Who are you?

I am fascinated with DNA. I have always believed that each individual is completely different from the next to be it what your body craves, how your body processes food, what type of exercise is best for you, if you are allergic to something or not and most importantly, where you are from.

Years ago I met a woman who had been a vegetarian for most of her life.  One day she was walking by a burger joint and literally had to have one.  It was if her senses just went wild.  After that burger, she began to explore protein in a very different way eating anything from beef cheeks to chicken feet.  Within the first six months of making that change, she dropped 15 pounds, her energy completely changed and so did her skin.  Obviously eating meat was something her body needed.

I read another article recently about a woman who learned about her body chemistry when it came to working out and nutrition from DNAFit.   She used to work out every day and this test told her that her body should work out in a very different way if she wants to see her best results.  She went with it by slowing down the workout to only 3 times a week.  Lo and behold, she was in the best shape ever after those changes.  It was what her body needed.

In the NYTimes there was an article about two people who found their ancestry.  One found out that their mother, who never shared her family history, said her family died, wasn’t telling the truth.  Her son found out after she died that she had a brother and was of a mixed racial background that she must have wanted to remain part of her past.  Another person discovered that his Mom had an affair with his father’s best friend who he found out was his father.

I did 23 and me over a year ago.  There wasn’t really much that I learned but nonetheless found the data fascinating. Sharing the information with others will hopefully be good for medical research.  We are moving into a different world at a fast and furious pace.  I have always been a believer in transparency so knowing where you come from and understanding your genetics, is a step in the right direction.

Just think if everyone got tested, perhaps the people who hate others for no reason would find out that their gene pool includes the people that they hate.

Comments (Archived):

  1. Pointsandfigures

    I am a mutt. Mom was German and Norwegian. Dad was Scotch Irish, and has American Indian blood. Mom was a northerner Dad was a southerner. So maybe biscuits and gravy with Lutefisk for me! Most of all, I am just an average American. Sort of like that.

    1. Susan Rubinsky

      I’m a mutt too. My Dad is Lithuanian and my Mom is Czechoslovakian (from the Slovak, not the Czech, side), German and Irish. My Aunt (my Mom’s sister) recently did 23andme and the National Geographic DNA test — it indicated those areas of the world but also Swedish. I would say this explains why I detest summer and high heat/humidity. I am that person sitting in the shade soaked in sweat once it hits 70 degrees. Totally a Baltic Sea girl!

  2. awaldstein

    I’m super fascinated as well.Less from ancestry, more from advances in Nutrigenomics which is crazy disruptive to our world and our lives.You might like this post:First thoughts on Nutrigenomics http://arnoldwaldstein.com/

  3. Susan Rubinsky

    We are in our infancy in understanding how how our genetics influence our bodies. Exciting times!

      1. Susan Rubinsky

        looking now 🙂

  4. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Well now I’ll have to check out DNAFit!Sadly, a lot of people are frightened to use 23andMe because of some bad press they’ve gotten. There’s a fear that they’ll let insurance companies buy the data and deny people insurance, that kind of thing.Husband and I just got our 23andMe results this week. There was only one little heritage surprise. I’m .4% Ashkenazi Jewish and .4% Iberian, which was really fun to learn. (Being what I thought was mostly Scandinavian, I didn’t anticipate anything besides that and some of my British heritage.)I do feel good about helping add to our shared knowledge that may some day help people live longer, healthier lives. I also plan to write to them and tell them that I experience ASMR. It would be *really* cool to learn how ASMR is linked to our DNA. (After all, they tell me if I’m likely to drink instant coffee. ASMR is way more interesting, ha!)For people who are apprehensive about the privacy issues, from what I could see, I could have used a completely fake name, and they did not ask for my social security number or anything like that.

    1. Gotham Gal

      People are freaked. I get it but I don’t get it

      1. Kirsten Lambertsen

        Stuff like this hasn’t helped:https://www.scientificameri…Scientific American! Do they have a viewpoint or agenda that I’m not aware of? Seems so weird.

        1. Gotham Gal

          Like Facebook doesn’t have massive data on all of us?

  5. Alison Chace

    I generally like anything that you like, and I have been wanting to do this, however I am one of “those”…meaning I haven’t done the DNA testing simply because I am not sure I want crazies who may be in office (guess who) to have that kind of DNA info down the road. Somehow seems more personal than all the data that FB, Google, Twitter etc has on me. Paranoid perhaps, but stranger things have happened in our history…Maybe I’ll change my mind.

  6. Mahvash Nejad

    I, with my husband , did the 23 and me more than a year ago and I have to say we were super disappointed. We paid $200 each, $400 total. We received the results and were very excited to see details on it, our ancestry, possible health risks and more. Unfortunately it was specifically noted on the results that its reference were Europeans. Being a first generation Iranian in the US, we felt that were cheated on as we studied the information on 23 and me website extensively before spending $400 on it and there was no mention of it. Till now, we still see them as a fraud company with obsolete information like the probability of having dimples or ring finger being longer than index finger!

    1. Gotham Gal

      that sucks