Epigenetics – Your DNA Is Not Your Destiny

Epigenetics describes the interaction between environmental elements such as our diet, lifestyle, our mindset, thoughts and stress, which act as epigenetic signals that can change the physical expression of your genes. Your genes won’t change, but the way they’re expressed will.

The root cause of most weight gain, brain and mood problems, fatigue, and autoimmunity can take years to develop or even decades for symptoms and a clear diagnosis to arise.

Epigenetics is what happens to the gene based on how it’s influenced. We have great power over our genes, and how they’re expressed or not expressed such as:

• physical choices (how we live, the food we eat, exercise, clean water, hydration, sleep, daily sunlight exposure, taking nutrients to support and balance body chemistry)
• biochemical choices (anything you cannot see, but affects you internally such as toxic metals, pesticides, EMFs, dirty electricity, chemicals, air pollution, gratitude, our thoughts, perception and even our attitudes)
• relationships, spiritual, emotional, environmental and lifestyle choices, how we breathe, what we read, watch and listen to, our social circle

Genes are effectively turned on or off according to our quality of mind, our lifestyle habits and our environment.

Genes don’t control your destiny. Just because a certain health ailment, addiction, disease or behavior run’s in your family or is in your genes, does not mean that is your fate – it just means that you’re vulnerable to a particular disease; it’s just a weak link in your chain. Just because Dad, grandma or any other family member had heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, is an alcoholic, depressed or obese does not mean that you’re predestined to follow in their footsteps.

Genes are plastic based on environmental epigenetics, which means we can alter which genes are expressed, turned on or turned off based on environment and lifestyle choices such as what we choose to eat and drink, our lifestyle habits such as sleep, how we manage stress, reducing our exposure to chemicals, decreasing our toxic load, sunlight, our activity level, social circle, behavior, thoughts, beliefs and even our level of consciousness and spirituality, all which strongly influence our overall health, longevity, happiness and so much more.

Our thoughts, attitude, behaviors and perception about life (quality of mind) are vital in shaping the way that our genes express themselves.

Our mental and emotional states are also key to our healing, because of the way in which they impact upon our subconscious mind and the systems of our body. When we acknowledge this role, we’ll understand how important it is that we don’t attach to negative thoughts and beliefs about our sickness, and therefore impede our own healing.

Researchers have found that an extra dose of a vitamin or nutrient, a brief exposure to a toxin, even extra nurturing and the quality of mothering can tweak the epigenome.

Epigenetics — your DNA is not your destiny

Epigenetic factors or influences that affect our lives

• Our exposure to toxic chemicals, pollutants and environmental toxins, our parents and grandparent’s exposure to toxins
• Our thoughts, our parent’s and grandparent’s thoughts
• Viral, bacterial and parasitic infections or infestations
• Our ability to deal with life’s stresses
• How we breathe
• How active we are, the amount, frequency and type of exercise and movement we get on a daily basis
• Our spiritual connection, belief system and prayer life. Meditation turns on the expression of genes associated with energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, insulin sensitivity and telomere maintenance, and turns off expression of genes linked to inflammation and stress.
• The quality of food we eat and the quality of water we drink
• Our relationships and social circle
• The health of our microbiome (beneficial intestinal bacteria)
• The sunlight we get
• Our exposure to EMFs, WiFi, EMR and artificial lighting
• Our nutritional status, nutrient deficiencies or excesses
• Our ability to eliminate toxins that we’re exposed to or our bodies produce as part of daily metabolic processes
• Tools of our consciousness, including our beliefs, thoughts, intentions, behaviors and actions are linked much more strongly with our health, longevity, and happiness than our genes. Every thought releases chemicals that trigger genetic changes in our cells.

We are not victims of our biology or circumstances. How we react to the events and circumstances of life has an enormous impact on our mental, emotional and physical health.

“Factors such as diet, seasonal changes, financial status, psychological state, social interactions, therapeutic drugs, and disease exposure might have beneficial or harmful effects depending on the specific nature of the influence.” [Cell Dev. Biol., 09 September 2014]

Sickness and dis-ease do not manifest overnight. No one gets heart disease, an autoimmune disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes or any other disease at age 40, 50 or 60 out of the blue―the process starts years earlier! It’s never too late to change your life, identify the root cause, and make smarter and healthier choices. You cannot recover in the same environment where you got sick.

Seventy-five percent of a person’s health after age 40 is dependent upon what they have done to their genes or what they’ve been exposed to, not the genes themselves.

It’s important to start with the basics first – balance blood sugar, get rid of infections, mycotoxins and toxic heavy metals, heal the gut, optimize digestion and our microbiome, correct nutrient deficiencies, create healthy outlets to deal with inevitable stressors, develop fulfilling relationships, sleep well, balance our body chemistry and circadian rhythms, get a daily dose of sunlight, nature therapy, breathe properly, drink clean water, and eat nutrient-dense organic foods. Only then can the body begin to heal naturally.

As you might begin to appreciate; just about anything can have a profound impact on our epigenetics. Everything’s interconnected, and everything affects everything. Our DNA is not our destiny! Now, that’s empowering!

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