*I was sent a Personal Nutrition Report, BodyFuel & Flavour Booster to try by NGX. They were sent to me for free and I don’t get paid for reviewing them but I was asked to pop a review on for them. It’s an unbiased review – I’m saying exactly what I think as usual …!*
NUTRI-GENETIX: WHY?
Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions on nutrition and calorie control. I've used a calorie deficit to lose weight successfully and keep it off and I'm also aware that I need to balance the calories I consume with the exercise I do and the amount my body needs. Not always the easiest thing to do when ironman training. On top of this, I also have to try and ensure I get the nutrients my body needs and fuel correctly … quite a lot to balance along with family, work and life.
When Nutri-Genetix (NGX) offered to send me a personalised Nutrition Report based on my DNA … I was intrigued. Nutrition is an ongoing battle for me. It's no secret that I was a LOT heavier a few years ago and lost weight with a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD). Then I added in sports and it was a steep learning curve learning to balance nutrients and calories and exercise.
I liked the idea of being able to go faster and better without any extra effort or training just by getting my nutrition right
I was particularly interested to see how looking at nutri-genetics could improve my sports performance and whether the VLCD had affected how my body responded to certain things. I could see no downside to trying this … unless of course I hated it!
NUTRI-GENETIX: HOW?
I took an online quiz on the NGX website which covered a lot of the basic things I expected to be asked e.g. gender, height, exercise and also goals and how my body responds to exercise and illness. Also stress, anxiety, skincare issues, brittle hair as some of these can be exacerbated by nutritional issues. It also touched on sleep, dietary intolerances and vitamin intake. The quiz gave me an immediate estimate of what I might be lacking and offered NGX products which may help. This was based entirely on my answers to the questions.
NGX also sent me a DNA Swab kit, which they told me would have a look at my genetic variations to identify which nutrients my body has problems absorbing or processing. This would all be explained in a nutrition report. I hoped it would be written in basic English as I know next to nothing about DNA or genetics!
NUTRI-GENETIX: WHAT?
I filled out my quiz and swabbed my mouth with the stick they'd sent. This was much less unpleasant than having to do the COVID test and was actually easy to do … no having to peer at my tonsils in the mirror at least! I couldn't have food or drink in the hour before, but that was the worst part! Swab cheek, put used swab in envelope, put envelope in post box. Done.
NUTRI-GENETIX: MY TRIAL
I was sent a plastic shake mixer, a 1kg bag of 'NGX Body Fuel: Daily Meal-Shake' and a 200g bag of 'NGX Flavour Booster: Cacao & Coconut' and a nutritional report was sent to me by email.
Nutrition Report:
This was a 30 page personalised report split into headers. This report gave me a brief introduction to nutrigenetics, how my body uses nutrients, how my genes impact key areas of my fitness, health & wellbeing, personal nutrition recommendations. It also explained what was in my personalised NGX shake, how to use NGX and more detailed results on fat, carbohydrate, protein, vitamin, mineral and food sensitivity flagged up by the test that I'd sent in.
Gosh, a lot to take in!
I liked that the report was set out in a simple way and clearly gave me personal targets for specific things, such as calories, protein needs etc. It also flagged up sensitivities that I wasn't aware of and areas that I could improve my nutrition – and therefore impact my lifestyle and sports performance in a positive way.
I was surprised by a few things – that I came up as having a sensitivity to caffeine. If you know me, then you know that I am a coffee fiend. I love, love it and don't feel I can function without it. But maybe I'll consider swapping to a few cups of de-caf instead. The report also highlighted that I have a high sensitivity to carbohydrates, which I believed I knew. I put on weight just looking at cake.
The report also had a section on 'Goals You Could Improve By Optimising Your Nutrition' which focused on items such as Energy Levels During Exercise, Endurance Levels, Muscle Quality & Strength, Recovery Speed, Combat Fatigue & Bone Health. This was an important section for me as I do a fair amount of activity; training & racing triathlon and I want to improve my performance and recovery. I'd be very interested to see whether I can improve these things utilising the NGX.
NGX suggested I use this report to identify areas of my diet and lifestyle that I could change to have the biggest overall impact on results. It's a lot to take in.
NUTRI-GENETIX: NUTRITION REPORT SUMMARY
There's a lot of information here and a lot of suggested changes and improvements which I could implement in my lifestyle and training to improve my performance. I like the idea that I can improve my nutrition and get better results from the same amount of training. Working smarter, not harder. NGX offers a section in the report on how to take your NGX shake by goal. For example if you want to lose body fat, it suggests you can replace up to 2 meals with a shake. If you want to improve performance, you can take the NGX shake as an easy protein source. There's an entire section on ways you can incorporate NGX to achieve your goals. I liked this. I want easy solutions in my life.
NUTRI-GENETIX: HOW DID I GET ON?
My life is busy. I work shifts, I have a family and I have a lot of travelling with work and it's not always convenient or appropriate to take food with me. I liked the idea of being able to pop a small sandwich bag of NGX powder in a pocket that I could mix on the go. I decided to test this out.
I was relieved to find the packets came with scoops and I wasn't relying on measuring spoons or scales to weigh out portions. The easier the better. I used coconut milk to mix the powder and I tried the mix in the shaker with just the sieve section – no mixing ball. It mixed better than I expected also some dry powder stuck to the bottom of the shaker but there were no lumps! It was very palatable. There were coconut granules in the shake so rather than feeling like I was on a diet (which I was worried it might!) , it was like having a smoothie. Like a treat. And the taste was good.
I used NGX in a few different ways over the few weeks that I tried it out. I used it as a protein supplement after a hard workout – it's easy to mix and chug! I also used it as a meal replacement on days that I was too 'on the go' to cook and it was easy to carry around a small pre-measured bag of the powder ready to mix … although I don't think I'd be brave enough to walk through customs with a bag of powder in case I was suspected of being a drugs mule! I also used it as a stop-gap and had NGX instead of an unhealthy snack. The calories in a shake are about the same as a pack of pre-made sandwiches from a supermarket and the nutrition is far superior, so I felt quite confident that I was making a better choice.
NUTRI-GENETIX: SHAKE & PRODUCT SUMMARY
I really loved the taste of the mixer powder and it worked well with the texture, but using this long-term, I would definitely need a couple of different flavours. I have a low food-boredom threshold – I can easily eat the same thing for dinner for a week, but even I get bored eventually. Long-term, I'd probably get a sweet flavour so I felt like I was having a sweet treat. Might be nice mixed with natural yoghurt.
I also really liked that I had a more structured, scientific approach to my nutrition. I found having the NGX shake took the guesswork out of planning my nutrition. My only concern with this is that I just don't know enough about nutrient-genetics to know how valuable the research is. For instance, they could be telling me anything and I wouldn't know enough to challenge it. NGX seem a very authentic and well-respected company but I don't have the scientific background to query anything they've said. However, this can be true of any expert from my dentist telling me I need a filling to an financial advisor telling me the best way to invest.
I appreciated that the personalised nutrition report gave me things that I could action and change easily that could make a real impact on my life and training performance. Even on the days that I couldn’t use the NGX shake (for instance travelling), being more aware of my nutritional needs and making good nutrition a priority meant that I was less likely to make bad food choices overall.
I think that I will probably use NGX as a supplement to my nutrition going forward. I've planned another Ironman this year and the long training sessions and double training days mean that recovery and endurance will be a priority this year. And if I've got a product that helps me do this? Fantastic.
Want to take a look and make up your own mind? Have a look here.
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