There are many tired of the weight-loss rollercoaster and want to learn why they haven’t been successful in the past. So let’s touch on a few barriers that prevent us from achieving our goals and how to overcome these barriers.
A lax government. We need to put public health in front of lobbyist agendas in order to regulate and label chemicals in all products. Why is this critical? We are a fat nation and unwanted weight gain and obesity is directly related to hormonal disruption. Hormones have their fingers in everything we do, including the health of our gut microbiome, immune system, nervous system, and digestive system. And, these systems dominate weight.
A Toxic Lifestyle
Endocrine disrupters (EDCs) are disrupters that mimic and harm hormone homeostasis. They keep us fat, sick and depressed.
In other words, if our environment, (where we spend most of our time) is toxic so are all organs and systems. The worse part is most toxic scents are also found to be carcinogenic.
What to look out for:
VOCs (volatile organic compounds) occur mainly from indoor air pollution from conventional household products. Exposure to a single fragrance can contain a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, creating imbalances in hormones. Sadly, most of these chemicals are not listed on the label. (Personally, I suffered from chemical sensitivities when working in a day spa.) Chemical sensitivities have been reported to develop within seconds of exposure. Just like exposures to cigarette smoke, toxic scents enter the body and bloodstream increasing our risk for oxidative stress causing free radical damage, weight gain, CVD, premature aging and poor mitochondrial health. Obesity and diabetes are considered an allergic reaction disorder to toxins including pesticides and chemicals responsible for creating chaos in the immune system.
Some odors include:
1- There are offensive and deadly odors from detergents and dryer sheets. Aside from laundry, in one day we can be exposed to carpet cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, perfumes, plug-ins, scented Swiffers™, and Febreze™. These don’t clean the air we breathe, instead phthalates alter genes, weaken the immune system, and keep us fat.
2- Bleach is just one that has been described as fumes being overwhelming, eyes burning and/or vomiting after exposure. Frequent exposure to bleach in your home or office can be causal in lung failure and cancer. You can limit chemical exposures by choosing products that are environmentally friendly. What can we do? Instead of bleach, we can use a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, water and baking soda.
3- If you live in a condo environment, Fabuloso may be that disgusting nose and eye irritant found in hallways or elevators. It’s used as an all purpose cleaner. Fabuloso gets a failing grade on ewg.org, is toxic to the environment, our liver, and our immune system. We can use white vinegar and water instead.
4- “According to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives, a daily squirt of air freshener or a few hours around a burning scented candle every day changes metabolism and could be doing irreparable damage to our heart. The findings were based on a long-running Swiss study on air pollution, and lung and heart diseases that involved adults over the age of 50.”
What can we do? We can diffuse organic essential oils instead.
Create Balance
The body is hardwired for balance. One can not achieve balance when exposed to hundreds of toxins a day. These exposure include pest control. Indoor exposures increase symptoms of indigestion, metabolic disorders, neuropathy, infertility, insomnia, and slower transit time for elimination of toxins.
Obesity is a loss of balance in every biological system. Visceral fat, (abdominal fat) is linked to emotional stress, brain atrophy, metabolic syndrome and chronic pain. It’s no surprise that obesity increases our risk for developing cancer.
“Endocrine disruptors during fetal development can lead to permanent changes in reproductive organ development, and impair the regulation of body fat and weight.” One thing for sure is before a women conceives she would need to avoid toxic exposures and keep her indoor environment safe.
Imbalances in hormones and gut microbiome from toxic scents can create obesity and preventable cancers! This slippery slope from toxic exposures is what keeps us sick, tired, and fat!
Toxic Scents & Cancer
According to the EPA, on average, adults spend 90% of their life indoors. Seriously! The indoor environment can describe most health challenges, from brain fog, chronic fatigue, heart issues, fibromyalgia, arthritis, leaky gut, and cancer. So it’s safe to say: About 50% of ALL illnesses can be ingesting excessive amounts of indoor pollution at work or home.
Over 2400 toxic chemicals can be found poisoning our home. These include but are not limited to candles, air fresheners, scented trash bags, scented paper towels, mothballs, mold and pesticides. Indoor pollution from toxic cleaning products, laundry products, and personal care products are 5 times more likely to be found causal in cancer. Cancer is said to be a drop in cellular electrical energy and communication.
Research reveals over 40 chemicals in house dust promotes cancer formation.
EDCs may contribute to breast and other hormonal cancer risk.
Fat cells are where the body stores toxins, and so, with obesity, we gain more toxins each year we are fat. This overload of toxins can be linked to cancer. Gaining toxins, the body begins a state of emergency, posing as inflammation! Inflammatory issues lead to immune disorders. Eventually, the tissue environment is compromised, microbes grow, lymphatics swell, and so on. Additionally, TOO much weight causes the body to ignore hormonal signaling and increases leptin resistance and cancer.
What Is Your Skin Eating?
Not only is the skin the largest organ of the body. “The skin is a highly biologically active organ capable of chemical metabolism.” Toxins can make their way into our organs through our skin.
We Are A Nation ‘dying to smell good’!
Synthetic chemical exposures from cleaning products, to cosmetics, perfumes, and air fresheners, shorten our lifespan.
Products used on our clothes get absorbed thru our skin. Mothballs are solids that turn into a toxic gas. If you use mothballs, you’re inhaling and absorbing an insecticide. Mothballs are made from crude oil or coal tar. What can you do? The natural herb ‘Rosemary’ kills moths.
Dry Cleaning Solvents are found in the air, ground water, and drinking water, but most importantly they’re found in our skin’s microbiome. These get into our bloodstream by inhalation, skin contact, and digestion. They are linked to Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Liver, Kidney and Central Nervous System injury. What can you do? Purchase a new washer and dryer with a variety of setting for clothes that require dry cleaning.
Emerging evidence suggests cancer, diabetes, and obesity can be caused by exposure to endocrine disrupting salon products. Contact dermatitis or eczema can result from chemicals entering through the skin causing liver toxicity. What can you do? Search out an organic day spa.
Chemical exposure can diminish collagen production. There are over 10,000 ingredients allowed for use in personal care products, and the average woman wears at least 515 of them every day! The truth is, more than 90% have never been tested for safety. Of this small sample, several are now suspected of causing cancer, genetic mutations or birth defects. As of 2019, we all suffer under Industry Interest, representing a serious threat to our survival.
Keeping it simple
The air we breathe and absorb through our skin is crucial for total mind/ body wellness.
This means, we can all make a difference by changing what we purchase to avoid chemical pollution.
Toxic scents disrupt hormones, increase our risk for disease and therefore disrupt all weight loss efforts. How does this process work? The body reacts, breaks down and slows down the elimination process and housecleaning within.
Conclusion: You can manage your weight by also keeping your environment safe and clean.
Connie Rogers is a Certified Health Coach & Brain Health Coach.
She is the author of Memory Stealers on Amazon and video.
Connie believes health and wellness are established with proper nutrition, fitness, and mindfulness. Connie takes a natural and holistic, common sense approach to rebuilding wellbeing from the ground up.
