The third reason you’re getting fat is your organs: an overworked liver, a sluggish thyroid, and exhausted adrenals. These organs rule your metabolism—the rate your body burns off food calories. When they’re not working up to par, it’s very hard to build muscle or burn fat. This means you won’t get all the benefits from eating right or exercising.
I am so obsessed with keeping these three organs clean that I eat detox foods and take supplements. Trainers in my gym constantly compare notes on how to flush these organs, knowing that when working well, they will speed up the metabolism big-time. So if you want to get thin, make sure you do everything you can to clean these three organs. Like everything else, you can do this through diet and lifestyle.
The liver makes proteins that regulate blood clotting, neutralizes toxins in the blood, produces immune agents to fight infection, generates bile to help digest fats, and stores glucose for when you need energy. The liver is basically the metabolic factory of the entire body. It can make you a fat-storing machine or a fat-burning machine, depending on how you treat it.
Your liver burns fat in several ways. For one thing, it manufactures bile acids. These are like laundry detergent. They break down the cheese fries you threw down last night. Bile acids also switch on the activity of brown fat—a calorie incinerator that burns calories instead of storing them. In addition, bile acids carry excess fat to the small intestines for disposal. If your diet is high in fiber from fruits, veggies, and whole grains, this unwanted fat is then washed from the body through your bowel.
Your liver’s job is also to detoxify everything you eat, drink, swallow, smoke, rub into your skin, or otherwise work into your bloodstream. Almost every substance found in your body or put in your body, including hormones, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, is filtered through the liver for removal. So think of the liver as your body’s garbage disposal. It works nonstop to clean up and remove junk from your body.
And like a garbage disposal, the liver is vulnerable to overload. When that overload happens, it can’t detoxify all the junk that comes its way. Nor can it do a good job of breaking down proteins, carbs, and fats. The body then starts poisoning itself. This is often what’s happening to people who are chronically sick with headaches, inflammatory diseases, and skin disorders, such as psoriasis and acne. Toxins that can’t be processed by the liver escape into the bloodstream, wiping out the immune system. The result is auto immune disorders like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, and arthritis in which the body turns on itself.
You may think that, as long as you’re not knocking back a bottle of booze every night, your liver will take care of itself. Don’t kid yourself. For years, doctors thought pretty much the same thing, only testing blood levels for telltale signs of liver disease such as hepatitis or cirrhosis.
Things are different now. We have many more toxins in this country than the rest of the world. Third-world residents have healthier diets and livers than we do. They don’t add all the chemicals to their foods, and they don’t pump up their meats with hormones—which is in part why their citizens are thinner. But in this country, more people than ever are sick and heavy as a result. And so health professionals have started to take a much closer look at the liver.
Here are some telltale signs of a sick liver:
* Weight gain, especially around the belly
* Cellulite
* Bloating
* Allergies
* Gluten intolerance
* Indigestion
* Constipation
* High blood pressure
* High cholesterol
* Hormone imbalance
* Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
* Fatigue
* Depression
* Mood swings
* Yeast overgrowth
* Skin disorders
* Sleeplessness
* Brain confusion
* Bad breath
* Itchiness
* Stool that is discolored (should be dark brown)
If you’re overweight or suffer from any of the above symptoms, then the detox foods on my program are a must for you. The great news is that the liver is resourceful and repairable. It can be restored and rejuvenated. You’ve just got to take steps to cleanse and detoxify it.
Two main advantages here: First, your body will burn fat more efficiently—you’ll lose weight. Second, a healthy liver will make you less vulnerable to dietary indulgences. You won’t have to panic when you indulge yourself with your treat meals like a cheeseburger or sundae, because as long as you quickly get back to my five-day eat-clean plan, those treats will burn themselves off on their own.
Trainers know this. We’re notorious for our treat meals. They never seem to affect us because we eat so clean most of the time. For example, I eat a multitude of all the foods my body needs to run well and burn fat, with the understanding I’m going to indulge in my comfort meals on the weekend. When you eat this way, instead of stressing the liver out daily with junk, it will recover fast.
Have you noticed your pants getting tighter when you’re trying to lose weight? That the scale is going up for no apparent reason? Why are you gaining weight?
One reason may be your thyroid, another key organ of metabolism. The thyroid gland can make you either love your body or want to hide in baggy sweatpants. It’s your body’s metabolic regulator. It controls metabolism by secreting two hormones that control how fast the body burns calories and uses energy. If your thyroid secretes too little hormone, you have hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid. All of this slows down all your bodily functions. Hypothyroidism leaves you tired and makes it more difficult to burn calories. Because everything is slowed, the body will demand quick energy all the time in carbohydrate cravings—which is why low thyroid sufferers crave refined carbs like breads, pastas, cereal, crackers, cakes, muffins, rice cakes, cookies, juice, alcohol, ice cream, and so forth. Simply put, if your thyroid isn’t working to stimulate your metabolism, it is very tough to get thin. Just by living in this country and consuming processed food, you probably have an underactive thyroid. There’s one more thing: I call the thyroid the beauty gland because if it’s working right, it makes your hair and nails healthy.
Doctors have trouble diagnosing hypothyroidism. This is because it shows up as a variety of symptoms that are often identical to those you have if your life is hectic or that might occur normally as you get older. For example:
* Weight gain
* Cravings for refined carbs
* Fatigue (often due to malnutrition, since the thyroid controls vitamin absorption)
* Loss of appetite
* Foggy thinking
* Inability to tolerate cold
* A slow heart rate
* Painful menstrual periods
* Muscle weakness
* Muscle cramps
* Dry, scaly skin
* Poor fingernail growth (the thyroid controls hair and nail growth; a faulty thyroid is a disaster for hair and nails)
* Hair loss
* Migraines
* Hoarseness
* Itchy skin
* Depression
* Heart palpitations
* Weird burning sensations in the body
* Constipation
* Difficulty concentrating
* Bags under your eyes
* Yellow bumps on your eyelids
In general, your risk for hypothyroidism increases with age, particularly for women over thirty-four. Some experts suggest that up to 25 percent of all women will eventually develop a thyroid problem.
If you have hypothyroidism, don’t just rely on your doctor to write a prescription. Taking thyroid medication blocks your own body’s ability to produce the hormone on its own. That is never good, and you will be on it for life with greater problems. You can balance your thyroid naturally through food and exercise.
The adrenal glands produce the hormones adrenaline, norepinephrine, DHEA, and cortisol (the fat-storing hormone I talked about in chapter 1). All of these hormones help your body naturally cope with stress. They do this by triggering the release of sugar from the liver and muscles into the blood as an instant fuel source.
DHEA is a sex hormone and natural fat burner. I call it the mother of all hormones because most of our other sex hormones are derived from it, primarily estrogen and testosterone. This important muscle-building and fat-burning hormone declines with age, which makes it even harder to stay thin and fit. You want to do everything you can to keep your adrenal glands healthy so they can produce this amazing hormone.
For everything they do, your adrenals take a lot of abuse. We batter our adrenals with bad nutrition, lack of sleep, smoking, drinking, and medication abuse. But the greatest enemy of the adrenals is our reliance on caffeine-containing products like coffee and sodas.
If you’re consuming more than two cups of coffee a day, you are at risk of overworking the adrenal glands. I know this from research as well as from experience. Trainers are the worst adrenal abusers. Because of their schedules—sporadic hard work over a long day—they easily get hooked on pick-me-ups like coffee. After a month or two, taking in so much caffeine noticeably exhausts them.
Caffeine is also found in dietary supplements, namely those containing caffeine-rich herbs like guarana, yerba mate, or green tea. In a study funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Beltsville, Maryland, scientists analyzed fifty-three dietary supplements—predominantly weight-loss and sports-nutrition products with at least one caffeine-containing ingredient. Approximately half of the tested products contained the caffeine equivalent of up to two cups of coffee per day!
When the adrenals get overworked by caffeine and other factors, they eventually can’t produce hormones in sufficient amounts, or can’t utilize the hormones they do produce. Basically, the adrenals get wiped out. This condition is called adrenal exhaustion, and it makes you a slow metabolizer, tired all the time, and generally unwell.
So look at the chart below, and analyze how much caffeine you are truly taking in each day. Cut your caffeine intake drastically, and after a couple of weeks you will feel better. Every time you want a coffee, drink a bottle of cold water. It is nature’s energizer.
Sources: Company websites or scientific articles
Key symptoms of adrenal exhaustion include:
* Weight gain, especially around the belly
* Weakness
* Blemishes (when you’re under stress, cortisol causes more pore-clogging oil to be produced)
* Insomnia (caused by cortisol being elevated at night)
* Lethargy
* Dizziness
* Memory problems
* Food cravings
* Poor immunity
* Allergies
* Blood sugar imbalances
* Premature aging
Give your liver, thyroid, and adrenals what they need, avoid giving them what they don’t need, and they will reciprocate by burning fat. Your weight will come off almost automatically. This is all pretty simple, too. Really, all it takes to cleanse and detoxify is swapping out most of the bad stuff for the good stuff. To avoid getting fat and breeding cancer and other diseases, give your organs the recommended daily amounts of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients through a combination of food and a carefully planned program of natural supplements. Here are some things you can start doing now:
* Eat detox foods daily. Many foods have organ-protective properties. My nutrition plan is built around detox foods, including apricots, artichokes, beets, blueberries, and green leafy vegetables. With my plan, you’ll learn how to build these foods into your diet.
* Drink two to three liters of pure water a day. It’s worth the extra trips to the bathroom! Water is vital for keeping your system clean. It helps with detoxification and assists bile acids in flushing out toxins. Add some lemon juice to it. Remember, this combo is a natural fat metabolizer and can burn fifty to seventy-five calories a day. Also, if you drink this much water daily, you can boost your metabolism by as much as 30 percent.
* Get as much organic food as you possibly can. Ever heard of organochlorines? Most people haven’t. They’re awful chemicals found in pesticides (which are sprayed all over fruits and vegetables). With these chemicals in your body, you’ll burn fat more slowly than normal. To reduce your risk, grab organic produce. It contains fewer toxins and will make life easier for your liver.
* Supplement with liver-friendly herbs. I take a liver-cleanse supplement that contains milk thistle. This herb functions as an antioxidant in the liver. Antioxidants fight free radicals, the big villains behind disease and aging. Other top liver healers include licorice root, skullcap, red clover blossom, and slippery elm bark. You can find these supplements at any health-food or vitamin store.
* Increase your fiber. High-fiber foods such as fruits, veggies, and whole grains remove toxins from the body. Make sure you eat between twenty-five and thirty-five grams a day for healthy digestion and liver health. An example of what this looks like daily is a cup of oatmeal, an apple, a cup of mixed berries, a salad with veggies, and a cup of frozen or fresh spinach.
* Add whey protein to your diet. Whey protein is a high-quality protein powder and available as a protein supplement. It suppresses the buildup of fat in the liver, plus revs up fat-burning activity. Any low-sugar or sugar-free whey protein shake is an excellent supplement to your diet.
* Get enough B vitamins. Choline, vitamin B6, folic acid, and vitamin B12 are among the lipotropic nutrients, meaning they’re involved in the movement of fats. You can get vitamin B from green leafy vegetables, oranges, brown rice, oats, wheat germ, fish, shellfish, eggs, and poultry, as well as from a daily multivitamin tablet.
* Eat plenty of vitamin-C-rich foods, including citrus fruits, berries, kiwi fruits, parsley, watercress, and peppers.
* Include in your diet magnesium-rich foods like whole grains, green leafy vegetables, sunflower and sesame seeds, almonds, and wheat germ.
* Regular exercise. There’s no getting out of doing some sort of physical activity if you want to keep your metabolism high. Exercise has a positive effect on all body systems.
An important part of a rejuvenation program for your organs is easing off organ destroyers. These are toxic substances that increase your appetite, slow your metabolism, interfere with your ability to burn fat, and mess up your system. Sure, there are some toxins in the environment you can’t control. But there are a whole lot more you can, and they’re found in the food supply. Here’s some stuff you should eat less of, or give up altogether:
* Alcohol. Cut back on your alcohol consumption, or stop completely. If you’re a social drinker or someone who has a drink more than once a week, you’d better know that this habit is making you soft and chubby. Not only because it adds sugar and calories, but also because it prevents the liver from metabolizing fat properly. Enjoy alcohol as part of a treat meal and limit it to once per week.
* Fatty meats. Unless it’s a treat meal, don’t let deep-fried, smoked, salt-cured (think jerkies), or fatty foods pass your lips. The liver has to work overtime to break these foods down. They’re high in saturated fat, which increases the risk of a fatty liver. These foods also put unnecessary stress on the adrenals.
* Excessive amounts of milk and other dairy products. Sickening high levels of artificial hormones, antibiotics, and other toxins are found in dairy products. The liver must go into overdrive to try to eliminate them. One of the most toxic substances in the world—dioxin—is found in dairy products. Dioxin can cause cancer in humans. Even minuscule doses can deal a stunning blow to the immune system. Unless milk is part of your treat meals, stay away from it. Don’t worry about getting enough calcium and vitamin D. You will get plenty with the natural foods I recommend.
* Junk foods. Ditch junk, fried, and fast foods, unless they’re a part of a treat meal. Eating junk food and fake foods will never get you to where you want to be. They stress the liver by making it work too hard at removing the chemicals, additives, and fat in these foods.
* Refined carbs. These include white bread, white flour, white pasta, white rice, and, of course, white sugar—they’re all just empty calories with no real nutritional value, and are so bad for you. Even in moderation, they all disrupt liver functioning. Your liver has to work too hard to process sugar and sugary foods. Sugar, in particular, robs your body of valuable nutrients like zinc. You need zinc; it helps the liver burn fat.
* Acetaminophen products, such as Tylenol. The leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States today is not alcohol or hepatitis but overdoses of acetaminophen. If you take it regularly, your liver will not metabolize fat efficiently.
* Prescription drugs. Drugs affect liver function and cause weight gain. Medicine is nothing more than a bunch of chemicals that stress the liver and keep it from burning fat. After working with me, it’s amazing how many of my clients are able to go off or greatly reduce their medications.
* Antihistamines. These drugs can interfere with thyroid functioning.
* Fluoride in tap water. Fluoride blocks iodine receptors in the thyroid gland. Iodine, a mineral key to thyroid health, can’t get access to cells. This halts hormone production and causes hypothyroidism. Buy jugs of natural mineral water or get a water filter.
* Sugars and refined carbohydrates. Sugar breaks down so fast that it shocks the liver. These substances also deplete magnesium, throw all hormones out of whack, and make you fat.
* Substances such as caffeine, tobacco, and, again, alcohol. They rob the body of nutrients required by your organs, so cutting your intake of these will help your stress levels and decrease your fat.
* Artificial sweeteners. These include sugar alcohols, aspartame, saccharine, sucralose, and others. These nasty substances aggravate cortisol and wipe out adrenals.
Now you understand how the liver, thyroid, and adrenals are keys to a healthy, fat-burning metabolism—and a healthy, energetic lifestyle. Take care of them if you want a thin body for the rest of your life—and lots of energy to go along with it. Keeping these organs in peak condition is easy to do, and you will feel so much better for it. Put my strategies into play, and they’ll increase your overall health and fitness while giving you a beautiful, thin body and your best, sexiest size.
Now it’s time to talk about how.