We live in a world in which the things we touch, the foods we eat, and the air we breathe is loaded with toxins. Toxic residue is found on most everything you come in contact with everyday. Toxins come from things like pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other man made sources. Our environment has been introduced to at least 80,000 new toxins in the last 100 years alone and unless you are eating all organic foods you consuming pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers quite regularly.  These toxins can cause mayhem on your lifestyle fitness plans.

These toxins greatly affect our metabolic structures. The poisons that build up in your body are stored in the adipose tissue (your fat cells), and the more fat you have on your body the more of these toxins you can store. Our bodies used to do quite well at eliminating toxins through our liver and kidneys but as our environment has grown to toxic levels beyond our control it has taxed them to new limits. This is one of the big reasons for so many illnesses and the ever increasing obesity rates. Many of the medications we take also produce toxins in our bodies and that is why many people are reporting weight gain from using psychiatric drugs like MAO inhibitors and SSRI’s.  That is actually why at Lifestyle Fitness Solutions we promote using natural remedies and natural supplements.

Toxins can shutdown your body’s ability to metabolize fats efficiently. The liver is one of your primary organs for fat metabolization so if it is constantly being taxed with ridding the body of poisons then fat loss will take a back seat so that your liver can keep you from getting sick. The toxins can also interfere with thyroid hormones and actually reduce your thyroid levels. Pesticides have been specifically linked to lowering thyroid levels. Toxins will cause all sorts of hormonal problems that have to do with maintaining a healthy weight including making you feel hungry all the time by blocking leptin which signals the brain that it is full.

So with all the pollution and pesticides going into our bodies, whether we like it or not, what can you do about it? It is going to be impossible to completely eliminate them from your life but there are some lifestyle changes that you can make to reduce your exposure. Dr. Mark Hyman, author of Ultrametabolism, makes these recommendations.

1) Eat organic foods – this includes animal products raised without hormones and antibiotics
2) Drink filtered water – Reverse osmosis carbon filters
3) Use air filters
4) Clean and monitor your heating system
5) Keep household plants to filter your air
6) Air out your dry cleaning before wearing it
7) Avoid excess exposure to environmental petrochemicals – fumes, exhausts, smoke
8) Reduce or eliminate the use of toxic and household personal care products like underarm deodorant and pots and pans that contain aluminum
9) Remove allergens and dust from your home
10) Minimize electromagnetic radiation from radios, TVs, and microwaves
11) Reduce exposure to heavy metals found in predatory fish, river fish, lead paint, and thimerosol containing products like vaccines.
12) Avoid cooking with Teflon coated pans
13) Drink six to eight glasses of water a day
14) Exercise regularly – and sweat out toxins that are built up in your body.

Wow, as you can see that is quite a list. It would be very difficult to do everything on this list but if you can do half of them you can reduce your toxicity level by quite a bit and this will make deep inroads into fixing your metabolism and aiding in fat loss. If you are interested in learning much more in depth about how to repair your metabolism I very highly recommend Dr. Hymans book Ultrametabolism. He teaches you how to use food as medicine and how to get your body running at optimum levels.

So now that you know your body is a toxic wasteland and you have decided to reduce your exposure what can you do to remove the build up in your system? It starts with a healthy diet rich in antioxidants and removing toxic foods from your lifestyle, or at least greatly reducing them. There are also some supplements that you can take to help support the detoxification process. Green tea, N-acetylcysteine, and alpha lipoic acid will help to assist your liver in the detox of your body. It won’t happen overnight but if you start changing your diet today you will notice a difference within a few weeks in your energy levels. Higher energy levels equate to a smoother running metabolism and you will then soon see a shift into fat loss.

Author - Rick Porter