When many people gain weight or develop health conditions, they will often say “It runs in the family” because they believe they inherited the problem from their parents. Although there are some fixed genetic traits, such as eye or hair color (and some genetic aberrations), up to 85% of our genes are influenced by environment, including our lifestyle choices.
Many health experts now agree that chronic conditions and diseases are strongly driven by lifestyle habits, such as eating and activity levels. Typical examples are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, high blood sugar/diabetes, overweight, arthritis, chronic inflammation, and cancer. These are all heavily influenced by lifestyle choices.
A lack of healthy nutrition/proper supplementation, too little activity, and heavy stress can disrupt our metabolic systems. Over time, the damage can become more pronounced as our genes and health decline. Put simply, every bite you take and the moves you make affects your genes!
Disease Model Counter Productive?
Many people follow the disease-oriented model in our medical system (rather than an optimal-health/lifestyle one). So when people develop symptoms or have negative test results, they enter a system that often provides a “disease” diagnosis along with drugs or other treatments. But many of those treatments mask symptoms while they don’t fix or heal the underlying cause. So when people take their pills or get a stent implanted without improving their lifestyle, they are likely to face the same problems over time. The current disease model is often costly and counterproductive because underlying health is not improved.
When I’ve had health issues, the first place I look is my lifestyle! And in every case, an adjustment to improve my nutrition/supplements, better activity or sleep have all resolved the problem. Even more serious injuries from a car accident all healed, without drugs or surgeries (they were recommended often).
Now it’s become more widely known that a healthier lifestyle can turn off disease genes and turn on healthy ones!
The Lifestyle-Gene Connection
There is a growing body of evidence to support a direct lifestyle-gene connection (called epigenetics). It refers to the way the environment and lifestyle affects gene function. What you eat and how you live can activate or suppress many genes; your lifestyle can make you healthy or sick, depending on the daily choices you make.
Some research shows a direct link between a less-active lifestyle and turning off genes needed for healthy blood fats and glucose, which increases the risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic inflammation, etc. And these problems can turn up after a few days of inactivity! It’s also known that a healthy diet with good quantities of vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts, healthy oils, and appropriate activity are helpful for preventing those same diseases. One study showed that a healthy lifestyle affected hundreds of genes in men with cancer!
In addition, studies have shown that cancer development is strongly influenced by lifestyle, especially excess fat and high sugar intake, plus a lack of good nutrition and inactivity. Some experts estimate that 55% to 65% of cancer deaths are linked to poor lifestyle (smoking, overweight, unhealthy diet, etc.). Other estimates indicate that only about 5-10% of cancer is due to genetics. In fact, experts will tell you that we have cancer cells (mutations) in us all the time. It’s our immune system that either keeps them in check or is compromised by an unhealthy lifestyle, allowing the cancer to spread and grow. Most experts agree, cancer is largely preventable!
A more healthy lifestyle becomes more critical with age, because our hormonal systems tend to be less efficient. We also tend to lose muscle tone and mass. What we ate in our 20s or 30s (often not healthy), is no longer workable into the 40s, 50s or beyond.
But if people made more healthy choices over time, they could head off most conditions/diseases. And remaining active for 20-30 minutes most days also brings big rewards. Let your weight be your guide. If you have gained weight and fat as the years pass, your lifestyle is out of balance. A more stable, healthy weight and body fat indicates a better balance of lifestyle habits.
Genes Are Not Like Steel
To say it another way, many genes are changeable; they can be modified like a word processing program compared to the case around your computer. Many genes are non-rigid; they change and adapt to the conditions they are exposed to. Like changing the fonts in your document, genes can be modified or changed based on how you live, for better or worse. This is a breakthrough discovery for many!
Have you known people who were overweight and had other health issues, such as diabetes? If they lost weight, did their diabetes and high triglycerides fade away? It happens! How about someone who loses 10 or 20 pounds and their high blood pressure returns to normal? It happens! These are a few examples of how changing your lifestyle can help to resolve health conditions we associate with our model of “disease.”
So for everyone who is living with chronic health conditions (or has a family history of them), I hope this article gives you insight and hope. You are what you eat! I urge you to get a consultation with a qualified health/nutrition/fitness coach. You can discuss your specific conditions and map out a lifestyle makeover, making small changes and substitutions over time. Why not get your genes working for you, supporting optimum health and vitality? The research says you can, and have a life largely free of health problems and disease. It’s literally a life and death choice. . .a choice you can make today!
Helpful links:
http://preventdisease.com/news/11/021711_genes_or_lifestyle.shtml
http://health-and-fitness-help.com/genetics-can-be-changed-with-healthy-lifestyle/.html
http://endsicknessnow.com/
© 2011 by Steve Carney/Quick Start Your Health & End Sickness Now