EverythingHealth: Your Genes Determine Which Diet Works

Why do some diets work better than others?  Why can your best friend lose 10 lbs with a low carb diet and your weight just hovers?  Why can some people eat just about everything, and still stay skinny?  It's all in the genes.  Mindy Dopler Nelson, Ph.D., of Stanford U. reported the results of her study at the American Heart Associate conference.  She found that a single nuceotide polymorphism caused women to loose 5X as much weight on the Atkins diet, compared with women who did not have the gene.
(A single nucleotide polymorphism is a DNA sequence variation that can create a copying error for proteins that change how a gene works and can be the site of certain disease processes)

Dr. Nelson studied women on 4 popular weight loss diets.  (Atkins, Zone, Learn and Ornish)  Within each of the diet groups, there were women who had lost over 15kg as well as people who gained 5 kg.  These women had no statistically significant differences in body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, insulin or glucose.  The only difference was the genotype.

Remember, that everyone loses weight when you limit calories.  But how you get those calories seems to make a difference in how much weight you lose over time. Some of us are low-carb losers and some are low-fat losers.  At this time there is [...]

Just readin' about the controversy around Diet Pepsi's new 'Skinny Can' - http://on.msnbc.com/dKieOz - and ran across this (which might actually be useful :D).

As someone who's been called to my face (by a professed friend, no less), a 'skinny bitch who doesn't have to work for it and says mean things', I find myself fairly disgusted by the fact that I choose to treat my body in a way that's healthy for me and that as a result I tend to fluctuate only very little in my weight, which tends to be on the low side, being used to deride me. As it happens, the 'mean things' I say are generally things people don't want to hear about self-responsibility for one's own well-being. I choose to take care of myself, yes, and it shows, yes. Genetically, I inherited a slight frame and when I gain weight it's internally around my organs, so I really can't carry it and feel at all good. I like to feel good, and I like it so much that I do what it takes to be in a place where I do, physically, mentally, and spiritually. If you don't like that, you can lump it. I'm not gonna let myself go to appease others, and if you'd rather cut me down than build yourself up, you're on your own with that. I believe you have a personal best, and when you're at it you'll be fine with me being at mine. Until then, feel free to wallow in your self-pity but don't expect me to get down in that muck with you.

On the subject of the cans, who cares. Models who get work in the mainstream fashion industry have to fit the samples so there's going to be a general 'look' amongst them. Designers have to display the garments in a way that makes you want to buy them, and beautiful, statuesque women are viscerally attractive whether anyone wants to admit it or not. As the planet becomes more heavily populated, gaps between people of any one type and any other become more pronounced as the elite in various fields excel to such a degree in whatever they do as to seem almost another specie, like the difference many profess to see between 'models' and 'regular' humans. The flip side is that as otherworldly as anyone may appear to become, we're all still just humans, with feelings (except, ya know, sociopaths, who have also become commonplace and who are by definition inhuman monsters). Why does it have to be about what's wrong with one group that makes us better than them, rather than about how we can all be the best at being who we are?

Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

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