Reduce Toxic Load:
So you may be wondering, what is toxic load? And what does that have to do with ADHD? Well, quite a bit, actually. Toxic load refers to the accumulation of harmful substances within our bodies, which come from various sources like the air we breathe, what we ingest, what we put on our skin, natural substances our body creates that can get out of whack, and environmental microorganisms like mold & parasites.
Over the last 100 years, the average American’s toxic load has increased exponentially due to a wide variety of societal changes that affect our food, air, water and products we use daily. This widespread increase in toxic load has caused mitochondrial dysfunction in that majority of Americans, resulting in a severe uptick in chronic disease, as well as many other metabolic issues.
In her book, Good Energy, Dr. Casey Means states, “Mitochondrial dysfunction can lead to decreased energy production in the central nervous system, resulting in altered neurotransmitter signaling, including the neurotransmitters that modulate mood, such as serotonin and norepinephrine.”
ADHD brains already have low levels of norepinephrine which causes low levels of dopamine. The impairment of those neurotransmitters affect the brain in four functional regions:
Pre-frontal Cortex: which controls attention, executive function and organization.
Limbic system: regulates our emotions and houses our fight or flight responses.
Basal Ganglia: responsible for motor control as well as executive functions, behavior and emotions. A deficiency in this area can result in impulsivity or inattention.
Reticular Activator System (RAS): This is the relay system among the many pathways that enter and leave the brain. Deficiencies here can cause hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention.
Since ADHD is at its root, a neurotransmitter issue and mitochondrial dysfunction (caused by toxic load) negatively affects those same neurotransmitters, lowering your toxic load is a vital part of a holistic approach to thriving with ADHD.
TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) aka The Easy Button:
Confession time. I always wanted to be the kind of mom who planned out meals for the month and made sure said meals were nutritionally sound while also being delicious and chemical free. In reality, I was pretty damn proud of the fact that I could make actual meals at least 4 our of 7 nights. And if those meals had veggies involved I was even more proud.
I also wanted to be the mom who read labels and made sure all the products in our home were safe and non-toxic. At some point, I switched from a harsh chemical cleaner to Mrs Meyer’s Clean Day all purpose cleaner and their hand soap from Target. That was the extent of my toxic revolution. 🎉
In reality, being a crunchy mom just wasn’t in the cards for me. I can understand why that is now. Doing all of that requires a MASSIVE amount of executive function. Something most of us with ADHD struggle with on the daily and I just never felt equipped enough to do the research and follow through.
When I had kids at home, I was barely keeping my head above water running a household of six, with a husband who worked very long hours away from home and four kids who had the gall to require three meals a day and taxi services at all times. If I had learned then what I now know about toxic load, I probably would have been depressed and overwhelmed at my inability to figure out how to reduce our family’s toxic load in any significant way.
But guess what? I found an easy button! Just last year, I found a U.S. manufacturer that has been helping families reduce their toxic load for 38 years. They make over 400 household, personal care, and nutritional products that are American-made, safer, cleaner, greener, and fresher…delivered to my door in about 3 days, reasonably priced, highly effective, and most importantly, they don’t use any ingredients that contain the following toxic chemicals: chlorine bleach, phthalates, quaternary disinfectants, ammonia, triclosan, phosphates, formaldehyde, parabens, or abrasives.
What does this mean? It means I don’t have to read labels. I’ve already vetted this company and I know I can trust their science-backed, natural ingredients. It’s my easy button. They do not advertise because they’ve always chosen to grow by word of mouth. Happy customers refer new customers. And I am a beyond-happy customer. I’d be thrilled to tell you about this amazing company if you’d like an easy button for reducing your family’s toxic load. You can click the easy button anywhere you see it on my website to set up a 15 minute call with me so I can share with you how you, too, can use this easy button. (I know you’ll be just as impressed as I was.)
Now, for those of you who want more details, I hope this next section will help you gain a clearer understanding of some basic steps you can take to alleviate toxic load for your family, if you’re not taking the easy button option. (Or if you are, but you just want more info!)
All the info:
First lets talk about an excellent resource—mentioned above—that I recently read. It will help you understand how we got to this place in America where,“Six out of ten adults are living with a chronic illness. About 50 percent of Americans will deal with mental illness sometime in life. Seventy-four percent of adults are overweight or have obesity. Rates of cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, upper respiratory infections, and autoimmune conditions are all going up at the exact time we are spending more and more to treat them. In the face of these trends, American life expectancy has been declining for the most sustained period since 1860.” ~Good Energy, Casey Means MD
This is a paradigm shifting book. I highly recommend reading or listening to it as it contains so much information that can help ADHDers to thrive. I’m going to post some lengthly excerpts here but do yourself a favor and put this at the top of your TBR pile.
Do I think ADHD is always caused by the toxins we are bombarded with daily in our air, water and food supply? No, I don’t. Because it’s been around longer than toxic overload has. But do I think the negative fallout from all of these chemicals can make our symptoms worse? Abso-freaking-lutely. Do I think toxic load has caused an increase in ADHD, Autism, and many other brain-related disorders. Yes, I do. Here is what Dr. Means says about ADHD and other developmental conditions that are increasing in children:
“Cases of developmental conditions are also rising rapidly in youth, with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rates climbing yearly. A mother with obesity and diabetes has quadruple the risk of having a child with autism, and she has double the risk of having a child with ADHD. As our most energy-hungry organ, our brains are exquisitely sensitive to Bad Energy. A developing brain is particularly susceptible. In a rational health care environment, a key public health priority would be to support maternal and early childhood metabolic health as a high-leverage approach to support a thriving population.
Epidemic levels of obesity, liver dysfunction, and brain dysfunction demonstrate a cellular energy epidemic. And our children’s small, not fully developed bodies are being set up to fail at an early age because our culture and daily lives have been co-opted by processed foods and the other factors that damage mitochondria and cellular energy production. The following are just a sampling of health conditions that are increasing in children and are known to be related to poor cellular energy production, mitochondrial dysfunction, or oxidative stress: ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, type 2 diabetes, NAFLD, cardiomyopathy, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, IBD, asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergies, acne, psoriasis, eczema, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS, a condition of painful inflammatory lumps under the skin).”
Means, Casey; Means, Calley. Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health (pp. 45-46). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Top Five Tips to Reduce Toxic Load:
First, relax. You do not have to do all of this overnight. I don’t think it’s possible to eliminate all toxins from our lives and that’s okay. Our bodies are amazing and they have intricate processes that eliminate toxins. We just need to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals in our lives to make it easier for our bodies to do what they are designed to do. So don’t be overwhelmed. Pick one area and start there.
Transition (you can do this over time as you run out of things) all cleaning products, personal care & cosmetics to natural equivalents. Synthetic versions of these products contain bleach, phthalates, parabens, triclosan, and heavy metals.
Install a water filter. This will reduce your exposure to fluoride and chlorine, among other contaminants found in the public water supply, which will ease the burden on your thyroid, which governs your metabolism.
Eliminate soft plastics wherever you can. Store and heat your food in glass or stainless steel containers, as plastic containers transfer chemicals into your food and drink, especially when heated.
Use natural air fresheners, perfumes, and candles. Synthetic scents contain phthalates so stick to products that are scented with natural ingredients like essential oils.
Consume organic meats and produce when possible. This will reduce your intake of “persistent organic pollutants” (POPs) aka dioxins which are endocrine disrupting chemicals that resist degradation, bio-accumulate in water supplies, soils, and crops and are then consumed by livestock. Look for pasture raised beef. And check out the Dirty Dozen to know which produce to prioritize buying organic.
What to Avoid and Why:
I was going to try to distill all of this information down from a few sources, but in the end, the easiest and most accurate way for me to explain the classes of chemicals that are wreaking havoc on our minds and bodies is to excerpt the following passages from Good Energy, pgs 227-233. (note: any emphasis is mine):
SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS AND ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS
Synthetic chemicals and environmental toxins envelop us and are a key, grossly underrecognized driver of Bad Energy. Since World War II, over eighty thousand synthetic chemicals have entered our environment and approximately fifteen hundred new chemicals are released each year, many of which have never been tested for safety in adults, children, or fetuses. Artificial chemicals and toxins are now found in dangerous levels in our air, food, water, homes, and soil and present a constant assault on our cells that directly impair the microbiome, gene expression, hormone receptors, the folding of our genome (epigenetics), intracellular signaling pathways, neurotransmitter signaling, fetal development, enzyme activity, hormonal control of eating behavior, thyroid function, resting metabolic rate, liver function, and more. These chemicals are drivers of all three hallmarks of Bad Energy: oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction—and the link is now so well defined that many of these chemicals are being classified as obesogens, meaning that they are known to impair metabolism in such a way that they causatively contribute to obesity and insulin resistance. Dr. Robert Lustig, professor emeritus of neuroendocrinology at UCSF, believes that at least 15 percent of the obesity epidemic is directly tied to environmental chemicals.
Examples of obesogens include household disinfectants and cleaners, fragrances and perfumes, air “fresheners,” makeup, lotions, shampoos, deodorants, body wash, household paint, the ink on receipts, plastics, vinyl flooring, food preservatives and colorings, many pharmaceutical drugs, clothing, furniture, children’s toys, electronics, flame retardants, industrial solvents, car exhaust, and the pesticides that cover our food. The emerging understanding of the obesity-promoting qualities of industrial chemicals tells us that eating an ultra-processed food like Cheerios means that you may be getting a quadruple dose of Bad Energy potential: one in the ultra-refined food itself, one in the additives and preservatives, one in the pesticides, and one in the plastic packaging. Wash it down with conventional milk and a glass of unfiltered water and you compound the issue.
Many of these synthetic chemicals support industry interests but not cellular health. Adding chemicals to products increases shelf life, allows for the cheapest packaging, or gives a product a scent without using natural essential oils—but they also pose significant harm to humans. While the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) designation given by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is intended to allow for the commercial use of substances deemed safe for use in food and other consumer products, this oversight is grossly inadequate. Companies are able to self-determine GRAS status via their own review of scientific literature, and the program is entirely voluntary, meaning that a company does not need to get the FDA’s approval if the company determines that the chemical in question is GRAS—talk about conflict of interest! Many chemicals that have been given GRAS status at one time are now clearly linked to serious health issues such as cancer, neurologic problems, metabolic disruption, or infertility, including artificial sweeteners, propylparaben (an antimicrobial preservative found in lotions, shampoos, and food), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA, a food preservative), and brominated vegetable oil (a food additive). Moreover, GRAS is predicated on the idea that chemicals exist in isolation and ignores the synergistic adverse effect of layering hundreds of these chemicals on a human body simultaneously, every day, which is the overt reality of our world. GRAS is not protecting you, and you should focus on consuming and using products that are as natural as possible in all domains of life.
The Endocrine Society has come out strongly for increased precautions around synthetic chemicals, stating “strong mechanistic, experimental, animal, and epidemiological evidence” for the impact of hormone-disrupting environmental chemicals on “obesity, diabetes mellitus, reproduction, thyroid, cancers, and neuroendocrine and neurodevelopmental functions.” They add that while “ten years ago, there simply was not the body of evidence that there is today about the . . . disease consequences of endocrine disrupting chemicals,” the state of evidence now “removes any doubt.” The following list describes nine classes of chemicals in the environment that are known to hurt human health directly through metabolic mechanism:
BPA is commonly found in plastic products like water bottles, food containers like cans, and believe it or not—thermal receipts. BPA is a known hormone disruptor that accumulates and sticks around in fatty tissue.
It increases the risk of obesity, insulin resistance, T2 diabetes, male and female infertility, and chronic inflammation. Studies have suggested that BPA reduces antioxidant capacity, increases oxidative stress and impairs mitochondrial dynamics.
Triclosan is commonly used as an antimicrobial agent in personal care products, such as toothpaste and hand sanitizer. It is absorbed into the body through skin and mouth tissues.
Triclosan has been linked to hormone disruption, immune system impairment, thyroid problems, and antibiotic resistance, mostly in animal studies. It causes “universal disruption of mitochondria” which negatively impacts ATP production and increases oxidative stress.
PFAS are commonly found in non-stick cookware, grease-proof coatings for paper and cardboard food packaging (like microwave popcorn bags, fast-food wrappers, and take-out containers), firefighting foams, and coatings for carpets and fabrics, these are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not readily decompose or get excreted from the human body. A key source of PFAS in the environment is drinking water.
When PFAS accumulate in tissues of the body, they damage mitochondria, which contribute to the recruitment of immune cells and the development of chronic inflammation. They also generate oxidative stress by both creating more free radicals and impairing the activity of antioxidants.
Phthalates (easy for you to say!) are commonly found in cosmetics, lotions, nail polish, hair care products, deodorant, toys, plastics, and artificial leather. They are hormone disruptors and are related to insulin resistance, high blood pressure, earlier menopause, pregnancy loss, birth complications, genital development and semen quality, early puberty, asthma, developmental delay, and social impairment.
Phthalates induce mitochondrial toxicity and increase oxidative stress. The more exposure, the worse the effects.
Parabens are commonly used as preservatives in moisturizers, shampoos, makeup, deodorant, shaving cream, foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. They are absorbed through the skin and oral ingestion.
Parabens are problematic in how they bind to hormone receptors (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and stress hormones) impacting the metabolism of those hormones.
Fortunately, PCBs have been banned. However, these slowly degrading chemicals are still “ubiquitous environmental contaminants” found in air, water, soil, and fish worldwide and through interactions with PCB-containing products or equipment made before 1977.
In cell culture studies, PCBs are toxic to neurons due to impairment of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, impairment of the initial breakdown of glucose in the cell (a process called glycolysis), and, ultimately, reduction in ATP production.
Heavy Metals are commonly found in contaminated soil, water, and food, heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and lead are naturally occurring substances that can be toxic when concentrated at high levels through manufacturing and industrial processes.
Excess heavy metals can cause various health problems, including neurological damage, developmental delays, cancer, and other health issues. Research has shown that metals can both increase oxidative stress and lead to mitochondrial dysfunction.
Dioxins are a group of “highly toxic” compounds that are by-products of industrial processes (like bleaching paper pulp and making pesticides) and burning trash, coal, oil, and wood. These “persistent organic pollutants” (POPs) don’t readily degrade and persist in our environment while accumulating in animal fat in fish, dairy, and meat.
Dioxins are known to cause developmental and reproductive problems, immune system disorders, increased rate of miscarriages, lung and stomach cancer, lymphoma and sarcomas.
5.6 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year globally, despite being strongly linked to oxidative stress, cancer, respiratory problems, neurotoxic effects, metabolic problems, and adverse child development. These pesticides cover our food and enter the water system, with the USDA estimating that the drinking water of fifty million people is contaminated with pesticides and agricultural chemicals.
Studies have suggested that organophosphate exposure may affect mitochondrial function by inducing oxidative stress and impairing mitochondrial respiration.