What’s Holding Back Your Weight Loss?

Many are familiar with the painful, frustrating struggle of trying to lose weight. We may feel like we’re doing everything right – eating the right foods, exercising daily, cutting back on calories – yet our weight and body stay stagnant. With so much new (and often conflicting) advice out all the time, it may get confusing – what ACTUALLY works when it comes to shedding those stubborn pounds?

The Top Three Weight Loss Myths

Out of all the false information and misguided advice out there, these are the top three commonly believed myths concerning weight loss:

1. Fat makes you fat
2. You need to exercise more
3. Calories in = calories out

Believe it or not, all three of these ideas are actually incorrect!

The first myth, “fat makes you fat” is what will be focused on today. The truth? Fat actually helps BURN fat.  Fat lowers inflammation and helps bring fat out from storage. But there’s a catch: the fats one consumes must be high quality, raw and unaltered. This means organic raw dairy, extra-virgin plant oils, raw nuts and seeds, coconut oil, and raw fish, to name a few. Fat holds toxins, so it’s important that all of these high-fat products be organic and from carefully chosen sources.

Fat-burning-fat seems rather counter-intuitive, but here’s how it works: A body can only use two things for energy, sugar and fat. Healthy people have the ability to burn both sugar and fat. However, most Americans can only use sugar, due to a combination of hormonal imbalances. Thus, this inability to burn fat causes uncontrollable sugar cravings.  One such hormone involved may be leptin, specifically, leptin resistance.

So why does leptin resistance happen? RECEPTOR DAMAGE.

Think of a cell as a house and receptors as the locks, and leptin as the key.  If the locks get damaged, even the correct key is used, it will not open the door.

So, what causes receptor damage, and how can it be prevented?

Although stress, poor quality fats, and sugar also damage leptin receptors, the most common cause of damage is TOXINS, found in any number of places, some to be expected and others that may come as a surprise.

The following is a list of the most frequent places toxins are found – most in places or products that are a part of everyday life.

1. Household cleaners
2. VOC’s in paint, carpet, furniture, Teflon, flame retardants
3. Water (chlorine, fluoride – water filters help tremendously)
4. Mold (“sick building syndrome”)
5. Pesticides (with continued exposure from bringing it inside after walking on lawns)
6. Food (steroids, antibiotics, etc. – try this app to help identify toxic food)
7. Amalgams in teeth (the number of amalgams is proportional to the amount of mercury in the brain)
8. Vaccines and medications
9. Plastics (BPA and phthalates)
10. Toxic beauty products (read about which ingredients to avoid and learn about organic beauty lines here)