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Is Obesity Genetic?

hwcoachkyle

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Is Obesity Genetic?

If you want to learn how working with a coach can help you to discover your unique environment to match your genes, schedule a free discovery session today.





Transcript:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Esoteric Wellness Blog. I am your host, Coach Kyle.

So today I kind of wanted to follow up on a previous episode where we talked about weight loss and. It's kind of in response to something I hear a lot and I just wanted to address by itself, and that a lot of people think, a lot of people say that there's a genetic component to obesity. And I wanna clear up what genetic component there actually is and the way in which it works, 'cause there are people out there who believe thatIf you have the obesity gene or something like that, you're just destined to be overweight. And that's not how it works at all. So I wanna clear that up in this episode.

So first of all, there is absolutely a genetic component. Part of the picture here with just obesity, maintaining healthy weight is genetic. So how I like to describe this, how it it actually does play a role, is that in any given set of variables in an environment. So we took a bunch of random people and we set this up, we controlled it in a way that they're all eating the same diet, they're all living the same lifestyle, essentially identical environments. you're always going to end up with a range of outcomes as far as weight.

Some people are genetically predisposed to be heavier. Some people are genetically predisposed to be thinner. So you're always gonna end up with this distribution of weights in a population with identical environments. Okay, so there's always that at play.

So what this means in is in any given environment, there's gonna be a group of people, a subset of people that are gonna have to work a little harder to maintain a healthy weight. There's gonna be a subset of people that it just comes easy to in a given environment. Okay, and that's that's not fair. That's not what people wanna hear necessarily, but if you struggle with weight loss,might be part of the reason.

Now, it's only part of the picture though, and I would argue it's a smaller part of the picture as far as significance. What's really more important is that environment. Our diet, our nutrition, our lifestyle, that's all stuff we can change, we can control to various degrees. We can't control our genetics, we can't change our genetics. So if we've been gifted genetics that make it more difficult for us to maintain a healthy weight, we can't change that. We just have to learn to deal with it.

And this is why I so often say, there's no one diet, there's no one plan, there's no one Approach to lifestyle or exercise that works for everybody because we all have different genetic makeups and it's about finding what works best with your specific genetic makeup. Because different people with different genetics, they're going to metabolize food differently. They're going to expend energy at different rates. They're going to hold on to extra energy in different ways. We're all different. Our bodies work differently.

So while we can't change our genetics, we can absolutely change our environment in what we eat, how much we eat, what we do, how we live our lives. And those different environments just need to be adjusted a little bit person to person to match their genetic makeup. And this perfectly explains whyThere's such a dramatic increase in obesity in recent decades.

I mean, it was striking to me, I saw not long ago a photograph from the early 1900s during a period of time when freak shows were popular. And I'm not gonna dive into the ethics of freak shows here, but what's done is done. But there was a photograph of a man who was being advertised as the world's fattest man. And looking at that photograph, comparing to today, you know, he's relatively unremarkable in terms of being overweight. And in that short span of time, you know, there hasn't been enough generations of of human beings to change our genetic makeup that much. But what has drastically changed is our environment. The food we're eating today is far, far, far different than it was just, you know, 100 years ago. The way we live our lives is far, far, far different than it was just 100 years ago.

So the environment has changed dramatically, and what has happened is that distribution of weight outcomes based on genetic makeup, that mean or average weight in the middle has shifted with the environment. So whereas before, the environment created it in a way so that only those people with genetic makeups at that far extreme end were becoming overweight. Whereas today, the environment has changed. Much more of that distribution is in that overweight, obese area. So our genes haven't changed any significant way in that amount of time, but the environment sure has.

So that just shows that the environment is playing a much more significant role in that outcome. And this, again, this is why we all need to find what works best for us with our specific genetic makeup and just adjust our environment as needed. And that's what I was talking about in that previous episode. Our energy intake versus our energy output. It's really, again, what it all comes down to.

But yes, our genes, our DNA is part of that picture as far asHow specifically we need to adjust those inputs person to person. And I know it's not fair that some of us have to work harder than others. It's it's not in that way. But that's just how DNA works. That's how this stuff works.

And we can expand this out to talking about a lot of conditions that have a genetic component where there's. you know, some of us have a genetic predisposition to develop a certain disease, it's really working in that same way. It's It's a lot more significantly dependent on our environment than it is our DNA. There's exceptions to that, of course, but they're relatively few. So if I'm more genetically predisposed to develop colon cancer, it's still heavily, heavily dependentmuch more so than my DNA on my environment, how I live my life, food I eat, how I move my body, my mental health, all that stuff matters way, way more.

So I hope that clears up that issue for anybody who was thinking about it, was wondering. And again, we just have to learn to work with with our genes, with our genetic makeup, and it's gonna vary person to person.

But I can see how it might be easy to put more emphasis on on our DNA when we see things like entire families who are overweight or obese. While yes, they probably all have they they will, they absolutely all share genetic makeup that might predispose them to be more overweight in a given environment than others. But they're also sharing behavioral patterns, lifestyles. I mean, people within the same family units often live similar lives in similar ways. They're often eating the same foods. They're often engaging in the same amounts of physical activity. So again, it's much more so environment. It's just not simply genetic makeup. We. While we do inherit our genes from our our families, our parents, we also inherit a lot of behavioral patterns, a lot of emotional patterns, a lot of thought patterns, a lot of beliefs and expectations. We inherit all that from our parents as well, unless we're, you know, separated from them at birth. But and again, this. It's always complex. It's always way more complex than a simple answer. We can't simply blame it on one or even two things, such as genetics or diet. It's always much more to the picture than that. And it's adjusting all those variables to match who we are individually.

So we'll end it here. Thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning in. And as always, you are beautiful, you are loved. Until next time.

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ADAPT Certified Funcional Health Coach (A-CFHC)

Disclaimer:

I am not a licensed medical physician. As a coach I am not providing health care, medical, or therapy services or attempting to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any physical, mental, or emotional issue. 

The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before undertaking a new health regimen.

Do not disregard medical advice or delay seeking medical advice because of information you read on this website. Do not start or stop any medications without speaking to your medical or mental health provider.

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