by Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND
It’s hard to imagine a day – which was not so long ago – when most people’s days were so fully occupied by the hard labor of working the land that they could not spare energy to think about optimizing their health and happiness.
In those times when life was tough, the “health rules” needed to be simple. Have a few peas or a little salad alongside your steak and potatoes. Don’t drink ice water when you’re working in sweltering heat. Follow Grandma’s traditional cures.
It is only in a modern “leisure society” that people have the time and resources to turn their attention to “quality of life” issues and adjust their circumstances in hopes of having more happiness and freedom.
Nowadays, we all know that simple lifestyle choices can powerfully affect our quality of life – from staving-off cardiovascular and metabolic disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer, to increasing our overall sense of happiness and wellbeing.
Fortunately, the formula for a good life today is still quite simple. Increase fruits and vegetables. Eat organic whole foods. Move your body – exercise. Walk in the forest. Walk barefoot on the dewy grass at dawn. Hug a tree. Hug a person. Meditate. Express gratitude. Serve others. Choose happiness.
Despite the limited self-care options of our ancestors, an enormous body of folk wisdom continues to offer us time-tested practices that work.
Remember “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Not to mention Mom’s chicken soup for colds, and simple but effective folks cures like taking (home-made) ginger ale for nausea.
Standard herbal remedies such as chamomile and peppermint teas have also stood the test of time, even if a few have fallen by the way.
Naturopathic medicine has verified many herbal cures, water therapies, breathing practices, and meditation. In our Naturopathic practice we take to heart the folk wisdom that prescribes wholesome spiritual and environmental influences and lifestyle choices that aid in preventing and correcting disease.
Yet, although we no longer need to toil from dawn to dusk to stay alive, our existence continues somehow to be quite complex. Nowhere is this more so than in the health sciences.
During the last hundred years science has discovered the vast differences that make each of us absolutely unique. Thus, a “cure” that works for one person may not always work for another. Our genetic blueprint is ours alone.
Are we born the way we are, or have our lives shaped us that way? The “nature versus nurture” controversy was resolved long ago – we know that nature and nurture combine to shape us and how our bodies behave.
Our ability to understand the influences that shape our health was greatly expanded by the discovery of DNA. Our “genome” is the genetic material that makes up our individual DNA, and the study of these differences is called genomics.
Our genome certainly plays a major role in our health. But with the possible exception of certain dominant genes, science is increasingly discovering the many ways that lifestyle and environmental factors can influence the expression of our genes in positive or negative ways.
Diet, stress, social interactions, and health habits can alter our gene activity and create new traits, behaviors, and health outcomes. The study of these specific changes is called epigenetics. And “nutrigenomics” is the study of the effect of diet and nutrients on gene expression.
Stanford University now offers courses in nutritional epigenetics and longevity medicine. Stanford researcher Dr. Lucia Aronica estimates that genetics account for just 25% of our gene expression, while we can optimize 75% through diet and nutrients. (If you are interest in genetics and health, we heartily recommend a visit to Dr. Lucia’s inspiring website, linked above.)
“You are not just a passive reader of your genetic code, but an active writer of your health story every day with every choice,”
– Dr. Lucis Aronica
This is very good news for those who’ve been told, for example, that they are carriers of ominous genes such as ApoE 4 (the “Alzheimers gene”).
It’s also wonderful news for the researchers who are looking to identify the causes and find treatments for genetic variability linked to specific diseases.
In addition, researchers can now study the genes that determine the ability or inability of our individual bodies to detox disease-causing toxins, to clear cellular debris, to activate or deactivate receptor sites, to handle carbohydrates, and to exercise in optimal ways.
We can even alter the expression of these genes – for example, we can determine which exercises will be most beneficial for a given person, how specific food choices or dietary patterns such as intermittent fasting will affect an individual, given their unique genetic make-up, and which medicines are contraindicated for an individual for genetic reasons.
Every thought we think, every word we speak, every action we take, and every choice we make influences us in ways that we can scarcely imagine. They influence us by the movements and patterns of energy they stimulate, and that powerfully affect our health.
Energy creates, sustains, and defines all creation, including us. Energy determines our genetics. Lifestyle, environmental factors, diet, and ongoing energetic influences determine our genetic code, turning genes on or off and further deciding our biochemical makeup and health.
Should you seek genetic testing?
Maybe. Maybe not. Specialty labs that focus on various health conditions and their related genetic alterations have been available for years. They can be very useful for helping us understand the causes of and best treatments for specific issues.
If you are terrified that you may have a gene that is particularly nefarious, and you cannot imagine how you could possibly affect it, or you simply don’t want to make the changes that would turn the gene off, you may not want testing. But it may be equally harmful to continue to harbor a powerful belief that you are doomed by a gene that you may not have, or that cannot be changed.
The results from the more generally available, comprehensive testing such as the popular “23 and me” and other similar systems can be loaded into nutrigenomic data bases to produce useful recommendations (and information overload) – often requiring expert help to determine what you can realistically do with the data.
If you want to take a deep dive into your health, precision medicine based on your personal genetics can offer you individualized disease predictions and prevention options, and personally targeted therapies.
If it’s all too much to take in, you might want to stick to the tried-and-true lifestyle choices noted above. Consider your options, be conscious, choose wisely.
Drs. Connie and Marcel Hernandez
DrConnie@DrsHernandez.com
DrMarcel@DrsHernandez.com