21 Pounds in 21 Days (4 page)

America's Rude Awakening

T
he United States has the best health care system in the world, yet Americans of all backgrounds are having a hard time staying healthy. At least 20 million Americans are chronically ill with conditions that undermine their quality of life and may ultimately lead to their demise—diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, and kidney and liver failure. Each week, about 80 percent of adults take medication—at least one-third of us down five different drugs—the Institute of Medicine reports. Often, the conditions these medicines treat are caused by our lack of success in maintaining a healthy weight.

Today, over 60 percent of Americans weigh more than their recommended body mass index (BMI), which measures the amount of body fat we carry compared to our height. Sixty-two percent of women and 70 percent of men are overweight, meaning that their BMI is 25 or more (normal is 18.5 to 24.9). Thirty-one percent of men and women are obese. Of course, everyone has different advice for how to slim down. These days, it's almost impossible to figure out whether to eat or avoid carbohydrates; how much protein to consume; whether butter or margarine is better; if fat free also means low calorie; whether foods like red wine, chocolate, and coffee are healthy after all; or if we should
sign up for Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, or L.A. Weight Loss. The advice seems to change almost daily.

Most experts tell us that whether we gain or lose weight is determined by the number of calories we eat compared to the number of calories we burn. If we want to lose weight, we should consume fewer calories, increase our activity level, or, better yet, do both. But while many Americans try to take weight off, experts now know that traditional weight-reduction dieting does not work. Fewer than 5 percent of dieters succeed in keeping the weight they lost off for five years, according to the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. A stunning 90 percent of people gain some or all of their weight back, and one-third end up weighing more.

I certainly believe in eating healthy amounts of food and becoming more active, but my experience as a patient, researcher, and healer makes it clear to me that the explanations and approaches toward weight loss based on this approach are incomplete. Scientists are now learning that losing weight is much more complicated than merely balancing calories eaten and burned. We now know that factors as wide ranging as whether we skip breakfast, eat enough healthy foods, get sufficient sleep, have a metabolic disorder, or suffer from intestinal parasites are also part of the equation. These factors and other emerging research on factors affecting weight gain all speak to the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.

The Trouble with Toxins

One of the most significant but least-talked-about factors affecting each individual's weight is the amount of exposure they've had to toxic substances. Noxious materials we encounter in our environment, home, workplace, and food supply are altering our bodies in fundamental and detrimental ways. Of course, everyone knows that certain toxins make us sick. Who isn't aware that cigarette smoke can cause heart disease and cancer—and, as we're now learning, not just in the smoker but also among those who inhale the secondhand fumes? We know that lead poisoning can
cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and a lower IQ, among other problems. Researchers have recently identified both cigarette smoke and lead as causing one-third of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) cases. Mercury now contaminates large predatory fish like shark, albacore tuna, and mackerel. And toxins like dioxin are not only ubiquitous but a major cause of cancer.

But who knew that poisons like these could mess up our metabolism? Gaining weight is one common but little-known and poorly understood consequence of body processes gone haywire in the presence of poisonous substances. The damage toxins inflict upon us can make it exceedingly difficult—if not impossible—for some people to shed excess pounds. Now don't get me wrong; of course, it's true that many dieters fail because they exercise poor portion control—or don't exercise their bodies at all. But I can't tell you how many people I've worked with who eat surprisingly little, healthy food, yet can barely shed a pound. Lots of people approach weight loss diligently; yet few have long-lasting results. Many repeat dieters sense that something's wrong—for example, they know that their results do not reflect their effort—but since our culture places the responsibility for being overweight on the individual, they wrongly blame themselves for their lack of success. But I'm here to tell you that even if you do sometimes lack self-discipline, and even if you don't always stick to your weight-loss program to the letter,
the fact that you're fat may not be your fault!
You may be a victim of toxins.

Fortunately, we can all take steps to reduce our body's toxic load. Detoxifying our bodies can help us improve our health—including preventing, controlling, and even healing from chronic and life-altering diseases like high cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes. As it detoxifies, the body sheds excess weight. In this book you will learn how to lose weight in a way that helps you keep unwanted pounds off and helps you transition into the healthier lifestyle you may have desired.

Since you're reading this book, I probably don't need to warn you about the dangers of factory smoke or tell you to go inside when the truck spraying insecticide drives through your neighbor
hood. But not all the toxins we are exposed to are delivered in a way that is so obvious. In fact, most noxious ingredients appear to be so harmless that we have them in our homes, use them on our bodies, and even eat them every day. Ever wonder why you can't stand the smell of bleach? Why you are supposed to paint only in a well-ventilated room? Why you aren't supposed to get weed killer on your hands? Because they contain ingredients that the body can't tolerate.

Surprisingly, our water supply contains the chemical fluoride, one of the most ubiquitous toxic substances. Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay; yet, research has also linked it to bone cancer, lower IQs, and osteoporosis. As evidenced by a feature story in
Prevention
magazine,
¹
increasing numbers of people believe that fluoride should be removed from our water. Personal care products ranging from antiperspirant to hair coloring to nail polish also contain toxic substances. But don't believe me; read the fine print on the packages. (Better yet, Google the ingredients so you can learn more about them.) Most brands of toothpaste, a product we put in our mouths at least twice daily for our entire lives, contain sodium laurel sulfate to make it foam, but which research shows can damages the immune system and can cause inflammation. Many toothpastes also contain fluoride. There is actually a warning on the box to call poison control if your child swallows too much of it. These days, beauty experts recommend that we use bronzing products to obtain a sun-kissed glow without exposing ourselves unnecessarily to dangerous ultraviolet rays. So I was surprised to get a call about a news story on Boston's CBS television affiliate stating that beauty salon spray-on tans contain mercury, lead, and even arsenic. The website of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA; www.fda.gov)—the organization charged with protecting the public health by ensuring the safety of our food supply, drugs, cosmetics, and other substances—says this about them: “Consumers should request measures to protect their eyes and mucous membranes and prevent inhalation.” If that doesn't
indicate that the procedure, which is entirely legal, is also toxic, I don't know what does.

Since you probably have drunk tap water for much of your life and have yet to drop dead of fluoride poisoning, you may be feeling skeptical and wondering how I define the word
toxic
. Plain and simple:
The body experiences as noxious any substance it doesn't know how to process into food or eliminate as waste.
If its ingredients cannot be used as fuel or be purged through sweat, feces, or urine, it is incompatible with the body. Sherry A. Rogers, MD, of Syracuse, New York, one of the world's leading experts in environmental medicine (the relationship between illness and the environment), states in her book
Detoxify or Die
: “Toxins are not normal to the body, they are not meant to be metabolized by the body, and we do not have the metabolic machinery to completely detoxify them.”
²
What makes these ingredients incompatible with our bodies is that our cells don't know what to do with them.

The implications of a substance's not being “normal” to our bodies or of its not knowing what to do with it are very far reaching. As we learned in high school biology class, the body evolved over tens of thousands of years. Our organs and systems are amazingly well equipped to process substances our forbears have eaten or contacted for generations. They have a harder time dealing with ingredients they have had little experience dealing with. So unless your ancestors have been eating or using it forever, the less a substance resembles the animal, vegetable, or mineral source it was derived from, the less compatible it is with your body.

This exposure factor becomes a big problem when you live in a world that is changing quickly—and in a society that thrives on innovation, as ours does. New products or ingredients may improve our quality of life, but if our bodies aren't familiar with them, they need time to adapt. When I observe how quickly our children learn their way around the computer or how easily they multitask when compared to their parents, it's clear that the brain is keeping up with the rapid pace of change. The body, on the other hand,
is lagging behind, which is one reason why we're becoming heavy and sick. When exposed to a substance it is unfamiliar with, the body does not have the tools or processes it needs to metabolize or eliminate it. Consequently, it will have an allergic reaction (the body's way of rejecting and attempting to expel it), or it will store the substance because it doesn't know what to do with it.

Because noxious substances often aren't accompanied by an ominous-looking cloud or pungent odor or even a skull-and-crossbones label, most of us are unaware of the number of toxic items we encounter each day. As a result, we don't take precautions to avoid or protect ourselves from them. Nor do we know how to purge them from our system. For instance, in addition to fluoride, tap water often contains lead residue from old pipes and prescription drugs other people throw down the drain but that the water-filtration system does not remove. These are toxic. Even if you try to avoid tap-water toxins by drinking bottled water, the plastic bottles the water comes in contain noxious ingredients called phthalates. Such toxins are so common that they are “totally unavoidable,” writes Dr. Rogers. She states that biopsy studies performed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “show that 100% of people had dioxins, PCBs, dichlorobenzene, and xylem.” Research shows that dioxins and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are among the most dangerous carcinogens known to man. Hazardous chemicals like them are so ubiquitous, she writes, that they can even be found in the breast milk of Inuit women living in the Arctic Circle.

A 2005 study published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental watchdog group composed of professionals from many disciplines, supports Dr. Rogers's claims. Researchers for the EWG tested the umbilical cord blood of ten newborns for the presence of toxins and discovered 287 different chemicals circulating in their blood supply. These ranged from pesticides to consumer product ingredients to wastes from burning coal, gas, and garbage. Of them, 180 have been proven to cause cancer, 217 poison the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animals.

Over time, dangerous chemicals like these accumulate in our
cells, creating what scientists call the body's
toxic load
or
toxic burden.
As our toxic load increases, we often feel “off” but may become used to it, or, as I did, get in the habit of popping a pill. Unless we make changes to reduce our toxic burden, our symptoms inevitably worsen. After several decades during which they “wreak havoc with our hormones and accelerate the aging process,” they “eventually produce disease,” Dr. Rogers writes. Consistent with her assertions, public health experts now tell us that 95 percent of cancers as well as most diseases are caused by the environment and diet. The EWG study notes that “scientists cannot fully explain” rising rates of many health disorders—from a tenfold increase in childhood autism rates, to a doubling of birth defects among baby boys, to a 40 percent increase in brain cancer among kids, to a 23 percent increase in premature births. However, “early life exposure to environmental pollutants is a leading suspect,” the researchers state.

As people begin to learn about the dangers common substances pose, a common response is to become angry or disheartened because the government doesn't protect us from them. The government actually does protect us—but there are limits. For example, the FDA examines the ingredients found in food, drugs, and cosmetics. Most of the ingredients the agency approves, while not always completely healthy, aren't that bad for us. We all know that if, for example, we rinse with mouthwash—some brands contain roughly 25 percent alcohol, which is noxious—we're not going to keel over. But each time we come in contact with a toxic substance, a little of it stays in us because the body does not know how to get rid of it. And the FDA only tests these substances' toxic effect individually. Nobody—not consumers, not the product manufacturers, and not the government—has any idea what happens when we use hundreds of these products every day for the rest of our lives, as all of us do. Of course, it's impossible to test an individual's exposure to everything, every day, forever—especially when new products are being introduced daily.