Lara Adler - Obesogens and Weight Loss Resistance

Lara Adler
Environmental Toxins Expert & Educator

Lara Adler is an Environmental Toxins Expert & Educator and a Certified Holistic Health Coach who teaches health professionals about the links between environmental chemicals and chronic health issues- from weight gain and diabetes, to thyroid disease and infertility – so they can better support their clients and patients. She takes a practical, real-world approach to deal with toxins that is informative, accessible, and actionable. Lara also guides her students on how to seamlessly integrate this topic into their practices and to leverage their education to distinguish their work in their fields.

She’s taught thousands of allied health practitioners like health coaches, nutritionists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and women’s health experts, from more than 20 countries around the world in her online courses.

Lara is a member of the Naturopathic Association of Environmental Medicine, the American Holistic Health Association and founding member of the Health and Wellness Business Association.

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Pompa:
Well Lara, you are Cell TV guest. Welcome here on this webinar. Thank you for being here.

Lara Adler:
Thank you for having me here. I am thrilled to talk to you again.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Well, you know, honestly we had such a great conversation that I wanted you to come to the seminar, especially regarding this topic around toxins that are driving and our seminar coming up here is really a focus on cancer. And we have some of the top experts around the world coming, but it’s all for nothing if there’s hidden sources of toxins driving this. And you know, when we look at studies on obesity, hormone related issues, these are some of the topics that you’re going to be discussing at the seminar.

Lara Adler:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, so I’m like, I start off Saturday, I’m talking about these hidden causes, right, that people need to know about and you’re going right after me.

Lara Adler:
Yeah, which I’m really excited about because I think it’s a good follow up and I think that it’s this concept of these things being hidden, right? They’re right under our noses, very literally speaking. And if we’re not addressing that, then a lot of these other efforts that we put forth to optimize our health, to detoxify, they’re really for naught if we’re not addressing these hidden exposures that we’re getting, either internally, externally, both. I just think it’s such a fundamental piece of the health puzzle that isn’t really being addressed enough. So, I’m excited to talk about it, I’m excited to follow you talking about it, I think it’s going to be good.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, it’s gonna be a great one, too, and we’re gonna get into major details there obviously. Let’s open the conversation up because when we look at why people can’t lose weight, when we look at hormone disregulation, when we look at things that these chemicals that alter the hormones, they lead to cancer, they lead to all these other problems, right? So, let’s talk about that. First of all, how did you get involved in this area of study?

Lara Adler:
Kind of on accident, slash, asterisk, fine print, not really on accident. I was always interested in health is my early teens, it’s kind of a dorky thing for a teenager to be interested in, nutrition.

Dr. Pompa:
No, I have dorky teenagers.

Lara Adler:
Oh okay, cool, so that was me in high school, like reading all about animal farming and animal husbandry and agriculture. But the toxins piece wasn’t really on my radar until many, many years later, I had a whole other career but was still nerding out on this nutrition, health realm, and decided to seek out work in this space and discovered holistic health coaching and was like, “Ohh, this is it, this is great.” Went through that program and started seeing clients, health coaching clients, primarily for weight loss because that’s what most people are out there dealing with, whether it’s a low level or a high level concern, everybody wanted to lose a little bit of weight.

And some clients had great success, and then a handful of clients, literally nothing happened. Their weight didn’t budge and we did all the things, and that really kind of stirred my investigative noodle brain to go down the rabbit hole and I said, “What is it that I’m missing?” And that’s really what turned me into this whole world of environmental health was this link between exposures to every day chemicals that we’re getting through consumer products, just through our built environment that in that particular instance, we’re connected to these issues of resistant weight loss, of weight gain, of these metabolic disorders, metabolic chaos happening there. And that really kind of blew my hair back because here I was having been immersed in the health and wellness conversation for 15, 20 years at that point, and this was kind of the first time that I was hearing about environmental exposures.

So that struck me as being fundamentally not okay that all of these people in the health and wellness space are talking about nutrition and exercise and fitness and mindful eating and all of these great things, but they were again avoiding the thing that was right under their nose, and it was just mind boggling to me. So it was really frustration at the landscape of the conversation that drove me into researching this stuff and then deciding to teach about it, so I’ve been doing that for eight years.

Dr. Pompa:
I just I find so few people talking about it, and yet it’s like it’s the-

Lara Adler:
It’s the elephant in the room.

Dr. Pompa:
It is, it is the elephant in the room.

Lara Adler:
Everyone’s exposed, everyone.

Dr. Pompa:
And you look through the research and I’m realizing that this is the real reason why people can’t reverse their dieting.

Lara Adler:
Yup.

Dr. Pompa:
This is the real reason why people are gaining weight and can’t lose it despite their diet, creating weight loss resistance. So obesogens has become a term.

Lara Adler:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
This is a good seminar because this is the first time we actually have the public invited for the whole day and you’re speaking to that group that will have a whole day on Saturday with public invited, so click here public if you’re watching this, you need to hear more about obesogens and maybe that’s why you can’t lose weight. And these same chemicals do drive other conditions and problems.

Lara Adler:
Oh, absolutely.

Dr. Pompa:
What is the word obesogens? People are like, “What do you mean? There’s a chemical called an obesogen?” Clarify that.

Lara Adler:
Yeah, so it was a term that was sort of officially coined in 2006, so not really that long ago. And it’s really just a chemical that interferes with metabolism in a way that leads to weight gain or resistant weight loss. That’s pretty much what it is, and I believe that right now, there’s over 100 chemicals that technically have been designated as obesogens. But this is a new field of research in the sciences and so my hunch is that as more research unfolds, that number is really going to skyrocket because any chemical that is an endocrine disrupting chemical is very likely to also be an obesogen, and these chemicals we’re exposed to every single day, all day, and the most powerful way to really address these is through avoidance behaviors, and that’s really my, and I’m excited to be sharing some of those things at the event, because I want people to have practical, everyday things that they can implement in their lives that will start dramatically dialing down their exposures, because that’s the most powerful intervention is reducing exposures as much as possible.

Dr. Pompa:
You’re right. I’m always the first to say it, you practice and use true side of the detox as well as I, but they can be doing that. But if they’re still pouring these obesogens in, you could be emptying the bucket and filling it all at the same time.

Lara Adler:
Right. Well, what’s amazing is, I mean it’s amazing that our bodies are still functioning at the level that they are considering everything that we’re throwing at it, that boggles my mind. It’s a brilliant machine here, but when the research shows us that one, some of these obesogenic chemicals technically can leave the body within a couple of hours, meaning the half life in the body is really short, six to 12 hours, yet the CDC says that these same chemicals are showing up in 93 to 99% of people, it means that we’re filling the bucket faster than our bodies can empty it. That’s exactly what that means, and so this is why that those avoidance behaviors that I’m going to be talking about at the event are so important.

And when we couple that with something like TCD, like with something that is an actual deep detoxification protocol and optimize your nutrition and reduce our stress and get in the sauna and get really good sleep, that’s where we hit the home run in reducing symptoms of illness.

Dr. Pompa:
And you’re gonna be talking about some those strategies.

Lara Adler:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
Which I’m really excited for, I think it’s the perfect one-two punch that you and I are doing here, with the hidden sources. I think when we look at these chemicals, they’re affecting us in more ways than we think. What about some of the epigenetic components to it? So okay, the half life on some of these chemicals, some longer than others, but even when the ones that are there short, is their epigenetic components to it?

Lara Adler:
Yes, oh yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
Where turn one sort of gene against-

Lara Adler:
Absolutely, absolutely. I think if we’re talking about either both in cancer or both in the conversation around weight gain, obesity, people say, “Oh well you know, I had parents who are heavy. My grandparents were heavy. Being heavy, overweight, just runs in my family.” It’s a yes and situation. Like yes, maybe you’ve inherited that epigenetic change from previous exposures that have happened in previous generations, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s your outcome, right?

Dr. Pompa:
Right.

Lara Adler:
You can change our destiny and our genes are not our destiny, but when it comes to environmental toxins, they have a tremendous epigenetic influence. We can turn on and turn off gene expression just through the exposure to a lot of these chemicals. That’s very true for cancer as well, so same thing. Cancer runs in the family, maybe you’ve inherited an on gene expression let’s say, from your parents. That doesn’t necessarily mean that that outcome is carved in stone for the individual because that epigenome is so malleable, so many things that we can do to influence it and how it changes the expression of our genes. So, the field of epigenetics to me is so fascinating.

It’s also incredibly hopeful, because it means that there’s a lot that we can do.

Dr. Pompa:
I know that you’ll be talking about women’s makeup and personal-

Lara Adler:
Oh yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
[crosstalk 00:10:07] is a big hidden source, and I’m sure you’re gonna give some women tips on that at the seminar. I don’t know if this is one of your hidden sources, and I just read an article about what’s happening. And they were testing fish in the northwest.

Lara Adler:
Yup.

Dr. Pompa:
Loaded with these obesogens, number one.

Lara Adler:
Yup.

Dr. Pompa:
Hormones.

Lara Adler:
Hormones, synthetic estrogens. They’re also loaded with narcotics and it’s a problem.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I don’t even know if that’s one of your hidden sources, but it obviously is an issue. Are we finding this more and more?

Lara Adler:
Yeah, I think that we are, and I think that it’s the more places that we look, the more places that we’re finding these chemicals. And I think the conversation as much as possible is really centered around doing the best that we can because we can’t avoid all exposures everywhere.

Dr. Pompa:
And by the way, that’s why you need this combination of keeping your bucket low and get a real cellular detox.

Lara Adler:
Yeah, my whole approach in this conversation has been to change the things we can control so we worry less about the things that we can’t, because stress is also toxic. Stress is contributing factor in 80% of chronic disease, so it’s all about a balance. So yeah, unfortunately our seafood is more contaminated. We’re all drinking contaminated water that’s loaded with whether it’s arsenic or lead or pesticides or herbicides or these genx pfas chemicals. A lot of these are endocrine disrupting and a lot of them are also obesogens. They’re thyroid disruptors, the thyroid regulates metabolism, among a million other things.

So this stuff is pervasive, which is why I’m so passionate about getting people on board with making changes. And I really, again, like I said earlier, coupling that avoidance behavior with really proactive health interventions is the way to go. I think it’s the only way to go.

Dr. Pompa:
I’m sure you see this because I sure do. Just when people change their lifestyle and start getting rid of these things, they don’t even change their diet because they’ve already typically done that.

Lara Adler:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
And they’re just losing weight. Tell our viewer-

Lara Adler:
Yeah, so for a lot of people, we think, “Oh, what does my shampoo have to do with the fact that I’ve got ten pounds on or whatever?” But it’s not just the shampoo. It’s all those things, and it’s a barrier to healing. It’s what it’s a barrier to healing, and once we remove that barrier to healing, we allow our body the opportunity to function more normally. And so I absolutely have heard from a lot of people that it was the avoiding, addressing these environmental exposures that really was the needle mover for them in their health, whether it was dropping the weight that they couldn’t lose before or even things like completely transforming their thyroid health. I had a woman who wrote to me and said, “My hair has been falling out for months, and it’s really scary.”

And she listened to some podcast that I was on talking about chemicals in water. She bought a water filter for her shower and her hair stopped falling back and has had like growing back for the first time in months. So, just sometimes it is just that small, simple change that can be a huge needle mover and I think the job of the practitioner and people within their own family is to start making connections between these seemingly unrelated items in the home like dish soap or scented candles or laundry detergent and our health problems. ‘

In America, we spend 93% of our lives inside a built environment, that’s inside our home, our office or our car. So to think that the built environment is not a factor in our health is really naïve.

Dr. Pompa:
You can’t help a thyroid condition without dealing with toxins because the thyroid is so sensitive.

Lara Adler:
Yup.

Dr. Pompa:
It’s the canary in the coal mine. It’s so sensitive to toxins and the toxins you’re going to be educating people on are these toxins that disrupt the hormones, that disrupt the thyroid. I’m telling you, it is very few people talking about it. That’s why you’re going to be there.

Lara Adler:
Well I’m excited to share it with everybody because I want this movement. We’ve seen the landscape of this conversation shift over the last 10 years in a really positive direction, but there still are not enough health professionals that are actively engaging in conversation about this. That’s what I’m here to help change. I know that’s what you’re here also to help change. And the more consumers that are out there that start making changes, it kind of helps level the playing field for everyone going forward. And it’s gonna take a while, but I think that we can get some momentum in this movement and I’m really thrilled that you’re doing this event and opening it a stage for this conversation because we need more of that happening in this space.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I think the public being there for the first time, too, it’ll open the doctors’ eyes up on that people really want this. You know, we’re excited teaming up with you because you give so many people so many alternatives.

Lara Adler:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
It’s like okay this is bad, but alternatives. Doctors aren’t all the time aren’t great at doing that. So it’s like, “This is bad, stay away from it.”

“Okay, but I still want to look nice.”

Lara Adler:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
So what do I do? So they want alternatives and you’re going to supply that, so I can’t wait to hear your talk and I know it’s going to be so hands on for people and educational. I think the doctors that are there. They better be in the room.

Lara, thank you.

Lara Adler:
Thank you.

Dr. Pompa:
And I can’t wait to see you at the seminar. And folks watching, you can be at the seminar, join up, click right here on the page and this is going to be a seminar you absolutely don’t want to miss. Thanks, Lara.

Lara Adler:
Thank you.