Knowing your genes and staying healthy.
Have you ever wondered why you have problems with maintaining your weight or resisting certain cravings? Is it possible that you are âjust made that way?â This week Brett and I discuss the work done by a new company whose services BioBalance Health is offering patients to help them learn about their genetic map for weight loss. The company is called Pathway Genomics, and with a painless and relatively inexpensive activity, they can provide you with a genetic evaluation that will provide you with information about the role your genetic make up plays in your overall health, and most importantly in achieving your ideal weight.
You can get a test result that will identify issues more accurately than family history, because your genes contain your family history, or the part that you carry. These results never change because they are your genetics, which never changes! In two visits with a BioBalance nurse, you can understand the genetic basis for your difficulty in reaching your ideal weight, your risk for heart disease, and receive an individual diet plan that will help you carry out the best exercise and diet program. There is nothing more personalized than this genetic test to develop a life-long strategy for maintaining ideal weight.
In this episode we both talk about immutable facts we learned from our own test results. Brett’s genetic test revealed that even though his family has an extensive history of type II diabetes, he is not genetically programmed to be at risk. His genetic markers of concern are his snacking gene and his sugar craving gene. Even though his insulin markers are not out of line, he craves sugar and has to make sure he controls the amount he eats. What is valuable about knowing things like this is that you can see directly what your own individual roadbocks are and that some diseases you considered inevitable can be avoided. Of course only you can decide to change behavior and follow your perfect pathway. It is also your choice to discipline yourself and follow your genetic path to health, while throwing away old assumptions about your risk for certain diseases. It is important to know that you can still develop certain diseases even if you do not have the genetic risk for it. Any of us can develop diabetes if we eat Krispy Kremes and cake all day! If Brett does not work to control his snacking and sugar craving he is at risk to develop type II diabetes even though he is not genetically programmed to get it. There is an element of choice and discipline in what he does to control his consumption and his weight. Knowledge about his own genetic map helps guide him to the perfect behavior and diet for him â no more fad diets that may or may not help. Every person has a perfect diet for themselves locked in their genes, it just takes a pathway to find it and self control to follow the path!
We discuss in our podcast strategies for behavior modification that will help those like Brett who are susceptible to certain illnesses if they do not learn to control their exercise and consumption patterns. What matters here is the combination of knowing the genetic risks, and the behavioral strategies for protecting yourself. Hopefully this conversation will stimulate you to look into what you can do to modify your risks, or minimize the impact of the things you are genetically programmed with the potential to develop.
