Why you shouldn't follow your friends successful diet

Why you shouldn’t follow your friends successful diet

Dawn (00:00):

Hello and welcome to the Gastric Health Show. My name is Dawn Boxell and I know we have a lot of new followers and just want to maybe just recap who I am and what I do. So maybe a little bit about me, but I’ve been a bariatric dietician for 27 years and have literally counseled tens and thousands of bariatric patients over the years, so have learned a lot. So I really look at bariatric surgery and health and weight loss through the lens of more of a functional approach, a functional and integrative approach.

Dawn (00:49):

so that you utilize more food as medicine and really just focus on diet and lifestyle changes to your health goals. So hopefully that brings you up to speed. If you want to learn more about me and gastric health, just go to gastric health.com and you can learn all about us there and hopefully find some maybe interesting blogs or podcasts that you haven’t seen yet.

Dawn (01:27):

So we’d love for you to check out our website and hopefully find some resources that are available to you to learn from. So today’s topic is why you shouldn’t follow your friend’s successful diet. And this one I will say was interesting. I have a couple of studies that I’m really focusing on in this conversation, but it’s really just trying to give you a perspective about that all diets are not equal for each of us.

Dawn (02:11):

So I know that it’s the guidelines for food and eating and are very messy right now and there’s no one conclusive way to eat. And there’s lots of versions of diets and eating styles and behaviors that are seem so complicated or really complex in the aspect of maintaining and sustaining lifelong. So diets are what most people think is necessary to be successful with their health but I want to show

Dawn (02:59):

You that if you personalize it and you really truly understand your body, that you can look at it through a different lens in a way that works best for you and can help you attain your health goals maybe in a way you haven’t considered. So, and I will say I get it, I know that most people just want to follow some type of diet, especially one that would work and you feel like it really shouldn’t be that complicated and especially if your friend, they followed a specific diet and they lost so much weight or they got all their health conditions resolved just by following X diet.

Why wouldn’t it work for you?

Dawn (03:50):

why wouldn’t it work for you? It seems simple but I want you to see that really to date, there’s no real one diet that has been helpful across broad populations and except for the Mediterranean diet and even through the eyes of some, this is still debatable. So it wasn’t a keto diet, paleo dash, intermittent fasting, weight watchers, Atkins, whole 30 vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, bariatric high protein, high protein, low carb or low FOD map. So again, my guess is your friend’s successful diet probably wasn’t the Mediterranean diet that they followed.

Dawn (04:50):

So you feel maybe confused on what you should do and you feel torn or feel drawn to do the diet they did because they were successful. But to date, there is, I would say evidence on all of these showing success and showing no benefit. So I think you can understand that diets are something that in time I think will migrate to more personalization is what will end up being, but to just blanket state one diet is going to fix the health conditions of most Americans is unlikely.

Dawn (05:47):

But I do want to clarify that I’m not against following a quote diet. I mean I am a registered dietician. I do help guide you through better food choices for your optimal health. And in fact, there are many health conditions that require a specific diet in order to heal or just to get your health back in line.

Dawn (06:15):

Not to mention that some of you may need to even follow a very specific diet just to manage your health and that’s okay. So you know, can think about somebody who has renal disease, it’s on dialysis and somebody that has celiac disease, they’re going to have to avoid wheat and gluten for the rest of their lives. So again, I’m not claiming that diets are bad. What I am wanting you to see is that just because your friend was successful with a diet doesn’t mean that you will get the same outcomes as they experienced.

Dawn (07:02):

And nor should you just because they try just because they were successful should you just try it to see now. And I will say this conversation really isn’t about weight loss. This discussion is truly about how your diet influences your genetics that translates into your health success or health outcomes.

How your diet influences genetics that translates into your health success or health outcomes.

Dawn (07:27):

And this includes weight loss. So in these studies that I am discussing, they did highlight weight loss but I’m wanting you to see that the personalization of them is what made them have better outcomes. So there’s a couple of studies that I am digging into and one was published in 2022 and it’s titled The Polymorphisms Diet and Nutrigenomics and the other one published in 2022 titled Genetically Guided Medical Nutrition Therapy in Type two Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes, a series of in one superiority trials.

Dawn (08:15):

So these studies hopefully will kind of bring to light why just one diet doesn’t work for mass populations and why getting consistent results with any specific diet across mass populations. It has been so difficult and why we will probably never, there will always be different camps and different beliefs on why one diet is superior over others is because of the genetic piece.

Dawn (08:47):

Because you’ll have a whole grouping of successful diets for X population, but then you’ll have equally the amount of studies showing the no benefit of said diet for mass population. So this is where that genetic piece is not being evaluated or is slowly getting evaluated. So I think this is where you can start gleaning some wisdom and start starting understanding this piece, this genetic piece that makes these studies.

Dawn (09:30):

So I would say why they haven’t been successful in and why we have so polar opposites of opinions on what diet is best to follow. If you have diabetes, if you have heart disease, if you have renal disease again, I think I want you to look at it through the 30,000 foot view lens of these studies. Although fabulous, I love research. You all know with the amount of research I share trying to validate and show you the different thought processes.

Dawn (10:18):

And I would say personally when I share all these studies I love research, but I also hate research because for every positive you can show a negative. So in some studies are so skewed from the dollars that was used to produce a study that they’re influenced on their results. So in some degrees they are corrupt or I should maybe not corrupt, but questionable you would question the validity of them.

Dawn (10:59):

So again, I think that’s where if you sort through all of these, you can see how this personalized approach is really where we need to go and why we have been in such inability to find something that can work for a mass population or a large amount of body of people and be successful. And I would say in the bariatric community, you guys have probably been at the top of diet consumers, meaning you’ve probably tried more diets than any other health condition.

How the genetic piece really does help

Dawn (11:52):

So I feel like explaining this and giving you this background is important because it can can help you understand why something didn’t work for you in the past two, it can maybe help you understand why maybe even after bariatric surgery you are still struggling to maintain a healthy weight or to even get to a healthy weight. This is where this genetic piece really does help. It really helps give you insight and helps guide you.

Dawn (12:30):

So I’m excited to see more and more studies come out of these. I love the studies that I’m sharing. I think they’re super interesting. Again, it’s information and I was getting ready to say earlier and kind of got distracted. But all of these studies, although I can share both sides on any topic and it could be for or against what I want you to take from any research in my personal opinion is if there first I would say one, get your genetics done because I think that sorts through it all.

Dawn (13:19):

But before this, you really didn’t have that option. That wasn’t an opportunity for many people. So when you look at these studies on any one side, when you say, okay, I have X number of studies saying these results and I have X number of studies saying the opposite of that result what I want you to see on those is that it depends on the person. And for those people that it worked for, how awesome they found something that worked for their health and helped them hit their health goals.

Dawn (13:59):

And the people that it didn’t work for personally I think is the genetic piece and it is not, we haven’t dialed that in for them and that’s why it didn’t work. So to me, that’s where the love and hate relationship with research is because you can see both sides of it but I think it’s again, you’re trialing what works best for you.

Dawn (14:27):

And that’s where when you do the genetic testing, there’s no guessing. This is your personal roadmap, this is your ability to have a personalized guide written out for you. So if you have continued to struggle or you are beginning to struggle, I would encourage you to consider a genetic test because of that. And that allows us to dial in and really make an impact in probably no other way possible that would work for you. So let’s dig into some of this so that you can really see where I’m going with it.

Dawn (15:19):

But I do want to explain a couple of terms first. So genetics is just how the vitamins and minerals from the foods that you eat influence your genes. And then the nutrigenomics is how your diet influences the genetic expression and how it impacts other areas of other systems, other body systems, for example, diets rich in fats and sugar are associated with abnormal methylation patterns of peptide genes that control food intake and could be involved in obesity development.

Dawn (15:55):

Additionally deficiencies of various different micronutrients like vitamin A, any B vitamins, selenium, potassium, iron are linked with hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes that play a crucial role in cancer. And then nutritional metabolomics identifies the metabolic changes caused by specific nutrients or diets and it involves the study of metabolism under various genetic and environmental stresses and food components and nutrient interactions and how they alter metabolic pathways in different ways. And additionally, they find that higher saturated fatty acid consumption results in a gene expression profile that is typical of glucose intolerance liver lipid accumulation.

Dawn (16:57):

so like a fatty liver inflammation and increased neuropeptide expression and leading to the development of obesity. And then diets lacking in folate and choline are linked with dysregulation of lipid metabolism genes and predisposing to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. And then additionally, or similarly I should say chromium deficiency induces downregulation of insulin signaling genes which may lead to type two diabetes.

How the outcomes of your health and foods you’re choosing regularly on a daily basis consistently helps

Dawn (17:37):

So I mean you can see that certain vitamins and minerals impact certain genes in specific ways and then certain food properties influence metabolism and how your genes are expressed during certain environments or in stresses or how it’s altered. So the food components or nutrients, you pull out the different properties of food and that is influencing different pathways in different ways.

Dawn (18:18):

So you can see that food impacts your health overall and how the outcomes of your health and how the foods on you’re choosing regularly on a daily basis consistently, not perfectly, but consistently is impacting your health outcomes and if you have disease states or if you are in a healthy state or health maintenance state.

Dawn (18:52):

But I want to go deeper in this one study because it was really cool in how it compared conventional diet recommendations to more of a personalized genetic-based diet recommendation. And it showed the differences in the health outcomes by doing it on the, it’s literally just three cases, three people. They did a conventional diet recommendation, recorded all the results, then had them do a personalized genetic based diet recommendation and produced all the results and showing the differences is what this did.

Dawn (19:38):

So it’s literally on three males and I’m going to go through each one of them and what they presented with and how the outcomes resulted with doing a conventional just blanket diet approach compared to a personalized genetic based approach. So case number one was a 45 year old male patient with obesity, high blood sugar and night eating syndrome. His fasting glucose was 12.. 112.

Dawn (20:14):

And then he reported body weight gain in the past five years despite exercising twice weekly and difficulty in controlling his weight and appetite since adolescents. Then the patient also consumed a branch chain amino acid supplement. And this was because he was trying to decrease the muscle soreness during resistance exercise sessions that he was doing. But the patient’s main goal was to lose weight and have better.

A diet of high in fiber & carbohydrates but low in protein.

Dawn (20:46):

Blood sugar balance. So the conventional diet intervention that was established it was recommended that he follow a diet high end fiber in carbohydrates in low end protein. This was divided into three meals and three snacks. And this was in hopes to reduce the glucose spikes. And then he was also instructed to take a vitamin D supplementation to improve his low level and he was to follow this plan for eight weeks and then they retested his levels. So after eight weeks he lost six and a half pounds, but he had no change in his hemoglobin a1c and his fasting glucose went to 106.

Dawn (21:41):

So he was at 112 and he dropped it to 106. So nothing crazy. I mean still good but nothing crazy then. So they did that for eight weeks and then they did his G genetic profile and the most relevant genetic information from his test showed he was a high genetic risk score for type two diabetes indicating that the patient could benefit from a high protein diet to help improve insulin resistance and beta cell function.

Dawn (22:20):

And then he was a high genetic risk score for habitual coffee consumption, which is linked to improved glucose responses to a low fat diet. Then he was a high genetic risk score for elevated fasting glucose, which is associated with improved glucose metabolism when consuming a low fat diet. And then additionally, some of the genetic SNPs that was informative was he had prolonged duration of elevated melatonin levels and therefore it kind of tells them that delaying breakfast might reduce the risk of type two diabetes for him.

Dawn (23:04):

And then he also there are with his genetic SNPs, there were some beneficial effects of a lower calorie low fat and low carbohydrate diet. So the patient was recommended to and additionally there was some SNPs on his exercise showing that more endurance training was better for him as opposed to resistance training. So they did replace his resistance exercise with endurance training and he was told to avoid any melatonin supplements, which I don’t recall that he was even taking.

Dawn (23:40):

He was to continue the vitamin D supplementation. He was also instructed to eat during a timed window of 10:30 AM and sunset. So he was intermittent fasting and then he was to follow a low carb, low fat diet, but the calorie level was pretty standard I think for him it was, yeah, 2200 calories. So both his conventional diet recommendation was 2200 calories 50% carbs, 32% fat, 18% protein. And then his genetically guided one was 22 thou, 2200 calories 49% carbs, 20%, 26% fat in 25% of protein. So they tweaked how the type of the calories, how it was distributed amongst the different macronutrients.

Dawn (24:51):

And then fiber for him was around 30 grams on both conventional and genetically guided recommendations. What was his results? So he did all of these for eight weeks. So the first conventional one he did for eight weeks and then the genetically guided one he did for an additional eight weeks and he lost after the second genetically guided eight weeks, he lost 16 and a half pounds compared to his six and a half pounds.

Dawn (25:28):

So big difference there. And then his fasting glucose lowered to 89 and if you remember, he started at 122, or sorry 112. So he got up down to normal levels. His A1C dropped eight and a half points, and additionally the reduction in body weight resulted in remission of his pre-diabetes. So he no longer was like he was when he started the conventional guided eight week diet trial. As you can see, you broke this diet, it was the same calories. So he did the same exact calorie amount each day, but it was broken down slightly different on the protein and carbohydrates.

Dawn (26:24):

So he had less carbohydrates more fats, more proteins than the conventional guided one. And he definitely got better results just by making those small tweaks because they knew the genetic SNPs that he was at risk of developing different disease states. And so they kind of modeled or made the recommendations for his plan to be more specific so that it would help prevent the onset or reduce those outcomes of those types of health conditions like the type two diabetes that he was facing because of his genes.

Dawn (27:10):

So it just goes to show you that tweaking things by not guessing, but doing a genetic test will help you dial that in so that you can get better results in the same amount of time that you did with the conventional. Case number two. So this was a 54 year old male with overweight and type two diabetes. His goal was to reduce his fasting glucose of 155 lose weight, lower his serum triglycerides and cholesterol, and to control his blood pressure through lifestyle changes.

Dawn (27:55):

The patient was already exercising four times per week and claimed to be very careful with his nutritional choices. So the conventional dietary intervention recommendation was to do 2000 calorie diet of 50% carbs, 20% fat, 30% protein, 30 grams of fiber, three meals, three snacks daily. And they do, if you click the links on table two in the study, they do tell you of the meal timing for every one of them because if you recall, the first one was intermittent fasting.

Dawn (28:33):

So they broke down when he had to eat his first meal in the conventional which started at 7:00 AM and his last meal or snack I should say ended at 9:30 PM something like that. So third meal. Third meal. So you can check, or it might have been the third snack, they have a 2:00 AM so I’m not sure about that one. But again, you can click on the table two in this study and it gives you the timing of all of that of how they each, the timing of each their meals.

Dawn (29:15):

So let’s see here, so three meals, three snacks, and then the results. So this is a conventional results of this 2000 calorie diet 30 grams fiber, three meals, three snacks. And the results were he lost eight and 8.8 pounds. There was no changes in his a1c and his fasting glucose dropped to 145.

Dawn (29:41):

So he was at 155 and he dropped it to 145 and he had marginal changes with his blood pressure. Then they did the personalized genetic, the lifestyle intervention, which was with the genetic test. And the relevant genetic information that they found was he had a low genetic risk score for habitual coffee consumption associated with beneficial health outcomes following a high fat diet. He had genetic SNPs associated with a reduction in insulin in beta cell homeostatic model assessment or the HOMA-B following a high fat diet.

A greater risk for impaired blood sugar control following a high carbohydrate consumption.

Dawn (30:28):

And then he had a greater risk for impaired blood sugar control following a high carbohydrate consumption and then greater risk for type two diabetes and related comorbidities when consuming diets, rich and saturated fats, desserts and milk. So the patient followed this personalized genetic plan for eight weeks and it was the same when it came to calories.

Dawn (30:59):

So he did 2000 calories as well, but the macronutrients were shifted from to 45% in carbs, 35% fat, and 20% in protein. So they decreased the carbs by 5%, they increased the fat by 15% and they lowered the protein by 20%. And then they had him do 25 grams of fiber, no changes in meal timing. So he was not intermittent fasting and they asked him to avoid desserts and milk and. His results were he lost 4.4 pounds, his fasting glucose dropped to 108 and originally he was, oops, 155.

Dawn (31:50):

So that was a significant drop. And then he dropped 12 points on his blood pressure, his A1C dropped, let me see here, I have it to six, but let me see something here. His A1C was, let me look on this table. Table four gives you all of the details. So it dropped 4.8 points compared to no drop with the conventional.

Dawn (32:29):

So he was able to drop that A1C significantly and then his cholesterol dropped from 210 to 200. But there were no changes in his triglycerides even with making that change. So again, it’s just showing you that one. He did lose more weight on the conventional approach. But it didn’t help his blood sugar and didn’t help improve those numbers in any way. Whereas he maybe lost less, he lost less weight with the genetic approach. But he really dialed in all of those health indicators.

Dawn (33:14):

So over time he’s going to end up losing, continued to lose more weight with that. But additionally, he’s impacting the right thing. He’s impacting his blood sugar, his insulin, his cholesterol, his triglycerides, blood pressure. All those, or not his triglycerides, but I would guess over time that may lower. So it just goes to show that you, just because you’re losing weight doesn’t mean you’re impacting those numbers perfectly.

Dawn (33:43):

So he lost eight and a half pounds. But he didn’t change his a1c and he barely changed his fasting glucose. Doesn’t make sense, but he literally tweaked what he did with his macronutrient profile. By percentage points in significant ways and that without doing a crazy diet. He didn’t have to intermittent fast, he didn’t have to do a keto diet. But he tweaked it enough that met his personal needs. That he got results that really impacted his health conditions. And then case number three, so this is our last person. And this was a 67 year old normal weight male with type two diabetes. Experienced experiencing dysregulated fasting glucose levels of 122.

The patient reported experiencing depressive symptoms.

Dawn (34:39):

And the patient reported experiencing depressive symptoms, which was verified by the back depression inventory score of 15. And then so they made their conventional diet recommendations and. He was to follow a 1,750 calorie diet with 45% carbs. 30% fat, 25% protein, 30 grams of fiber, three meals, three snacks, and to take a vitamin D supplementation. Because he was low after eight weeks. There was no improvements detected in body weight, blood pressure, a1c or fasting glucose.

Dawn (35:19):

So there was n, he experienced no improvements. So then they did the genetic guided diet and and it was all based on his genetic profile. And the results of his genetic test showed that he was a low genetic risk score for type two diabetes. But yet he had type two diabetes pay attention to that where. So this means that a low protein diet have been shown to improve outcomes. So he doesn’t have the genetic risk for type two diabetes.

Dawn (36:01):

So that doesn’t mean he’s suppose to do a high protein diet, low carb. The traditional thoughts are we should all follow a high protein, low carb diet, although again. I’ve shared studies on how they truly do benefit some people. And this just goes to show why the results are so skewed and. It doesn’t work for every person and it’s because of these genetic SNPs. That it’s not going to work for all of you. It not all of you have the right genes for this to work for.

Low genetic risk force or for Type 2 diabetes.

Dawn (36:38):

So he was a low genetic risk force or for type two diabetes, but yet he had type two diabetes. So a low protein diet is a better mix for him. And then he’s a low genetic risk for score for habitual coffee intake. Which has been associates with improvement of health following a high fat diet. And if you recall on a high risk score for the habitual coffee intake was a low fat diet. So it’s an inverse and then a low genetic risk score for elevated fasting glucose. Which he has a elevated fasting glucose even though he has a low genetic risk for it.

Dawn (37:19):

So let’s turn that gene on. That’s what I want you to be thinking about. And then for this, they recommend a high fat diet may improve the glucose metabolism. He was also a carry of the genetic SNPs associates with and reduces risk of hyperinsulinemia. In insulin resistance upon adherence to high omega-3 and low omega six diet.

Dawn (37:47):

So the genetic guided diet the patient followed for eight weeks and. It was a Greek Mediterranean diet high in omega S. And low in omega six it was 1800 calories, 47% carbs, 37% fat, and 16% protein 16. So that’s saying that’s probably sounds scary to some people to be that low but again. You’re dialing this in to the person and what their genetic needs are. And then he had 26 grams of fiber. So I want you to see a correlation though the fiber really doesn’t change a whole lot . Between all three of these on the recommendations.

Why fiber is so important in your diet

Dawn (38:31):

So it just goes to show you that the fiber is so important and to get 26 grams of fiber. It’s going to require carbohydrates because fiber comes from carbohydrates. You’re not getting it from fat or protein, it comes from carbohydrates. So what are the results? The results for this patient with the genetic guided approach. His fasting glucose dropped from 112 or he dropped 212 from 122. And his A1C dropped 3.6 points and he lost three pounds. Which if you recall, he was at normal weight and he really wasn’t trying to lose weight.

Dawn (39:20):

That wasn’t the goal. It was more of his blood glucose, his type two diabetes and his fasting blood glu glucose was elevates. And if you remember, the conventional netted him zero changes. It did not improve anything, didn’t improve his blood pressure, his a1c, fasting glucose, nothing. So whereas this approach where he got more of that Mediterranean diet truly. Did help improve his numbers and it started go making things go in the right directions.

Dawn (39:55):

So as you can see, following your friend’s, successful diet may not net you the same benefits and. Equally the same following a certain calorie level may miss important food properties that your body needs to maintain health. So it’s not about just a certain calorie number, it’s not about a certain name is diet. It is truly dialing it in to your body, your genetic makeup because there is no one. You are the only one that carries your genetic makeup.

Dawn (40:34):

And hopefully this has given you some insight that taking a more personalized diet approach. May be the missing link to achieving your health goals. So I truly hope this has helped. I hope this has given you maybe a different perspective to think about. When it comes to genetics and which is why I love the three x four genetic test. We look at pathways and how they communicate together.

Conclusion

Dawn (41:03):

We look at the big picture, the whole body working as one. It’s not just a genetic SNP per se, and we are really addressing your body and. How we can optimize your health. So the gastric health membership is probably the best way to get into our genetic, the 3×4 genetic test. You are welcome to buy the 3×4 genetic test on your own.

Dawn (41:35):

You can do that. You would just need my code because you need a practitioner to interpret it which I can do for you. And I have a package that you can do the whole genetic test and the interpretation and. Work which is fine or the most valued or high value. Most economical way is to do it with our membership. And you can get a discount on that whole package, the genetic package testing package, and. Which makes it super affordable and gives you that flexibility to work with me for months

Dawn (42:16):

so that it can be you have time to work through and make changes because change doesn’t happen overnight. So I would encourage you to check that out@gastrichealth.com. Check out our genetic testing options are gastric health membership. So that it’s super affordable to do and you get to dial in your health that no one else has. So you guys have a great week and we will talk to you next time. Bye-bye.

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