While many diets claim to be the cure for getting rid of excess fat, inevitably, they would work for some, but fail for most. Clearly, a one-size-fits-all approach was not the answer. Trial and error took too long, and few had the time and energy (and money) to stick with it. It was obvious that different foods had different effects within the body, not to mention different effects from body to body, but how? The science just couldn’t answer those questions yet.
During my childhood, I watched the people I love most struggle with failed weight loss and diet attempts, and I knew there had to be a better way. As a teen, I started learning everything I could about how the foods we eat affect our metabolism and what that means for weight loss. I wanted to understand what success could look like.
Today, I am a molecular nutrition scientist and registered dietitian with over 20 years of experience researching the link between diet, nutrigenomics, metabolism and body weight. Science shows that many factors affect the interplay between food, metabolism and body weight, including our genes. I created the iLivTru program to help people find the most effective and efficient diet, based on their unique genetics.
Dieting has been around for millennia (yes, really!), but with surprisingly little innovation. From the ancient Romans to the enlightened Renaissance scholars to today’s Zoomers, humans have struggled with excess weight, and all dieters, regardless of era, have had one option: cut calories. Until now.
As science advances, we continue to learn how important individualized nutrition is for health and wellness, including how to maximize someone’s weight loss.
I’ve been studying the interaction between food and genetics for decades. A few years ago, I switched gears to look at how these interactions affect the amount of weight lost between individuals. Despite the same calorie intake, physical activity and dieting time, some individuals lose more weight on a high-fat diet while others maximize their weight loss of a high-protein diet.
Practically speaking, isn’t it more efficient to know which diet will work best for you before you start your weight loss journey?
We understand first hand how difficult, frustrating, and let’s face it, stigmatizing it can be to struggle with excess weight. Losing weight is one of the hardest tasks humans face because every ounce of our bodies, literally, fights to keep that weight on.
Our iLivTru program gives you the personalized tools you need to achieve your most effective weight loss, all a finger swipe away. You lose weight on your terms, with your foods, on your time. All guided by your body. It’s the only weight loss program that is truly all about you.
Like many companies, DietCypher has been years in the making. It started decades ago, with a desire to help people who were fed up with weight loss failures. “Nothing seems to work” was the norm. While many diets claimed to be the cure for getting rid of excess body weight, inevitably, they would work for some, but fail for most. Clearly, a one-size-fits-all approach was not the answer. Trial and error took too long, and few had the time and energy (and money) to stick with it. It was obvious that different foods had different effects within the body, not to mention different effects from body to body, but how? The science just couldn’t answer those questions yet.
In the early 2000s, things started to change. The human genome was sequenced, and for nearly the past two decades, scientists have been studying all aspects of the human genome, including the interactions between the foods we eat and our genes. This study of the interaction between food, genetics and health is termed “nutrigenomics.” Each of us has a unique genetic profile that defines who we are, so it makes sense that each of us can respond differently to the foods we eat. Nutrigenomics is an active area of research, but over the past few years, clinical research trials have shown that variations in several key genes can affect weight loss based on the amount of fat, carbohydrate, and protein in the diet. Finally, the science was starting to catch up.
In 2020, DietCypher was created to give people a fighting chance for weight loss success. At DietCypher, we created the iLivTru program where we look at someone’s unique genetic variations to predict which foods and diet plan will yield the greatest amount of weight loss. In short, we decipher your best path for diet-based weight loss.
Orsolya M Palacios, RD, PhD, is a molecular nutrition scientist and registered dietitian with over 20 years experience researching the link between diet, nutrigenomics, metabolism and body weight. Her roles have included designing, managing and leading nutrition research studies, and translating the science into meaningful applications for the biomedical and food industries. Dr. Palacios has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and has designed and taught university courses focusing on molecular biology, physiology and nutrition science both in the US and abroad. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Society for Nutrition. She earned a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Notre Dame and completed her dietetics training and degree at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
