If you’ve heard about genetic testing in the past decade, it’s probably been through marketing efforts of ancestry companies.
There’s an allure to understanding where you came from (or uncovering family secrets)! At-home kits have shown people how easy it is to test their DNA, but most people aren’t aware of the other benefits genetic testing can provide. While ancestry testing simply tells you where your family came from, genetic testing for health & wellness can lead you to a whole array of actionable insights into optimizing your eating, exercise, lifestyle choices, and more in order to achieve better health.
Here are a few ways genetic testing can inform your health and wellness.
Personalized Care
A lot of approaches to health and wellness focus on a one-size-fits-all model, prescribing the same diet, exercise, & lifestyle to everyone. But each person is unique — so shouldn’t recommendations be tailored to the individual? Genetic testing illuminates your genetic variants to provide insight into how your cells and systems function, show the impacts of food you eat, the environment around you, and more.
Disease at the Root
There is value in managing symptoms of chronic illness – But treating only the symptoms generally doesn’t address their cause. Since genetic testing reveals how your body works at the cellular level, it can point towards the root causes of your symptoms so we can treat the source of your disease.
Losing Weight
Don’t spend time, energy, and money searching for the best way to lose weight when your genes can give you all the insight you need. Genes can tell us what types of exercise are best for your body, how your body stores fat, which nutrients it absorbs best, and other information for a more targeted recommendation plan.
The Right Exercise
What if you’ve been hitting the gym, but not getting results? Your genes reveal whether your body is more suited for endurance activities, or more suited for power activities. Knowing how your body works means being able to choose the right activities for you.
Metabolism
We know that metabolism has a connection with energy and vibrancy, yet many of us have a “sluggish” metabolism we’re not sure how to correct. Knowing your genes can give you insights into how your metabolism is affected by what you eat, how you burn energy, how you store fat, and more.
Caffeine Intake
We’re all affected by caffeine in various ways — some people can drink coffee right up until bedtime, when others have to cut themselves off mid-morning! But do you know why? Our genes are responsible for how quickly we metabolize caffeine, so we can better decide whether to have that extra cup or not.
Better Daily Choices
Knowing your genes and how they affect your body can give you valuable insights. Did you know that your genes affect how your body eliminates toxins? Using your results, you can start making better choices about many aspects affecting your health including your environment, your stress, and your sleep.
More Than Ancestry
Your genes can reveal a lot more to you than just what’s outlined here.
As our knowledge continues to increase, the blueprint that genetic testing provides will only become more detailed – illuminating the path to optimal health that’s right for YOU.
Ready to start your personalized health journey? Ask about testing today!
