What the heck is an obesogen! Ever wonder why you are eating all the right foods, supposed healthy foods… and yet you still can’t lose weight? Worse yet maybe you are even GAINING weight!
Are you living off salad for days and crazy workouts that just seem to get you nowhere?
While weight gain can be intolerances, hormone imbalances, irregular thyroid or autoimmune issues – it can also be a much simpler answer (but a very well hidden one). OBESOGENS.
Obesogens are usually man made chemicals that interfere with our hormones,they slow down our metabolism and stall weight loss (they can even contribute to weight gain!). Ok this sounds like a buzzword, but scientists have actually been studying the effects on our body’s ability to feel satiated. Essentially to much exposure can cause issues with our body and how it signals us that we are full, or even cause us to have cravings.
But wait, that isn’t all… they can also tell our fat cells to make more of themselves, or grow larger! They cause inflammation and increase our oxidative stress. None of those are good things. So where are these obesogens hiding and what can you do to protect yourself? First let’s go over where they are hiding and what they are.
- BPA – Bisphenol A – also BPS which is found in foods as well as plastic containers. Think food packaging, not just plastic water bottles and tupperware but also the packaging of some of our favourite foods. Oh and those receipts from the store… those new fancy ones are LOADED with it, don’t touch them.
- Phthalates – think cosmetics, vinyl flooring, kids toys, detergents, and yes food packaging
- Flame Retardants – That protective spray on your couch, carpet, mattress, your child’s sleepwear.
- PFC’s – Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals – Say that one 10 times fast! Did you know this chemical can be found in the blood of over 95% of people tested? This one is huge since it is linked to thyroid disorders. PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) is the most common form of PFC’s – they have not only been linked to thyroid disease but also insulin resisitance and with that comes weight gain!
So what can we do? Well we know we can’t avoid all obesogens, we can do our best to limit exposure by making smarter life choices. We can also add in supplements that act like a magnet to these sorts of things in hopes it will bind and remove these badd boys without harming us in the process. Pretty cool right? I like to add zeolites to my daily regime for this reason, and of course my go to is also NAC which I have talked about in other articles.
When it comes to zeolites i’m picky, I like to ensure they are safe, nanoparticle sized and properly tested. The wrong ones could actually be harmful.
