1.2) What Diet, Fitness and Health Genetic Testing Can Tell You
So what kind of things can genetic testing in diet, fitness and health tell you? It can tell you which diet is right for you; which fitness program is right for you; and what other systems in your body need support.
What diet is right for you?
You hear about so many different types of diets – paleo, keto, Mediterranean, vegan, gluten-free and whatever is being promoted in the latest magazine at the supermarket. The world is full of people and companies promoting different diets that will help you lose weight, feel better or live longer. These diets work for some people and not for others. If our bodies were the same, one diet would work for all. But as we have seen, we are all made differently.
There is no one size fits all diet. So how can you know which one is right for you? The answer is in your genes! It’s very difficult to guess which diet is right for you without understanding your genetic makeup.
Your genetic variations can affect what foods you crave and how well your body manages fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. You can see if you are more likely to gain weight or lose weight on a high protein diet, whether keto will help or hurt your health, and if carbs are your friend or not. Your genes can tell you how you are likely to react to lactose and gluten, both of which can trigger inflammation in the body if you do not have supportive genetics.
There is a diet that is right for you based on your unique genetic makeup. With genetic testing you can discover how to optimize your diet to have a happier, healthier life.
What fitness program is right for you?
Being interested in fitness, you have no doubt tried many different fitness programs. Why do some people get better results on one type of program while others do not?
Genetic testing can give you insight into whether your body is better suited to power or endurance sports. You can see whether your ligaments and tendons may need greater warm up to prevent injury. You can see if you are better suited to heavy weights with short reps or lighter weights and longer reps, and whether it is good to reach muscle fatigue or if you should avoid this level of muscle fatigue due to poor muscle recovery.
Understanding your fitness genes can help you gear your fitness program to your body. You will get better results with less effort and reduce the risks that can be associated with training that is not suited to your body.
What else needs support?
Your body has many underlying processes that impact health. You have heard of the importance of detoxification to your health, keeping hormones balanced, reducing chronic inflammation and, more recently, having good methylation. Genetic testing can look at your detoxification, hormone, inflammation and methylation genes to see where you may need greater support.
Another area where genetic testing can offer insight is in the area of mental wellness. Genetic testing is available in areas including Alzheimer’s disease risk, concussion, cortisol (the stress hormone), depression, emotional eating and Parkinson’s disease risk.
There is so much that can be learned about the body through diet, fitness and health genetic testing that can make your life’s journey that much easier and healthier. That alone should be the impetus for everyone to get their lifestyle DNA tested. But the reasons are even more compelling than that. We now live in a world with so many other problematic environmental influences, that staying healthy is getting harder. That makes DNA testing more important than ever to help us manage the health factors within our control.