Genetics: An Old Excuse on Its Way Out

Research is now showing that how people choose to live (lifestyle habits) can, in effect, turn on or turn off genes. That’s right. If you consistently put down the donut during snack-time and reach instead for a cup of yogurt with blueberries, you could literally change the course of your life!

There is no denying that your genes play a pretty big part in who you become. They lay down the code for how you look and for what medical conditions you are predisposed to developing. The key word here is predisposed. The Free Dictionary online defines predisposed as “to make (someone) inclined to something in advance” (1). Predisposition does not determine your future health path; it just tells you which of the possible paths you are more likely to walk down.  

A simple example of this is found in the transcription of genes that produce lactase, an enzyme needed to digest lactose which is found primarily in milk. If a person stops drinking milk, the body doesn’t take the steps needed to produce lactase because it is wasted energy and eventually the person loses the ability to digest milk resulting in a lactose intolerance.  However, if that same person doesn’t stop drinking milk, or even begins to drink very small amounts of milk again, the body will spend the extra energy needed to keep making lactase and be able to digest milk (2). Same person. If they drink milk regularly, they can digest it. If they don’t drink milk regularly, they develop a lactose intolerance.

Pretty neat stuff.

The point of this discussion is an article (3) discussing lifestyle habits and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This article covers two studies. One of these studies suggests that developing healthy lifestyle habits can have more of an impact on a person’s predisposition to develop CVD than their genetics. The authors list five habits:

·         Do not smoke

·         Drink little, if any, alcohol

·         Maintain a healthy body weight

·         Be physically active

·         Consume a healthy diet

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

One of the studies this is based on had nearly 2,400 participants and spanned 20 years. It found that 60% of the participants who had all five lifestyle habits had a low-risk for CVD. The picture is not nearly as pretty for those who had one or none of those lifestyle habits – only 6% had a low-risk profile. 60% or 6%. That’s a pretty big difference when it comes to your heart health.

The other study reviewed data from the famous Framingham Heart Study and included nearly 16,500 people who were either 40 or 50 years old. This study found that genetics plays a small role in CVD when compared to lifestyle habits. Even scarier, it found that only 8% of Americans have “ideal levels of all the risk factors for cardiovascular health at middle age.”  8%! That’s a pretty low number!

So, what does this tell us?

It tells me a couple of things. One is that our population is falling short when it comes to practicing these healthy lifestyle habits and this concerns me. The other is that genetics does not absolutely determine our fate. We have some control over our fate.

Our future health is literally in our hands. It is determined by whether we reach for the donut or the yogurt. It is determined by whether we reach for our sneakers or the remote control.

Me? I’m going for the yogurt and my sneakers.

How about you?

References

1.       http://www.thefreedictionary.com/predisposed

2.       Nutrition and Metabolism I class taught by Dr. Nancy Correa-Matos at University of North Florida

3.       Northwestern University (2010, November 15). Healthy lifestyle has bigger impact on cardiovascular health than genetics, studies. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101115151954.htm

Counting Calories (Original Date: May 13, 2009)

I saw a banner ad online today that simply said: Do you know how many calories you had for breakfast today? Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.

I wonder... Does that put me in the minority?

I talk to people I know about their weight and eating habits. I'm not a registered dietitian yet; but I'm learning and people have so many questions so I gladly share what I am learning. The majority of people I talk to want to lose weight and they want me to tell them the magic formula for weight loss.

I wish it were that easy, don't you?

I have a habit of answering questions with questions. The first step in making changes is to figure out what you are currently doing. We can't tweak something if we don't know what that something is yet. In fact, one of the first steps when you meet with a registered dietitian will probably be to keep a food journal for a number of days - make no changes to what you eat at all, just write down what you currently eat. So, one of my first questions is about food intake. How many calories are you eating and what types of foods? The usual answer regarding calories: I don't know. Okay. That's fair. Not everyone is quite as preoccupied with food and health as I am.

Let's find out then, shall we?

There is usually resistance the suggestion to track food intake. It seems so impossible and overwhelming. Before I tracked food, there was no way I could tell you how many calories were in a banana or a hamburger or a chicken Caesar salad. It seems like a lot of work to not only write down everything you eat, but also to have to figure out how many calories are in everything. Who has time for that?? Perhaps also, it's a little too personal, too revealing. I mean, I sure don't want to fess up when I dig into some Moosetracks ice cream! But, I do dig into it on occasion, and you can on occasion and still lose weight, and wow, is it ever good! Maybe it's even too embarrassing. Will people wonder what you are doing over there, scribbling furiously on a notepad before you eat?

Here's the magic formula, and you have heard this before, in a person with no underlying disease affecting metabolism, to lose weight burn up more calories than you take in. Simply: eat less (to a point) and move more. If you don't know how many calories you are eating, how can you figure out what changes to make to your diet to get good weight loss results?

It's not magic, it's math.

I'll tell you this too, if it weren't for free food trackers online, I probably wouldn't be too eager to track my food intake either. Lucky for us, there are easy to use, free Web sites. So, start there. I recommend and use Sparkpeople.com; but there are many others including mypyramidtracker.gov and fitday.com. Check them out. Join up. Build your list of "favorites" to make it easier to track the foods you eat regularly and stop making excuses!

I'm begging you. I don't want to be the only one who proclaims, "YES! As a matter of fact I DO know how many calories I had for breakfast!" I want you to stand up and shout with me.

Are You Ready? (Original Date: May 17, 2009)

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend of mine who is also very into nutrition and fitness. We are both working on losing those last few stubborn pounds - the vanity pounds. I remarked to her, "I TALK about how much I want to lose this weight; but I really don't DO much about it." When it comes down to it, I'm not always doing what I know I need to do.

How do you go from talking about how much you want something to actually doing the things that will get it?

Start on the inside by pondering these two things:

1. Look past the "goal".

Why do you want to lose weight? Surely, the goal isn't the number on the scale or the number printed on a tag in your clothes - that is arbitrary. What is the underlying goal attached to that number? Is it how you think you will feel at that weight? Is it how you think you will look at that weight? Is it to be able to walk up the stairs without being winded? Is it to control your blood pressure? Is it something else entirely?

2. Look for the reasons for your choices.

Do you just want to relax at home after a hard day at work instead of go to the gym? Do you want that greasy hamburger because it's just soooo yummy? Sure, that will bring you satisfaction right now in this moment and I'm all for being satisfied; but these things work against weight loss. What are you wanting by making these choices? Is that relaxing at home a way to find some peaceful down time? Is that hamburger taking the place of something else? It is another reason entirely?

Only you have the answers to these questions.

This is how Intrinsic Coaching can help. Coaching conversations give you the time and space to explore these types of ideas. The coach is trained to ask the types of questions that open up new thinking for you.

Old thinking will get you what you've already got. New results need new ways of thinking.

No, I'm not perfect. Neither are you. But before you go from talking the talk to walking the walk, you've got to know what you want at the end of this part of your journey because what you want is guiding the choices you make.

Are you ready?