This is a collaborative post: Biohacking their diet is one of the methods people have been using to improve their health since 1863 when the first diet pamphlet was published. Reducing carbohydrates, eliminating added sugar, avoiding fried food, and eating superfoods are all good starting points if you want to change your dietary habits, but here are some more ways to dig deeper.
Discover your biological age
Our lifestyles have an impact on our inflammatory system, which in turn determines our biological age. Start by carrying out an age test to discover areas of your health that would benefit from improvement. The test involves pricking your finger to provide a blood sample. Within 3-5 weeks, you get your results back, and a consultant suggests changes you can implement to improve your health and well-being. A second test in a few months’ time will show how well you have done and what is working best for you.
Change your eating times
Research suggests that the times that we eat may affect how our body processes nutrients. Rather, when we aren’t eating but fasting, our metabolic rate rises, and our resistance to insulin falls, lowering our blood sugar and making it easier to burn stored body fat.
Periodic or intermittent fasting is also linked to reduced cholesterol and inflammation, improved cellular waste removal, and better cognitive function. There are different fasting patterns you can try, from restricting your eating to an eight-hour window to fasting every other day.
Eliminate intolerances
Finding out which foods trigger your allergies, indigestion, fatigue, or skin conditions is a biohack that requires you to be systematic. Over the course of a month, you cut out allergens, such as corn, dairy, gluten, peanuts, and soy, and then wait for any inflammation to subside.
Once you have a clean slate, you can introduce the allergens back into your diet and see how your body responds to each of them. If any trigger a reaction, you then know to avoid them and can try alternatives. For example, if your body responds negatively to cow’s milk, you could try oat milk instead.
Take supplements
In an ideal world, we would get all the nutrition that we need from our diet, but in reality, there are often gaps that leave us deficient in some vitamins and minerals. For example, without enough vitamin D, you may experience a weakened immune system and muscle weakness. Iodine helps our thyroid to function properly, and without enough of this mineral found in fish and dairy, you might notice shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, and weight gain.
A variety of supplements can be bought over the counter without a prescription, such as capsules, gummies, drinks, snacks, and powders to make shakes. Biohacking with supplements can help your body to access nutrients in their highest bioavailability.
Final thoughts
Biohacking your diet is a non-invasive way to make positive changes to your body and health. The best way to biohack your diet is to start with a blood test that will tell you where you are currently at. Next, consult a professional who can help you to understand what your body needs to make improvements, perhaps using some of the methods mentioned here.