So far in this series I’ve covered the basics of weight loss and detox. Obviously a whole book, or even several books can be written about weight loss and detox which is beyond the scope of this series. That said, in this last part I’ll mention some other issues that may be impeding your efforts to lose weight and detoxify.
As mentioned in previous parts of this series, an elimination diet is extremely important to determine which foods you are sensitive to that may be driving your stress hormones out of balance and contributing to blood sugar imbalances while also adversely affecting your detoxification abilities. However, some people need to go beyond an elimination diet in order to achieve optimal results. Very often an underlying infection (bacterial, viral, protozoal, and/or fungal) in the GI tract will lead to the same metabolic dysfunction that food sensitivities will lead to. That is, they can drive inflammation, affecting the adrenal glands and blood sugar negatively. And keep in mind, patients won’t always have overt GI symptoms even when a GI infection is present and causing them harm. Although, if you did have symptoms, and then embarked on the elimination diet and still have symptoms, chances are that you have an underlying infection that needs to be addressed.
In addition to a GI infection contributing to overall inflammation along with adrenal and blood sugar stress, an imbalance in the GI tract’s bacterial balance will affect thyroid hormone function. This is because about 20% of your thyroid hormone gets activated in the GI tract, and it relies on healthy gut flora in order to do that. Obviously the thyroid is a huge player when it comes to weight loss and detox because the thyroid determines the metabolic rate of every cell in the body. When the metabolic rate slows, we will either gain weight, or at least not lose weight. And if the metabolic rate of the cells in the liver and other detox organs slow, toxin elimination will be certainly be compromised. In addition to (~20% of) thyroid hormone activation being dependent on healthy gut flora, hormone detoxification and elimination is also dependent on healthy gut flora. And if there is an accumulation of estrogen from this mechanism, thyroid function will again be compromised. Thyroid dysfunction is a major contributor to the inability to lose weight. I covered a few reasons for thyroid imbalance above, but there are many more that are beyond the scope of this series.
This concludes the series on weight loss and detox. Obviously there are many reasons that a person may be unable to lose weight or detox efficiently, but this certainly covers the basics of what I see with patients. It’s always good to start with the basics, and if that doesn’t work, look a little deeper. Good luck in your journey!
Dr. Rob D’Aquila – NYC Chiropractor – Diplomate of the International Board of Applied Kinesiology