What Chemicals Are Causing Us To Gain Weight?

Learn The Truth About The Products We Consume

Have you ever tried to eat healthy but still find yourself with low energy, stressed out, and struggling to lose weight? That may be because there are so many toxic chemicals in the food we eat, that we don’t even know about. We are so proud of our board of advisor, Dr. Casey Means, that’s constantly educating us on the hidden dangers that affect our metabolic health. The vegetables we eat could have pesticides in them. The meals we make could have lectins in them. There can even be chemicals in our environment that can cause us to gain fat and lose energy, as well as accelerate the aging process. Big businesses will not be running ads for this type of information to reach you! Fact is, products that have lectins in them like chia, are in thousands of their products. This information will impact their product margin to remove lectins from thousands of their products. Especially when it's advertised as “good” for you! I remember believing the whole “Got Milk?” commercials that would always come on. Little did we know that it was funded by the dairy industry, trying to cover up their horrible farming practices of injecting loads of hormones in their milk. We had to educate ourselves about how natural products like milk and vegetables could still have chemicals in them. Education is power. The scientific research is clear!

 

Chemicals In Our Environment Are Causing Weight Gain

Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Levels, Stanford MD, Dr. Casey Means did a recent interview with Neuroendocrinologist and Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF, the legendary Dr. Lustig, on the impact of hidden chemicals causing us to gain fat, even though we eat a healthy diet and workout. There are chemicals in our food, water, air, beauty products, and home appliances that may directly contribute to weight gain and obesity. It has become so prevalent in our lives that Dr. Lustig and 44 other scientists and clinicians have written a 48 page long paper on their research about this in Biochemical Pharmocology. The widespread belief is that unwanted weight gain is caused by eating too many calories, fat, or sugars. But that’s only part of the reason. The other factor is what makes up 15-20% of our obesity problem, which are chemicals called obesogens.

 

What Are Obesogens?

Dr. Lustig defines obesogens as chemicals that specifically drive fat cell accumulation. They are cells from chemicals that can take up extra energy in our body and turn to fat. They are found in food additives, artificial sweeteners, colors, and processed foods. Obesogens can also be found in items where we wouldn’t even think can cause fat gain. Disinfectants, pesticides, flame retardants, vinyl flooring, lipsticks, and even bath gels have it. An example from Dr. Lustig’s paper is his findings on a Victoria’s Secret bath gel containing a chemical called genistein, which is a known obesogen. Obesogens can actually change our cravings for certain foods. They can change how our dopamine receptors react, and make our eating habits more impulsive. This is due to the fact that these obesogens are directly affecting our mitochondria. Obesogens are causing our body temperatures to go down, preventing us from burning off fat cells. This can also lower our energy levels and raise our insulin.

 

 What Can We Do?

It’s nearly impossible to try to avoid all these toxic chemicals and molecules in our environment that are causing weight gain. We can use simple hacks that’s within our control and reasonably accessible. The best solution is to buy real organic food when possible. We need to avoid any preservatives and pesticides that can be added to our foods. With obesogens all over our environment, our bodies are bound to contact it at some point. So we need to hydrate and clear our bodies of these toxins by having fiber. Why fiber? Because fiber is the one nutrient that will cleanse your body off of toxins.  Especially when the fiber is sourced from a whole food, plant based, USDA organic certified, and lectin free, like Zen Basil seeds. By having Zen Basil seeds we get the most fiber that’s all organic, and fixes our mitochondria so that we are able to burn off any calories or fat we have stored. Be careful of other basil seed brands claiming to be USDA organic, and yet not certified on the USDA Organic Certified Integrity Database. Zen Basil is proudly the only USDA organic basil seed brand that is published on the USDA Certified Organic Integrity Database. Published studies that are spoken in length by Dr. Steven Gundry showed how chia seeds have lectins in them, which can be inflammatory to our body. We are also proud to be called a true superfood by Dr. Steven Gundry when he spoke about Zen Basil seeds, “So much better than chia, no lectins.” Zen Basil seeds contain essential vitamins and nutrients we need to support our mitochondria and overall gut health. It has natural vitamins and nutrients that hydrate us, encourages weight loss, and improves our mental clarity.

 

Naturally Organic Basil Seeds

Thanks to Dr. Casey Means, we can now be educated on these hidden chemicals that can harm our body. She continues to educate us in our health with simple hacks that will improve our metabolic health. If it wasn’t for her and Dr. Lustig’s interview, I personally wouldn’t have known what was causing these unwanted fat gains. Our bodies need natural nutrients, vitamins, and minerals made by mother nature, to hydrate us. Not sprayed with chemicals or injected with hormones. The products we were told were “good” for us were later found to be quite the opposite. We had to educate ourselves about the dangers of hormones in our milk, and pesticides sprayed on our fruits and vegetables. We thought chia seeds were good for us until we found out they had lectins in them. These chemicals are ruining our gut health and immune systems. Obesogens are found in all of these harmful chemicals, causing fat gain and hurting our mitochondria. We can eat a clean diet but can still be susceptible to obesogens from our surrounding environment. Rather than being paranoid with all these toxins around us that are nearly impossible to avoid, we can fuel our body with the best defense mechanism there is in Zen Basil seeds. These high fiber organic basil seeds are the key to flushing our body of all these chemicals. The best natural support for our mitochondria so that we have the energy to burn off any unwanted fat. We love seeing modern day science validate the wisdom of ancient healers. For thousands of years, the king of superfoods has been revered for its health-promoting properties. Natural healers and Ayurveda believed basil seeds to be an “adaptogen” that could cleanse the body of toxins, offer a boost of energy, and encourage clarity of mind. This is our recipe for zen. Zen for life.

 

One serving of Zen Basil Seeds, based on our Exclusive Nutritional Fact Sheet provide:

 Fiber 15g or 54% of DV

5g of Complete Plant Based Protein

Calcium 370mg or 30% DV

Iron 4.7mg or 25% of DV

Potassium 210mg or 4% DV

Magnesium 90mg or 20% of DV

Omega-3 2860mg

 

All of these key nutrients help us feel good and make us feel satisfied for longer periods of time. For the cost of just about $1.5 per serving, available online, and accessible to all Americans, regardless of zip codes. 

Our goal is to make nutrients accessible to everyone and believe we all will benefit from a healthier community.  We can only accomplish our mission with your help, if you enjoyed this post, please share.