Sheila’s genetic results for informed weight management

Dawn (00:00):

Hello and welcome to the Gastric Health Show. My name is Dawn Boxell, and today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Sheila. She is one of my clients that has been working with me for the last seven months, and I got the privilege of interpreting her genetic results, and I just wanted to share her with you today and let her give you a little insight to what the experience was like for her and why it was important for her to get this information. So, Sheila, welcome.

Sheila (00:37):

Hi. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Dawn (00:40):

Yeah, absolutely appreciate you being willing to share with everyone else, one, what this experience is like, but two, just kind of the mindset into what drove you to this point of wanting this information. But first off, I would love if you would just give us a little backstory of what got you to the point that you had bariatric surgery, and just give us those details that most bariatric patients want to know. Where did you start? How did you get there? And then how did it go? Were you successful with that and what were the results?

Sheila (01:23):

Great. Yeah, so probably a lot of people, the older I got, the more challenged I became with my weight and it just kept adding and adding and adding. And every time I would try something, I might be successful losing 10 pounds, but then all of a sudden I found myself gaining 20. So it just kept increasing, increasing and no matter what I did, it seemed like I was on the geral wheel.

Dawn (02:31):

Then tell ’em what surgery type of bariatric surgery you did have.

Sheila (02:36):

Yeah. So I ended up choosing the sleeve I needed to lose. I was at 2 89 and my goal was to get below 200. So after discussions with my surgeon, he thought that was the best choice for me, and I agreed that that was probably a good choice for me.

Dawn (02:57):

Yeah, and you did great because you lost how much weight with doing that.

Sheila (03:03):

Yeah. To date, I’ve lost over 90 pounds. So yeah, I’ve been really, really happy with the results. The whole process was, I feel very lucky. I know a lot of people struggle with various aspects of it, but I did not. I was very successful, followed all the rules. I am a bit of a rule follower, so I think that did help for sure. But yeah, ended up being very successful with my overall loss.

Dawn (03:35):

I think that’s amazing to lose 90 pounds with a sleeve, and I think that has served you well.

Sheila (03:43):

Yeah, for sure. It really has changed my life drastically.

Dawn (03:48):

Yeah. Yeah, agreed. So then about March timeframe, you reached out to me and we began this journey of genetic testing and exploring this piece for you. So tell us the backstory of what was your thinking, what was your thought process of why you would want that information of your genetic roadmap?

Sheila (04:22):

So at my year anniversary, I was so excited for my journey thus far. It was really very successful. But then after exploring different information, I found that regain was real. It’s really a challenge for a lot of people to keep it off. And I was bound and determined after working so hard during that year that wasn’t going to happen to me. So I just started exploring various options. And honestly, Dawn, I don’t know how I came upon you. I think it was through one of the bariatric Facebook groups that I belong to.

Dawn (05:46):

It does. Yeah. I would say that’s the cool thing about the genetic test because you could literally not meet an individual, interpret the test and then go to them and present them the results, and you could tell them what they’ve experienced their whole life, and maybe if they gave you the symptoms that they’re currently experiencing, you could tell them what’s probably driving it and what we need to do to move through and out of that. So I guess mind blowing that it’s so spot on when every genetic test that I do, it’s like crazy. The amount of ability that it really can tell us your history and what we need to do to fix anything moving forward. It shows us where you get hung up, where your body is likely to get hung up and stuck

Sheila (06:53):

And possibly could have easily slipped back because some of the things that you Dawn’t realize really affect your health and wellbeing can easily be seep back into your life in ways that are unintentional. It’s not necessarily just the overeating or overindulging or I eat more, I Dawn’t want to say junk, but more I in my mind, couldn’t eat chocolate. I thought that was a bad thing. Well, my genetic results say, actually it’s a good thing and I should be eating chocolate every day. And that was like, oh,

Dawn (07:32):

I can do this. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You learn. Well, especially with kind of a food forward approach, it really does bring to light the foods that are beneficial to your health and not all foods are equal. So it’s like you learn how to utilize the foods to your advantage.

Sheila (07:58):

For sure.

Dawn (07:59):

So maybe if you can remember, give an example of how the test was when you got the test kit in the mail. What was it like to complete the test and send it in?

Sheila (08:17):

It was super easy. I think it was just a mouth swab and stick it in the mail and drop it in the mailbox. And that was that.

Dawn (08:26):

Correct. It’s like two minutes and you’re Dawne.

Sheila (08:29):

Exactly.

Dawn (08:30):

It’s so painless. And they make it very simple. They have all the instructions and

Sheila (08:37):

Everything you need.

Dawn (08:38):

Everything you need is in this little cylinder and you’re Dawne. Literally, you do the cheek swab for a minute or two, you put it in the thing and you ship it off. Yeah. And a

Sheila (08:52):

Paid self-addressed envelope even, you Dawn’t even have to go to the post office,

Dawn (08:58):

Right? Yeah. It’s just stick it in your mailbox and it’s taken care of. And it does take anywhere from three to four weeks to get that interpretation in. So that I’m sure that anticipation in that month’s time is not always enjoyable, but it’s

Sheila (09:16):

Hard waiting but worth it at the end. For sure.

Dawn (09:19):

Yeah, exactly. And once I got the results in, I messaged you and said, I have ’em. And I’m like, okay. And it was literally within three or four days we were interpreting it, if I remember. I think we were like, okay, I have this time available to you. Let’s do this day. And it was like three or four days later and you did

Sheila (09:43):

A lot of work. So I was pretty amazed that you were able to get that Dawne in that short of

Dawn (09:48):

Period. Yeah, it took us pretty close to two hours to interpret your results. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a long report. But again, the goal is that when you go through this, you have at least a good enough understanding of the information that is contained in those test results.

Sheila (10:11):

And that meeting with you was so helpful the way you broke it down and the way you shared the results. Because I think if I had just looked at that by myself, I think I would’ve been really confused by a lot of the information.

Dawn (10:26):

Agreed. And I will say with the 3×4 genetic test, they do direct to consumers so anyone can purchase this test for themselves and get the interpretation. It’s just not necessarily laid out to understand it super easy in a way by just looking at the test result. So that’s where having a practitioner interpret it for you and kind of break it down. I mean, I think your presentation, because I do a whole slideshow, oh gosh, I think it’s like 50 or 60 pages long. I mean, I can’t remember how many pages, but it’s very thorough, each area and each area. So we really get to dig into all the details moving forward. You could use that information and then we give you the results and you could move on and never work with me again.

Sheila (12:40):

Put them back to bed.

Dawn (12:41):

Yes, exactly. Yes. Get rid of them for now, not rid of them. And

Sheila (12:47):

I find myself sometimes, even now, just out of curiosity, just reading, just peeking at it and just looking at it and thinking

Dawn (12:56):

Back. Yeah.

Sheila (12:57):

And just again, changing up my diet a little bit. Thinking, oh, what could I maybe try differently if I want to just lose five more pounds or whatever. So I definitely reflect on it.

Dawn (13:13):

Yeah. Now, when we started this process, your health goals I, I’m looking at the interpretation report and I had put together your health goals and I had put on there, understand what impacts your ability to maintain a healthy weight, manage your cravings and understand your disease risk. Those were your three main areas that you wanted more information on. So if we look at those, do you feel like after the interpretation you really have a good understanding of how you can maintain a healthy weight?

Sheila (13:57):

Absolutely. I mean, everything in that report helped me realize I need more green leafy vegetables, so how can I add those into my diet on a regular basis? I would often eat a spinach salad for lunch, but getting them in, I think I need five cups a day. That’s a real challenge, especially with the sleeve, because back in the day, I could probably eat a salad with three cups of spinach or something like that, but now I’m lucky if I can get two cups and dirt for a salad. So looking at how can I add those? And you had suggested the smoothies, and now that’s my favorite go-to in the morning. It’s so easy. So another cup of green leafies is so easy and so delicious.

Dawn (14:59):

It makes it simple.

Sheila (15:00):

Yeah. Caffeine was such an interesting one to me because I knew I did not feel great with caffeine, and I really do think it contributed to my blood pressure being high. I’m not on any blood pressure medication, but would sometimes get heart palpitations or something if I drank a little too much espresso, which I love. So just really coming off that altogether. Every now and then I’ll have a cup if I’m feeling really tired or hardly ever anymore. And so that’s really interesting.

Dawn (15:40):

Yeah, you were a slow metabolizer of caffeine, meaning that you’re it, it’s going to take a while for that to get out of your system. And typically caffeine in general, it takes about eight hours for a normal processor. So not necessarily a fast metabolizer, but just normal processing. It takes eight hours. So if you slowly process that, it could take you 10 or 12. So you can see how easily for someone, if you were drinking caffeine in the afternoon, how that could negatively impact your sleep and how that could impact your heart palpitations throughout the day, especially if you’re drinking it in the morning and throughout the afternoon.

Sheila (16:22):

And when I was working, sometimes you’re just in meeting after meeting after meeting, and everybody’s serving you coffee and you’re just, next thing you know you’ve had way too much coffee,

Dawn (16:32):

Right? Yeah, absolutely. So easy

Sheila (16:35):

To, it’s really feeling awful,

Dawn (16:37):

But you’re not correlating necessarily that it’s the coffee or the caffeine that’s doing it. But now you understand that you would have to make different choices if you weren’t prepared or willing to experience those symptoms.

Sheila (16:53):

Yeah,

Dawn (16:55):

Which is good. How about the cravings? Do you feel like that you have tools to manage cravings? And do you struggle with cravings anymore? Yeah, it’s

Sheila (17:05):

The strangest thing. Every now and then I’ll crave something, but now I find I’ll have it. I’ll have a bite or two of what I want and go about my day and not think, oh, that’s a bad food, or I can’t have that. But chocolate was always my biggest craving. I was always craving chocolate. And now that I’ve figured out how to get healthy chocolate into my life every day, it really helps. Tremendously thing. Now are these, have you seen, I love to cook. So dates with you stuff them with peanut butter and roll them in chocolate and roll them in peanuts. They’re like little snicker spars.

Dawn (17:52):

No, I have not Dawn that. I’ve wrapped them in bacon, but I have no,

Sheila (17:56):

Skip the bacon.

Dawn (17:58):

That sounds delicious. If

Sheila (18:00):

You have a sweet tooth, they are just like snicker spars. Yeah. So I use the Lily’s chocolates, which have no sugar, the dark chocolate. They are so yummy. So yeah, just figuring out how to combat your craving with a healthy version of that I think is what I’m really focused on now.

Dawn (18:19):

Yeah.

Sheila (18:20):

But again, last night I wanted a french fry, so I had a french fry. I had two or three french fries. But then I’m like, I feel like hell. And I think that’s the other thing I’ve really learned to do is listen to how my body reacts to food and really correlate that with, I feel lousy. I love ice cream. If I have more than a bite or two of ice cream, I feel like bloody hell. So I know if I want an ice cream, I will steal a bite or two of one of my daughters or the ice cream, but I won’t order a hole on myself.

Dawn (18:58):

But that works. That’s balance. That is a way to manage your health in a sustainable way, because having a few bites of ice cream is not going to mess anything up and not having chocolate when you truly enjoy it. Now, I think, if I remember right, you were already one that enjoyed dark chocolate.

Sheila (19:26):

Yes. So I was lucky that way.

Dawn (19:29):

So that was easy for you. You came to me already when you choose chocolate, it was already dark chocolate. So it wasn’t like we were shifting you from milk chocolate to dark chocolate to be able to do that sustainably and in a beneficial way. And whereas ones that’s full of sugar maybe isn’t a good idea to do every day, but in the approach that you’re taking it, being in more antioxidant form and polyphenol form is beneficial to your health. And the benefits far outweigh any risks that your chocolate is giving you, which

Sheila (20:11):

Is a good thing for me.

Dawn (20:13):

It is a great thing. Yeah. I love dark chocolate myself. I probably have one to three squares, I would say four, five nights a week. I mean, I make sure we keep our dark chocolate bars at home. And I’ll say, when I did your test, I was, and I think I remember telling you this, that you had the most protective jeans that I had interpreted to date. And I think you had, let me see here. 3, 6, 9, 11, you had 11. Oh no.

(21:31):

But the one thing we realized was all the strategies that you had really tried prior to having a sleeve surgery was not the same that your pathways was telling us from your genetic tests. You had a lot of detoxification issues, and you even had those, we break ’em down into pop stars. And those are ones that, there’s usually a couple of pop stars that may show up on people, and they have a really big impact. And your detoxification genes really had a big impact on your ability to manage the fat in a healthy way. And your body wasn’t capable of managing any excess fat cells, and it was very efficient at growing fat cells.

(23:18):

Or I’ve started drinking alcohol several times a day or several times a week that your body’s having to pause on detoxifying naturally, everything that it produces, all the toxins it produces, now it’s having to detoxify the alcohol first, and that’s when things can kind of get backed up. But for I think the detoxification and the blood sugar and insulin, were the bigger ones for you for managing a healthy weight.

Sheila (23:58):

And then with that toxicity, I get to enjoy Epsom salt baths and saunas and all those things that I found out are so good for my health that I have to have a massage.

Dawn (24:11):

Yeah, exactly. And for you in the exercise, and that is one thing that you have Dawne fabulous at, tell them what you do for movement. You are so active

Sheila (24:28):

Right now. I’m on a bit of a hiatus as I just got my knee replaced. But prior to that, I’m very fortunate too. I also retired during this timeframe, so found myself with a lot of free time, which I had never in my life had. So with that free time and with my new body, I decided I really wanted to explore some new fun things and also moved to a new town, so wanted to meet new people. So I joined a pickleball group that plays every morning from seven 30 to 10. I think they play. I just went back for my first time Monday, so I’m so excited.

Dawn (25:11):

Oh, that’s amazing.

Sheila (25:12):

Getting back in. Yeah. That’s amazing. Eight weeks. That’s

Dawn (25:16):

Amazing. You did great.

Sheila (25:20):

But they’re just a great group of people. We have so much fun, so many laughs. So that’s more fun than exercise, really. And I have a bike and live it, a town that it’s very convenient to ride my bike to the library. I can ride my bike to pickleball, I can ride my bike to the beach. So I try to use my bike as transportation as much as possible just to build that in every day. And my all time favorite thing is to walk the beach. So I was walking about three miles a day on the beach, and that just clears. That’s more for my mind and soul more than anything else. I wasn’t trying to break any world records,

(26:11):

But it really helped ground me. And then I found you and I had talked about strength training and really the importance of strength training, especially for someone my age, post-menopausal women, those muscles just deteriorate so quickly. I found an amazing program that, it’s called Be one Fitness. It’s just a local woman who started this practice and it is a form of Pilates, not really Pilates, but it uses that machine, that Pilates machine, and really focuses on core all the different muscle areas. And again, it’s 10 women in a room with lot loud music and just lots of laughs and fun. So it doesn’t even feel like I’m working out. So those are the things that I really focus on in my life to move my body,

Dawn (27:14):

Which you’ve done great with. You’ve always been active since you’ve had surgery?

Sheila (27:21):

Since I’ve had surgery, it’s been a little more challenge since I had my second surgery. My knee replacement surgery, your

Dawn (27:27):

Knee replacement.

Sheila (27:29):

I’m up to walking a mile now, which I’m happy to do, but it takes me, I used to walk a mile and maybe 20 minutes, now it’s 30 minutes. So still a little slow, but

Dawn (27:41):

Great.

Sheila (27:42):

Still. I just got cleared to start riding my bike, so I’m going to try maybe to go out today and take a little bike ride and see how that goes. Cleared to try pick a ball. So I tried that the other day. Again, slow. But,

Dawn (27:57):

But all of that is, it’s like even having those eight weeks of not being able to do the things that one, clear your mind, set your mindset and community, your socializing with lots of women and enjoying yourself. That was kind of, oh, that’s

Sheila (28:16):

The other thing I forgot. Did we have a Nordic walking group? So I joined the Nordic walking group, and those are great. Again, usually a group of 10 to 15 women all chopping through the woods with our Nordic walking poles.

Dawn (28:33):

Yeah. So yeah, even with taking eight weeks off with knee replacement surgery, you were able, once released, after doing all your physical therapy you did, you were able to go back and get right back in the rhythm of doing all those as quickly as they allowed you to, which is great. It wasn’t like you took the eight weeks off and then you’ve struggled to get back in that routine. You haven’t jumped right back in. It’s

Sheila (29:06):

Great to get back in. I know how know how good I feel when I do it. I know how, I think I talked to you our last session that I feel like my muscle is just melting off my body, and I know how hard I work to put it on my body, so I just can’t wait to, it feels so strong. And especially, I’m a single woman in the twilight of my life. So to feel strong and powerful and to be able to do hard things with my body at this age, it’s really, it’s powerful.

Dawn (29:43):

It is absolutely. So that you know, have everything you need to care for yourself and in your eighties and beyond. I mean, you could easily, you’re setting yourself up for longevity. And I can’t remember if some of your genes were, any of the beneficial ones were for longevity or not. I Dawn’t remember. Well,

Sheila (30:12):

The thing I’m most worried about that we talked about is my mom has dementia. Really warding that off.

Dawn (30:20):

And that was a high impact for you as well. The memory and mood piece. That was one. But we did discover you Dawn’t have that a p o four gene that really sets people up for Alzheimer’s and dementia. You did not have that. You have some of the other genes that can lead to memory and cognition problems. But if you set your lifestyle and your add the things into your diet to keep the blood sugar and insulin controlled.

Sheila (31:44):

I learning new skills, I think. Yeah.

Dawn (31:46):

Can I, coordination Mahjong

Sheila (31:49):

Just learned how to play mahjong, things like that. Exactly,

Dawn (31:52):

Yeah. To work on those. And

Sheila (31:55):

The pickleball is the hand-eye coordination. That’s the, yeah,

Dawn (31:58):

Exactly. And when you started with me, had you just started with pickleball, I feel like?

Sheila (32:05):

Yes. Yeah.

Dawn (32:06):

Yeah. That was all new. And so we were like, okay, all new. Yeah, great. You’ll have that piece with that. And then we’re work on brain games and different things that can help challenge your brain and learn a new language or do something that uses your brain in a different way to help keep that memory and cognition sharp. So yeah, you have a lot of the tools necessary. And I think a big thing that really isn’t going to be recognized on a genetic test, but is super important for everyone’s wellbeing is just that sense of community and having those connections with other people.

Sheila (33:39):

Yes, it was when my third child was born, so she’s 28 going to soon be 29. And I think I had told you that when I was diagnosed that long ago. They didn’t do the same testing that they do now, so I was never 100% sure that I was a full-blown celiac. So it wasn’t good to know. But it is good to know that I have been following this lifestyle for 28 years for

Dawn (34:11):

A good reason. Good reason. Yep, exactly. A valid, very valid reason. Agreed. Yeah. What would you say to someone who’s on the fence about completing a genetic test?

Sheila (34:24):

It’s funny. I just had this conversation with my son, actually. It’s expensive. It’s very expensive, but so is being overweight. To me, it was just a priceless piece of information, knowing again, that I can set myself up for longevity. I just had my first grandchild. I just found out I have a second on the way. Oh, that’s exciting. Being there for their lives is so important to me. So what can I do to live my best life going forward? And why wouldn’t I invest in that? I think especially as women, we spend so much of our lives taking care of others and making sure others are all set and making sure that others have the best of everything. And we forget about ourselves.

Dawn (35:59):

Exactly.

Sheila (36:00):

And that will make sure I’m here to take care of those littles and to make sure I get to enjoy life to the fullest.

Dawn (36:08):

Yeah. Yeah. Even with your first grandchild, we were working together and you got to do some of the overnights and help get up with the baby, and

Sheila (36:19):

Now I’m taking care of her two days a week now. So Tuesdays and Thursdays is Yaya day. I’m Yaa.

Dawn (36:25):

That’s amazing. I love that. So again, you’ve set yourself up to be capable of to do the things you want to do, and you Dawn’t have to feel held back in any way.

Sheila (36:40):

And 90 pounds ago, I Dawn’t know physically if I would be able to take care of a little, it’s a lot of physical work. It is. Again, I can’t wait to get back to strength training to hold that. She’s 18 pounds now.

Dawn (36:57):

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Sheila (36:58):

That’s a lot of extra weight to carry around.

Dawn (37:01):

Yeah. No, that’s amazing. Is there any last things that you would say to anyone or that you want to kind of leave it with?

Sheila (37:15):

Honestly, I think we talked at our last session. This is the best thing I feel like I’ve ever done for my what maybe second best? The best was definitely the sleeve surgery. That to me, just set me on course that made it, I don’t want to say easier. Again, it was hard work, but it set me on a course where I felt like I could make a drastic change in my life and be successful doing it. And then to have you come in and all of the knowledge and everything I’ve learned from you has just helped me so much in my trajectory of having a really healthy life.

Dawn (37:59):

Yeah, that’s awesome. And

Sheila (38:01):

Just being able to enjoy life to the fullest, which again, I feel like I have not enjoyed life this much in a long, long time. So now I have a new knee, so now I’m going to start paddle boarding and kayaking. I can’t wait.

Dawn (38:17):

That’s awesome. Yeah. Heck, why not? Yeah, exactly. The things that maybe you desired to do when your kids were young and you were so busy taking care of them that you now it’s like, let’s do the fun things. Go

Sheila (38:33):

Play.

Dawn (38:34):

Yeah. You have the body that is available to do these hard things that can take you anywhere you want to go. Yeah.

Sheila (38:46):

It’s a good life.

Dawn (38:47):

It is. That is amazing. So awesome. Thank you so much, Sheila, for sharing your story and explaining kind of the process of doing a genetic test and what type of information you get from it and what you can do with that information. So thank you.

Sheila (39:07):

Thank you, Dawn, for everything too. I really, I appreciate you so much and everything you’ve given me.

Dawn (39:13):

Awesome. Very good.

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