How to Avoid this Very Common Brain Toxin

18 Mar How to Avoid this Very Common Brain Toxin

SUMMARY

• We are being exposed to so many more toxins than ever before in the history of humanity.

• Our overall toxic load is an equation: the total amount of exposure minus our body’s natural ability to detoxify and get rid of those toxins.

• Each of us has a different ability to get rid of toxins based on genetic variations.

• Minimizing exposure to toxins is important especially a very common one called BPA.

• You can minimize BPA exposure by:

  • Using a stainless steel cup for coffee instead of paper.

  • Take a picture and throw out sales receipts right away.

  • Use stainless steel or glass containers for take-out food instead of their normal packaging.

To Your Total Health,

Dr. Titus Chiu

#1 Bestselling Author

Concussion Expert

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[The following is the full transcript of this video blog. Please note that this video, like all of Dr. Chiu’s blog videos, features Dr. Chiu speaking extemporaneously–he is unscripted and unedited for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!]

Hey guys and welcome back to the Modern Brain.

My name is Dr. Titus Chiu and I am a number one best-selling author and Functional Neurologist whose mission is to teach you how to take control of your brain health so you can live an extraordinary life.

The modern world that we live in today is so toxic – we’re being exposed to so many more toxins than ever before in the history of humanity.

So, what’s the modern brain to do?

My motto is to take control of what you can and don’t stress about the rest.

The good news is that it’s not just the amount of toxins that we are exposed to that has or determines the damaging effects that toxins have on our brain and our bodies. It’s actually an equation where it’s the amount of toxins that we are exposed to minus our body’s natural ability to detoxify and get rid of those toxins.

So that’s the good news, you can think about it like this: imagine your brain and your body’s ability to get rid of toxins is kind of like a big bucket. When you are exposed to toxins from maybe a poor water source, then you pour some flammable liquid inside that bucket.

Or if you breathe polluted air, you pour some more flammable, dirty liquid into that bucket.

Now, the good news is that all of our buckets that we are given actually have holes on the bottom of them. The holes determine how much toxins we were exposed to and get rid of. The holes can be varying sizes as well as being gummed up by varying degrees.

What determines the size of the holes of your toxin bucket really is determined by what we call single nucleotide polymorphisms, which is a really fancy term for what we call genetic variations.

Some of us out there have genetic variations where the holes in the bottom of our toxin buckets are really small and so for those of you out there who have that most likely you might have experienced chemical sensitivities.

When you’re at a department store and you walk by the perfumes you might get a headache or if you’re at the gas station and the windows cracked and someone’s pumping the gas or you’re pumping the gas and you develop a headache from that or sensitivities from car exhaust.

It’s quite possible that you have a single nucleotide polymorphism making your holes in your toxin bucket smaller. When you’re exposed to the same amount of toxins as maybe your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or your son or daughter, they might not feel anything, but you end up feeling really icky and really sick. That’s most likely because of that single nucleotide polymorphism which makes the holes on your bucket just a bit smaller. So that’s what determines the size of the holes.

Now, what determines how gummed up the holes are is everything that you do in your daily life – the amount of toxins that you’re exposed to. The good news is, it’s not just the amount of toxins that can determine how much damage is done to your body or your brain. It’s also the amount of toxins that your body’s able to get rid of.

Regardless of your genetic variations, there’s always things that you can do to remove the gunk from the bottom of your bucket.

When you’re exposed to toxins: when you breathe in air pollution, or when you drink water that isn’t the pure source, you won’t get as sick as if you didn’t do anything to remove the gunk from your bucket.

So far, I talked about the main determinants of how much toxins have a damaging effect on our brains and our bodies.

To review, number one, it’s the amount that we’re exposed to. Number two, it’s the amount that we actually get rid of. And finally, number three, something that really is a big factor in how toxins impact our bodies, if they do in a really negative way or not. How much of a negative way is determined by your immune system.

The whole function of your immune system is to defend your body from any foreign invaders, as well as to act as a surveillance system to make sure that anything that shouldn’t be there isn’t there.

Now, if your body or your brains breathe in air pollution and then those toxic chemicals get inside of your bloodstream, your immune system is going to recognize that, and it’s going to launch a response like a T cell response leading to inflammation and cytokines. It might also launch a B cell response creating antibodies, which could then lead to things such as autoimmunity.

So now regardless of if it’s a T cell, or a B cell response, my point is that can lead to inflammation damaging your brain as well as your body.

So now again, what is a modern brain to do?

The good news is based on our understanding of how toxins impact our brains, there are three key strategies that we can take to minimize the damage of living in a toxic world.

The first is to avoid or minimize exposure as we talked about before. The second is actually enhanced detoxification to help remove the gunk from the bottom of your bucket. And finally, the third way is to actually balance and calm your immune system so it’s not as over reactive, causing so much inflammation when it’s exposed to toxins.

We are going to talk about and focus on today is strategy number one, how to minimize and avoid exposure to the toxins that we do have control over. And so today, I’m going to talk to you about how to avoid one of the most common toxins and brain toxins that we are exposed to every day, one that we have the control to avoid, or we have a lot of say in how much we expose ourselves to.

I’m going to reveal to you what this toxin is and I mean also to reveal to you the most common sources of it and different strategies, really simple things that you can do that in the long run that will minimize and lower the amount of flow of yucky liquids that’s poured into your toxic bucket.

Before we dive into those strategies, I’m going to reveal to you this is the most common brain toxin you’ve probably heard of before: Bisphenol A.

Bisphenol A, or BPA for short, is a very common toxin that is found in a lot of different sources: plastic foods, food and drink packaging, receipts, as well as coating on food cans, and things that you store your food on. The key is, then, based on this information, you want to do everything you can to minimize your exposure to BPA.

The good news is a lot of consumer advocates and agencies are hip to this now. And so, there’s a lot of different types of BPA free products and goods out there that you can purchase.

But I’m going to share with you some ones that you might not be familiar about.

And when I actually learned about, I really took action on and we really did a good job and minimizing that. I’m going to share with you what those are right now.

The first one, as I said before, one common source of BPA is actually plastic food or drink packaging. I love coffee. And I have to admit, you know, coffee can actually be really good for you, as long as you get an organic source, and you don’t have any sensitivities to caffeine, and you’re able to metabolize it well.

So, for me, I love coffee. But I discovered that a very common source of BPA is actually the inner lining of a lot of to go coffee cups, like those paper cups.

Next time you’re out at a store, before you fill up your coffee, just feel the inside of that paper cup. And many times, it’s going to be kind of like the slick material which is most likely BPA. When you pour that hot coffee into that paper cup, the heat then creates a chemical transfer, what increases leaching of BPA into your delicious coffee making that healthy drink turn into a toxic source of brain block.

So that is one very common source of BPA.

I just have my own stainless-steel coffee mug that I bring. Not only is it good for my health as it limits the exposure to BPA in the long run, it’s also really good for the environment, because then I don’t have to waste the paper cups. So that’s one thing, that simple thing that you can do to lower your exposure to BPA.

The second thing you can do, as I mentioned before, a very common source of BPA is thermal receipts. And so thermal receipts, a lot of receipts, then, you know, outside of just wearing these gloves, what you can do is a lot of the receipts that are printed these days, they’re not made out of paper, if you actually feel it has the slick, glossy material. Well, guess what, most likely, again, that is BPA.

So, what I do about that is, rather than wearing these gloves, I might limit my exposure to touching it, and I don’t save them, I actually have an app on my phone if you guys need to track a lot of your expenses. And that’s just a good habit to have, regardless if you run a business or not.

So rather than carrying around all these BPA laden toxic receipts, I have an app in my iPhone that I just take a picture of it and then I get rid of the receipt or right away. So that’s one thing that you can do to minimize the exposure.

Another option for wherever store you’re at is, rather than get the receipt, you ask them to shoot you an email of the receipt. This could limit your exposure to BPA.

And finally, the third thing, like I mentioned before, a lot of food containers like to go containers are made of plastic, but they also have BPA and other toxic chemicals. And especially if it’s like something hot like a soup, there can be a lot of leaching of BPA and other toxic chemicals into the soup, which then you drink.

Or if it’s another type of hot food, it can leach into the food you eat and that increases the amount of gunk in the yucky, yucky liquids inside your toxic bucket.

One thing that I do is that we actually bring our own many times, if we know we’re going to be taking out food, we bring our own containers.

And so, this container is great, because it’s a stainless-steel container. And you can see here that the top is also stainless steel, because I see a lot of stainless-steel containers out there where you know, it’s BPA free. But then the actual lid itself, which comes in contact with the food, or with the super, hot liquids could then leach excess BPA into your food.

And then when you eat that it leaches back into your body. So that’s one simple thing that you could do. And again, not only is it good for your body, but it’s actually good for the environment because you don’t use all this excess take out plastics or containers, papers, things of that nature.

There are simple Tupperware types of containers out there which are not as good because you can see the top isn’t glass or not made out of BPA free materials. But it’s better than nothing, right? The majority of the food contacts this part rather than this part right here. Not only could you do great for your brain and your body by avoiding toxins, you also do a great service to Mother Earth and limiting the excess waste that we produce every single year.

So, there you have it, those are three easy ways to avoid this very common brain toxin known as BPA.

You guys might be watching out there, like, wow, that seems so excessive. It’s like a small mountain, you’re just touching a receipt, or you’re just drinking a little bit of this coffee with your BPA cup. But think about it. These are the things why I chose these strategies – it’s because these are the things that I do almost every single day. Well, I don’t necessarily eat out every single day but when I do, it’s like that builds up over time and adds up. And the fact that we live in such a toxic world.

Like I said before, my motto is control what you have the ability to, and then don’t stress about the rest. The good news is, there’s a lot of different things that you can do to minimize your exposure to toxins.

In a future video, I’m going to be talking about different ways where you can enhance detoxification of poisons from your body. When you add that approach, as well as minimizing exposure and doing things to help balance your immune system, you are doing such a great job of being able to minimize the damage of living in a modern world that’s chock full of toxins.

If you found value from this video, I really encourage you to share it and leave a comment on it and share with someone that you love a friend or family member because the more that you are able to share this information with others, just like when I share this information with you, the more you can do to take control of your own brain health so you can live an extraordinary life

If you found value from this, feel free to explore my website, DrTitusChiu.com as well as follow me on Facebook and Instagram

I hope you enjoyed this video today and how to avoid this very common brain toxin, BPA and we’ll see you next time.