream. This is both good and bad. Initially, the fat in your body keeps the toxins from your major organs, but this
When we exercise our bodies sweat out toxins but then our fat cells leak more into our bodies. If we gain weight our bodies will just keep hiding toxins in our fat cell to poison us slowly. On top of that, it is pretty much impossible to escape all the toxins present in our modern world. So how do we balance toxins, our weight and exercise? First, cut off the head of the snake and reduce your toxin intake anyway you can. Second, cut the fat and reduce the amount of extra adipose tissue you are carrying around. Finally, give your body a helping hand with the detoxification; saunas, exercise, deep breathing, more fiber in your diet, and drinking filtered water are all simple ways to do so.
For more on detoxification:
If you really want a disturbingly clear picture of what toxins are in your body, check out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
Sources:
1.Environmental Working Group “Study Finds Industrial Pollution Begins in the Womb” (www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/newsrelease.php)
2.Jones OA, Maguire ML, Griffin JL. Environmental pollution and diabetes: a neglected association. Lancet. 2008 Jan 26; 371(9609):
3.Merrill, Michele, La, et al. “Toxicological Function Of Adipose Tissue: Focus On Persistent Organic Pollutants.” Environmental Health Perspectives 121.2 (2013):