Are genes making you fat? Here’s what you can do
Many of us know of someone who has made a change to their lifestyle, usually through diet and exercise, and achieved incredible results. At the same time, another person will have made the same changes but will not have achieved the same outcome.
Unfortunately, there is a misconception in that the non-responders must not have complied (or even cheated) with the diet and exercise plan.
What if that is not the case? Why does this happen?
There’s a good reason for it – your genes are to blame for up to 70 per cent of your weight problems. Lifestyle and environmental factors make up just 30 per cent (Weighing it up – Obesity in Australia 2009).
Genes influence your ability to maintain a healthy weight. When it comes to food, they affect what you should eat, right down to the level of total fat, saturated fat and carbohydrates you can tolerate. They even influence how much fat you absorb from food, your appetite control and satiety. Some people are genetically prone to overeating, more inclined to want high fat, high carbohydrate food, and feeling like they have not had enough to eat.
Your genes also determine the best type of exercise for you to burn body fat and how prone you are to rebound weight gain.
Your genes also impact how your hormones, liver function, level of inflammation and toxicity affect you. Some people are just genetically more prone to having a weight problem.
Knowing this, you can see why it is SO important to understand how to eat and move in a way that your body will respond to. Weight loss is NOT simply about calories in and calories out. It is far more complex and is different for everyone.
How can you find out which of your genes are causing your weight problems?
Our new Fitgenes genetic profiling tests for 24 genes associated with fat metabolism, as well as a further 30 genes that influence your ability to maintain a healthy weight.
For example:
One of the genes tested is ADRβ2 – this gene is involved in mobilizing fat for energy production in response to stress. If your gene test results show an orange or red dot, this indicates decreased function and decreased ability to burn body fat. An orange or red dot in your report indicates an increased risk of obesity, weight gain, difficulty losing weight and rebound weight gain, as well as a decreased tolerance to carbohydrates. From this result, we can then recommend the individual diet, exercise and nutritional supplements needed to ‘turn up’ this gene to normal functioning capacity.
If you think genetics is playing a role in your weight problem, book your Fitgenes test to find out what you can do about it. Call us on (02) 4961 4075.
Yours in health,
Peter
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