2020 is such a great looking number! Perfectly balanced; it looks to provide all of us with the opportunity to do things better, more optimally. You may have tried - and failed - to "turn over a new leaf" in years gone by, so you may be a little resistant to New Year resolutions. I don't blame you! If you are like me, you have tried to start a new diet plan, exercise routine or meditation at least more than once but been unable to stick with it, falling back to some of my bad habits, especially during times of stress!
The truth is that it shouldn't be so hard. Perhaps it has more to do with the approach than with us.
What ultimately turned it around for me was doing DNA testing. Seeing my unique genetic variations up close and personal made really resonated with me. For the first time, I could see where my body needed support and really could do without certain "pressures".
Start with your WHY?
Your why for wanting to feel optimal is unique to you and very personal, just like your DNA. Your why could be that you don't want to suffer through a long-term, chronic disease like one of your parents, or it could be that you plan to travel after retirement, or you wish to be a healthy and active parent, partner or grandparent. The list is endless. But what's important is that without identifying "why" you want to be optimally well; it will be easy to lose focus and not really feel excited to make the healthy choices that you need to make.
Once you have identified "your why" then you can move on to the easy-peasy 5 step approach.
My 5 step approach
I like to follow what I call the 5-step approach to optimal wellness; every year:
1. Determine your genotype. This will help you to personalise your health choices including nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and environment. If you haven't yet started with DNA testing then I recommend that you take our free, online quiz - WHICH DNA TEST IS RIGHT FOR ME? Once we receive your answers, we will send you our recommendation based on your answers.
2. Personalise your macro and micro nutrition using the 3-3 principle. I love this approach to supplementation as it keeps to our "food first" philosophy. Once you have determined which genes need additional co-factor support in order to be up-regulated or down-regulated, you can then "add-in" 3 key, bioavailable nutrients to optimise your nutrition based on your genotype. Of course, this may increase depending on your genotype and/or how well you eat.
3. Integrate your health choices, daily. Your daily choices impact your genotype more than the sum of your weekly choices. I love the 80/20 ratio and I find that if you make good health choices daily during the week, you can relax a little over the weekend.
4. Measure and track your biomarkers annually using advanced stool, blood, salvia and urine biochemistry tests. I suggest that based on where you have medium to high impact genetic variations, that you measure key biomarkers that indicate how well - or not so well - you have been supporting the regulation or expression of these genes. Once you have this real-time information, you'll know where you need to focus. The other benefit of doing annual testing is that you can see where changes are taking place, deep inside your biochemistry way before a disease can take hold and take action to prevent.
5. Refine and hone your choices based on your biomarkers. When you look at it like this, it really doesn't feel so daunting as you now have a recipe for success. I think what makes this approach really work is that it takes all the guesswork out of your choices and helps you to work smarter, not harder when it comes to feeling and being the best that YOU can be. The best part is that it is based on solid, measurable, scientific data. Yours.
My top coaching tools for lasting change
In my coaching practice, I use some great tools to help my clients achieve their optimal health. These are the ones that I find work the best:
- Completing a wellness wheel to see where you are out of balance
- Setting SMART goals
- Writing a future diary
- Readiness ruler
- Mindfulness and meditation
If you would like support in weaving your plan together, you can book a coaching session online with me.
Marguerite Doig-Gander
CEO of MY DNA CHOICES
BA (Speech, Hearing & Lang Therapy) Hons | FMCHC | ReCODE Coach | Men's Health | HMX Genomics & Biochemistry (Candidate)
