Unlocking the Power of Lifestyle Genetics For High Performance and Health
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Today Karen Wojciechowski, an integrative nutrition health coach with a master’s degree in environmental toxicology, interviews Dr. Jones about his favorite daily high performance hacks to skyrocket performance, as well as the value of genetics testing for customizing the healthiest possible lifestyle for you.
Top High Performance Hacks for Men and Women
Men: Intermittent fasting. Dr. Jones explains that eating two meals a day — one at 12 or 1pm and another at 5 or 6pm — makes men more productive in the morning and helps the body to better utilize fat and produce energy on an ongoing basis. In the morning, he allows that you can drink a small green or protein shake after working out, or have matcha tea and coconut oil or bulletproof coffee. Of course, you won’t gain any benefit from intermittent fasting unless you eat a whole food-based diet. Dr. Jones doesn’t recommend intermittent fasting for women, as it may present some hormonal challenges.
Women: His recommendation for women is about making a psychological as well as physiological shift to create an identity of someone who is healthier by making small habit changes. Dr. Jones has seen women get the best results by taking baby steps toward shifting identity to create long term results in terms of exercise and eating right, as opposed to going all out on one big lifestyle change at once. He recommends starting slow and adopting habits bit by bit in order to shift toward a belief system that supports a future vision for a healthier life.
The Importance of Genetics Testing
Dr. Jones also stresses the importance of genetics testing, citing the book Super Genes as a source. He explains that your genes don’t have to dictate your destiny – you have control over your gene expression to a large degree. For example, cancer can in many cases be a preventable disease, but we need to know our susceptibility to certain diseases based on our genetics.
Lifestyle genetics can give specific recommendations for the right foods to eat, optimal exercise habits and detoxification. The beauty of understanding your genetics is that it helps you to customize your lifestyle to access high performance, achieving better results in less time, and with less trial and error.
How To Get the Most Out of Supplements
When asked for his top supplement recommendations, Dr. Jones points out that 99 percent of supplements on the market are either neutral or toxic, and that the majority are synthetic, meaning they don’t have the same molecular structure as occurs in nature.
He recommends only supplements derived from organic fruits, vegetables and botanicals for true bioavailability.
Dr. Jones top three supplements he recommends everyone take are 1) a multivitamin containing micronutrients, 2) fish oil for fatty acids and 3) glutathione to combat stress and exposure to toxins.
Karen’s Top Tips For a Healthier Life
As an integrative nutrition health coach, Karen is also passionate about a healthy lifestyle, and she recommends the following top strategies for high performance and optimal health:
1. Drink more water. Many of us experience moderate dehydration on a regular basis but don’t realize it.
2. Get more real food into your diet. Eating more vegetables has a massive impact on energy levels, so crowd the bad stuff out of your diet by adding more good stuff. Eventually, you’ll start to lose your cravings for the junk food.
