A few months I posted about how I have started offering Genetic Profiling for clients and I recently decided to take up the genetic challenge and find out more about my gene pool - the good and the bad.
The GeneElite test looks at 16 different genes and their positive or negative variations. For athletic and fitness purposes they are divided into four groups - Bodyfat metabolism, Lean Body Mass Development, Recovery and Nutrition (how well your liver processes and removes toxic elements).
I scored poorly for Bodyfat Metabolism and "average" for Lean Body Mass Development - specifically my negative variation have to do with cardiovascular risk rather than muscle development. My recovery is good and my liver works better than most ("excellent" for toxin removal).
The downside of being me - without attention to proper nutrition and training, I am a "heart attack waiting to happen". Coupled with my poor body fat metabolism I have a very high potential to develop Type 2 diabetes if I am not careful. I have to be more careful with keeping my weight down than most of the population. Whilst I felt disappointed in such results, I'm not surprised - I have PCOS, everyone who has passed away in my family has had cardiovascular issues. I need to maintain my cardiovascular fitness to help my heart health, I need to be particular with my nutrition. However, cardio as a tool for fat loss is not effective for me. Greatest fat loss for me comes from heavy lifting, according to my profile.
On the positive side - I recover particularly well from training, which means I can tolerate high exercise load without too much trouble. I also have an excellent liver which removes all sorts of junk. In my own experience I know I respond to good nutrition and healthy eating.
To sum up, I'm going to look into having some bloodwork done and check out what's going on with my heart health. I will supplement with folate and B Vitamins (this is specific to my gene variation). I will continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle - for example - whilst eating food with trans fats is not recommended, in my case eating food high in trans fats eg Nutella, is akin to poisoning myself ) and I will continue to keep working at keeping my weight stable.
This post isn't really intended to sell this product, rather share my experience of how I feel about finding out about my genetic makeup but if anyone wants to know more, they can contact me through my site.
I must say that given my poor fat metabolism, I've done a pretty good job of prepping for competition ;)
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10 comments:
It's no surprise that you can radically improve your health and longevity by good nutrition and exercise, in spite of a crappier than average deal from the genetic deck.
It's interesting stuff though, and being able to pinpoint specific risk areas and take action is really useful. I might consider it myself.
P.S. I hate the elliptical!
Wow Liz! What a confronting exercise! It must be a bit scary knowing all of this about your genes.
It makes a lot of sense though, to know what you are genetically more susceptible to and take as many precautions as possible to prevent health issues.
I would be too scared at the moment!
Yeah, it was a bit confronting - but I'm glad I did it. Now my aim is to die of something other than cardiovascular disease :)
Hugs
Liz ;)
Im very inspired by reading u blog and having gone through a health crisis myself recently i think that finding out wot ur genes have in store for u is a great idea. Prevention is better than cure after all. Keep up the good work, u look fantastic.
Thanks Cat :)
Hi there :)
You have been so busy, it sounds like you are loving life in the fast lane :)
Considering the results you have done a fantastic job at fighting off the fat well done:) Keep up the fantasstic work hun:)
Em:)
Hi Liz
I'm interested to know more about this. Please email me on sarahzam@iinet.net.au
Tks
Wow, that's really interesting. I'm going to look into it when I get some time.
My genes pre-dispose me to extreme high cholesterol (like, unbelievably high) and it skyrockets madly if I don't exercise and eat right. Like Kek said, it's amazing what you can do with your genes, dodgy or otherwise, once nutrition and exercise becomes a priority.
You are an interesting case, thanks for letting us have insight into the quirks of your DNA!
That is really interesting Liz... once things settle down I am going to have to contact you about it all.
I just wanted to quickly pop in and say how fantastic your girls are looking. You are so the kind of coach I admire... just like mine. You not only put everything into your athletes in the leadup to comp, but you offer such amazing "aftercare" to help them turn their habits around and into a healthy lifestyle.
You deserve to have your coaching book full... you are an awesome coach and the proof is in your athletes and yourself. You truly practise what you preach, which is so inspirational xxx
Hi Em, Sarah (I emailed you), Sara and Rae - thanks for the lovely comments - they mean a lot.
Cheers
Liz :)
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