Have you heard of the DNA diet? Gene nutrition is becoming more and more popular. Here you can find out how this diet works. Nutrition educator Johanna Tschinder explains what it really brings.
"Diets don't work for me. My mother passed that on to me - it doesn't work for her either." I have heard these sentences very often. But is it really true? Can you inherit the tendency to be overweight? That's what interested me. I set out to find answers.
According to studies, 30 to 50 percent of obesity is actually hereditary. This is also the main reason why the DNA diet is currently booming. There are several companies that specialize in gene diets and genetic metabolic analyses.
Here, the participant learns through DNA analysis which carbohydrates, fats and proteins he or she can metabolize best. Anyone who adheres to this should lose excess kilos in a flash.
Table of contents
How does a DNA diet work?
An analysis serves as the basis for the DNA diet and can cost up to 350 euros. First, a consultation with a nutritionist takes place. Personal habits regarding sports and food are queried. This is how the weight loss goal is set.
A swab is then taken from the oral mucosa. This is evaluated in the laboratory in two to four weeks.
Based on these two components, one then receives individual tips for diet and sport. In the DNA diet, 7 metabolic genes are analyzed.
What are the diet types according to the DNA diet?
Diet types are divided into four subgroups in the DNA diet. Each can metabolize different foods better.
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The alpha type
If you belong to this type according to the test, you may eat a lot of proteins during your DNA diet. Meta-type Alpha can process protein very well. Fats and carbohydrates cause him problems - he stores them very quickly as body fat.
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The beta type
This type of diet can metabolize fats (oils) very well in addition to proteins. If you are on a DNA diet and you belong to this type, you have to be careful with carbohydrates. They easily settle on your hips.
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The gamma type
Carbohydrates are processed very well by this type. Fats and proteins, however, are a big challenge for the body. Reduce fats and proteins to lose weight.
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The delta type
Stay away from proteins. They will immediately get on your belly and hips. You tolerate carbohydrates and fats very well.
What makes the DNA diet different from other diets?
During the period of the diet you eat only foods and dishes that are exactly for you.
According to a Stanford University study, participants with a genetically adapted diet lost weight twice as fast as their peers. But this is pure statistics. There is said to be no exact proof.
This is what nutrition educator Johanna Tschinder says about diets:
Diets and nutrition recommendations are booming like never before. We are currently in a time in which topics such as food, body culture, fitness and health are becoming increasingly important. Food trends and the latest ways to lose weight permanently are flooding the grateful market. This overwhelms us consumers. Many hope for a solution to their weight and health problems through supposedly saving new diets.
In advance, one thing can be said definitively - all these Diets function. The goal - namely, to lose weight - if you follow the prescribed rules, will pretty much always be reached.
Now, however, we have already reached the critical point, why diets then "all of a sudden" no longer work. It is always about prescribed rules, prohibitions, "red lists," meal times, quantities. In the case of the DNA diet, your own blood group. This should limit you in your approach to food and pleasure, so that you achieve your goals.
Bans and restrictions do not lead to the goal
Can you imagine yourself permanently occupied with prohibitions and restrictions? Then any diet will work! You will lose weight - but you will not do your body any good in the long run.
Because diets - no matter which, always work with Energy deficits (calorie reduction) and consequently nutrient deficiencies (vitamins, minerals, trace elements, secondary plant compounds, etc.).
Deficiencies then quickly manifest themselves in the form of Fatigue, Susceptibility to infections, Mood swings, brittle Nails - to name just a few of the consequences of malnutrition.
However, permanent dieting has an even more serious consequence! The entire metabolism is put into a Economy mode offset. This is comparable to the standby mode of electrical appliances. They work, but only with half the energy consumption.
However, what is desirable for electrical appliances is not beneficial for the human organism. Our body learns through diets to get along with less energy and is thus always in a Stress state.
The body is provided with less energy than it would actually need - the consequence of this is that if "normal" food is eaten again after a diet, everything is stored by the body in order to be prepared for future "emergency situations".
The famous Jojo effect has now occurred and one weighs much more at the end of the diet than at the beginning. Another reason for the weight gain that has occurred is also the fact that through this permanent state of deficiency the Muscle mass reduced becomes. This so-called BCM (Body Cell Mass = muscle mass) is the metabolically active and energy-consuming cell substance in the human body - i.e. exactly the place where the energy is "burned".
If the body is not optimally supplied with food, it attacks its reserves - the muscles. The muscle mass is reduced, the basal metabolic rate decreases and with each diet attempt, the existing energy account (daily amount of calories to be consumed) is steadily reduced.
DNA diet: Every body ticks differently
The DNA diet makes use of the categorization of people based on their Blood groups. Certain foods are said to be metabolized differently, better or worse by people of different blood groups.
There is definitely something to this fact, because each person has a individual body composition, an individual amount of exercise and an individual daily routine. These are factors that determine the total energy requirement and thus our metabolism.
Whether this categorization is based on blood groups, genes, or any other type of classification - remains to be seen. What is important in the first place is that not everyone tolerates or needs everything to the same extent.
Thus, nutritional recommendations can also not blanket be valid for everyone. It is important to listen to your own body and its needs. This is the only way to provide it with optimal nutrients and energy. This promotes performance and health.
A balanced, needs-based diet (the daily energy requirement is calculated from the factors: Age, gender, size, body composition and the amount of exercise) in combination with the appropriate sports activity. This is the only diet (Greek diatia = way of life) that can be recommended permanently and can also be implemented and achieved in the long term.
Contributed image: depositphotos.com/myronstandre
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