23andMe DNA testing kit

What if knowing was as easy as sending away for a $99 at home DNA test?  No doctor's appointments, no waiting rooms and you even have a choice to unlock certain results or keep them a mystery.

My twin sister was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 7 years ago.  After genetic testing at the doctor's office, she recommended that all immediate family members be tested as well.  I think the $500-$600 price tag and the fact that I certainly did not want a test telling me whether or not I had to avoid gluten for the rest of my life kept it on the back burner for...well, the past 7 years.

When I heard about 23andme's home DNA testing kit, I immediately singed up.  $99 for over 240 testing results (including Celiac Disease) was a no-brainer!  The test also includes ancestry results.

The kit arrived in the mail with easy instructions.  I registered the kit online and then spit in the tube to the fill line, closed the lid, and boxed it in the same packaging with the postage paid label.  It couldn't have been easier.

While waiting several weeks for the testing results, you can go back to your profile and provide more background information with easy survey questions.  23andme kept me well-informed on the status of the shipping, receiving and analysis of the test from start to finish.

There is even a 23andme app you can download to access your results.  I've probably overshared my testing results with family and close friends- highly recommending that they, too, find out their genetic risks, carrier status, traits & drug responses.  I firmly believe that we can make changes in lifestyle and eating habits armed with knowledge of our genetic risk factors to lessen our risk.

Certainly with some diseases such as Celiac, you either have it or don't.  Now I know.  I didn't even think of learning about some of the more serious diseases that showed up in the results.  Now I know those, too.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.