Aha, there was recently an article in the very mainstream PARADE Magazine about how food can affect your genes. In the future, they think, researchers will be able to just put a drop of your blood on some computer chip and will be able to figure out what diseases you are susceptible to, and suggest nutritional tips from there.
I had been talking about with cancer, that “bad” environmental triggers can cause mutations that can result in cancer, while “good” environmental triggers can be protective. While this sci-fi DNA chip will be able to pinpoint specific diseases, the “prescription” is pretty much going to be the same: unprocessed fruits and veggies, the dark, leafy, or colorful kinds that have lots of vitamins and stay away from overly refined grains, trans-fats, and no-nutrition junk foods. Wheat, as delicious as it is, is an allergen to many people (and some might not know it), so in that case, it’s not only “not good,” but it could be “bad,” a trigger that actually causes disease.
Relatedly, the article even went on to talk about insulin resistance, which is becoming more common in our carb-heavy diets and which I mentioned in my earlier posts on the Specific Carb diet and PCOS–it’s becoming a major problem for people, especially women. As fun as white flour is, it’s not that different from sugar in the way it affects our bodies. I now know people for whom “juvenile” diabetes started at four or five years old, that’s very scary.
I used to be a vegetarian and thought I ate so healthy: pasta, bread, pretzels, etc. But I was hungry all the time and had no energy and would look to cookies for a quick pickup. I’m still a sugar junkie from time to time, but mostly now I try to stick to a low-carb diet, for fertility, and for health. I have to admit I feel much better when I do this (although I have a cheatin’ heart when it comes to chocolate), you might want to give it a try. You can read the rest of the story at:
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_03-19-2006/Nutrigenomics_piece
Related posts:
