Word is spreading that the health game has changed. It makes sense in the age of information that something as important as our personal health can get a much needed upgrade. The bottom line is that information regarding healthy eating, exercising and weight loss has changed drastically, and following the current trends is not as easy as it once was. The health and wellness playing field has expanded and most of us are playing with nostalgic equipment. What we know versus what is happening is literally like playing in the NFL with a leather helmet and expecting to live through it. The stakes are just as high; we are playing with our lives as well as the well-being of future generations with only a handful of information – most of it outdated. Let’s take a closer look at a few of the major misconceptions regarding dieting and healthy eating. This only scratches the surface but as they say, every journey must start somewhere.
There are more diet and exercise programs in the United States today than ever before. Everywhere you look, there are ads, commercials and articles about losing weight. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than two thirds of Americans over age twenty are overweight, while one third are obese. This is a horrifying statistic. It also begs the question: Are diets working? If not, then what does actually work? As a species, we are not designed to be overweight, tired, or unhealthy. Even if you are already in great shape, I can promise you that it’s in your genes to improve your overall health even further. If you have been doing the best you can with the information available about health, nutrition and diets, but you can’t seem to make progress, consider that that you may be missing a handful of pieces to the puzzle.
One of the most important reasons that diets and exercise don’t work as well as they have in the past is because our world has become more polluted. For example, even if you consume adequate servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, you are still ingesting significant amounts of various chemicals. Every day we are exposed to chemicals from industrial waste, vehicle exhaust, food packaging, chemically treated water, pesticides, household cleaners, plastics and more.
There is now overwhelming evidence from the National Human Adipose Tissue Survey that demonstrates that toxins are being stored in our fat tissue at a rapid rate. Sadly, they can also be passed on to the next generation as demonstrated by studies on umbilical cords of newborns. The placenta acts like a pump to deliver nutrients to the fetus from the mother. Now, we find the pump is carrying toxins and impurities, as well. In a study of umbilical cord blood of newborn babies, up to 287 toxic chemicals were noted in the umbilical cord blood. If babies have this amount of toxic chemicals in their bodies at birth, imagine how many we must have in our adipose fat tissue that is accumulating each and every day as adults.
Each passing day, we are exposed to an unstoppable onslaught of toxins, chemicals and poisons and most of them have never been tested and possibly have yet to be identified or named yet. As the world continues to evolve, the body does the same. Join us in part two where we will identify some of these toxins and how the body is adapting to protect itself from these microscopic armies.
