If you are paying any kind of attention to
what's going on in the health and fitness world at all, you notice that
everyone is talking about detox. Product after product are unleashed from the
lab and out in the neon lights. You can't help but be curious. And you SHOULD
be! Especially if you have been struggling with low energy, sickness, weight
cycling, or sweating your life away on a treadmill and to your great
disappointment, those hours seem to do nothing for your weight loss goals.
First, let me make one thing very clear. Detoxing is NOT an excuse to call it
quit on your workouts. Cardiovascular training is still very
important for managing healthy blood sugar levels, blood chemistry and open
pathways in your arteries. Strength training is still very important
for bone density, growth hormone (or what I like to call the youth hormone) and
the ongoing battle of holding onto as much muscle mass as possible.
Core, Flexibility and Yoga are all still very
important for managing stress, achieving limber and lean muscle tissue and
functionality. The conversation around detox is not about proving that exercise
is not worth your time. Obviously that wouldn't be true and you know it!
Instead, Detoxing is proving to be a relevant, critical and necessary practice
for your overall health, including weight loss. Research has
shown a strong link between groups that are not able to lose weight who have
high levels of toxins in their blood samples compared with groups who have
detoxed and successfully shed the pounds. There are two phases to
detoxification which basically turns fat soluble toxins into water soluble
toxins so that they may be eliminated from the body. The relationship
with fat soluble toxins and body fat percentage is still being studied but it
is believed that when our fat cells are stored up with toxins, fat cells then
multiply to store more fat in an attempt to protect themselves, as well as become
resilient to letting any of the fat go. Discussed by Dr. Mike Roussell,
who has put thousands of dollars into researching this subject, is the fact that the more fat
cells you have, the more lepton you will have running through your blood. Lepton is
the hormone that tells your body to use up stored fat. But just as Type II
Diabetics who become insulin-resistant, your body can become lepton-resistant,
making burning fat nearly impossible. Not to mention that every time you make
new fat cells, you have those fat cells for life. You can only
shrink them down, making you more prevalent to weight cycling.
Clearly we need to try and manage these fat cells as best we can, so that we
can be fat burning machines rather than fat storing (non-functional) machines.
And after watching too many of my clients disappointed with the lack
of results followed by extreme effort, I will attest to the fact that there is
so much more going on in our bodies aside from 'calories-in, calories-out'. I
will NEVER preach this naive, uneducated theory again. You cannot access your
fat burning system without addressing the mechanics of the system first. And
detoxing the system may just be your answer.
Regardless of whether or not you want to drop
some lbs., no matter how healthy you are in your attempt to eat well and drink
purified water, there is no avoiding the dangerous chemicals that are floating
in the very air that is surrounding you in this moment. "We are also
exposed to toxins from outside our body, which is a relatively new phenomenon.
At least to the degree we experience that today. These external toxins include
synthetic chemicals, pesticides, xenobiotics and even in otherwise healthy food
such as oxalic acid found in spinach." -Prograde. An estimated 90,000
chemicals have been introduced to our environment in the past 60 years.
Pesticides have even been found in babies blood samples! These kinds of toxins
not only disrupt weight loss, but everything else that your liver is
responsible for. Including blood sugar management and your immune system.
So,
are you itching to try this practice? Be sure to educate yourself before
spending a bunch of money on the next convincing article. Trust me they are
everywhere, and they are indeed very convincing. You may choose to try an all
natural detox using organic fruits and veggies. This doesn't mean just go eat a
bowl of spinach on the first day. (Side note: Did you know spinach has a toxic
effect on the body in LARGE amounts due to a compound called an oxalate which
may lead to kidney stones? I'm talking LARGE amounts, so don't worry. Your
spinach salad is safe.) Just remember that vegetables are not just raw foods, they
are powerful foods and detoxing is a serious chemical process that requires the
right selection of nutrients. Aside from natural detoxing, you may be attracted
to some of the products out there like Isagenix products or the thousands of
other supplements that are designed to cleanse your system. Just be sure to do
your research first. Something we can all do, which has little to no risk is drink plenty of water in exchange for sodas and juices! There's a start!
Summary-
With the increasing exposure to dangerous
chemical properties, there is no denying the many potential negative health
effects they can take on our bodies. Stay tuned for more evidence linking fat
storage and toxicity. Lastly, don't swap detoxing for exercise!
