“Biological Magnification” is a term worth remembering. My goal isn’t to bore you with all the scientific jargon and bio-chemistry language, but to try and break it down simply for you. So keep in mind that this is a VERY simplified explanation. Building on my point of fat solubility from the last blog, just like some vitamins and nutrients are stored in fat, so are toxins including chemicals and heavy metals.
This happens all over the animal world. Because we have polluted the earth so much, animals down at the bottom of the food chain ingest and absorb these chemicals and heavy metals. Then they get eaten. Then (they) get eaten and so on until we humans eat the fish. It’s not just fish though, the same goes for cows, chickens and pigs. We farm using dangerous fertilizers, genetically modified seeds and contaminated water. The plants are then fed to the animals as food (usually it’s not their natural food source). Cows and chickens don’t naturally eat GMO corn. Even worse is that these animals are treated so inhumanely that a lot of them die. The dead ones are frequently ground up, mixed with the feed and fed back to the living livestock. Gross? Um, yea…
There is no escaping the food chain, but you can decide how far up to go by what you eat.
Anyway, toxins start far down the food chain, they are stored in fat, and then work their way up the food chain in higher and higher concentrations until they get into our (human) bodies. Well these toxins aren’t metabolized for any benefit by our body so they are cleaned out by our kidneys and liver and excreted. EXCEPT there are so many chemicals and toxins in our environment that our internal organs and immune system can’t handle the over load, so our body tucks them away in the dark closet of our bodies, our fat stores. So yes, it’s true, you have toxins and heavy metals in your body right now. You have even higher amounts if you eat a diet rich in meat and animal products because those animals had the same problem you do with eliminating them from their bodies.
Often people are on a “cleanse” or a “flush” and they tell me they feel sick, light-headed, or downright awful. That’s because when you put your body in cleaning mode, your fat stores are releasing some of these stored up toxins into your blood. Of course you’re going to feel like crap. It can take a long time of dedicated healthy eating with regular cleanses to get your body back to near full function. This is a lot of hard work and it turns almost everyone off to the whole process. I’m not telling you all this to convince you to take action or scare you away. Knowledge is power, that’s all.
In addition to fat, toxins build up in fatty tissues like your kidneys, liver and colon
Ok, on to fatty acids now. So there are 2 types of fat, saturated and unsaturated. Within these classifications, fats can be broken down into different acid complexes contained within the fats themselves. There are omega 3,6,9 fatty acids. Omega 3s include: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). These 3 important fatty acids are their own blog, so just know them for now as ALA, DHA, and EPA. Omega 6s include: linoleic acid (LA), arachidonic acid (AA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). Omega 9s oleic acid. Holy crap that’s a mouthful right?
Omega 9, oleic acids are mono-unsaturated fats coming from various plants (seeds and nuts generally) and they help your body raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol which helps to eliminate arterial plaque which contributes to heart disease. Given the right supply of Omega 3s and 6s your body can actually make Omega 9s, but generally if you are eating a diet high in plant foods, you’ll get a good amount of Omega 9s. Borage oil and other seed oils are Omega 9 rich supplements often sold at health food stores. My experience with Omega 9s has been positive, but I don’t recommend going out of your way to purchase them unless it’s in combination with a fish oil supplement that it won’t affect the price for.
Since Omega Fatty Acids are such an important topic I will split them up into different blogs. Here is food for thought: Animal meat used to be rich with healthy omega fatty acids because the animals were raised naturally on farms by grazing on plants and bugs. So these animals processed their preferred food and were generally healthy. In today’s world animals are “mass-produced” with little quality control. It isn’t the same meat that your grandparents ate. There has been a push back and now you can find “grass-fed” “free range” “hormone free” animal products, BUT they are rare and much more expensive. When you go out to eat stop and think when you order at the restaurant or take out window: “what are the chances this restaurant buys quality meat that isn’t dangerous for me to eat?” Remember, toxins work their way up the food chain, getting stored in fat. When you’re eating that juicy hamburger, fatty bacon or delicious chicken just remember that the fat you’re eating is loaded with health deteriorating chemicals, hormones and toxins that will inevitably end up in your body to sit there and slowly erode your health over time. Here is an interesting question: “Would you want to eat….YOU?”
Now that you know, would you choose a fatty piece of you, or go lean?
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