Nowadays it is possible to get diet plans tailored to your genetic makeup. But having information and using it effectively are two different things
You have given up ladoos. Okay, that didn’t work. You went gluten-free because your friend told you it worked for her. But did it also work for you? No. And so you tried being a vegetarian for a week, and then it was a juice detox program, and finally you ate nothing but salad for a week and got so frustrated that you ate half the treats you kept aside for special occasions. It doesn’t matter what you try; it seems like you are not losing weight, but what you are losing is your mind. You just want someone to tell you exactly what and how much to eat at the exact time of day. Is that so difficult?
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As a nutrition coach, I hear this request all the time. However, most clients are not bothered by not knowing what a healthy diet is; the problem is that they don’t have the skills to continue doing it for very long. Old habits die hard, taste preferences prevail, and sometimes, more often than not, it’s a complicated dissection of understanding their sleep cycles, stress levels, dietary and exercise habits, and emotional regulation related to food choices.
The initial task always remains the same: shine a flashlight on all these different facets that contribute to weight gain and eliminate the critical habits that are not leading to your success. If you don’t know what needs to change, how can you expect yourself to make the right changes? Otherwise, every day becomes a minefield of guesswork and trial and error.
Critically analyzing our lifestyle information provides us with invaluable data on which to base our next steps, which will set the foundation for your weight loss success. But for some, there’s no denying that despite doing everything right, they won’t lose the weight no matter how hard they try. If we can build a solid foundation and a client is still struggling with weight loss, we can address this by diving deeper into our analysis and seeing what critical information we can glean from various assessments or blood reports. Each layer of data we sift through brings us closer to discovering which magical blend of ingredients works best for each customer’s weight loss.
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Right in the DNA
But how ‘conscious’ can a person become? How many layers can we peel back to understand how someone’s body works? Everyone’s body is different, but at what level do we want to discover those crucial differences? If someone is constantly tired of trying solutions that ultimately don’t work, I can see how far down the rabbit hole they are willing to go to find answers, and of course that can be as deep as your DNA.
Since the inception of the Human Genome Project, numerous studies and analysis companies have emerged encouraging testing of our DNA, which can tell us how our bodies use the nutrients we ingest. DNA codes for proteins that change the way we digest, absorb, metabolize and excrete food and nutrients. According to a study published in 2007, entitled ‘Nutrigenomics: The Genome-Food Interface’, nutrigenomics (the intersection of DNA research and nutrition) is concerned with the impact of dietary components on the genome, meaning that the food we eat contains micronutrients , contains macronutrients. , phytonutrients and chemicals that play a role in our body’s processes and, in some cases, positively or negatively affect our genetics. It gives new meaning to the expression: you are what you eat. By understanding this information, they can extrapolate a diet plan that maximizes the benefit of eating certain macronutrients while minimizing intake of others to help them lose weight.
Therefore, analyzing our DNA structure is like looking for clues. Instead of presenting this to you as a confusing series of data points, some DNA diet companies have shown up to 100 ways your genes can influence the way food is used in your body and can provide dietary recommendations, recipes and shopping lists to their customers. provide. eat in a way that, at least according to your DNA, suits you best. They can even tell you which foods don’t agree with your unique body, such as lactose or gluten.
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Science still has to catch up
It’s an exciting area of research, and one that many people, even out of sheer interest, would like to explore. Six years ago, the cost of these types of tests would have been prohibitive for most people; However, the increasing popularity and popularity of technology has brought prices down enough to make it an enjoyable self-scientific experiment. However, is the science there to back up her claims?
In a scathing article published by Scientific American, with a self-explanatory title: ‘Matching DNA with diet doesn’t work’, one thing became clear: the science isn’t there yet. The studies in which DNA diets had a demonstrable effect on weight loss were not replicable, which is one of the hallmarks of scientific discoveries. If one study can show a demonstrable difference in body weight after using personalized DNA diets, then other studies need to be done to verify that the findings were not a rare unicorn in the scientific community.
In this article, the same Stanford researcher who completed an initial study in 2010 and saw the results said, “But let’s cut to the chase: We didn’t replicate that study; we didn’t even get close. This didn’t work.” The researchers found that some study participants became scrupulous and almost fanatical about their new diet, driving the results away from the majority of participants who became apathetic and had no consistency in their eating habits during the study. A few fanatical people could have influenced the outcome. And this is no different than any other diet that has existed to date – whether it’s Atkins or Keto, Intermittent Fasting or Mediterranean, there will always be a few who emphatically embrace it. Others, on the other hand, start with enthusiasm and then reduce their commitment.
Moreover, you would think that an analysis of our DNA would provide all the information we need to purify our diet; however, that is still not the case. Habit, a leading DNA diet company, said that DNA alone is “not enough to develop personalized nutrition recommendations” and that the company therefore takes into account blood biomarkers and other information important for understanding a person’s diet plan.
Knowing your DNA sequence is simply information. Information is only useful if you are given the skills and resources necessary to make the changes in a long-term effort to change your lifestyle. It’s like saying that just because the microtubes in our gut thrive on fiber-rich foods for fuel doesn’t mean we like eating broccoli. And just because we know what our DNA tells us doesn’t mean we have the skills to step away from the cake box at 3am when we feel tired and lonely.
It also tells us that DNA and food intake are not the whole story, and that there are other ways to use our epigenetics, such as exercise, which turns on certain positive gene expressions. Just because science doesn’t fully exist at this point doesn’t mean we can’t still explore our DNA to find valuable connections and information that will help unlock our human potential, but until then it’s still just part of the equation. cake.
Jen Thomas is a master women’s health coach.
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