I believe toxins are the number one reason why people can't lose weight today: our toxic world is literally making us fat. The water we drink, air we breathe, products we use and food we consume all affect the amount of toxic weight we carry. We can only control our environment to a certain extent. As a result, we must take charge of the things in our lives we can change if we want to look and feel good, and little is more important than our daily diet.

A steady intake of toxic foods year upon year will catch up with you sooner or later and take a toll on your waistline and health. Toxic foods include bad fats such as hydrogenated vegetable oils, refined sugars, grains, genetically modified foods, low-fat and fat-free processed diet foods, and conventionally produced meat and dairy products. Eating these toxic foods on a regular basis deprives the body of essential nutrients needed to detoxify naturally. When in a state of nutrient deprivation, the body becomes stressed and stores fat for protection. To stop the cycle of toxic fat storage in its tracks, proper dietary and lifestyle changes must be made to generate true cellular detox and lasting weight-loss.

Why Weight Loss Stops or Even Rebounds

When most people follow a diet they initially lose weight. Toxins are released into the body when this fat is burned. The fat loss causes the redistribution of toxins throughout the body. The released toxins then drive the inability to lose weight or the state of weight-loss resistance.  The “rebound” effect of weight gain can also occur here, despite eating the same diet that allowed for the initial weight loss. Conversely, when the proper diet is combined with true cellular detox the outcome is quite different.  Following the proper diet with cellular detox avoids the rebound effect and is a must if you desire permanent weight loss.

Poor Diet: Toxins stress the body at the cellular level and stimulate the vicious rebound cycle of weight-loss resistance.

Proper Diet plus Cellular Detox: Following the proper diet ignites healing and detoxification at the cellular level. When provided the right nourishment, the body has the nutrients it needs to burn fat for energy and avoids the rebound effect.

How Toxins Cause Weight Gain and Hormone Problems

Toxicity affects our hormones and triggers weight-loss resistance. So, in order to lose weight you have to fix your hormones. Leptin is the hormone that tells the brain to burn fat for energy. If the brain is not receiving the correct message from leptin due to toxic overload, the body will not burn fat for energy. Lasting weight loss is therefore not possible when the body is in a state of toxicity.

What is the Proper Diet to Lose Toxic Fat?

The fastest and most effective way to jumpstart the release of toxic pounds is to follow my whole foods based Cellular Healing Diet. When treating a patient who needs to lose toxic fat, I always begin by addressing the reduction of inflammation in the body, which is at the root of modern disease. A body carrying toxic fat is an inflamed body. Lasting weight-loss will not occur until inflammation is under control, and the approach must begin at the cellular level. Following the Cellular Healing Diet allows the body to heal and recharge its 70 trillion cells, and assists in the removal of toxins and the regulation of hormone function. To immediately begin decreasing inflammation and promoting detoxification and hormone regulation, start with these three fundamental changes right now:

Remove Bad Fats and Replace with Good Fats

Bad fats found in the form of hydrogenated vegetable oils, trans fats and rancid vegetable oils create toxic cells leading to chronic inflammation and many health conditions including cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and the inability to lose weight. On the other hand, good fats such as organic coconut oil, grass-fed butter, pastured eggs, heavy cream, MCT oil, raw cheese and nuts, and cultured yogurt work to decrease inflammation at the cellular level. Good fats (or “God fats”) are the most important, yet absent, nutrient in the modern American diet.

Change the Meats You Eat

Conventional and organic, grass-fed meats are not created equal. When conventionally raised cows are fed an unnatural diet of genetically modified grain instead of grass, changes take place in the cow’s fatty acid ratio and denature the good fats into toxic fats. Conventionally raised meat has fatty acid ratios very disproportionate to those of organic, grass-fed meat. When toxic meat is eaten it creates inflammation and toxicity in your body leading to weight gain. Ditch feedlot meat, pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to boot, and choose organic, grass-fed meats raised as God intended, to aid in losing toxic fat.

Remove ALL Processed Grains and Refined Sugars

To restore and heal a toxic cell, you must remove sugar and everything that your body turns into sugar from your diet. Removing grains from your diet controls inflammation by eliminating a sugar called amylose. Amylose is present in all grains except corn, and triggers inflammation by spiking blood sugar, especially in those suffering from inflammatory conditions like heart disease, arthritis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and IBS. By removing dietary sugars, your blood sugar and insulin levels will regulate, inflammation will decrease, and true detoxification and weight-loss will occur.

Detox Support

To enhance cellular detox and weight-loss include the Intracellular Detox System (IDS), along with proper diet. The unique system has two components which work synergistically to help the body detox as smoothly and quickly as possible. The first component of the IDS is called Gcel and it raises and supports the production of glutathione, nature’s most powerful antioxidant found in every cell in your body.  The second component of the system, called BIND, literally binds to toxins in your gut and prevents the reabsorption or redistribution of toxins, common issues in other forms of detox that can cause dangerous symptoms. The IDS is a proven system and is included in every one of my detox and weight-loss protocols.

Supercharging Toxic Fat Loss

In addition to following the core principles of my Cellular Healing Diet, I suggest adding intermittent fasting to your routine to accelerate the loss of toxic fat. Intermittent fasting is an extremely powerful and ancient tool for healing and decreasing inflammation in the body and consists of only ingesting liquid for a certain amount of time. Fasting gives your gut a break from digesting food, thereby allowing it to heal from issues such as leaky gut, which may be present and impeding the loss of toxic fat. Leaky gut is a condition in which the tight junctions that make-up the gut wall become inflamed and cause undigested food proteins to leak across, resulting in persistent systemic inflammation. Leaky gut is an epidemic condition in America and most people are unaware that it is contributing to their health challenges and weight-loss efforts. Fasting is also helpful in bringing nutrition to a body that is depleted of nutrients due to a toxic modern diet and lifestyle. I recommend fasting on high-quality whey water or bone broth made from the bones of 100% grass-fed cows for the most healing and detoxifying effects.

Far Infrared (FIR) sauna therapy is another effective tool to boost weight-loss. FIR saunas heat the body from within and stimulate its basic functions including increasing blood circulation and metabolic rate. Infrared therapy can even emulsify cellulite. FIR saunas encourage the body to detoxify from the deepest cellular level and can aid in burning 300 to 400 calories during a 30 minute session. Besides supporting weight-loss and detox, FIR sauna therapy also enhances immunity, relieves pain and stress, heals skin conditions, and promotes cellular regeneration and overall improved health.

Take Home Message to Drop Toxic Weight

• To lose weight you need to fix your hormones and decrease systemic inflammation by lessening your toxic load
• Cut out refined sugars, grains, bad fats and conventionally raised animal protein
• Add in plenty of good fats and organic, grass-fed meat to your diet
• Experiment with intermittent fasting to heal your gut
• Include Far Infrared sauna therapy and detox support supplements  to accelerate weight-loss

Without a doubt, toxic dieting drives your body to hang on to fat. Carrying around toxic fat not only takes a toll on your self-esteem, but increases the likelihood of developing many obesity-related diseases, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  But you can start to heal and detox your body from the cellular level by implementing my three dietary changes, and further enhance your efforts by including intermittent fasting, cellular detox support supplements and FIR sauna therapy in your routine.  Making these changes will require you to modify your lifestyle. However, I know that they work because these changes have impacted my life for the better and allowed me to heal from my own debilitating health challenges. Once you’ve made these changes, continue to incorporate more healing foods (see my top healing foods list here) and less toxic foods (see my toxic foods to avoid here) in your diet and you will be well on your way to looking and feeling your best.