How Heavy Metal Toxicity Hinders Weight Loss
Are you struggling with weight loss resistance? Heavy metals toxicity is one of the big reasons why so many people struggle to get the number on the scales to move. Let’s take a look at how heavy metal toxicity makes it impossible to lose weight.
The increase in toxic heavy metal exposure over the last several decades in the United States poses a major public health concern. To learn more about the different toxic heavy metals, sources of exposure, and the various negative health effects on our bodies, read this article. The main concern with excessive heavy metal exposure is that they travel throughout our body and penetrate the cells of various tissues and organs, where they can remain stored up for years - especially hiding out in adipose tissue, aka our fat cells. Toxic metals contribute to obesity by influencing various aspects of metabolism, such as by substituting for essential micronutrients and vital metals, blocking hormone receptor sites of the thyroid, or by inducing oxidative stress
Heavy metals as a culprit for nutrient deficiencies
For metals and essential minerals to be absorbed, they must bind with transporters in the small intestines. Many toxic metals share the receptor sites as essential metals, allowing toxic metals to be taken up in place of the essential ones, hindering their absorption, metabolism, and use. This leads to a deficiency of the minerals, contributing to obesity by negatively affecting energy production, carbohydrate tolerance, and other metabolic processes. If the body is chronically deficient in nutrients, it perceives being in a starvation mode, holding on to every calorie that enters the body. Testing and balancing nutrient deficiencies along with heavy metal detoxification is an essential and powerful tool to overcome weight loss resistance.
~ The deficiency of essential metals such as chromium, copper iron, or magnesium is directly linked to obesity ~
Heavy metals as underlying reason for oxidative stress
Some heavy metals such as iron, chromium, or copper directly induce oxidative stress, whereas others such as mercury, nickel, or arsenic increase oxidative stress indirectly by depleting glutathione. Increased oxidative stress is directly linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease. Glutathione, the body’s master antioxidant, controls the oxidation of fatty acids, meaning it can get rid of body fat. When the body is deficient in glutathione, less fat is burned, and more fat may be stored.
Mitochondria are vulnerable to oxidative stress. We have over 100,000 trillion mitochondria in our body and they are often equated to little power plants as they create the majority of the energy the body needs to function on a minute-to-minute basis. Healthy mitochondria play a key role in the body’s ability to control weight gain, plus they can oxidize body fat, which means they can get rid of body fat. Both obesity and diabetes are directly linked to a dysfunction in mitochondria. This means that if the mitochondria are not working properly, we gain weight.
Heavy metals causing hypothyroidism
You’ve probably heard me say before, that hormonal imbalances are not root cause. Heavy metals toxicity affects the thyroid and creates hormonal imbalances that lead to weight-loss resistance.
Selenium and iodine are crucial nutrients for thyroid hormone metabolism. Both selenium and iodine receptors attract heavy metals. This is a big problem, as the nutrients are unable to get into the cell, creating a sluggish thyroid.
The receptors for thyroid hormones are in every cell of our body. Thyroid hormones attach to these receptors to transfer the message of the hormone into the cell, such as burning fat for energy, feeling satiated, etc. If heavy metals attach to these receptors, they get blunted, so that the message is not able to get into the cell. While the traditional approach to an underactive thyroid is to prescribe synthetic hormones, this is often the wrong method, as it can lead to hormone resistance. While those supplemental hormones might work in the beginning, we often see a need for an increased dosage to achieve the same results. This is called hormone resistance. Removing inflammation and detoxing heavy metals will make the cell again more sensitive to the hormone, allowing the cell to receive the message.
Heavy metal toxicity causing insulin resistance
Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreatic cells that's essential in controlling your blood sugar levels. After a meal, insulin production is stimulated and released from the pancreas to shuttle glucose out of your blood and into the cells. Certain heavy metals, such as Arsenic, cause damage to the pancreatic cells causing impaired insulin, which in turn leads to weight gain. Studies have shown that prolonged arsenic buildup can damage insulin production enough to cause diabetes.
How can we lose weight when dealing with heavy metal toxicity?
A body filled with toxic substances, such as heavy metals, is often confined in a state of weight-loss resistance, wherein the body cannot lose weight. Until toxins are cleared from the body, individuals will struggle to lose weight, regardless of following a strict diet or exercise protocol.
Prolonged heavy metal toxicity comes with a chronically weakened immunity, which allows other pathogens and toxicities to manifest more easily in the body. Therefore, it is essential to first assess a person’s individual toxin and infection load, remove those triggers in a step-by-step process following the right order of operation. Balancing nutrient deficiencies at the same time is essential to retrieve the body from the perceived starvation mode to allow fat loss.
Are you struggling with weight loss resistance? Heavy metal toxicity is one of the big reasons why so many people struggle to get the number on the scales to move. Learn about my favorite supplements to properly detox heavy metals from the body!
