How to Change Your Genetic Expression and Reverse Disease: (Part 1) Diet, Cellular Detoxification, and Movement

thegiftofself (52)in #life • 7 years ago (edited)

"We are not victims of our genes, but masters of our fates, able to create lives overflowing with peace, happiness, and love."
~Bruce Lipton

Recent scientific research in the past few decades has begun to shift our perspective from genetic determinism, where genes control our fate, to genome modification where certain factors can be adjusted to change our genetic expression.

This is common knowledge to many "biohackers" and health nuts such as myself, but it's still common to hear people blame their health problems on their genes. Sadly, many medical doctors are still clinging to this outdated belief. Still telling patients that because of their genes, they'll have to be on medications forever.

Even health savvy parents (myself included here too) are getting on the band wagon and testing their children for variations in genes that validate their suspicions of "faulty detox pathways" such as "MTHFR".

My hands in the air! 🙋🏽I bought into this. And I even tried all the supplements that the MTHFR "experts" recommended with no sustainable improvement in my health My stress actually increased with the awareness that I, and my children had this "mutation"!!!!

When I finally realized what could and needed that be done to ensure these genes would not be expressed, I had to laugh at the incredulity and ignorance of it all. And I let out a sigh of relief!!!!

There's so much that we can do, that is either free or really cheap to hack our genetic expression.

My purpose here is to share my personal experience and research into what is called "epigenetics"...and how we can access health, well-being and happiness through ancient practices...so that you may also experience a feeling of relief, knowing that our genes are not our fate.

Epigenetics 101

According to Wikipedia, "Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene function that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence."

Epigenetics factors can turn genes on or off or turn them up or down in their expression.

Although human cells have an estimated 20,000 genes, only a fraction of those are turned on at any given time, depending on the cell’s needs — which can change by the minute or hour.

According to this article by Dr. Mercola, a leading expert in integrative health:

In 1988, the experiments of John Cairns demonstrated even primitive organisms can evolve “consciously,” as DNA changes in response to its environment. The cell’s “consciousness” lies in its membrane, which contains receptors that pick up various environmental signals. This mechanism controls the “reading” of the genes inside the cell.

The work of Dr. Bruce Lipton and other epigenetic researchers shows that the “environmental signals” also include thoughts and emotions—both of which have been shown to directly affect DNA expression.

Contrary to the Newtonian belief in your body as a biological machine, epigenetic science reveals that you are an extension of your environment, which includes everything from your thoughts and belief systems, to toxic exposures and exposure to sunlight, exercise, and, of course, everything you choose to put onto and into your body. Epigenetics shatters the idea that you are a victim of your genes, and shows that you have tremendous power to shape and direct your physical health.

That's all fascinating enough, but what really surprised me is that researchers have found that epigenetic factors can be passed on to our offspring. This article, from Discover magazine, points out that we carry emotional "scars" on our DNA from recent ancestors.

"According to the new insights of behavioral epigenetics, traumatic experiences in our past, or in our recent ancestors’ past, leave molecular scars adhering to our DNA. Jews whose great-grandparents were chased from their Russian shtetls; Chinese whose grandparents lived through the ravages of the Cultural Revolution; young immigrants from Africa whose parents survived massacres; adults of every ethnicity who grew up with alcoholic or abusive parents — all carry with them more than just memories."

"The genome has long been known as the blueprint of life, but the epigenome is life’s Etch A Sketch: Shake it hard enough, and you can wipe clean the family curse."

What happened in Vegas, doesn't have to keep affecting you or your your offspring 😉

This gives me so much validation as to the importance of addressing trauma and subconscious (inherited) patterns, in order to rewrite our programming for future generations.

Scientifically validated ways to change the expression of our genes.

Okay, so now that we know what we're working with...let's talk about what we can do when the rubber meets the road.

I'll start off with the foundational stuff first. Then take you into some mind-expanding theories, beyond epigenetics, and into actually recoding and activating our DNA to engage our "Superhuman powers".

Diet

So this one is a no-brainer! Yet people continue to eat toxic foods and doctors continue to tell patients that diet doesn't matter. So perhaps even if one person who is on the fence reads this, and finally gets it...it will he worth my efforts to provide some research.

In this article Markus Ralser, Ph. D explains the following about nutrition and genetic expression:

“Cellular metabolism plays a far more dynamic role in the cells than we previously thought … Nearly all of a cell's genes are influenced by changes to the nutrients they have access to.

*In fact, in many cases the effects were so strong, that changing a cell's metabolic profile could make some of its genes behave in a completely different manner … The classical view is that genes control how nutrients are broken down into important molecules … *

We've shown that the opposite is true, too — how the nutrients break down affects how our genes behave.”

The image above shows how components of different foods effect epigentic modulators

"It’s not the first time diet has been shown to alter your genes. For instance, certain foods, such as broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, garlic, and onions contain substances that act as histone inhibitors, which essentially block the histone protein.

This allows your tumor-suppressor genes to activate and fight cancer. By regularly consuming these foods, you are naturally supporting your body's ability to fight tumors.

Curcumin, the active ingredient in the spice turmeric, is also known for its ability to modulate genetic activity and expression — both by destroying cancer cells, and by promoting healthy cell function.

So, what we eat currently effects how our DNA expresses itself now. It has also been validated by research that our mother's diet in utero and before conception affects our health as adults.

"In a study conducted at the German Research Center for Environmental Health and published in Nature Genetics in 2016, genetically identical mice that consumed a high-fat diet were more likely to produce obese offspring with impaired glucose tolerance, an early sign of type 2 diabetes."