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THE BOOK

The Power of your Metabolism

ENEMY SUBSTANCES

Everything that we eat has some effect on our body.  This includes all foods, medications, preservatives, dyes and any other substance that is part of what we eat and drink.

Some of the substances that we consume regularly are harmful to our metabolism and make it slower.  This is the case with polyunsaturated oils like corn, soybean and vegetable oil, which we commonly buy in the supermarket and that are regularly used as ingredients in prepared or canned food.

Different researchers have proven that polyunsaturated oils like corn, soybean and vegetable oil interfere with the function of the thyroid gland. The most harmful oil on the thyroid gland seems to be soybean oil.  Since the thyroid gland controls the body’s metabolism these oils have the effect of lowering the metabolism.  This is why it is recommended that you use oils like canola oil and peanut oil to fry and olive oil for all other cooking that doesn’t require frying. The one limitation that olive oil has is that it can’t take much heat and that is why it isn’t recommended as a frying oil. 

In order to protect your metabolism it is necessary to avoid poly-unsaturated oils like corn, soybean and vegetable oil.

Since we are talking about oils, it is also appropriate for us to also touch on the subject of fats.  We have been bombarded by the media with a massive advertising campaign, to warn us about the dangers of cholesterol and, also, to sell us “cholesterol-free” products. From that        anti-cholesterol campaign was born the bright idea of substituting butter, a fat that contains cholesterol, with a manmade fat called margarine.  At first, it seemed like a good idea.

What they didn’t tell us is that ALL margarines contain a high content of “trans fatty acids”, which are very harmful to our health and also lower our metabolism.   Margarine is an industrial product that is created in a very chemically violent process.  This process is called “hydrogenation”, which consists of taking any polyunsaturated liquid oil (corn, soybean, sunflower, vegetable) and heating it to very high temperatures, and while putting a high voltage current in it and at the same time also pumping hydrogen gas into it in order to get the oil to turn solid.  When the hydrogen unites with the oil molecules the oil turns into a white greasy substance that you can spread.  It goes from liquid to solid.

Trans-fatty acids are fat molecules that have been damaged and deformed by intensive heat and the electric currents used in the processing.  They are fat molecules that have lost their normal molecular shape and have been left in a deformed shape.  As a result, the body treats it as if it were toxic because it doesn’t recognize it as edible and it doesn’t allow it to be used as a nutrient for the cells.  There is a new federal regulation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is gradually going into effect. It requires manufacturers to label their foods stating the amount of trans-fatty acids contained in each food.  This is what consumer groups have achieved by putting pressure on the FDA to require the food manufacturers to reveal the content of these molecularly altered fats.  In some cases, margarine can be made of up to 40% in trans-fatty acids.

Manufacturers of margarine know that we wouldn’t buy that white greasy substance because it doesn’t look very appetizing.  However, they have an excellent marketing technique. What they do is mix the margarine with a yellow dye (“yellow #5”) so that it looks like the color of butter and so that it appears more appetizing like butter.  If we were to see the true white, greasy color, it wouldn’t occur to us to spread it on bread, because it is disgusting.

Contrary to what the consumers of margarine are made to think, there are various studies that reflect that the consumption of margarine raises their cholesterol and also increases the incidence of heart problems.  If you decide to improve your metabolism and lose weight you should avoid consuming margarine.  Butter, on the other hand, is a saturated fat that contains cholesterol, but is a fat that the body can use naturally and that doesn’t contain the trans-fatty acids that are harmful to your health.  Butter is yellow because the cow and God decided it to be that way, it doesn’t have dyes.  Butter will help you lose weight; margarine will make you gain weight.

On the other hand, soybean has been promoted on a grand scale by the biggest agriculture companies and by the food industry as something that is “healthy”.  The reality is that the studies that have been used to demonstrate the benefits of soybean are studies that were done in Japan where the soy is fermented (examples: soy sauce, tofu).  The natural process of fermentation used in the orient destroys the thyroid blocking properties of soy and makes the soy healthy for us.  Our reality in the west is that the soy is industrially processed, without fermentation, by using chemicals.  That’s why the soy that we are sold isn’t healthy for us.  The soy that is sold in our stores, whose preparation process doesn’t include fermentation, contains compounds called “goitrogens ” that reduce the functioning of the thyroid.  These compounds interfere with the mineral iodine that is essential to the proper functioning of the thyroid gland.  I have seen many vegetarians that have started to have obesity problems probably because of their high consumption of soy in its different forms.  If you suffer from a slow metabolism, avoid soy.

Many studies have revealed the harm that soy can cause.  Researchers at the Medical College of Cornell University said that babies who have been fed soy milk formula were more prone to develop thyroid problems.  It was also discovered that those babies who are fed with soy had more than double the incidence of diabetes than those babies that were not fed soy.

There is another substance that definitely lowers the metabolism and doesn’t help people lose weight.  It is the artificial sweetener aspartame® that is sold in the supermarket under various commercial brands like         NutraSweet®, Equal®, Same® and other brand names.  This substance, aspartame®, lowers the metabolism and creates a desire for sweet foods.  This is something that I have closely observed after having worked with more than 20,000 people within the Natural Slim weight loss system.  If someone who wanted to lose weight ingested some food or drink sweetened with aspartame® they either didn’t lose weight or they lost weight too slowly.  As soon as they eliminated aspartame® from their diet they began to lose weight at a faster rate.

On one occasion I tried to convey this information on the Natural Slim website and we received a legal threat from the manufacturers of aspartame®.  We decided to remove our opinion from the internet. At that time, our only other alternative and one that we weren’t ready for, was to spend a huge fortune to defend ourselves from the attacks of the lawyers of the manufacturer of aspartame® who devoted themselves to threatening all of those people that try to tell the truth about aspartame®.  Well, the truth is the truth. Aspartame® will both lower your metabolism and spike your craving for sweets.

Anyway, if you are interested in protecting your metabolism you are going to have to read the labels so that you can eliminate aspartame® from your diet.  There are other artificial sweeteners that don’t seem to have the same depressing effect on the metabolism that aspartame® does.  They are other artificial sweeteners like sucralose® (Splenda®) and Acesulfame Potassium (Acesulfame K®) which in my experience allow you to lose weight.

Another substance that is an enemy of the metabolism is fluoride.  Fluoride is used in many states in the tap water that we use to cook and bathe.  Fluoride is also found in practically all brands of toothpaste.  What has been discovered is that fluoride decreases the functioning of the thyroid gland.  In fact, in the 1950’s, fluoride was used as a medication to lower the production of an over-active thyroid condition. In a clinical study it was demonstrated that a daily dose of only 2.5 to 4.5 milligrams was successful in reducing the production of hormones in the thyroid and it treated hyperthyroidism (excessive production of thyroid hormones).  In areas where water contains fluoride, the daily consumption can get up to 6.5 milligrams per day, which can negatively affect your thyroid.

If you are experiencing a slow metabolism you should avoid using toothpaste that contains fluoride. All health food stores offer non-fluoride toothpaste. Your water should be bottled or filtered in some type of filter that guarantees the removal of the fluoride.  You should also avoid the fluoride treatments that dentists use to whiten your teeth; you could end up having beautifully white teeth and a severe hypothyroid condition.

In our fight to recover our metabolism, it is vital that we avoid the substances that lower our metabolism.