Fat? Don't Just Blame Fast Food

Since embarking on this journey towards "real food" and choosing organics over conventional food, I feel as if the scales are beginning to fall away from my eyes. I am seeing more and more connections between issues I've long struggled with and the food I've chosen to eat. Autoimmune disorders, thyroid failure, exhausted adrenals, infertility, recurrent miscarriage, lifelong struggle with weight: it all goes back to food.

The issue is not just about food intake and exercise -- "calories in, calories out" as they say. Though overeating and a lack of exercise are a significant issues for many Americans, me included, researchers are beginning to discover there is a whole lot more at work with regards to the destruction of the human body.

According to a recent article on MSNBC.com, "A third factor may be in play: a class of natural and synthetic chemicals known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), or as researchers have begun to call them, obesogens.

"Obesogens are chemicals that disrupt the function of hormonal systems; many researchers believe they lead to weight gain and, in turn, numerous diseases that curse the American populace. They enter our bodies from a variety of sources — natural hormones found in soy products, hormones administered to animals, plastics in some food and drink packaging, ingredients added to processed foods, and pesticides sprayed on produce. They act in a variety of ways: by mimicking human hormones such as estrogen, by misprogramming stem cells to become fat cells and, researchers think, by altering the function of genes.

"Endocrine disruptors are suspected of playing a role in fertility problems, genital malformation, reduced male birth rates, precocious puberty, miscarriage, behavior problems, brain abnormalities, impaired immune function, various cancers, and cardiovascular disease. "We have data linking environmental chemicals to practically every major human disease, from cardiovascular disease to attention-deficit disorder," says Jerry Heindel, Ph.D., an expert on EDCs at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Now new research is finding that some EDCs, the obesogens, may be helping to make us fat."