Shout out to those of us who have high maintenance bodies!
Recently I received the results of my latest blood test. I was reminded that despite my restricted diet and healthy lifestyle, genetic predisposition still lurks in the background. It is difficult balancing a limited diet and keeping my blood levels in a good spot.
I must be careful of what I eat not only because of food sensitivities but also because of predisposition to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. You see, these exist in my family. No matter how much weight I lose, there will always be the threat of these in the back of my mind.
Some of us have a high maintenance body. No matter how much weight we lose, our predisposition determines that we are at risk. We may live a healthy life, but still our body will edge toward diseases to which we are genetically predisposed.
Diet and exercise are the answer we are told. I walk each day, go to the gym regularly, eat a restricted diet, avoid processed foods and limit the amount of sugar and unhealthy fats I eat. However, when predisposition comes into play, my efforts can improve my health but not make it perfect.
Why am I telling you this? Because a healthy lifestyle limits our genetic predisposition from working itself out fully. My efforts have kept me from diabetes and heart disease, pushing them out further so that I can enjoy a healthy life for longer than my mother. This year I will be at the age my mother was when she had a stroke from diabetes related issues. By that stage she had little feeling in her feet, had dislocated one toe, and broken another without realising it. That time of my life was a living nightmare which I do not wish to experience in my own life. Mum had been ill for some years beforehand.
So, I remind myself that although I fight against my predisposition, I have a long way to go before I am like my mother.
It is worth the effort. Avoiding these genetic illnesses for as long as I can is worth every change I have made. To wake up each day feeling healthy, having a clear mind and being able to walk my dog is such a joy, a joy mum did not experience in the last 10 or so years of her life.
In love, Jenny
