ARE YOU IN CONTROL OF YOUR GENES?

In essence, you ARE changing your genetics daily and perhaps even hourly from the foods you eat, the air you breathe, the exercise you do, and even by the thoughts you think. That you can modify your genes is the focus of a new field known as epigenetics, and it is probably the most important biological discovery since DNA.

No matter what hand you were dealt at birth, you can take steps to “activate” the disease-busting, health-boosting genes and suppress those that will cause you harm. This is evidenced perhaps most clearly by identical twins, who start out with the exact same genetic code … but end up very different.

As you age, your genome does not change but your epigenome changes dramatically, especially during critical periods of life, such as adolescence. It is influenced by physical and emotional stresses — how you respond to everything that happens in your environment, from climate change to childhood abuse.

The secret is in the methyl groups that overlie the DNA molecule, which is the realm of the epigenome.

When a gene is turned off epigenetically, the DNA has usually been “methylated.” When methyl groups adhere to a segment of DNA, they inhibit the gene’s response.

Methylation-gone-wrong is now suspected in autism, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

You do not manifest disease merely by a defective gene, but by your epigenome. In other words, whether or not you develop disease is determined by how your genome is being directed to express itself. There are also “master genes” that can switch on and off clusters of other genes.

A Healthy Lifestyle Supports Healthy Genetic Expression

One way to look at epigenetics is this: all of your cells contain ALL of your genes. The reason why your skin cells behave differently than, say, your liver cells, is because the genes that are not needed by a particular cell are turned off by epigenetics.

Epigenetics focuses on that your lifestyle choices will determine the expression of your genes.  Just think of a body builder and a long distance runner. Their activity will determine the size and metabolism of their muscle, heart cells.  So how about if you eat healthy fat vs. unhealthy fat or high vs a low sugar diet, it will determine the EXPRESSION OF YOUR DNA!

Start today to encourage your genes to express positive, disease-fighting behaviors by leading a healthy lifestyle even before a disease has manifested.  If you have a disease already, it is possible to change you gene expressing to you will heal yourself.

Take the time to invest in your Health, Eat Healthy, Exercise, Relax, Do Fun things and follow your Passion and Smile a lot!