To diet or not to diet....

Although we don't often think about it, ancient Greek and Roman cultures have played a huge role in how we live. Much of our government is based on the principles of these civilizations. Some of our architecture either is inspired by or mimics those great edifices of old. Even our language is a composite, in part, of Greek and Latin words. 

Because we don't often think of our ancient roots we forget about the true significance of many of these words that we use. To many of us the term "diet" brings to mind other words and phrases like "fad" or "short-term fix". However, the Greeks and Romans knew the true meaning of the word. In Greek the word διαιτα means “way of life”, “regimen”, or “leads one’s life”. In Latin the word diaeta means “prescribed way of life”.

There are two fundamental reasons that diets don’t work for the majority of people. One, they can be expensive or highly specialized because of the types of foods that the diet prescribes and, two, as soon as the person has “finished” dieting they go back to their old ways and lose whatever progress they have made. This is our modern thinking of diets, which is very different from what the Greeks and Romans thought.

As creatures of habit it is very difficult for us to change our “way of life” to one conducive to good health, but that is a true diet. Thus a diet isn’t just the food that we eat or don’t eat, but the way we live, which includes exercise, lifestyle choices, anger management, etc. It truly is what “leads one’s life”.

It is interesting that we find the same to be true with epigenetics. The way we live our life on a daily basis really does determine our overall health, even down to the molecular level. A diet then should be based on our daily living, something that we commit to for the rest of our lives, not merely until we reach a desired weight or body type. Even a positive outlook on life has been shown to have an epigenetic effect on our DNA.

In an effort, then, to reach my ultimate goals I need to find out what “regimen” or “way of life” is best suited to my personal epigenetics. Unfortunately I don’t have the resources to determine that, or at least I don’t have the knowledge of how to get those resources. But, I have read that a few studies have been done where individuals had a “diet” regiment that was tailored to their specific genome and that it was more efficient in both short term gains and long term effects than for people who were on a generalized “good” diet. I wonder if there is a way to volunteer for that.

My Personal Epignetics: The Backstory

Ever since I was a young teenager I have struggled with obesity. I suppose that at one time I was merely overweight, but that problem continued to go unchanged until my weight got out of control. For a long time I followed the credo of many of us these days, that of blaming my genes. My mother's family is not known for their petite nature, and every physical trait I have seems to be one I inherited directly from them. I figured that the problem lay in my DNA, that I had a "slow metabolism" and I was a product of nature; there was nothing I could do about it.

Then I went to a third-world country where I lived for two years, eating a diet that consisted mostly of beans, rice, and low fat meats like chicken and fish. I also began to walk, a lot. On any given day I traversed more than 10 miles, and some days it could have easily been 20 or more. Either way, I began to lose weight. It wasn't noticeable at first, it took looking at photographs several months later that I realized that I had begun to no longer fit into my clothes; they were getting baggy. I had to petition my parents for new clothes every few months after that because a belt can only do so much. 

I never officially weighed myself, but I am certain that I lost around 100 pounds in the two years I was overseas. I began to realize that even though the DNA that lay in the 75 trillion cells of my body held the "blueprints" for larger stature, I was still a product of my own choices, not just what was "hard-wired" into me. I felt good about myself because I saw that I had the ability to literally shape who I was. It motivated me to never regain the weight I had lost; then I returned home.

I knew that my goal was to maintain the weight I had achieved, but I was not conscious of my dietary habits. I guess that deep down I had hoped that I no longer needed to work at staying fit. Needless to say, within about a year I had regained all that I had lost, and even put on a few extra pounds. I now weighed over 300 pounds. I began to learn some things about myself that I had not realized, chiefly that I more easily became depressed when I weighed so much.

Several years passed, seven to be exact, and I had a staunch reminder of the fact that I needed to pay attention to my health. I had undergone a routine surgery to fix my nasal passage to increase the efficiency of my airway. As I was coming out of the general anesthesia the attending nurse noticed that my heart was in arrhythmia, the atrial chambers of the heart were not in sync. I was not having a heart attack, but this condition could very easily have led to a blood clot and eventually a stroke. I was rushed to the hospital where I underwent some testing. 

After being put on anticoagulants and some heart medication it was determined that we needed to shock my heart to get it back into its correct rhythm. Four thousand volts were send through my body, close to the heart, in an effort to achieve normal rhythm. Four times this had to happen before my heart finally behaved and was functioning properly. Now I just needed to remain on some medication and surveillance to ensure that this "normal" condition remained.

I was highly motivated to get my life back in order and lose some weight. As soon as I was allowed I began to exercise and work on my eating habits. I began to lose some weight, although it wasn't as easy or quick as I had hoped. After about a year I had lost around 40 pounds; I felt as though I was making some progress. Of course, life never stops to let you catch up and, one thing led to another, I began to regain that weight.

I now am back up to around 295 pounds and feeling very much in poor health. I don't get sick often, but I do find it difficult to endure much physical stress or activity. I need to regain the motivation I once had.

For the past couple of years I have been working toward my Master's degree in Science Teaching through the New Mexico School of Mines and Technology, commonly referred to as New Mexico Tech. I had decided to focus my studies in the field of biochemistry since that really is a combination of my Bachelor's degrees (I had received a B.S. in Biology Education with minors in Chemistry Education and Spanish Education from Brigham Young University-Idaho).

There was one course that I took that intrigued me greatly - Human Genetics. The reason this captured my attention was because it introduced a new field of genetics that has only been studied in the last few years: epigenetics. Basically this field studies what happens to our DNA not only as we age but as we experience life. I'll go into more detail later so as to make it more clear; let's get the back story done first. Within this new field we have found that the things we take into our bodies, both good and bad, and even the experiences we endure, again both good and bad, play a major role in the expression, or functioning, of our DNA code.

In order to receive my degree I have to develop an Independent Research topic that I can use in my classroom curriculum in a new and innovative way. In talking with my Master's committee a couple of weeks ago we decided on a topic that I had already begun to teach my students based on what I had learned from this Human Genetics course. My ultimate goal is to motivate high school students to improve their personal health through the concepts we have discovered in the field of epigenetics and nutrigenetics (specifically the part of epigenetics that deals with the food we eat).

Later that day as I was thinking about the task at hand I realized that I am supposed to present not only these concepts to my students within this upcoming school year but that I am also supposed to present the results of my research to my committee, and anyone else who decides to show up, in less than a year. I realized that my current state of physical health will not be conducive as an example to my students or convincing to my committee. 

I found my motivation: I need to put to personal application the very ideas that I want to convey to my students and committee and show to myself once again that I truly am a product more of my own choices. Even more, I am in control of the way that my genetic code is regulated and in turn how my body functions at the molecular level. I really can be what I eat.

As such I have decided to keep a journal, not just of what I am doing to provide myself with a healthier body, but what I am learning about this relatively new field of genetics and how it can help me to achieve my personal health goals. I realize that this will be a learning experience for me and many things will change along the way. The key is that I have the ability to mold and shape my future, and knowledge will provide me with the necessary tools to become the best craftsman of myself.