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Whole 30 Diet: What is it, and is it effective for weight loss?

whole 30 diet - HealthCodes DNA

The Whole 30 diet is a 30-day program designed to improve your health and reset your relationship with food. It aims to change the way you think about food so that when you go back to eating normally, you’ll reach for healthier foods without even thinking about it. The Whole 30 diet isn’t a weight loss program, per se: the idea is that if you cut out inflammatory foods, reduce sugar intake, and eat more vegetables, you’ll lose weight because those are all good habits. But the focus is really on resetting your body’s relationship with food and teaching yourself to make healthy choices without even thinking about it.

Whole 30 diets: Everything You Need to Know

Despite its name, the Whole 30 diet is anything but simple. It involves a total overhaul of your eating habits for thirty days. You must eliminate all potentially inflammatory foods from your diet and replace them with three “clean” meals a day as part of the program. To ensure that you can follow the plan successfully, you’ll need a beginner’s guide to the Whole 30 diet. And that is exactly what this article is all about! Let dive in…

The Risks of the Whole 30 diets

Several health risks are associated with the Whole 30 diet. While limiting animal products and sugars is essential, some drawbacks are also. 

  • The diet discourages the consumption of artificial sweeteners, all grains, most legumes, and sugar snap peas. 
  • People on the Whole 30 diet may develop gastrointestinal problems, skin rashes, and other symptoms. 
  • People who try the diet report experiencing increased cravings for sugar and processed food.
  • Though the Whole 30 diet can effectively weight loss, many people find it challenging to stick to. 
  • It can create an unhealthy relationship with food, especially for people with eating disorders. 
  • The Whole 30 diet is not an extreme dietary plan, and it can teach people about their food sensitivities and how to manage them. 
  • Whole 30 is hard to follow if you don’t like to cook. 
  • It can also be costly for the whole 30 days. 
  • While it might help you lose weight, you can’t lose weight if you can’t cook.
  • Whole 30 advocates recommend that people with eating disorders reintroduce foods slowly, adding one new food to their diet every three days. 

Benefits of Whole 30 Diets for Weight Loss

The goal of the Whole 30 diet is to improve your eating habits and provide long-term health benefits.

  • Whole 30 help resets the body’s digestive system 
  • It helps to identify possible food sensitivities and allergies. 
  • The whole 30 diet systems approach can help individuals observe a noticeable improvement in their overall health and performance. 
  • With the Whole 30 diet, the reintroduction of previously-restricted foods is gradual.
  • For many people, the Whole 30 diet is an excellent way to reset their diet and start fresh. 
  • The month-long plan promotes natural eating foods and cutting out processed foods. 
  • It teaches the importance of self-care and overcoming the sugar demon. 
  • People often find that the Who le30 program makes them feel a lot better than they did before. 
  • When you cut out sugar and processed foods and start eating whole foods, you lose weight.
  • Not only will you lose weight, but your body will become healthier, your skin will improve, and you’ll have more energy.
  • You’ll also find that you no longer crave sugar. 
  • You won’t find yourself looking for high-carb snacks in between meals. 
  • Your digestive system will work better since it’s not trying to process all those unhealthy sugars and fats from junk food.
  • And since whole foods are natural, you’ll be giving your body the nutrients it needs instead of putting chemicals into it like processed foods.

However, Whole 30 is not for everyone. It is best used in conjunction with a health-related professional to ensure that you have the right amount of support to start the program and follow it correctly.

How can the Whole 30 diet influence my weight loss?

If you hope to lose weight, Whole 30 has become one of the most popular diets. It is a short-term eating plan that removes processed foods and sugar from your diet. While it eliminates many unhealthy foods, it allows for plenty of nutrient-dense food choices. The diet is so strict that it might seem like a typical day for you would result in breaking the rules of the challenge. That’s right – no coffee with milk or sugar, no chips or crackers, no bread, no pasta, and grains (not even rice or quinoa). Even cheat days are off-limits! But, if you want to lose weight and keep it off with minimal effort, then this might be the diet for you. While Whole 30 is not a diet exclusively designed to help you lose weight, there are some things about the diet that will make losing weight easier: 

The emphasis on eating whole foods without added sugar means that you can eat until you’re satisfied without worrying about calories. This means that you can eat as much as possible (within reason) and still lose weight! When good foods satiate us, we’re less likely to get cravings for junk food or feel hungry.

Is Whole 30 an excellent way to lose weight?

Some people lose weight each month they follow the program; however, others may not. Before starting the program, it depends on multiple factors, including your age, gender, body composition, and diet. 

In some cases, following the Whole 30 can lead to weight gain if you aren’t careful about what you eat or if you don’t replace the calories you used to consume with healthier options. 

Because the Whole 30 is restrictive and eliminates many foods that are considered poor nutrition choices – namely added sugars and processed foods – it can provide positive results such as reducing inflammation throughout your body and improving blood cholesterol levels. Furthermore, Whole 30 doesn’t require calorie counting. 

When Do You Start Losing Weight on Whole 30?

Because the plan is so restrictive, you’ll likely lose weight in two weeks or three as your body adjusts to eating less food and fewer calories. However, this initial weight loss won’t be from fat; it’s mostly from water weight. If you remove carbs from your diet, your body releases water weight. On average, people can lose up to five pounds in the first week of a low-carbohydrate diet. As you eliminate processed foods and high-sugar items from your diet, you’ll start making better choices and developing healthier eating habits. In the end, this will help you maintain your weight loss long-term.

Does Whole 30 Mess with Your Metabolism?

The Whole 30 diet may be a popular way to lose weight. It is designed as a metabolic reset. However, some people had reported digestive issues when they first began the plan. Some people also reported bloating after eating yogurt. 

This may indicate that dairy isn’t serving your metabolism. But you don’t have to give up dairy altogether. You can add small amounts to your diet, like a cup of cottage cheese a day. The Whole 30 diet also excludes soy products, which can be valuable sources of protein and healthy fats. 

Tofu, miso, and tofu are all examples of soy products. Other foods banned from the diet include baked goods and highly processed foods. The Whole 30 diet is considered healthy for people who want to lose weight. But the Whole 30 diet is all about learning to love pure food. And that’s the best way to get started. 

How much weight can I expect to lose on the Whole 30 diet?

It may be hard to guess how much weight you can expect to lose on Whole 30 due to individual body systems and genetic markers. While the Whole 30 plan isn’t the most-healthy diet globally, it can help people with weight loss.

The food restrictions and low-calorie intake on Whole 30 can help you shed unwanted pounds. 

  • How much weight you can expect to lose on Whole 30 depends on a few factors: 
  • How overweight were you before starting the program?
  • Your body responds well to cutting out sugar and refined carbs. 
  • How much were bloat-inducing foods like dairy and legumes in your diet beforehand?
  • How active you are (the more active you are, the more calories you burn), 

However, it’s essential to realize that you will never achieve your ideal weight during the 30-day program unless you understand or perform a genetic test for your health, diet, nutrition, and fitness DNA test. These tests will then provide you with valuable insights that will help you make informed choices about your health, diet, and exercise. To get it done today with a quick result that backs it up, click here!

How to Lose Weight On a Whole 30 diet?

If you are looking for a solution to lose weight in 2022 and beyond, then the Whole 30 diet can be a solution because it focuses on whole foods that are good for you and easy to prepare at home. The Whole 30 diet does not restrict calories or have any other rules about what you should eat or drink – eat real food!  

If you are carrying unwanted weight due to inflammation, you can expect that it will begin to shed excess fat when you cut out the foods that cause inflammation in your body. Remember that you did not gain all of your weight overnight. It took some time to put it on, and it will also take some time to lose it. If you ate only foods you tolerated well, you would feel better and perform better.

Be patient with yourself and focus on the changes in how you feel instead of how much weight you have lost throughout the program. 

11 Rules of the Whole 30 diet

You should purge all unhealthy foods from your pantry and replace them with healthy foods. An excellent place to start is by buying approved Whole 30 foods. It would help if you also were sure to keep an eye out for dairy-free products, which are often available in some online stores. 

Here are the 11 rules of the Whole 30 diet:

  1. Avoid added sugar (natural or artificial) in your intakes.
  2. Avoid alcohol in any form. No beer, wine, or hard alcohol — even as cooking wine.
  3. Avoid all grains: Like cereal, bread, rice, and pasta are all off-limits on the Whole 30 Diet.
  4. Avoid all legumes. This includes this diet, and you can’t eat beans like soybeans, chickpeas, or peas.
  5. Avoid all soy (tofu, edamame, etc.)
  6. Avoid all carrageenan, MSG or sulfites. Carrageenan is a common additive in food that can cause intestinal issues. And monosodium glutamate is an additive that can cause reactions in some people.
  1. Avoid all dairy products: dairy: No milk or any milk-derived products like cheese or yogurt unless it’s clarified butter (ghee)
  2. Nothing can be carob-based—it’s not a whole food, and it tricks our bodies into thinking it’s eating chocolate.
  3. Nothing can be consumed in quantities more significant than an average serving size (e.g., no more than one cup of broth).
  4. You must avoid any foods that can cause your blood sugar levels, such as fruit juice and dried fruit, baked goods made with bananas, dates, or other sweeteners, or “healthy” desserts made with coconut milk, etc. You get the picture! 
  5. Eat meat, seafood, eggs, plenty of vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices, natural fats, and good quality oils.

 

What are the most challenging days of the Whole 30 diet?

The first day of the Whole 30 diet for weight loss is always the hardest, so you’re probably wondering. What is the most challenging day of this diet? 

There are many reasons for this. Perhaps you’re bloated, sad, or worried about failure. Whatever the reason is, remember that food can’t fill the void. Focus on other ways to satisfy yourself instead. If you’re still worried, consider talking to a dietitian to learn about the best way to deal with your cravings. The second-hardest day of the Whole 30 diet is Day 10-11. This is the most challenging day because you are forced to cut out sugar and carbohydrates. Your cravings have to be under control, and your workouts have to be more robust to keep you on track. Remember that the most challenging day is only temporary and will soon be over. It’s all worth it in the end.

What is the hardest part of the Whole 30 diet?

It is not easy to decide which part of the diet is the hardest. For some, it will be the initial three days. For others, it might be day 5 or 12. The hardest part of the Whole 30 diet will eliminate snacking for some. They generally follow the three-meals-a-day pattern, but they love a midday snack. They have a lot of energy, and it’s helpful for them to eat in between meals to keep me powered through the rest of the day. The Whole 30 diet doesn’t allow for snacking, so that might be a big adjustment. But for me, it was on day 20. 

I was craving something sweet this day, and I couldn’t resist eating a brownie. After eating it, I felt guilty, but what can you do? You are human, after all. The hardest thing about Whole 30 is that you have to give up all your favorite food. That is, no sugar, no alcohol, no grains, no legumes, no dairy, and no additives or preservatives. You have to eat only whole-natural foods approved by the program and cook them yourself if you want to follow this diet strictly. The hardest part of Whole 30 is that you can’t cheat. You can’t have a cookie, cupcake, or drink, even if it’s made with approved ingredients. You have to eat an immaculate diet for an entire month, and that’s harder than most people realize. 

Do you gain weight after Whole 30 Dieting?

Are you wondering if you can regain lost weight after the Whole 30 diet? If you follow the diet closely, you should lose weight within the first 30 days, but after that, do you regain weight? That question depends on your circumstances, such as age, genetic markers, body size, and others. Click here to understand more! A Whole 30 can lead to a dramatic weight loss for most people, but many individuals have problems after the first month. A healthy lifestyle requires planning for what comes next.

27 Food lists for Whole 30 and the Necessities for 2022

So what can you eat at the Whole 30? The Whole 30 food list includes meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, and fruit. You need to be prepared to make sure you’re enjoying it! These are some must-have staples for the Whole 30 diet, while the following foods are allowed (and encouraged!) during the Whole 30 program: 

  1. A good set of knives
  2. An Instant Pot
  3. Quality spices and blends
  4. Coconut aminos (instead of soy sauce)
  5. High-quality olive oil or coconut oil
  6. Ghee or grassfed butter
  7. Apple cider vinegar (for homemade salad dressing)
  8. Paleo mayo (make your own with this recipe)
  9. High-quality cooking fat (like bacon grease)
  10. Real salt (not iodized table salt)
  11. Canned coconut milk (total fat, not light)
  12. Frozen fruit and veggies (for smoothies and stir-fries)
  13. Bone broth protein powder (for a quick fix)
  14. Meat, poultry, seafood, beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, duck
  15. Fresh vegetables (any kind)
  16. Fruits like apples, pears, oranges, and bananas (no dried fruit allowed!)
  17. Healthy fats and oils
  18. Seaweed and certain seasonings and spices
  19. Coffee (yay!)
  20. Eggs
  21. Chia seeds
  22. Sweet potatoes
  23. Avocado oil
  24. Bacon (100% grass-fed)
  25. Fresh herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley
  26. Olives and olive oil (extra virgin is best)
  27. Kale or spinach leaves
  28. Spices: Italian Seasoning, Garlic Salt, Onion Powder, Red Pepper Flakes, Chili Powder, Cumin).

Conclusion:

Genes are important, but they are not destiny. Our genes, and our environment, influence our health and fitness in myriad ways.  But, if you need a DNA test for your personalized health, diet, nutrition, and fitness DNA test, you will find our DNA tests entirely accurate, with proven results to back it. We have been developing and providing this line of DNA tests for health, diet, and fitness for over 10 years. We are the only lab that can give this line of accurate tests with modern technology. HealthCodes DNA tests will tell you everything you need to know about optimal nutrition, exercise, nutrition, fitness, and building your physique for success! For more information on how HealthCodes DNA tests can be of help, visit our home page here!

 

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Because HealthCodes DNA relies on third-party ad networks who may track you across websites over time for advertising purposes, we are not able to respond to your selection of the “Do Not Track” option provided by your browser. We cannot advise on whether your selection of “Do Not Track” option will have any effect on the collection of cookie information by the third-parties who collect such cookie information on our site.

Third-parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our site or to display advertising based upon your Web browsing activity use Flash Cookies (Local Shared Objects) to collect and store information. To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for Flash cookies click here.

Google Analytics. Google Analytics is used to perform some of the tasks listed above. We use the User-ID feature of Google Analytics to combine behavioral information across devices and sessions (including authenticated and unauthenticated sessions). We have enabled the following Google Analytics Advertising features: Remarketing, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting, and DoubleClick Campaign Manager integration. We do not merge information collected through any Google advertising product with individual-level information collected elsewhere by our service. Learn more about how Google collects and uses data here. To opt out of Google Analytics Advertising Features please use Google Ad Settings or the links provided in section 2.b.c.ii (“Targeted advertising” service providers). To opt out of Google Analytics entirely please use this link.

  1. Other Types of Information.

We are always working to enhance our Services with new products, applications and features that may result in the collection of new and different types of information. We will update our privacy statement, as needed.

  1. How we use and share information

HealthCodes DNA will use and share your personal information with third-parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy statement.

  1. Using information to provide, analyze and improve our Services

We use the information described above in Section 3 to operate, provide, analyze and improve our Services. These activities may include, among other things, using your information in a manner consistent with other commitments in this privacy statement, to:

  1. open your account, enable purchases and process payments, communicate with you, and implement your requests (e.g., referrals);
  2. host our website, run our mobile application(s), authenticate your visits, provide custom, personalized content and information, and track your usage of our Services;
  • conduct analytics to improve and enhance our Services;
  1. offer new products or services to you, including through emails, promotions or contests;
  2. implement online marketing campaigns and targeted advertising, including by utilizing third-party ads (subject to your cookie settings and preferences), and to measure the effectiveness of our marketing and targeted advertising;
  3. conduct surveys or polls, and obtain testimonials;
  • process and deliver your genetic testing results;
  • perform research & development activities, which may include, for example, conducting data analysis and research in order to develop new or improve existing products and services, and performing quality control activities.

You may be able to opt-in, opt-out or otherwise adjust your preferences of having your information used for certain of these activities. Please see below to learn more.

We use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality of our Mobile Software on your phone. This software may record information such as how often you use the application, the events that occur within the application, aggregated usage, performance data, and where the application was downloaded from. We do not link the information we store within the analytics software to any personally identifiable information you submit within the mobile application.

  1. Using information with your consent

You have the choice to participate in HealthCodes DNA Research by providing your consent. “HealthCodes DNA Research” refers to research aimed at publication in peer-reviewed journals and other research funded by the federal government (such as the National Institutes of Health – NIH) conducted by HealthCodes DNA. HealthCodes DNA Research may be sponsored by, conducted on behalf of, or in collaboration with third-parties, such as non-profit foundations, academic institutions or pharmaceutical companies.  HealthCodes DNA Research may study a specific group or population, identify potential areas or targets for therapeutics development, conduct or support the development of drugs, diagnostics or devices to diagnose, predict or treat medical or other health conditions, work with public, private and/or non-profit entities on genetic research initiatives, or otherwise create, commercialize, and apply this new knowledge to improve health care. HealthCodes DNA Research uses your aggregate or individual-level Genetic Information and Self-Reported Information as specified in the Terms of Service.

Consent process for research. Your Genetic Information and Self-Reported Information may be used for HealthCodes DNA Research only if you have consented to this use by completing a Research Initiatives Consent Document. If you have completed a Research Initiatives Consent Document:

  1. Your aggregated, de-identified Genetic Information may be used for either philanthropic or commercial research purposes as set forth more fully the Research Initiatives Consent Document.
  2. When your Genetic Information and Self-Reported Informationis being used for research purposes, it will not be linked to your Registration Information.
  1. Withdrawing your Consent.You may withdraw your consent to participate in HealthCodes DNA Research Initiatives at any time by emailing us at support@healthcodesdna.com. HealthCodes DNA will not include your Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information in new research occurring after 30 days from the receipt of your request. Any research involving your data that has already been performed or published prior to our receipt of your request will not be reversed, undone, or withdrawn. If you withdraw your consent for research your Genetic Information and Self-Reported Information may still be used by us and shared with our third-party service providers to provide and improve our Services (as described in Section 4.a), and shared as Aggregate Information that does not identify you as an individual (as described in Section 4.d).
  2. What happens if you do NOT consent to HealthCodes DNA Research?If you do not complete a Research Initiatives Consent Document or any additional consent agreement with HealthCodes DNA, your information will not be used for HealthCodes DNA Research Initiatives and you will not be able to use HealthCodes DNA Services.
  1. Recruiting for external research

Academic institutions, healthcare organizations, and other groups are always conducting interesting new research projects. We want to make you aware of these opportunities. While we do not share individual-level Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information with third-parties without your consent, from time to time we may inform you of third-party research opportunities for which you may be eligible. For example, if a university tells us about a new cancer research project, we may send an email to HealthCodes DNA members who potentially fit the relevant eligibility criteria based on their Self-Reported Information to make them aware of the research project and provide a link to participate with the research organization conducting the study.

  1. Information we share with third-parties
  • . General service providers.We share the information described above in Section 3 with our service providers, as necessary to provide their services to us. Service providers are third-parties (other companies or individuals) that help us to provide, analyze and improve our Services. For example, we work with third-party laboratories and contractors to process and analyze your saliva sample for purposes of generating your Genetic Information

NOTE: Our service providers act on HealthCodes DNA’s behalf. While we implement procedures and contractual terms to protect the confidentiality and security of your information, we cannot guarantee the confidentiality and security of your information due to the inherent risks associated with storing and transmitting data electronically.

When you purchase a testing kit and report from HealthCodes DNA, you are instructed to send a saliva sample to our third-party laboratory with a unique barcode label. The unique barcode identifies you to us but not to the laboratory. We may also be required to provide to the laboratory, your sex and date of birth or age pursuant to clinical laboratory requirements such as the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). No other Registration Information such as your name, address, email, phone number or other contact information) is required or provided to the laboratory. The receiving personnel at the laboratory will remove and discard your “sender information” from the packaging (e.g., name, address) before testing personnel receive the samples for processing. Receiving personnel do not perform testing, and testing personnel handle saliva samples that are labeled only with the unique barcode. DNA and saliva samples are destroyed after the laboratory completes its work, provided that laboratory legal and regulatory requirements no longer require the actual samples to be maintained. A de-identified copy of genotyping data may be kept in accordance with CLIA. The laboratory securely sends the resulting Genetic Information to our third party reporting company along with your unique barcode. Genetic Information is stored securely on our servers; the laboratory also stores your Genetic Information, but again, labeled only with the barcode.

  • “Targeted advertising” service providers.We may permit third-party advertising networks and providers to collect Web Behavior Information on our Service to help us to deliver targeted online advertisements (“ads”) to you. They use cookies and similar technologies (such as JavaScript, beacons, device identifiers, location data, and clear gifs) to compile information about your browser’s or device’s visits and usage patterns on our Services and on other websites over time, which helps to better personalize ads to match your interests, and to measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns.

If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may be able to opt-out of many advertising networks by visiting here and here (if you are located in Canada, click here; or if you are located in the European Union click here). Please note this does not mean that you have opted-out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic ads.

  • Aggregate information.We may share aggregate information with third-parties, which is any information that has been stripped of your Registration (e.g., your name and contact information) and aggregated with information of others so that you cannot reasonably be identified as an individual (“Aggregate Information”). This Aggregate Information is different from “individual-level” information. Individual-level Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information of data about a single individual’s genotypes, diseases or other traits/characteristics information. For example, Aggregate Information may include a statement that “30% of our female users share a particular genetic trait,” without providing any data or testing results specific to any individual user. We may provide such Aggregate Information in commercial arrangements with our business partners. In contrast, individual-level Genetic Information could reveal whether a specific user has a particular genetic trait, or all of the Genetic Information about that user. HealthCodes DNA will ask for your consent to share individual-level Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information with any third-party, other than our service providers as necessary for us to provide the Services to you.
  • Information we share with commonly owned entities.We may share some or all of your information with other companies under common ownership or control of HealthCodes DNA, which may include our subsidiaries, our corporate parent, or any other subsidiaries owned by our corporate parent in order to provide you better service and improve user experience. We may provide additional notice and ask for your consent if we wish to share your information with our commonly owned entities in a materially different way than discussed in this Privacy Statement.
  1. Disclosures required by law

Under certain circumstances your information may be subject to disclosure pursuant to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants, or orders, or in coordination with regulatory authorities, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. HealthCodes DNA will preserve and disclose any and all information to law enforcement agencies or others if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal or regulatory process (such as a judicial proceeding, court order, or government inquiry) or obligations that HealthCodes DNA may owe pursuant to ethical and other professional rules, laws, and regulations; (b) enforce the HealthCodes DNA Terms of Service and other policies; (c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of HealthCodes DNA, its employees, its users, its clients, and the public.

NOTE: If you are participating in HealthCodes DNA Research, HealthCodes DNA will withhold disclosure of your personal information involved in such research in response to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants or orders in accordance with any applicable Certificate of Confidentiality that HealthCodes DNA and/or any of its third party providers has obtained from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). There are limits to what the Certificate of Confidentiality covers so please visit the Certificates of Confidentiality Kiosk ( https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coc/index.htm).

  1. Your choices
  2. Access to your account

If your Registration Information changes, you may access, correct or update most of it from your Account page. You may also modify and delete certain of your information. Please note that you may not be able to delete User Content that has been shared with others through the Service and that you may not be able to delete information that has been shared with third-parties, though we can work with you to prohibit your data from being shared with third-parties in the future. We will respond to your request to access within 30 days.

  1. Marketing communications

By registering for an account, you are agreeing that we may send you promotional emails about our Services. You can opt-out of such emails by clicking the “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of any of our or third-party promotional email communications. Please note that you may not opt-out of receiving non-promotional messages regarding your account, such as technical notices, purchase confirmations, or Service-related emails.

  1. Information you choose to share with others

You may decide to disclose your personal information to friends and/or family members, doctors or other health care professionals, and/or other individuals outside of our Services, including through third-party services such as social networks and third-party apps that connect to our website and mobile apps through our application programming interface (“API”). These third-parties may use your personal information differently than we do under this Privacy Statement. Please make such choices carefully and review the privacy policies of all other third-parties involved in the transaction. For example, if you have enabled a HealthCodes DNA sharing feature with another person who downloads a third-party app that uses our API, your information may also be obtained by that third-party app developer and, potentially, by other users of that third-party app.

In general, personal information, once shared or disclosed, can be difficult to contain or retrieve. HealthCodes DNA will have no responsibility or liability for any consequences that may result because you have released or shared personal information with others.

  1. Account closure

If you no longer wish to participate in our Services or no longer wish to have your personal information be used, you may close your account by sending a request to support@healthcodesdna.com. When closing an account, we remove all Genetic Information within your account (or profile) within thirty (30) days of our receipt of your request. As stated in any applicable Consent Document, however, Genetic Information and/or Self-Reported Information that you have previously provided and for which you have given consent to use in HealthCodes DNA Research cannot be removed from ongoing or completed studies that use the information. Our contracted genotyping laboratory may also retain your Genetic Information as required by local law and we may retain backup copies for a limited period of time pursuant to our data protection policies. In addition, we retain limited Registration Information related to your order history (e.g., name, contact, and transaction data) as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, as well as for accounting, audit and compliance purposes.

  1. Important Information
  2. Security measures

HealthCodes DNA takes seriously the trust you place in us. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, to maintain data accuracy, and to ensure the appropriate use of information, HealthCodes DNA uses a range of physical, technical, and administrative measures to safeguard your Personal Information. In particular, all connections to and from our website and mobile application are encrypted using Extended Validation Secure Socket Layer (EV SSL) technology.

Please recognize that protecting your Personal Information is also your responsibility. We ask you to be responsible for safeguarding your password, secret questions and answers, and other authentication information you use to access our Services. You should not disclose your authentication information to any third-party and should immediately notify HealthCodes DNA of any unauthorized use of your password. HealthCodes DNA cannot secure Personal Information that you release on your own or that you request us to release.

Your information collected through the Service may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which HealthCodes DNA or its subsidiaries, affiliates or service providers maintain facilities and, therefore, your information may be subject to the laws of those other jurisdictions which may be different from the laws of your country of residence.

  1. Business transactions

In the event that HealthCodes DNA goes through a business transition such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your information will likely be among the assets transferred. In such a case, your information would remain subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Statement.

  1. Linked websites

HealthCodes DNA provides links to third-party websites operated by organizations not affiliated with HealthCodes DNA. HealthCodes DNA does not disclose your information to organizations operating such linked third-party websites. HealthCodes DNA does not review or endorse, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices of these organizations. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each and every website that you visit. This Privacy Statement applies solely to information collected by HealthCodes DNA.

  1. Children’s privacy

HealthCodes DNA is committed to protecting the privacy of children as well as adults. Neither HealthCodes DNA nor any of its Services are designed for, intended to attract, or directed toward children under the age of 18. A parent or guardian, however, may collect a saliva sample from, create an account for, and provide information related to, his or her child. The parent or guardian assumes full responsibility for ensuring that the information that he/she provides to HealthCodes DNA about his or her child is kept secure and that the information submitted is accurate.

  1. Changes to this Privacy Statement

Whenever this Privacy Statement is changed in a material way, a notice will be posted as part of this Privacy Statement and on our customers’ account login pages for 30 days. After 30 days the changes will become effective. In addition, all customers will receive an email with notification of the changes prior to the change becoming effective.

  1. Contact Information

If you have questions about this Privacy Statement, please email HealthCodes DNA at info@HealthCodesDNA.com.