Did You Know Those 5 Extra Pounds Might be Toxins
Can’t seem to lose those five extra pounds? You may restrict your calorie intake, even more, bump up the exercise intensity or duration. You may have even gone extreme and cut out carbs, sweets, and alcohol and still can’t shake off these last 5 lbs? Frustrating, to say the least.
Why could this possibly be happening?
The reason your disciplined diet and diligent cardio aren’t working is, well, because those few extra pounds may not be fat at all, they might be toxins. If your gut is burdened with extra pounds of toxic waste, you will have difficulty losing weight and keeping it off. Clean-eating and fitness are not the only things that go into the total weight-loss package.
Your gut and its health play one of the most essential roles in your body when it comes to losing weight.
That GUT feeling
Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms, both good and bad. When you have the right balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut, your digestion improves, inflammation reduces, decreased stress, sleep better, your moods improve, and your focus increases. Who knew that your gut could power all of those things?
Besides, when it comes to managing weight or weight loss, a healthy gut boosts your metabolism, controls and reduces cravings. Your gut is linked to EVERY part of your body, so you must take good care of it. This includes what goes through it.
A Processed Problem
Many people are led to believe that though canned peaches may be healthy and low calorie and low carb, they miss a very vital point, and that is the processing agent or agents in these foods. You may eat the hot dog without the bun, the low-fat corn chips, and drink that diet soda, even help yourself to a hearty bowl of healthy cereal in the morning. However, all of these foods have a common theme: They are processed foods.
The problem with processed foods and gut health is as good as those foods may taste, a low-calorie diet of processed foods is loaded with refined sugars, trans fats, artificial flavorings, and other harmful ingredients. Frozen pizzas, chicken nuggets, snack packs, sodas, and chips all contain substances made in labs. Consider food coloring, for example, Red dye #40 (listed in the ingredients) that are found in many foods has been linked to conditions such as autism. These foods are designed to be highly addictive and cost-effective. High fructose corn syrup is the most dominant example of a highly addictive, cheap, and toxic ingredient found in almost every shelf or frozen food, even bread. If you have ever tasted ketchup off the shelf and then tasted organic or homemade ketchup, you would probably make a squished face at the taste of natural ketchup without high fructose corn syrup. This is because HFCS is extremely sweet, there is nothing else produced naturally on this green earth that is as sweet as this processed ingredient. Because this ingredient is so cheap, it is prevalent in supermarket shelf foods, convenience stores, restaurants, and vending machines. Once you have a taste, it is very hard to put down.
Processed foods break down into compounds that the bad bacteria in your gut love to gobble, and if you feed them too much, they’ll grow to outnumber the good bacteria causing an imbalance in your gut health and gastrointestinal disruption. Consuming processed foods at any amount can cause bloating, discomforts such as gas and cramps, trouble losing weight, and insulin resistance. The long-term effects of processed food consumption can lead to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity, remember your gut health significantly affects all other systems. On top of that, many food additives are known irritants of the digestive system that cause inflammation in the intestines and decrease nutrient absorption, so while you may be taking your vitamins and adding in a salad with your fried chicken, those nutrients are passing right through your gut, therefore, providing little to no benefits to your health. What a waste (literally)!
The key is to have readily available whole foods at your fingertips. Snacking on processed foods is usually the result of not planning meals ahead of time which leads to eating convenient fast or packaged foods, and eating out.
Clean out your cabinets and pantry and fill your fridge with these alternatives. Instead of sugars and artificial sweeteners, cinnamon, or plain fruit. Replace fried foods that contain unhealthy hydrogenated oils with good, fatty foods avocados, nuts, and cook with healthy oils. Instead of chips, try pumpkin seeds, sprouted almonds, flax seeds, kombucha or dark chocolate. Instead of deli meats that are laden with antibiotics and hormones, purchase and cook lean, grass-fed meats. Replace regular cheese with cashew cheese and milk with coconut milk. You should be able to readily and conveniently find all of these alternatives at your local health food store. Plan your meals to be as raw, clean, and hearty as possible. The possibilities are endless and there are countless websites out there that offer amazing, easy, and inexpensive recipes and meal planning ideas. Don’t settle for ugly, toxic, processed foods. Settle for a happy, healthy life that you deserve, free of diet-induced diseases. Achieve your weight-loss goals among many other life-changing benefits. Start today and wave goodbye processed foods.