Field Guide · Using a genetic test
It looks intimidating, but the idea is simple — and you don’t have to read it alone.
A genetic test — like 23andMe — shows what your kid’s body might struggle with: the tendencies they were born with. It tells you where to look.
On its own, it’s just a spreadsheet of letters.
Raw genetics is useless until it’s interpreted. That’s what a practitioner like Yasko does — and what Minta does for free: it reads your kid’s genes and tells you, in plain English, what they mean and what to watch.
That read is the whole value. Without it, you’re holding a spreadsheet with no plan.
The blueprint is the prediction. Bloodwork is the reality — it shows whether what the genes warned about is actually happening right now. You act on the blood, never the gene alone.
Plenty of kids have the “bad gene” and perfectly fine bloodwork. Supporting them off the gene alone can backfire.
Put the genetics + the blood together and you get the thing that changes care: here’s what your blueprint says to watch → here’s what your blood says is really going on → here’s what it means and what to ask your doctor.
That’s the difference between data and a plan. It’s what a Yasko-style practitioner gives you — and what Minta gives you free, with the bloodwork overlaid.
Neither one works alone — and each fails in its own way.
🧬 Genetics alone = guessing. A gene is a prediction, not a fact. Act on it without blood and you can treat problems that aren’t happening — or push supplements a sensitive kid doesn’t need, and make them worse.
🩸 Blood alone = flying blind. Blood only tells you about the tests you actually order — and without the genetic map, you don’t know which to run, can’t read the borderline ones, and won’t know the kid is sensitive.
“Genetics is the map. Blood is your live dot on it. You need both to move without getting lost — or hurt.”
How to order the tests
Order 23andMe and download the raw data file.
Bring the testing panel to your doctor.
Or take them to a functional doctor — either way, get the read.
“The read is the whole point.”
Parent education, not medical advice. No doses here — test first, food-first, and bring this to your team as questions.
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