Today on the podcast:
Rachel is a Nutrigenomic Dietitian & University Lecturer on a mission to free people from the guesswork around what they should be eating.
She spent years trying to figure out what foods were right for her and ended up feeling totally confused, low in energy, and defeated by the world of wellness.
Listening to self-proclaimed “experts” in the field, she started to cut out many foods she loved and ended up malnourished – she couldn’t have been further away from her goals… to feel full of life with the body of her dreams.
Eleven years have passed, and extensive training and research into Inflammation, Genetics, and Nutrition, provided her with the knowledge to personalise her own diet, according to her DNA.
Rachel has created a framework for her patients to eat The DNA Way® and finally meet their unique requirement.
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Episode Outline
- 05:48 Rachel’s backstory and how she got into the world of nutrition
- 08:19 Inflammation and its positive and negative effects on your health and body composition
- 13:09 High-inflammatory diets and the benefits of reducing low-grade chronic inflammation
- 15:08 Rachel’s “one-size-does-not-fit-fall” approach to her work with clients
- 17:29 How to eat for your DNA
- 23:16 How principles regarding fat loss based on The DNA Way® framework have been updated over time
- 25:05 Metabolic impairment and starvation syndrome – the myths and the facts
- 30:35 How to boost your metabolism and the fads that don’t
- 35:18 Alcohol sensitivity and your genes
- 37:31 Drinking alcohol and tips for weight loss
- 39:52 Dairy – who should include it and who should avoid it based on your genetics
- 44:20 Plant-based sources of calcium for non-dairy consumers
- 46:24 Advice that Rachel would offer herself ten years ago
Key Points
- Inflammation is the body’s defense mechanism against external threats such as disease. Inflammation, on its own, shouldn’t be seen as a negative. However, what we need to do is prevent low-grade chronic inflammation or metabolic inflammation which can creep up on you if your lifestyle isn’t on point. For example, if you have excess adipose tissue or fat cells, particularly around the abdomen, you are setting the stage for inflammation which can spread throughout your whole body. This leads to issues such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, or arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which then ultimately leads to heart disease – all due to inflammation.
- The “perfect diet” is not a diet, but a lifestyle tailored around your body’s needs, and those needs are dependent on your DNA. It has been observed that there are foods that can change our genetic expression when we eat them, and this in turn leads to disease. Choose your foods and supplementation, including the amounts, based on what your body needs from the most foundational level: the DNA.
- As The DNA Way® by definition advocates a “one-size-does-not-fit-all” approach to homing into your ideal nutritional lifestyle, Rachel encourages everybody to do their due diligence and learn how to pick apart genuine nutritional principles from fads. It also pays to learn more about how your body processes food based on how it evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. An easy example is becoming more deliberate about the calories you’re consuming if you’re losing weight (to avoid metabolic impairment or starvation syndrome) and avoiding the trap of relying on “slimming teas” and other tonics to boost your metabolism.
Powerful Quotes by Rachel
- We don’t eat nutrients; we eat food. And, actually, we don’t eat single foods; we have a dietary pattern.
- The perfect diet for you is not a diet; it’s a lifestyle – it’s a way of living according to your body’s needs.
- We don’t need to be scared of dairy. Dairy can be part of a healthy, balanced diet. It features in the healthiest diets in the world such as the Mediterreanean Diet.
- If you do not eat enough calcium-rich foods at the moment at this stage of your life, wherever you may be, you’re going to be putting yourself at risk of issues with your bone density in the future.
Guest Info
Rachel Clarkson
Rachel is a Nutrigenomic Dietitian & University Lecturer on a mission to free people from the guesswork around what they should be eating.