What Is Nutrigenomics? The New Diet Study You May Not Have Heard Of But Should Be Aware Of.

Figuring out what to eat can be a daily frustration. Whether it's because you're trying to find a middle ground between your heart, which is telling you to order the greasy option on the menu, and your mind, which is telling you to settle for the healthy option on the menu, knowing what to pick is a battle that may leave you ordering both, hoping that one balances out the other. 

Our bodies are weird, and figuring out what kinds of food we should be consuming isn't a one-size-fits-all decision. That's where one of the biggest trends for 2018 comes into play: nutrigenomics.

The word, which is a Frankenstein-like combination of the words nutrients and genomics, is a study that's gaining rapid popularity for the way it could influence individual weight loss and overall health.

"Nutrigenomics is the study of how specific foods and nutrients impact our genes and our health," says Paul Salter, Bodybuilding.com nutrition editor and the founder of Fit in Your Dress. "This field, which is still very new and growing, looks to learn how specific nutrients have different interactions in one person's body versus another, to help inform one of what he or she may need to eat, or avoid eating to improve their health across a variety of parameters."

Related: What Is The Volumetrics Diet? Can It Help Your Weight Loss Plan.

Here's what you need to know about nutrigenomics.

Cellulite And Weight Loss - What's the Connection

When you lose weight, you'd probably expect that you'd lose (or at least reduce the appearance of) your cellulite, too. But, unfortunately, that's often not the case. What gives?

John Layke M.D., a board-certified plastic surgeon and practitioner at the Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery Group, explains that cellulite is caused by fibrous bands that attach to the underside of the skin, causing the dimpling (think of a pin cushion—it's like the pins are the fibrous band).

Cellulite is incredibly common—studies estimate that 80 to 90 percent of women have it. But what causes it varies person to person, says Jennifer Caudle, D.O., a family physician and Associate Professor at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. She says that how much cellulite a person has depends on a number of factors, including genetics, age, skin thickness, sex, and the amount of fat on the body.

Caudle notes that people of all weights and sizes can and do have cellulite. Case in point? Back in August, actress Hilary Duff hit back at body-shamers who criticized her for having cellulite. "My body has given me the greatest gift of my life: Luca, 5 years ago. I'm turning 30 in September and my body is healthy and gets me where I need to go," Hilary wrote in the caption.

The Science of Laziness

A couch potato gene! That's going to be my number 1 excuse. Got to try and not use it too often though. 😇