Ep. 79 - Thankful for Exciting New Changes + Looking Forward to 2020

This episode is dedicated to my father, who passed away at the age of 64. His birthday was last Wednesday, November 20th, and he is a huge part of why I got into the field of health coaching and functional medicine in the first place.

So, thanks, Dad. It’s because of you that The Rebel Health Coach Podcast began a little over three years ago. I would also like to thank all of you for supporting this show and all of the amazing guests I have had over the years… much love to you all!

I will be taking a little Sabbatical over the Holidays to help my aging mother and put some big things together for the show in 2020, and in preparation for that, I have revamped my website!

So, I’d like to share some of the new resources you’ll find at ThomUnderwood.net, including a Toolbox page featuring the best tools and services available to improve your health. Everything from Functional Testing, Great Plains Labs (Food Allergy Testing, OAT test), Evexia, Spectral Cell, Better Labs Now, Trace Elements, and QuickSilver Supplements. This includes Discounts on Kion, QuickSilver, Huso, Thrive Market, Butcher Box, Four Sigmatic, True Nutrition, Natural Stacks, Bio Optimizer, Perque, Primal Herb, Age Force, and more.

Looking forward to what you can expect in 2020...

I have been diving into the deep end of the pool studying Epigenetics, which is defined as “the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.” 

I’ve been looking at the role genetics play in how we age, weight loss, nutrition, and performance, and so far it’s been fascinating. For example, just because someone has a certain SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) does not mean you have to turn this gene on. In other words, your genes load the rifle potential medical problems, but something else pulls the trigger. That is to say that how genes are expressed is affected by your lifestyle, as well as other environmental factors. Not all of those factors are within your control, of course, but many are — and knowledge is power.

While I was going over my GxRenew results, which is a test for Aging, my GRM7 (SNP) for hearing loss, which is the most prevalent sensory impairment as we get older, shows that I have the genetic predisposition (sometimes also called genetic susceptibility) for hearing impairment, which I did not take very good care of while I was younger.

Genetic testing is a hot topic and I believe it is the future of preventive health. The research behind genetic testing related to nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle is focused on understanding how specific genes dictate how your body processes micronutrients such as protein, fats, and carbohydrates and how specific genes limit or enhance fitness and the way you age.

Share this episode