And the future is here now…
I’ve spent the last 12 years owning and running a functional fitness gym and coaching thousands of people to look and perform their best.
When I was early in my career, I thought that anything that worked for me would work well for others.
If I could just refine and communicate the plan that worked for me, then anybody else in the world could use that plan to get the same amazing results. (CrossFit + Paleo anybody?)
As I got further into my career, I realized that there were a lot of variations in the results people saw, even if they were on relatively the same program.
This taught me that there’s no single right approach to health and fitness, and each person needs to have ways to customize the plan to them. But I never realized the scope and scale with which customization needs to happen until recently.
Over the last year I’ve gone through gut and digestion issues, skin issues, sleep issues, energy issues, lack of motivation, and terrible performance and recovery from workouts. This is despite only being 38 years old and feeling like health and fitness has been a top priority for me my entire life.
How could I feel like I’ve been doing everything right, yet I’m struggling with my health and fitness like someone who pays no attention to it?
What I’ve learned in my journey over the last year, is the individual responses to specific foods, supplements, and training styles can be incredibly drastic between individuals. Also, an individual’s response to these factors will change as they go through different life stages or stress, such as getting older, having kids, and work stress.
Let me share a few examples of what I mean.
Food Sensitivities and Inflammation
I recently took a food sensitivity test and learned that 2 of the foods that I was eating the most, were actually the unhealthiest foods for me: Eggs and Nuts
The food sensitivity test was through Infinite Allergy Labs, and I included page 1 of my results below.
I found these results so fascinating because almost any dietitian or health coach would tell you that eggs and nuts are 2 of the healthiest foods on the planet. I also found it fascinating because I didn’t have any specific reactions to these foods that would help me pinpoint them as the culprit of my health issues. They were likely creating an underlying level of inflammation that was hard for me to detect.
To quickly help you get your bearings on what you are looking at, each food tested has 4 possible categories of sensitivity or allergy it can trigger. This is considered the gold standard of sensitivity testing, since you get a full picture of how each food is affecting your body. Many doctors just use the IgG category in their testing, but that can often trigger in foods you consume a lot of, even if they aren’t necessarily bad for your body.
- IgE = Allergic response that occurs within minutes or hours of ingesting a food.
- IgG4 = Antibodies that are produced within days of consuming certain foods.
- IgG = Antibodies that cause food sensitivities with a delayed reaction of 3-72 hours
- C3 b/d = Complement proteins that bind to IgG antibodies and increase IgG sensitivity
In my case, I had 3 foods that were triggering all 4 categories of inflammatory response: almonds, peanuts, and egg yolks.
I also had 4 other foods that were triggering at least 3 of the categories: beans, cashews, hazelnuts, and egg whites.
Gluten was not shown on this page, but was another food for me that triggered 3 of the 4 categories.
Prior to this test I had been consuming eggs and nuts on a daily basis. I knew that I wasn’t feeling my best, but it was almost impossible for me to single out these foods without having the data and testing to pinpoint it.
Gut Health and Probiotics
If you ask most health experts what supplements everyone should take, 2 of the most common answers you will hear are vitamin D and probiotics.
Being plugged into the health industry like I have, I have of course been supplementing with probiotics for several years now. But last year I learned that probiotics are likely the opposite of what my body needed, and I was causing more harm by supplementing them.
That’s because last year I discovered I was experiencing bacterial overgrowth in my gut, not a lack of good bacteria. That insight was uncovered after taking the GI Map Test by Diagnostic Solutions. This is a test where you send in a stool sample and you get a full breakdown of what bacteria make up your gut and the quantities of each. It can also help you uncover things like parasites, candida, and h pylori, among other things.
I like this particular test because similar to a blood test, it has optimal ranges that they recommend, and you can see how you stack up against those optimal ranges. I found this to be much more actionable than similar tests from companies like Viome, which don’t give you a full picture of where you stand.
The top section of my GI map (above) is outlining my beneficial bacteria. You can see that all of my levels are on the higher side, and in the case of Enterobacter, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes I have too much of these “good” bacteria.
This becomes especially troublesome in the 2nd section, where we see the “bad” opportunistic bacteria taking advantage of this overgrowth situation, and almost all of my levels are high.
What I learned through taking this test is that I was experiencing an overgrowth of bacteria, not a lack of good bacteria. The last thing I needed was more probiotics.
To get to the underlying cause of why this overgrowth was happening, I tried a simple test you can do at home, called the baking soda test (link). This is a simple test you can do in the morning to test your stomach acid production.
The baking soda test told me that my body was not producing enough stomach acid, leading me to not fully break down the food and supplements I was eating, contributing to the overgrowth.
(As a side note I learned that most people who struggle with heart burn and other gastrointestinal issues is usually due to a lack of stomach acid production, not too much. Taking antacids like Tums can actually do the opposite of what these people are hoping for over the long-term.)
I traded my probiotics for things like oregano oil, which naturally kills bacteria, and worked with a doctor to create a plan to bump up my stomach acid production.
That included supplementing before meals with things like digestive enzymes, betaine HCI, and lemon water to stimulate the production of stomach acid. It also meant slowing down and being more intentional around my meals, focusing on my breathing, chewing, and not being distracted with work or listening to podcasts while I’m eating.
Genetic Testing
The third and final test that I want to bring up is genetic testing. I am truly amazed at how few people are talking about genetic testing.
We now have the tools to map out our entire DNA, yet almost no one in the health space is talking about it or recommending it.
The craziest part is that this is a test you only have to do once in your life. Since your DNA stays the same your entire life, this is a one-time test that can help you make better decisions for the rest of your life.
The test that I took was through Intellxx DNA and it provided me with data on over 100 genes and how they were affecting all aspects of my health.
I learned that I don’t process sugar and caffeine well, I likely need more Vitamin D than the average person, and I should avoid cannabis use.
The most interesting insight for me though was learning that I don’t break down saturated fat well.
I included a snapshot of 2 of the genes below that point to this conclusion, and there were nearly 10 gene variations that were found that all concluded that saturated fat was not the best for me.
Prior to doing this testing I knew that my body didn’t do well with excessive sugar. The genetic testing confirmed that to be true.
In an effort to lower my sugar intake, I ended up eating more saturated fat instead. Most of this was done intentionally, as I believed in the research that the low carb and paleo communities were presenting, opting for higher fat over higher carb diets.
This led me to eating a lot of grass-fed beef, eggs, coconut oil, butter/ghee, dark chocolate, and nuts; all foods which are very high in saturated fats.
At first I felt good doing this, but over the years the accumulated effect was a negative one.
A lot of the digestive issues I was experiencing, including heaviness in the gut and decreased workout performance, improved tremendously once I cut back my saturated fat intake. I feel a lot lighter and like food is able to move through me easier and with less distress.
Conclusion
If this is your first time seeing or hearing about these tests, then I’m excited for you.
If you are going through a tough time in your health right now, I feel for you. I understand that reading a post like this one can be both empowering and overwhelming. It can be exciting that you could finally get the answers to your health issues, but it can also be incredibly hard to figure out where to start.
I think the key is to get with a functional medicine doctor you trust and get started. Each layer of testing will uncover new things and allow you to course correct to a better lifestyle.
You only need one breakthrough to dramatically change the way you feel each day. The full process of feeling like yourself again likely won’t happen overnight, but each small win will give you a renewed energy and hope. Once you get enough of these wins stacked up, the accumulated momentum will be undeniable.