Fat stores toxins, so what happens when you start losing it? page

[fyrespryte]

So, I've been wondering, I've read in multiple places that fat cells act as an insulator and protector against toxins. I would assume that this would include environmental toxins, chemical toxins that we ingest with our food, and I've heard it mentioned things like Omega 6's.

So, what happens in the reverse? When you begin losing weight, are these toxins then released back into the body for the body's other toxin removal systems (lymph etc.) to deal with?

[rphlslv]

I've read that the toxins do indeed get into circulation. But if you have a healthy primal body, then you should be able to deal with it. This is probably a reason why so many people (including me) are having a hard time dropping those damn last 5 pounds.

[Grumpycakes]

If you read anything about "toxins," don't take it too seriously unless specific toxins are named.

[Egoldstein]

Yes, the toxins get released. This is one of the reasons many people who lose weight rapidly get hives, itchy skin or small nodules under their skin. Usually these resolve quickly. Obviously, drinking adequate water is recommended and some people also recommend sweating (hot shower or brief sauna) since the skin is your largest excretory gland. There was an interesting writeup and analysis of this as part of the Biosphere2 project where the participants lost weight rapidly due to lack of sufficient calories. Despite eating an all natural diet, blood levels of certain toxins rose.

[fyrespryte]

Egoldstein could you provide me with links to the write ups that you mentioned? I've actually been sick more in the last few weeks since I've gone primal than I have been before I did and it all seems to be revolving around my lymph system. Sore throat and swollen lymph glands. I think I might be stressing my lymph system out and need to figure out a way to support it.

[Egoldstein]

fyrespryte, most of the references I've seen are from the Calorie Restriction community talking of effects of CR or fasting, such as this: http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcls-...prtcl-160.html Take all of it with some grains of salt. Also, if you google "low carb" and any of the symptoms such as "hives" etc... it will take you to discussion forums about what other people experience that they term low carb flu.

A sore throat and swollen lymph glands sounds more to me to be the onset of a cold or something. There is a bout of pertussis going around here in California. Have you been around sick people?

[Grol]

Egoldstein could you provide me with links to the write ups that you mentioned? I've actually been sick more in the last few weeks since I've gone primal than I have been before I did and it all seems to be revolving around my lymph system. Sore throat and swollen lymph glands. I think I might be stressing my lymph system out and need to figure out a way to support it.

A high percentage of people experience "carb flu" after cutting carbs and going primal. It's common with all low carb diet plans.

[groquette]

I've had some pretty intense hives whenever I'm in ketosis. I'm suspecting that I'm not actually allergic to ketones. It was at it's absolute worst the first 2 months of this, but I still have hives. The doctor was less than helpful (all he really was interested in doing was giving me a steroid shot. Not even remotely interested in figuring out what the cause was).

Sometimes I sweat, sometimes I soak, occasionally I smell like something toxic no matter how well I scrub and clean. I'm assuming there's a bunch of amorphous, unnamed gunk that will just need to get out, because I have no intention of staying overweight just to avoid letting toxins (again unnamed and unspecified) into my blood stream.

I wouldn't put my hives in the category of low carb flu, as I've had them for the past 10 months.

[fyrespryte]

@egoldstein - it was a cold...or something. I've been sick for the last four days. I can't think of anyone that I've been around who has been sick, but then I know that people can pass germs without actually being sick. It just seems strange because for all my health problems, before I went primal I managed to avoid getting actual colds relatively well and since the two "colds" that I've had recently have both been centered around me having a sore throat and swollen lymph glands (which is virtually unheard of for me since I had my tonsils out when I was younger) it just seems weird. I recently quit smoking as well and it seems like getting sick recently has caused a lot of cravings and it just got me to wondering if my body might be releasing some smoking grossness too. *shrug* it's all just curiosity on my part, nothing concrete to back it up.

I've been a natural health and fasting advocate for years...even did my own 30 day juice fast a year or so ago but over the last six months or so I've become more and more dedicated to finding the science to back stuff up.

@grol - I've been eating this way for about two months now so I think perhaps it's not low carb flu...and what I've experienced this week was way more severe than most people report. Like, full on illness for three to four days complete with low grade fever. Definitely an infection of some sort. I either did pick up a bug somewhere or the lymph nodes in my throat/neck area just became overwhelmed with...something.

[Grol]

Fyrespryte -- sounds like we've followed similar paths. I would like to see some good research on this release of fat cell based toxins during weight loss. My understanding was not to worry about it because cholesterol and some other good guy would carry the toxins out through urine. What wasn't handled that way is deposited in bile and excreted in feces or through skin perspiration. My question has always been, why was it stored to begin with if the body had these facilities for removal? Anyway. Get well soon.