Born fat or is it the chemicals in our foods making us fat?

Our foods have changed over the last 50 years, because the food industry has changed what we are eating today. Today’s food industry goals are to grow it Bigger, Faster and Cheaper. The reality is that a handful of companies have changed what we eat. Our food is being reengineered into something that is unrecognizable. We have all all sorts of chemicals in our foods, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and plastic pollutants, to name a few. Certain toxins in you food can contribute to weight issues and obesity.

The chemicals that disrupt the function of our hormonal system are called obesogens. Obesogens can cause heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol.

Recently the American Medical Association has come out in support of the idea that these obesogens play a significant role in our national obesity crisis.

What foods are the biggest culprits of Obesogens? They are:

Meats containing ARTIFICIAL HORMONES:

• A study in the International Journal of Obesity from researchers at 10 different universities, including Yale Unitversity School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University, found that the use of steroid hormones in meat production and on conventional dairy farms could be a possible contributor to the obesity epidemic.
• Consumption of meat from cattle treated with hormones, means you are taking them in, too.  Nationally occurring hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone are being pumped into our cattle.  In addition, trenbolone acetate or TBA is also given to cattle to “beef them up.” And this goes back to one of  today’s food industry goals, making our foods bigger, so they charge more money. TBA is an anabolic steroid that’s eight to 10 times as potent as testosterone.  That means if your cattle has it, your meat has it, and you then have it.

Did you know that conventionally-raised beef contains six different steroids (all obesogens)?  The typical conventional steak has seven and a half time as much fat as a steak normally should have.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO AVOID  OBESOGENS

Keep in mind that when shopping for meats that a lot of obesogens are fat soluable, so they accumulate in fatty tissues.  So pick leaner cuts of meat if yOu can, 95 percent lean beef for example.

But the best way to avoid harmful artificial hormones is to go organic, fee Range, Grass-Feed. Check the labels, as there are several grades of organic foods.

Another culprit is the Dirty Dozen: Non organic peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, pears.  Avoid pesticides by buying organic for these fruits and vegetables.

We want to know what you think? Have you heard of  Obesogens and how can we get awareness out there?