Toxins and weight gain

Toxins can be classified into internal and external types. External toxins include chemical and heavy metal toxins. External toxins such as mercury, lead and arsenic, alcohol, drugs, pesticides, herbicides and food additive can cause serious health issues. Internal toxins comes from the by products of our metabolism.

Toxins lower thyroid hormone level and interfere with the body function thus slowing down metabolic function and cause weight gain. Toxins inhibit the normal operation of the cell mitochondria function and reduce the body ability to burn calories thus retarding and impacting the body ability to loss weight. Mitochondria are known as the energy factory of the cells and are responsible for burning calories and fats. Long exposure to toxins can cause the liver to become fatty and thus impairs its ability to remove toxins from the body. A fatty liver could result in more toxins discharge from it and in terms cause more damage to the cell mitochondria. Our metabolism slows down and we start to gain weight when toxins affect the mitochondria.

Toxins accumulated in the body can disrupt hormone balance such as leptin. Leptin is the hormone that communicates with our brain to control our appetite and make us feel full and toxins blocks these signals from the brain. Thus exposure to toxins can increase our appetite and cause us to over eat resulting in weight gain. Recent scientific research and findings indicates toxins affect and interferes with our body stress response and affect our eating behavior. Some people are known to over-eat when under duress.

Toxins, both internal and external accumulated in our body cause metabolism problem and thus contribute to obesity. A recent study involving mice bred with exposure to toxins show symptoms of accelerated weight gain. It should be noted though the effects of toxins varies between individuals and partly determine by that person’s genetic detoxification systems. Some people has greater tolerance for toxins and able to eliminate toxins more effectively than others. Nevertheless, getting rid of toxins is very important to our health.

Steps improve the body detoxification system and help weight loss
1) Minimize exposure to toxins
2) Sweat it out and sweat it off
3) Eat foods that help you to detoxify and avoid that that makes us toxics
4) Try herbal remedies that will help you to detoxify
5) Add supplements to support liver and help to detoxify.
Consider testing for detoxification and looking for toxins.

Menopause And Weight Gain

Talking to most women over 50 you will quickly find that menopause and weight gain are linked in their experience. It is very common to put on weight at this time and while some of this may be due to lifestyle changes, that does not explain why suddenly we develop a tendency to put on weight at different parts of the body, especially the abdomen, while any weight gained when we were younger tended to be centered on the hips.

The truth is that hormonal changes do have a part to play in this, although the process is not completely understood. At menopause a woman stops ovulating, her monthly menstruation periods end, and her body produces much lower levels of the female hormone estrogen which is responsible for the ovulation process. Low estrogen has been shown to cause weight gain in animals and it almost certainly is the reason why our bodies change shape. While women of childbearing age store fat in the lower body, after the menopause they store it on the abdomen instead, like men. This leads to a greater risk of heart disease.

At the same time, both men and women tend to find muscle turning to fat as they grow older, and the metabolism slows down. This means that if you do not adjust your eating habits you will probably find that your weight increases. A person of 60 just does not need as many calories as a person of 40.

Hormone therapy with estrogen is sometimes prescribed to control menopausal symptoms. Many women will be surprised to hear that studies have shown that hormone therapy does not cause weight gain. Some women experience bloating and water retention in the early stages of hormone therapy but this is usually temporary and they have not gained any fat. Hormone therapy can reduce the risk of heart disease by preventing the changes in storage of body fat around the abdomen and lowering cholesterol. However, hormone therapy has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in some studies.

If you find that you are gaining weight around the menopause, there are several things you can do.

- Eat a healthy, low fat diet with plenty of fiber, avoiding sugar.

- Take regular exercise. As people get older their physical activity levels naturally drop. Work often becomes less physically demanding, there are no kids to run around after, we take less active holidays and do things more slowly. 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day will help to balance out the effect of this.

- Maintain your muscle strength and mass. Use weights for arm muscles and walking or cycling for legs.

- Accept the changes to the shape of your body. If you are not overweight, but simply have a thicker waist and slimmer legs, that is fine.

Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program if you have any medical conditions or your fitness levels are low. Your doctor can also help with symptoms of the menopause and weight gain.