What's your CARB LIMIT?

If you feel sluggish after a plate of pasta and are struggling to stay slim, your genes could be to blame

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Is one biscuit just never enough? Always reaching for the next sugar rush? Or maybe you've tried low-carb diets with family and friends, only to frustratingly watch their pounds slip off while your waistline stays the same. Your DNA might be to blame, says genetics expert Dr Sharon Moalem, author of The DNA Restart: Unlock Your Personal Genetic Code (Rodale).

'We have a gene called AMY1 that produces amylase, an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates,' explains Dr Moalem. The more copies of that gene you have, the more able your body will be to process bread, rice and pasta. 'Eat more carbs than your body can handle and this may lead to high blood sugar levels," adds Dr Moalem. This can cause your body to store the excess as fat.

Read on to discover how many carbs you should really be eating, then turn over for the easy swaps you can make to cut down.

Uncover your genes

"If you have a lot of duplicates of the gene that produces amylase, you'll have much more of it in your saliva,' says Dr Moalem. 'So when you eat carbohydrates it will start breaking it down quickly into simpler sugars, so you will notice a sweet taste. If you only have a little amylase, you won't notice a taste change.'

1 Place a plain cracker in your mouth, start the timer on your phone/a stopwatch, and start chewing. Don't swallow.

2 Pay close attention to when you detect a change in the taste of the cracker to be slightly sweeter (it can be subtle). Take a note of the time. If you get to 30 seconds without noticing a change in taste, stop timing and note down '30.

3 Repeat this test two more times and take an average of your timing results.

YOUR SCORE

+ 0-14 seconds -0 points

+ 15-30 seconds = 3 points

+ More than 30 seconds = 6 points

Your body and mind response