We are living at a unique time in history. New technologies that some of us could have never dreamed of are introduced almost daily. We have seen computers transform from machines the size of a single apartment unit shrink to fit in your front pocket. Most smart phones have the same, if not far superior, intelligence and storage capacity than those prehistoric giants. When the name of the game is speed to get products from concept to the sales floor, there have to be some concessions made. Whether it’s computers, fresh produce or cleaning products, we are releasing myriad food and other products that we are years away from discovering whether or not they could play a role in affecting our health and wellness.
With all the new toxins and chemicals out in the world, (some we know of the effects of them and some we don’t), scientists decided to introduce a new category for them. Many of these chemicals are included under the umbrella term, “obesogens.” These obesogens have been proven to disrupt normal metabolism and contribute to obesity.
The American Society of Endocrinologists suggests that obesogens are a major contributing factor in the dramatic increase of failing health and the epidemic of obesity. Felix Grun and Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine, first used the term “obesogen” to explain how toxins change the way our metabolisms work and contribute to obesity and poor health. Conventional diets simply do not offer any protection against obesogens. That is why diets are failing us. Diets simply fail in this polluted world. Healthy eating and exercising are no longer enough to avoid the toxins entering our bodies with the foods we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. What can we do to reduce our toxic load and our waistlines?
The first step is to commit to becoming responsible for our own health and safety. We now have access to an infinite amount of new information, studies and statistics with as little as a keyword search. There is also a new trend in what we call “nutritional technologies”. Simply put, this is the future of food. This is based on what we put in our bodies as fuel for sustenance as well as for manipulating or responding to emotions. This is not to say that you can never eat for enjoyment again. Rather, in order to enjoy food, it’s critical that we look at the other end of the spectrum as to what the body actually needs.
There is so much information out there now, it is tricky to determine what works and what doesn’t. We are flooded with new ways to eat, exercise and diet. You can’t open a magazine or scan the internet without seeing some kind of promotion for the new, best way to eat or diet, etc. In part three we will explore some of these misconceptions that we have come to accept as facts and that some of us have never even considered questioning.
