“It’s in My Genes” No Longer an Excuse for Poor Health
Because environmental triggers can signal gene expression, we can no longer blame our genes for being the destiny of our health.
Is it Your Genes or Lifestyle that is the Reason for Your Poor Health?
By Carrie Rutledge
We have all heard about someone miraculously cured of Stage IV cancer after every other treatment has failed. A lifelong smoker and bacon eater who lived to the ripe old age of ninety-five. The woman being told she would never have children to achieve a healthy pregnancy, naturally in her mid-forties.
This phenomenon happens more than one would think. The cause and cure of many chronic diseases are beyond our genes. They could be due to several different environmental modalities, even the thoughts in our heads.
The Human Genome Project was a research project aimed to look at all the genes (genes are made up of DNA) that make us human. Our bodies are made up of hundreds of thousands of proteins. Scientists speculated that humans would require over a hundred thousand genes. Scientists were shocked to find that humans are composed of around 25,000 genes, which led to Epigenetics.
Epigenetics is the study of gene expression through environmental influences. Epigenetic triggers from the environment do not alter the original DNA sequence, but rather the way the gene is expressed or not expressed. More specifically, epigenetic triggers cause genes to turn on and off.
Of all the genes we have, only a certain amount is expressed at one time, and some may never be expressed at all. Because environmental triggers can signal gene expression, we can no longer blame our genes for being the destiny of our health. In truth, gene expression is mostly regulated by the cell’s interaction with the environment and not just by its genetic code. Environmental triggers that can alter gene expression are, of course, diet, energy fields (EMFs), stress, prenatal nutrition, toxins, chemicals, thoughts, and emotional health.
Histones (proteins found inside the cell nucleus) have the job of packing and ordering the DNA. These proteins are reliant on the proper methylation, which stop genes from being expressed, or acetylation, which help the genes to become defined.
Proper methylation and acetylation are heavily reliant on nutrients. For example, histone methylation is reliant on B12, folate, and choline. Acetylation relies on biotin (liver and eggs), niacin, butyric acid (produced by the gut bacteria), turmeric (curcumin), and resveratrol (grapes). Dietary habits that can impede proper methylation and acetylation include a nutrient-deficient diet and a lack of variety in the diet. Lifestyle habits that cause inflammation or a diet high in processed foods will also affect these processes.
Many scientists are now seeing that DNA is not the central controller of the fate of the cell, but rather the environment of the cell. The cell membrane is the actual “brain” of the cell. It encounters all of the nutrients, toxins, wastes, and even the chemical messengers, such as hormones. The proteins of the cell membrane sense environmental signals and then respond to them by allowing the transport of substances or chemical messengers across the membrane. Scientists are just now starting to recognize that radio frequencies, cellular phones, cell towers, and other forms of electromagnetic frequencies can break and alter the strands of DNA.
Since medical science follows a reductionist approach, it doesn’t take into account quantum theory. Scientists such as Einstein, Bohr, and Pauli observed that matter is actually made up of energy. It is not always predictable in how it behaves. In simple terms, it is impossible to predict with certainty the outcome of any experiment or invention because of the variable energy involved. Case in point, a reductionist scientific view will often predict that all biochemical pathways would act the same and guarantee that a specific pharmaceutical drug, vaccine, or nutrient should have the same outcome in every human being. This is simply not true.
We now know that energy and matter are interactive. Because microscopic matter doesn’t exist with certainty, atomic events will not occur with certainty every single time. Instead, they show tendencies to happen, and this explains why different interventions affect individuals differently. More specifically, a person’s thoughts, energy, emotions, and the emotions of the practitioner will all affect the outcome of the treatment.
Energy healing such as Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique, sound healing, light therapy, acupuncture, and homeopathy all supply environmental signals that can change the way DNA is expressed or not expressed. In modern medicine, we have come so far; however, we tend to fall short in thinking there is a “cure-all” that will work the same for everyone in terms of disease. They continue to come up with new pharmaceutical drugs and surgeries in the hopes that they may block or cure disease. However, illnesses today are certainly not diminishing. When we look at disease from a holistic perspective, we see that the origination of disease is usually invisible and at a microscopic level, mostly caused by environmental means as opposed to a type of physical matter. We must remember that food is energy and different foods have different energies that can be used for a medicinal effect. There are many factors that can affect the energy of different foods, such as: how it was prepared, where it was produced, and even the vibrational energy of the person cooking the food.
It’s easy to see how the production and preparation of food could have a significant influence on our health when we look closely at food production and illness. When we frequent fast food, chain restaurants, hospitals, or even public-school lunches, we can speculate that we may feel and work poorly afterward. The journey of food being sprayed with environmental toxins from a mass-produced factory farm, into a truck, and finally into plastic packaging only to be dropped off at a restaurant or school where it is overcooked and thrown into a microwave for a reheat would most definitely zap all of the energy and nutrients out of the food. We are picking up the low vibrational energy of not only the mass-produced factory farms but also the energy of all the hands that touch the food when we dine in this way.
Therefore farm-to-table restaurants that buy from local farmers and grow their own food are wisely trending. The chefs and cooks are hired to put care into every dish, and many restaurants do not have a microwave in their kitchen. The food only passes through a few caring hands before it reaches our plates.
More importantly, our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs can act as epigenetic triggers that have a profound influence on cell function as well. This has a lot to do with how our minds can play a pivotal role in healing from chronic disease. In fact, one thought fires off thousands of neurons, which directly affects how our cells behave. Therefore optimism, gratitude, positive affirmations, Kundalini Yoga, prayer, and meditation can play a crucial role in our healing.
What is precisely clear is that the food we consume, and our daily thoughts have an epigenetic interaction with cells at the molecular level that affects our DNA and the way our genes may be expressed. Consequently, we can’t blame our genetic code for the illnesses we have. Instead, we need to look more closely at the environment we are living in. The city we live in, its air quality, the stress we endure, the foods we consume, the water we drink, the medicine we take, our beliefs and emotions, they all influence the way our cells behave. These are some of the most flexible and easily changeable areas of our lives. It lies within each of us to make more healthy decisions when it comes to our own wellbeing.
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About the Author
Carrie Rutledge is a full-time working mother who spent five years struggling with infertility and miscarriages. Through research and lifestyle changes, she put an end to frustrating doctor’s visits and expensive pharmaceutical drugs that worsened her condition. At forty, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Although she was diagnosed with Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, and OCD, she continues to treat her symptoms through nutrition, exercise, CBT therapy, Yoga, and meditation. She is devoted to helping women take back their health and heal their bodies on their own terms. Follow Carrie on Instagram
