EPIGENETICS

I often run into people in my private practice who have lost hope that their health concerns can be improved upon due to some genetic flaw that they have or because their parents had the same problem or their parents’ parents had the same health concern.  They always look at me in disbelief when I share with them that WE CAN CHANGE THEIR GENES.  Yes, it really is that simple: we have control over how our genes express themselves.

Epigenetics is the study of genes and how they can be changed according to environmental influences.  It is our environment, thoughts and beliefs that determine the expression of our genes.  Let’s give an example of how this would work in a real life situation.  Let’s say that my father has developed heart disease and his father, my grandfather, died of heart disease.  Additionally, my great grandfather on my father’s side of the family also died of heart disease.  Obviously, this means that their is a GREATER LIKELIHOOD that I will develop heart disease than if nobody died of heart disease in my family’s recorded history.  However, I CAN CHOOSE how I respond to stress.  I CAN CHOOSE what foods I choose to eat and what foods I choose not to eat.  I CAN CHOOSE what nutrients or nutritional supplements I choose to take and what nutrients I choose not to take.  I CAN CHOOSE what type of exercise to do and how often to do it.  I CAN CHOOSE whether or not I meditate.  If I make the right choices in life, I have very little to worry about when it comes to heart disease in spite of having a history of it in my family.  (However, I could have chosen a bettr example as heart disease, stroke and cancer are the top 3 causes of death in the United States.  50% of the population will indeed die of heart disease whether you or I like it or not.)

Do you understand?  My health and my life are directly affected by my personal lifestyle habits and choices.  These are the choices that affect every area of my life: my sex life, my relationships, my income, my health, my piece of mind, my energy levels, my spiritual life, how long I live, etc.  Again, to repeat, I can choose how to react in any given situation when I am stimulated by a given set of circumstances (a family member dying, my wife leaving me, losing my job, etc…)  As we know from the research of B.F. Skinner M.D. and Ivan Pavlov, M.D. , it is not so much the stimulus that is important but rather our response to that stimulus.  What matters is how resilient we are in the face of stressors.  Hans Selye M.D. also talks about this at length in his book “The Stress of Life”.

If you are not following the ideas of this post, then it would certainly behoove you to pick up a copy of the book “The Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton.  Bruce Lipton is an epigeneticist that taught Molecular Biology to medical students in graduate school for over 10 years.  According to a great deal of research, approximately only 4 to 5% of genetic flaws or defects are permanent and cannot be changed.  That is it!  So whether it be high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Chrones disease or some other huge health concern you may be facing, there is a 95% chance that you can change your health and control the outcome of whatever health challenge you may be facing.  All that it really takes is the right thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, diet, and environmental influences.

I have spent 9 years of my life learning therapies that change these health related things around for people quickly and effectively WITH THE CORRECT LIFESTYLE CHANGES.  In no way do I mean to say that I have someone coming in to my office with Angina and walk out with a normally functioning heart after just one treatment.  However, I did have a fellow with Diabetes Type 2 come in for 6 separate visits over the course of approximately 4 months and at the end of that period he no longer had Type 2 Diabetes or symptoms!  This is the truth, shocking as it may sound.  Even I am shocked just thinking about it.