How Discovering Your DNA Can Help You Transform Your Diet And Fitness, With Pure Package

Eating healthily is tricky. There are so many contradictory pieces of advice out there that even when you follow the ones that sound sensible you can simply end up more miserable and no slimmer.

In 2014 I went round in circles. As a health writer I know my stuff, but I'm not immune to a miracle weight loss suggestion. And while I'm no fad dieter, I'm happy to try them out.

But things were just not lining up in my, and my approaching-30 metabolism's favour, and I was ready to panic and/or cry at my inability - depite much effort - to shed the extra pounds.

So I was more than happy to hear that perhaps my weight loss woes were all in my genes - and that though I was eating healthily and exercising, I might not be eating the right kind of healthy, or doing the right kind of exercise to make a difference to my body.

And to know what the right things to do and to eat would be I was more than happy to donate a little saliva to Pure Package, a diet delivery company that has teamed up with DNA experts DNA Fit to create personalised diet plans to suit people's genetics.

Olympic Athlete Andrew Steele works with DNA Fit and explained to me the types of thing they look for - whether you have genes that make you good at long, slow exercise versus short burst, high intensity for example, and on the diet side, how well your body processes different types of foods - such as carbs and fat.

How My Results Stacked Up

Diet: The DNA results are comprehensive, with loads of fascinating insights into how different types of food and exercise affect my body and how my health is created in part by the way my genes work - including my risk of coeliac disease and the likelihood of developing diabetes.

It turns out my body is VERY good at getting energy out of carbs. Too good you could say. So good that it ends up storing some for later. Regularly.

So while I already knew to steer clear of carbs such as white bread and pasta, Andrew suggests I stick to smaller portions of even the good carbs such as oats and wholegrains, and even other foods with carb content such as pulses. And sugar. I REALLY need to stay away from sugar.

To be honest, this sounds a bit like standard diet advice that's being bandied around of late - carbs bad, fats good. So I asked if it's not the same advice Andrew recommends to everyone.

He says not, actually some people really do have to watch their fat intake - particularly saturated fat - more than others. And some people, who usually complain they can't put on weight, are fast carb metabolisers so don't really have to worry too much on that front.

This starts to explain why I haven't been making much headway in any of my healthy eating attempts - I've always fallen back on decent portions of wholemeal bread, brown pasta and rice, and beans.

In better news, I discover that I have the gene that means my body isn't going to get fat from eating, er, fat. So I'm told I can make up for the carb shocker by enjoying a fair amount of cheese and meat as well as the 'good fats' in avocados, nuts and olive oil.

Other Health Finds

My results also show I have a raised risk of being coeliac, giving me the impetus to have a test (I'm all clear, phew!), and I need to avoid 'burny' bits on food because I have genes that could put me at an increased risk of certain cancers.

Plus I learn that I need slightly more than the average of fish oils, but that my vitamin B absorption is above average - giving me a bit of help when deciding what supplements I might like to take.

It sounds a bit scary but actually I find it all really reassuring - giving me the tools to make decisions about my diet choices that could help prevent health nasties raising their ugly head in a few years time.

And this stuff you would just never know otherwise.

Exercise: The exercise front isn't so revelatory for me. I am told that I have about a 50-50 split between 'power' genes and 'stamina' genes, so the best thing I can do is mix up my workouts between the two. So much for a magic bullet.

Diet Delivered

The next step is to have a dicussion with a Pure Package nutritionist. I talk to Frankie about my activity levels, and any allergies and she also asks me about my preferences in terms of what I usually eat and what I'd prefer for different mealtimes.

Because I cycle to and from work and am hitting the gym regularly she insists I do need SOME carbs, and because I go before work she suggests I have carbs in my evening meal so I have the energy to workout in the morning.

She has a few other suggestions and then I look forward to my cool bag to arrive on my doorstep in the middle of the night.

The Food

A portion-controlled diet plan doesn't sound like fun to me but whatever's in it, but it's always exciting to receive a bag full of goodies. And actually I'm relieved when I look through my day's meals. The portions aren't piddly and the options are colourful and look tasty.

My menu contains:

An omlette for breakfast with a few slices of tomato, a oat bar for snack and a tasty superfood chicken salad for lunch with a little quinoa and lots of lovely colourful veg. Afternoon snack was almonds with a nectarine and for dinner I had a delicious meal of salmon fishcakes and new potatoes, with kale and a yoghurt-based sauce. It actaully didn't want to stop eating it.

The food is really good the portion control is really helpful to understand how much I SHOULD be eating. And though there are carbs, they are clearly carefully portioned to pay attention to my carb-loving genes. It also proved that I could eat less, and eat right, and still have plenty of energy and not feel hungry all the time.

The Aftermath

A few weeks later I've paid some real attention to the suggestions Frankie and Andrew have made and I'm seeing the difference. Because of the amount of exercise I'm doing it's not wise to cut out carbs completely but I am being much more careful about my portion sizes and I'm finding I still have enough energy and I'm losing fat - finally - and building muscle. The scales say nothing but I can see the changes.

I'm also enjoying eating a bit more of my favourite food, cheese - now it's off the banned substances list. And that's made a huge difference. Knowing I can enjoy dairy and meat in moderation makes is a lot easy to eschew toast and pasta, other passions of mine.

A diet delivery service isn't practical for everyone longterm but I'm really glad I did it for a few days to put me on the straight and narrow. And If I plateau I'd be first in line to have them give me an extra push.

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