fungicides

The unfortunate truth is that there is another element that most of us are totally unaware of… EDCs, endocrine disrupting chemicals, aka obesogens!  These chemicals mimic hormones and, because of this, they interfere with our bodies and affect our weight.

These dastardly chemicals (mostly man made)…  By disrupting our hormones, obesogens change our bodies’ behavior in many areas to do with weight.  Hormones are crucial to our weight because they tell our bodies when to burn fat and when to store it, when to eat and when not to eat.

Some endocrine disrupters alter the way the body allocates cells – so our bodies mistakenly produce more fat cells and / or bigger fat cells!

Research done at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences discovered that a common fungicide (triflumizole) used on fruit and vegetables caused mice to become obese!  The Presidential Taskforce on Childhood Obesity has acknowledged the link between these chemicals and obesity.  Babies in the womb and young kids are the most at risk.  One study demonstrated that the women who had exposure to pesticides (the ones with pesticide residues in their bodies) gave birth to babies who were significantly more likely to overweight by the time they were 14 months old!

According to Jerry Heindel of the National Instititute of Environmental Health Sciences, “There are between fifteen and twenty chemicals that have been shown to cause weight gain, mostly from developmental exposure.”

– Eat organic OR pesticide & fungicide free food.  IF YOU CAN’T DO THAT WASH YOUR FRUIT AND VEG WELL!  This can reduce that amount of these chemicals you take in

– Cut down on food that was wrapped in plastic (BPAs are endocrine disrupters) and food from cans (the chemicals leach into the food).

– Filter the tap water you drink, if you can.  Using e.g. a Brita filter www.brita.com

To be honest, these endocrine disrupters are so darned BLEEP &*%@ that they affect us in other ways too…

Researchers suggest that they can cause:

– a variety of cancers (including breast, prostate)

– problems with fertility

– changes in the functioning of your immune system

– birth defects and a lowering of the birth rate of boys specifically

– Attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities (neurodevelopmental delays) in kids