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Christa Elza: , [00:00:00] caloric deficit is king. Like we already know what we know. Like you, we don't have to know specifically your genetic type in these specific categories. And it does matter.
I mean, genes do affect nutrient metabolism. We know that by different body types. We do know that, but the real, real world utility of this specific test is actually pretty weak based on this study. And this study actually used 10 different genes. So it wasn't like they just looked at only two, they looked at multiple of them.
And I think it's just important to understand so that, you know, like, hey, I don't necessarily have to pay to understand how to improve my body composition. Right.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Wild and Well Collective Podcast where we believe empowered health is your superpower. We have combined our expertise in medicine and nutrition to bring you the latest research expert insights and success stories of people on a mission to live a big life. So buckle up and get ready to learn how to live wildly [00:01:00] well.
Christa Elza: Welcome to another episode of The Wild and Well Collective. Today we're gonna be talking about DNA diets, and it's not that there's not a lot of benefit in understanding our specific genetic composition because that does matter in terms of how we need to support our body. But today we're gonna be talking specifically about just a couple of genes that some people are promoting and selling to say, Hey, we can do your diet specifically to your DNA.
And there's been some studies that we wanted to kind of break down and talk about that. We're seeing some pros and cons to doing this. So join us today while we kind of break this down. Okay, let's start first by what they're looking at. So the DNA kits, and sometimes you'll find, you know, it was different companies that sell full health DNA, which there is value in.
But then there's some that sell just a specific kit that maybe just includes a couple of genes. And the genes mainly of [00:02:00] interest for most people is a MY one. And that one has to do with. Amylase digestion, and that really tells you like, okay, are you tolerant of carbohydrates or not? Then there's another set of genes.
The FADS one and two, and that can give us some insight into how well you metabolize fat. So I'm not saying that these specific gene SNPs aren't valuable to some degree. I do believe that like if you have, if you really intolerant fats, then you know, maybe avoid the keto diet. You know, some things like that.
And obviously there are people that we know can eat a ton of carbohydrates and not gain anything, whereas somebody else. IE myself eats a ton of carbohydrates and you see it everywhere in my five foot frame. So, I mean, obviously genetics do play a role. We're not saying that, but what this study showed was that this didn't quite make the biggest impact.
I know Cherie, we've talked about this study a little bit. Tell us a little bit about [00:03:00] what, how the study was structured and like what they were looking at.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I think this is a really important conversation because it can come across really gimmicky, right? Like these genetic testing for dietary. Now we're just wanna make it very, very clear. The genetic profiling and the genetic testing you can do that can really empower you from a health perspective and looking at other things going on in your body is not what we're referring to.
We are referring to the very specific. Genetic diet testing. And so that's what the study particularly looked at. It was done over 12 weeks. It was in overweight and obese adults, and it was genetic scoring based on your carb or fat responsiveness. They were then split into four groups, which were put into a caloric deficit of less than 750 calories per day for everyone.
So from this, what we were able to see is that there really wasn't. Much of a significant weight loss advantage. So what does that mean? It [00:04:00] means that even though these people were split into the groups, according to the high fat versus high carb, et cetera, the ones that were put in the genetic allocations didn't have any more significant advantage than those that were just in a caloric deficit.
Christa Elza: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which I think is interesting because. What this study showed was that whether or not, you know, let's say you showed up that like you can't tolerate fats and so you had seven 50 calories of low fat. I had 750 of low carb versus the group that just did low calorie, well-rounded diet. We all lost about the same.
That's essentially what this study was showing. And I think that that's interesting because what this showed is that, caloric deficit is king. Like we already know what we know. Like you, we don't have to know specifically your genetic type in these specific categories. And it does matter.
I mean, genes do affect nutrient metabolism. We know that by different body types. We do know that, but the [00:05:00] real, real world utility of this specific test is actually pretty weak based on this study. And this study actually used 10 different genes. So it wasn't like they just looked at only two, they looked at multiple of them.
And I think it's just important to understand so that, you know, like, hey, I don't necessarily have to pay to understand how to improve my body composition. Right. I think what, you know, genetics can influence little idiosyncrasies in our metabolism. But we need a lot more study on these specific.
Genes and like what that actually can do. Personalized diet isn't necessarily a genetic problem. It's gonna be more for some people just trial and error of like, let's try it. I mean, I know that we, you had mentioned before we, we hopped on this, we were talking a little bit about the blood type tests and I don't know a lot about those, but I do know that.
They don't always work. It's kind of like your horoscope. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's not, and you're like, oh, today it fits. And, you know. Tell me a little bit about what you had said [00:06:00] though about you. It sounds like you tried the blood type test as well. So again, that's just kind of like taking what's my blood type?
And that should tell you what kind of foods you should eat or avoid. What was your experience with that?
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I mean, like a lot of the times we get caught, and I think this is just another one where it's like a fed trend, right? And there was the book, I can't remember who wrote it, but it was the Blood Type Diet.
And some people swear by it, you know? But it always leads me to ask the question of did you just clean up the food you were eating and modify your lifestyle a little bit better? Because my blood type, which is O negative, quite a rare blood type, but I fell into the vegetarian category. It told me to eat a lot more soy.
It told me to eliminate meat 'cause I wouldn't feel well on meat. Really, really heavily tofu focused, vegetarian focused. Now anyone who knows me will know a hundred percent. I feel like absolute crap. I have had an estrogen dominance issue my entire life up until I rectified it in the previous, you know, previous years [00:07:00] going into holistic and functional health.
So the idea even of going down this path seemed. So wrong to me and so wrong in my body. And I'll be honest with you, I only gave it a couple weeks because my intuition was saying absolutely no, my body was rejecting it. We know as a vegetarian, especially as a female, your iron's gonna start to dip. Your B twelve's gonna start to dip.
We know what to fix your placenta, like if you were to be carrying a child. It's crazy to me that, you know, like generally giving us advice out there and. Putting people into buckets or putting people into categories. I mean, again, this is just my human experience and I know there are people that swear by it, but I then go to the question, well were, how were you eating before?
And how are you eating now? 'cause I was eating whole real foods, clean, organic, non-processed meats. No, I added hormones, lots of leafy greens, high fiber. Then I went to eating, you know. A whole bunch of processed soy because it's apart from the clean tofu you can buy, [00:08:00] there's no other version of that. Also being celiac, I cannot eat a lot of the soy alternatives as well, so it limited the amount of foods that I could eat, and then I was stuck eating a whole lot of, you know, yes, still a whole lot of vegetables and some good fats, but I actually felt like crap.
And so you also wanna take these things with a grain of salt. I see people run with them. I've had clients come. To me, you know, having done genetic testing before, I'm like, but this is what it says and I can't absorb that. I'm like, how much of that is what you're telling yourself as well, and how much of it is actually a detoxification issue or a hormone imbalance, or an underlying gut issue, or a blood sugar issue?
How much of it is really more of the root cause medicine that we teach and how much of it is actually genetics and. Even the conversation around epigenetics that we could dive into and we won't. But like that you could go down the pathway, understanding how much your environment then dictates how much your genes are expressed.
So the world that we're living in now, the processed foods that we're exposed to, the highly inflammatory foods that we're [00:09:00] having, and there the other chemicals that we're exposed to, not just from what we put in our mouths, but what we put on our skin, what we're inhaling on a day to day. All of those things, we don't give value to it, I think enough that can be influencing our genetic expression and therefore our metabolism and therefore our ability to lose weight.
Christa Elza: You know, it's not to say that down the road these won't be more robust. But right now I think if you're looking for a magic bullet diet we already know it. We don't necessarily need to know your DNA. To know that a caloric deficit is going to be ranking right and a balanced diet for most people that will be true.
Genetics obviously play a role. Some people do really well on a vegetarian diet because their body can process the B vitamins appropriately and do that, and others really need it to come from animal protein. So you don't, you know, that there are genetic components to it, but in order to, you know.
Kind of break this myth of like the DNA is gonna be your sell all. Now that being said, [00:10:00] you know, are people more likely to stick to a diet if it's marketed as genetically tailored? Maybe because if you think, well, this is in my DNA, I have to eat this particular way and I'm gonna be in a caloric deficit, it's not that it doesn't work, it's just what the study showed is that, I mean, it's really the caloric deficit that's getting you there.
It's not necessarily the composition of. The diet per se. And so, within reason, right? And so you know, there can be some pros if people believe it's really personalized for them, maybe they hit their goals because they really feel like, well, I have data in front of me that says I need to eat this way.
That in combination with a caloric deficit, you will lose weight. So if it changes your behavior, I think it's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just do we need to do it? And I think. You know, in my opinion over DNA, I would spend money on more like a microbiome analysis where we can see what's going on in your gut, like what's actually driving some of that because we know that the bacteria in our gut really it [00:11:00] changes a lot for one thing.
So at any point in time, if you're noticing fluctuations in diet or in weight gain, maybe understanding your microbiome better in that moment could be a better way to spend your money. The other thing is in continuous glucose monitors, that gives you a personalized. View real time. Oh yeah. You're wearing one.
I need to put mine back on too. I bought two and I, it's time, but it's good to wear the continuous glucose monitors because you can really see real time what foods are affecting your blood sugar and if we know that your blood sugar's high, we know your insulin is high. And so those things, I think can still give you that personalized approach.
And maybe it's just a suggestion based on this study that maybe that's where consumers should be putting their money.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I a hundred percent agree. And it kind of comes back to that whole like behavioral concept where people just cleaning up their diets and then they're feeling better. I mean, I know myself, I've done both.
I've done both high carb and I've done both high fat and lowered the carbs, and both have worked because the key focus was actually like a really good balance. [00:12:00] In your macronutrients. So the other thing this study in particular didn't focus on the macronutrient balance, which even goes to show that if you just put a deficit in, it's great, but how much muscle are you losing?
How much fat are you losing? The real conversation, if we're wanting to talk about metabolic health versus just specific weight loss, is making sure that you are putting enough protein into your body. And ultimately, this is the way I like to explain to my clients. If you've got too much energy going in from somewhere.
Your body's gonna store it, whether it's too much fat or it's too much carbohydrate. So pick one. Pick whichever one is easiest to kind of drop down and test it out. Like there's nothing wrong with playing around with this sort of thing yourself. One of the things that, interestingly enough, I was talking to one of my clients yesterday about it.
Because I've just done a little calorie track just to see what I'm averaging, what I'm eating, blah, blah, blah. And I noticed how much fats I was consuming and I was like, this is so crazy. But as soon as I went to log my goals to adjust things and my FitnessPal just so that I can start to tweak [00:13:00] things for a little while, and then I don't need to count anything anymore, the first thing my FitnessPal does is encourage you to have 50%.
Carbohydrates. Now, to me, like as a nutritionist, that's one of the biggest things you could be going wrong. Like just because you we're talking about a higher carbohydrate diet doesn't mean high carb. And I think a lot of the times that people struggle to lose weight on these higher carb diets, like you said, someone just looks at a cupcake and puts on weight.
It's like, yeah, because you're maybe eating naked carbohydrate. Maybe you're eating highly processed carbohydrates. Maybe you're snacking on potato chips or drinking soda all day. Of course, like that higher carb isn't gonna work for you. But if we're talking about having potatoes and sweet potatoes and squash and like nourishing, you know, whole foods, whole grain rice and that sort of thing, that's gonna slow down your blood sugar spike, you're gonna be peering that with a protein, you're actually gonna be able to lose weight a lot better.
And so it comes back to the conversation of how do we optimize our ourself for metabolic flexibility. Versus just looking at this genetic [00:14:00] component and then are we actually putting the quality of food and is it gonna be supporting us long term if we're naturally I don't know, gearing towards the right type of food for our bodies?
I think it really just comes back to the basics and we contend to over complicate things.
Christa Elza: Yeah. I think the takeaway then is that, you know, we can use genetics as a piece of the personalization puzzle. But I think you can't use it as a silver bullet. Like the fact is we have to stick with proven strategies, which is going to be calorie control, enough protein, like you said, a well-rounded whole food diet for most people.
And then just being consistent with that. I mean, those are things that we've known about our bodies. 'cause it can be so confusing. I mean, there's a million different. Diets out there. And I think for the average person, they get overwhelmed with all the information we want direction. And it can be really tempting to say, well let's do this DNA test and it'll tell me [00:15:00] exactly what I need to be eating.
And the fact is, you know, I think what we're trying to say, and you know it's okay to do it, it's fine to get your DNA and it could be knowledge that kind of helps guide like a hundred percent. I'm not gonna do keto because I know I have a harder time like utilizing the facts that that way. But don't expect miracles without a caloric deficit.
And maybe your money is better spent, as we've said, on things like a continuous glucose monitor with being consistent with workouts and being consistent with a caloric deficit that works for you. So, yeah, I hope this was helpful. We just kind of wanted to, we saw the study and wanted to grab. It and just discuss it because it stood out to me as like, oh, this is good consumer information.
These things, again, you know, I do love DNAI love looking at DNA, but in terms of a specific. Diet approach, eh, just kind of maybe step twice and say, okay, this is how I'll guide my patients. And I think your clients too with like, how do we actually lose weight? Is this particular [00:16:00] DNA information like super important?
So, if you have questions, definitely post it. We can send it to us via our Instagrams. We're gonna post the study in the show notes as well for you all to review it. And I hope you found this helpful. We'll see you next time.
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