• Are these chemicals making it hard to lose weight?
• 4 ways to limit your exposure to obesogens
• Flush fat-promoting toxins from your body

If one of your goals this year is to lose weight, I have some news for you.

Each day you come in contact with a number of compounds that make your fat cells grow bigger. They’re called obesogens. And if you find it hard to drop pounds, these fat-promoting chemicals may be the reason.

Now, these chemicals are all around you.

• Plastic water bottles, containers and wraps often contain a chemical called. Bisphenol A(BPA). Additionally, the lining of most food cans contain BPA. You’re even exposed to it when you handle grocery store receipts.

• Phthalates and parabens appear in all sorts of personal care products… soaps, shampoos, deodorants, perfume, lotions, shaving cream and more. They’re also in laundry soap and air fresheners. You can even find phthalates in your shower curtain, vinyl flooring and carpeting.

• Farm-raised fish can contain enormous amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Commercially grown produce is laden with obesogenic pesticides and fertilizers. Conventionally raised beef are fed GMO corn and soy and pumped with hormones that are all obesogenic. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is used on non-stick pans like Teflon, and can also be found in microwave popcorn bags.

This is the short list. But you can see how common these obesogenic chemicals are in the world around you.

Well, these compounds already have several things against them. Many of them are considered endocrine disruptors and known to slow down thyroid function. They also damage your mitochondria and the beta cells (insulin producers) in your pancreas. They make you fat and contribute to the development of diabetes.

Additionally, when your gut microbes interact with obesogenic compounds, it can alter the bioavailability of these chemicals. This can make them even more toxic to your fat cells!

This is an important point, since your gut microbiome also has a great deal of influence when it comes to weight gain, obesity and the regulation of fat storage.

4 Ways to Limit Your Exposure to Obesogens

It’s clear that you won’t be able to avoid obesogens altogether. But you can limit your exposure to them.

1. Avoid plastic wraps, plastic containers and canned goods. And never microwave food or water that’s in a plastic container. Instead, opt for microwave safe glass or ceramic containers.

2. Stop using toxic products. Don’t buy any personal care items that contain a word ending in ‘paraben (i.e., methylparaben, butylparaben) on the ingredient list. And any item that contains fragrance or parfum – from perfumes to dryer sheets –likely contains phthalates.

3. Eat fresh, natural unprocessed foods. This includes wild-caught fish, grass-fed meat, pasture-raised poultry and organic fruits and vegetables.

4. Toss the Teflon pans and invest in a good set of stainless steal cookware.

It’s also a good idea to start boosting the health of your gut microflora and take steps to flush obesogenic compounds out of your body.

Flush Fat-Promoting Toxins from Your Body

Start with a good probiotic formula. Look for one that includes a prebiotic and multiple live strains of beneficial bacteria, like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. The more strains and the higher the colony count, the better off you’ll be.

Additionally, I recommend investing in a chlorophyll supplement. This is the green pigment in green leafy vegetables. It has the ability to bind with a variety of toxic substances… and remove them from your body with your bowel movements.

The main compound in green tea, EGCG, is also a powerful weapon when it comes to relieving your toxic load. It helps reduce your body’s burden of polychlorinated biphenyls and other pollutants.

If you don’t like green tea, you can always take it in supplement form. Look for one that contains EGCG and standardized to 60% polyphenols. For the most impact, set a goal of 240 to 320 mg. of polyphenols every day.

I also suggest boosting levels of your “master antioxidant”, glutathione. People who show high levels of pollutants in their bodies often have depleted stores of this antioxidant.

Your body doesn’t manufacturer glutathione on its own. And glutathione supplements are not very well absorbed by your body. However, there are other nutrients that together make glutathione. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) 1800 mg. daily, alpha lipoic acid 300 mg. daily and vitamin C 3000 mg can boost your glutathione stores. For best absorption take these in divided doses…with meals is better.

SOURCES:

Snedeker SM, et al. Do Interactions Between Gut Ecology and Environmental Chemicals Contribute to Obesity and Diabetes? Environ Health Perspect. 2012 Mar; 120(3): 332–339.

Morita K, et al. Chlorophyll derived from Chlorella inhibits dioxin absorption from the gastrointestinal tract and accelerates dioxin excretion in rats. Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Mar;109(3):289-94.

Koo SI, et al. Green Tea as Inhibitor of the Intestinal Absorption of Lipids: Potential Mechanism for its Lipid-Lowering Effect. J Nutr Biochem. 2007 Mar; 18(3): 179–183.

Lee DH, et al. Hormesis and public health: can glutathione depletion and mitochondrial dysfunction due to very low-dose chronic exposure to persistent organic pollutants be mitigated? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2015 Mar;69(3):294-300.