No one wants to be a part of the 91% of people that abandon their New Year’s resolutions.
But why do people fail?
There are 2 main reasons.
First, their goals are vague and they don’t have a personalized plan.
Second, they get their health insights from bad sources.
Got Health Goals?
Let’s say you’ve got goals to lose weight and eat healthier (like everyone around this time of year).
Ok, so you’re eating less sugar, but now what?
You have to look at your DNA.
SelfDecode analyzes over 200 million genetic variants to help you discover game changing health insights, like finding out what is the best diet for your body.
This is more than any other company in the world.
If I take a look at my DNA, this is what it looks like:
Using this, SelfDecode suggests that I follow a Mediterranean diet, and then gives me a list of recipes that I can add to my meal plan that would work for my unique body.
If you wanted to dive into the details, you can see what genetic variants you carry for genes like the FTO gene – a “master switch” that controls a variety of other weight-associated genes and pathways in our bodies.
Or the MC4R gene, which plays a role in appetite regulation and energy expenditure.
But with this, you’re able to easily answer the question of “What would a healthy diet look like for MY body?” and start building the roadmap to reach your health goal.
Is All Health Advice Legitimate?
Many people want to decrease their anxiety and depression or increase their mental clarity, and the same set of rules applies here.
There are hundreds of supplements that claim to help with anxiety, but how do you know which one works for you?
As I’ve mentioned in past emails, 5-HTP was a game changer for my anxiety.
But some of my close friends, after hearing my story and trying it out, were disappointed to find that it didn’t do the same for them.
And that’s because I carry the negative variant of the TPH2 gene, which encodes an enzyme that is involved in the synthesis of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in mood regulation, among other things.
My variant wasn’t properly encoding this enzyme, which left me with very low serotonin – something that 5-HTP helps a lot with!
Sometimes, higher glutamate (from lower GAD1) can also increase anxiety.
Our mood report looks at 84,205 genetic variants to then give you 204 recommendations, prioritized in the order that they will help you.
This is where I highlight the importance of good sources vs bad sources of health insights.
Getting your health insights from an influencer is bad already, but getting it from any DNA company can potentially be worse.
Almost all genetic companies out there only look at 1 or 2 genetic variants and then say something like:
“WE GOT IT! This is definitely the reason why you’re feeling anxious! You are going to change your life because of this one suggestion we’re going to give you that will impact this ONE genetic variant.”
Obviously, that’s some great marketing. Who wouldn’t want to hear that. The issue is it’s not real.
There are thousands of genes that impact your mood, and just looking at one to determine your risk is almost as accurate as a coin flip. Almost.
That’s why we do Polygenic Risk Scoring, analyzing thousands and sometimes millions of genes per health topic to then give you your risk score and recommendations that address the majority of your genes, not just the one.
If you want health insights that actually reflect your risks and recommendations that can actually change your life, you need to look at thousands of genes, not just the one or two.
SelfDecode does just that.
