I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure out how to keep myself healthy.
I’ve read books, researched all kinds of things, experimented with different approaches, and picked up bits and pieces of information from just about everywhere.
Some things worked. Some didn’t. And some just helped me understand a little more about what might be going on inside my body.
I’ve never believed that looking after your health should begin and end with a visit to the doctor’s office. There’s an enormous amount of information out there, and I’ve always felt that the more I understand about my own body, the better decisions I can make.
Which brings me to something I’ve been using for about seven years now.
It’s called SelfDecode, and it’s a DNA-based health information platform founded by a fellow named Joe Cohen.
I thought I’d tell you how I discovered it, what I’ve learned from it, and why I still find it interesting today.
It All Started With SelfHacked
Before I ever heard of SelfDecode, I was following Joe Cohen through a website he started called SelfHacked.
If you’ve ever spent much time researching your health on the internet, you’ll understand why I found it interesting.
You could look up all kinds of health issues, symptoms, nutrients, and other subjects, and there was an enormous amount of information to go through.
Joe was interested in understanding how the body works, and so was I.
At the time, I was dealing with health problems that I believed were connected to mercury exposure, particularly from the dental amalgams I’d had in my mouth for years.
I’d had 16 amalgam fillings removed when I was about 35, only to have more amalgam put back in. No special precautions were taken during the removal.
Years later, I started experiencing some serious health problems.
I suspected mercury might have something to do with it, although I can’t say that was ever conclusively established.
I wasn’t getting the answers I wanted from conventional medicine, so I kept looking.
That’s how I became interested in Joe’s work.
Then Along Came SelfDecode
Somewhere along the line, Joe took things a step further.
Instead of simply providing information about health issues, he started developing a way for people to examine their own genetic information.
That got my attention.
Think about it.
We’re all different. We don’t have the same genetic makeup, we don’t respond to everything the same way, and we certainly don’t all have the same health experiences.
So wouldn’t it make sense to learn something about your own DNA?
That’s what interested me about SelfDecode.
Rather than reading another general article about what might be good for everybody, I could start looking at information related to my own genetic makeup.
Now, DNA doesn’t tell you everything. It can’t tell you exactly what diseases you’re going to get, and it certainly can’t tell you everything you need to do to stay healthy.
But it can provide clues about inherited tendencies that may affect how your body functions.
And to me, that’s a pretty interesting place to start.
Getting My DNA Tested Wasn’t Quite So Simple
Back in 2019, there was a little problem.
I lived in Canada, and at that time, SelfDecode’s DNA testing service was only available in the United States.
Well, I wasn’t about to let that stop me.
Fortunately, I had a sister living in Port Huron, Michigan.
With her help, I was able to arrange the testing through her American address.
It took a little extra effort, but I eventually got it done.
I specifically wanted to have my DNA tested through SelfDecode. I wasn’t interested in going through another company and then transferring the information over.
I liked the idea of keeping everything in one place.
I recently dug out my original invoice.
October 6, 2019.
That’s when I paid $149 US to have my DNA tested.
So there you go. I’ve been involved with this company for seven years now.
The Video I Made About SelfDecode
Around that time, Joe was encouraging people to share their experiences with SelfDecode.
I made a little video as part of an early promotional arrangement that also gave me lifetime access to the platform.
Nothing fancy. Just me talking into the camera about why I was interested in what he was doing.
I explained some of the health problems I’d been dealing with and how much I appreciated the information Joe was making available.
I also said something about having so much information to go through that it might take me the rest of my life to absorb it all.
Well, several years later, I’m still working on it!
I was about to turn 68 when I made that video, and I finished by saying I hoped to live a lot longer with Joe’s help.
That was how enthusiastic I was about the whole idea.
And I still believe there’s real value in having access to this kind of information.
Here’s the original video I made:
What Can Your DNA Actually Tell You?
One of the things that fascinated me was the sheer amount of information.
My genetic testing involved hundreds of thousands of markers, commonly called SNPs, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
These are variations in DNA that researchers can study to understand possible relationships with different characteristics and health conditions.
Some of those relationships are well established. Others are much less certain.
And that’s important to understand.
Finding a particular genetic variation doesn’t necessarily mean you have a health problem or that you’re going to develop one.
It might mean you have a greater or lesser tendency toward something.
Your diet, lifestyle, environment, age, and all kinds of other factors still matter.
But suppose you’re trying to understand something about your health, and you discover that your genetic makeup may influence how your body processes a particular nutrient.
Wouldn’t that be worth investigating?
I think so.
That’s the way I’ve always approached SelfDecode.
Not as some magic machine that’s going to tell me everything that’s wrong with me, but as another source of information that might help me understand myself a little better.
Has SelfDecode Actually Improved My Health?
That’s a fair question.
And I wish I could tell you that I discovered one particular thing in my DNA, made a change, and suddenly everything was wonderful.
But that’s not how it’s been for me.
I’ve learned so much about health from so many different places over the years that it’s sometimes difficult to remember exactly where a particular idea came from.
I’ve picked up little bits of information everywhere.
Books, research papers, personal experience, conversations, and websites like SelfHacked and SelfDecode.
I’m sure there are things I’ve continued doing because of something I learned through SelfDecode.
But I can’t honestly tell you that any one recommendation from the platform transformed my health.
What I can say is that I’ve found information there that helped certain things make sense.
Sometimes it supported something I was already doing.
Sometimes it gave me another direction to investigate.
And sometimes it simply made me think.
To me, that’s valuable.
There’s an Awful Lot of Information
If there’s one thing I can tell you about SelfDecode, it’s that you won’t run out of things to read anytime soon.
The platform has changed enormously since I first joined.
In the beginning, there were individual genetic reports covering different health subjects.
Today, there’s a much larger collection of reports, along with information involving blood tests, lifestyle factors, and artificial intelligence.
It’s become a pretty sophisticated operation.
And frankly, it can be overwhelming.
You could spend hours going through the reports, following different subjects, and looking at the research behind the recommendations.
I’ve certainly done that.
But I don’t think you have to understand everything at once.
My approach has always been to follow whatever interests me or whatever I’m trying to learn about at the time.
If something seems relevant, I investigate it further.
If it doesn’t, I move on.
A Word About My Lifetime Membership
Through my early involvement with SelfDecode, I received lifetime access to the platform.
Over the years, the company has expanded its services, and some of the newer features now require additional subscriptions.
I wasn’t particularly happy when I discovered that.
After all, lifetime access sounds pretty straightforward to me.
I contacted the company earlier this year, and we eventually worked out an arrangement where I paid $50 for a year of their newer Health Insights service.
I’m still clarifying exactly what remains included in my original lifetime membership.
I understand that companies grow and introduce new services, but I also think they should be clear about what customers are actually paying for.
That’s worth remembering with any subscription, not just SelfDecode.
Would I Recommend SelfDecode?
I think it’s worth looking into if you’re genuinely interested in learning more about your own biology.
But I wouldn’t suggest that everybody needs it.
And I certainly wouldn’t suggest that a DNA report can diagnose your health problems or tell you exactly how to live your life.
That’s not what it does.
For me, SelfDecode has been another useful source of information in a lifelong effort to understand my own health.
I’ve enjoyed exploring it, and I still do.
That’s really the reason I’m telling you about it.
Not because I’m trying to sell you something, but because it’s been part of my own journey.
Still Learning, Still Looking for Answers
When I made that original video, I was approaching 68.
Today I’m 74.
And I’m still doing pretty much what I’ve always done.
Reading, researching, experimenting, exercising, and trying to figure out what makes this body of mine work as well as possible.
I’ve been interested in prevention since I was a teenager, long before I ever heard of DNA testing or SelfDecode.
And I don’t expect that curiosity to disappear anytime soon.
If anything, getting older has made me even more interested in understanding how to stay healthy.
I don’t believe there’s one magic answer to good health.
Not in a pill, a supplement, a particular diet, or a DNA report.
But I do believe that every little bit of knowledge can help us make better decisions.
SelfDecode has been one of the many tools I’ve used along the way.
That’s also why I’ve always believed that prevention is the best health insurance there is.
And after seven years, I’m still learning from it.
That’s what Insure Your Health Yourself is really about.
Taking an interest in your own health, asking questions, doing your homework, and making the best decisions you can with the information available.
Because nobody has a bigger interest in your health than you do.
Insure Your Health Yourself!
Disclosure: I received lifetime access to SelfDecode through an early promotional video arrangement. I have no affiliate links in this article and receive no commission if you visit or purchase from the company. The opinions here are my own.
Genetic wellness reports are informational tools, not medical diagnoses. Important health decisions should be based on reliable evidence and advice from appropriately qualified health professionals.
