The Nourished CEO Podcast Using Your Genes To Choose Your Diet with John O'Connor
Experience and research has shown me that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition. We all have our unique needs. That’s why it’s crucial to find what works best for you. What if there is a technology that examines your DNA to help determine the best diet for you?
About John O’Conner
John O’Connor is the Founder of Gene Food and the host of the Gene Food Podcast. Like many who make their way into the wellness world, John was inspired to create a platform that could empower people to find personalized health solutions after he realized his health and dietary needs didn’t fit the template offered by conventional nutrition and medicine.
After his career in the NYC startup world left him stressed, burned out, physically sick, and unsatisfied with what he saw as the cookie-cutter approach of traditional medicine, John became a “citizen scientist” and turned to deep medical research as well as alternative forms of medicine to restore his health.
A passionate “bio-individualist,” who believes there is no one size fits all approach to nutrition, his current journey is one of self-discovery aimed at gaining as much insight as possible as to how his unique physiology works. John’s role at Gene Food is to help condense and distill the latest studies and commentary on nutrition science and nutrigenomics and communicate the core message to the Gene Food audience.
Using Genetic Information to Stay Healthy
The factors that make up your health are wholly unique to you. John is on a mission to help people discover what makes them unique and find a diet to match. His program, Gene Food, takes a genetic-level look at cardiometabolic health. By identifying different phenotypes of heart disease, individuals can focus on the diet that’s most healthy to them. With heart disease being one of the largest health concerns in the country, taking care of cardiovascular health is central to longevity. Beyond that, understanding your genetics also provides important information into everything from getting optimal sleep, caffeine consumption, susceptibility to allergies, and how the body detoxifies.
Genetic Reports as an Important Tool
When I got my report from Genen Food, so many things clicked into place. I found that the report confirmed many aspects of my own experience, such as my reactions to sugar. Other things were a bit more surprising, like warnings to reduce my blood pressure. John explains that the report is a tool to help people achieve an understanding of their cardiovascular footprint. Being unique, the more information that you have, the better you can build a diet that’s best for your lifestyle and health.
What would you like to learn from a genetic report? Leave a comment on the episode page!
Got a question you’d love to hear me answer on the show? Leave me a voice message here!
In This Episode
- Finding a passion in helping people find their best diets [7:57]
- Whether or not DNA-based diets actually work [13:00]
- How Gene Food works to guide people’s food decisions [20:43]
- Understanding health considerations and geography [39:20]
- Balancing new genetic information with various personal experiences [45:00]
Quotes
“What we need out there in our conversations in nutrition and the conversations that take place in medicine is a movement towards systems that can identify differentiation points between people that can put them on paths that are customized.” [11:19]
“Your cardiovascular health is probably the most important thing you can control with nutrition. It’s one of the most important things you can do to be in an optimal state of health.” [24:07]
“We’re trying to empower people to eat in a way that makes them healthy.” [48:22]
“The genetics is one piece of the puzzle. It’s not the whole puzzle. When you get into the biomarkers, make sure you’re honoring the spirit of the biomarkers…. At the end of the day, you gotta figure out what works for you.” [58:20]
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