Your family genetics may have dealt you a bad hand, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t fight back. The truth is that genetics can increase our risk of developing certain diseases, but in most cases, it’s our environment that really dictates if we end up well or chronically ill. A common mantra in functional medicine is “Your genetics are the gun, but environment pulls the trigger”.
For example, let’s say you get your 23andMe results back and learn that you have an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes (I know how shocking this can be from personal experience). Your body is going to be hard-pressed to develop that nasty disease if you identify the foods that spike your blood sugar and remove them from your diet.
Better yet, if you stay active, manage stress, optimize sleep and make sure to get enough of the micronutrients that support proper glucose metabolism, you have outsmarted your genes.
Notice that I said that you have to identify the foods that spike your blood sugar, but I did not say that you have to follow a low-carb, keto or paleo diet. Research continues to support that each one of us requires diets that meet our unique needs, not generalized diets with broad guidelines.
The same concept applies to all 7 pillars of good health. Outsmarting your genes means figuring out what your body requires to function at its best and compensate for disease-promoting genetics.
Customizing these basic tenants gives each one of us the best shot at optimal health and wellbeing.
#7 Get moving
Exercise reduces disease risk for many reasons but one critical reason is that it increases DNA methylation. This is your body’s way of turning genes on and off, occurring when a methyl group attaches to genes within our DNA. When the body doesn’t have enough available methyl groups, genes are not properly activated and deactivated meaning that genes that propel disease may be left “on” and genes that propel health may stay “off”.
As a bonus, exercise reduces overall inflammation within the body, increases oxygen transport, and improves metabolism decreasing the overall risk of chronic disease.
#6 Chill out
Today, most of us consider stressing a normal part of everyday life. But, this constant pressure is not normal for our bodies. In fact, our humans evolved to have short bouts of high stress (fight or flight) and then move back into an overall state of calm (rest, digest, reproduce).
Chronic stress is not something to ignore, it’s been shown to increase gene expression of hormone pathways that drive inflammation and tissue damage.
Most of the people I work with aren’t able to wave a wand and significantly reduce the stressors in their lives, but they do put practices in place that improve how their bodies’ respond to stress. Tactics that help to maintain physiological “calm” include yoga, meditation, deep breathing, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSRB), and even exercise.
#5 Support good sleep
Dr. Mathew Walker recently published a great book called “Why we Sleep”. His research emphasizes the evolutionary need for high-quality sleep and explains how it promotes overall health and wellbeing.
However, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to convince most people that good sleep is a game-changer, it merely takes a night or two of bad sleep. The fatigue, food cravings, and mental fog that follow a poor night of sleep are enough to convince most of us that we missed out on something important.
While an occasional bad night of sleep isn’t going to drive disease, regular periods of poor sleep will increase the risk of diseases ranging from type 2 diabetes to cardiovascular disease and beyond.
Bad sleep is a double whammy; increasing inflammatory chemicals, while decreasing gene methylation that can trigger disease pathways.
#4 Mind your gut
The microbiome is still an area of great mystery and research. What we do know for sure is that when it gets out of whack, health can decline rapidly.
The microbiome, composed of the myriad bacterial, viral, and fungal microbes that live communally within the gut, is a primary driver of health or disease. Everything from diet to sleep, stress, exercise, head trauma, medications, toxins and more, are influencing the species and number of microbes living in our GI tracts.
While many bugs in the gut are driving health, some bugs are not and if their colonies overtake healthy bugs, symptoms like pain, inflammation, depression, anxiety, autoimmunity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease can get out of control.
Maybe more shocking, researchers now suggest that the microbes in the gut actually have the ability to change your gene expression, meaning your bugs and your genes are influencing each other!
Eating a high plant-based and diverse whole food diet is the best foundation for a healthy gut.
#3 Clean up
The world we live in is becoming more and more toxic every day. It’s easy to ignore, but our air, water, and food are putting constant pressure on our body’s natural filtration and detoxification systems.
Even conventional produce is covered in pesticides and chemical preservatives like arsenic and chlorine! Increased plastics containing our food and water leech hormone-disrupting chemicals into our bodies while furniture, carpet, and clothing off-gas chemicals into our homes trapping toxic pollutants inside. While inside air pollution is often worse than outside, in urban areas, exhaust from vehicles alongside other air pollutants fill our lungs.
Avoiding as many of these toxins is the first line of defense. Steer clear of plastics, pharmaceuticals, chemical-laden home goods and cleaners, and inorganic food.
If possible, purchase a high-quality reverse-osmosis water purifier, a high-performance air filter for your bedroom, and contain food in glass instead of plastic to protect your DNA!
#2 Eat real food
Every body has unique dietary needs, in part based on our genes. However, a few basic rules can help protect your health from nasty genes.
1. Eat a whole food and organic diet
2. Refrain from refined and processed foods
3. Consume 80-90% of food from plants
3. Avoid sweetened beverages and drink plenty of purified water
Your DNA relies on countless nutrients such as folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, riboflavin, methionine, choline, and betaine to code the processes of your body. Other food components such as curcumin, sulforaphane, retinoic acid, resveratrol, and tea polyphenols also improve the regulation of genes. A whole food diet is your best chance to get enough of these foods.
The best way to individualize your nutrition is to work with a highly-trained functional medicine practitioner to identify foods that optimize your unique body.
#1 Track your trends
The solution for beating genetic risk is identifying what your body’s unique needs. Proper and comprehensive lab testing and systematic tracking mean you can ensure that the work you are doing to optimize your health is pushing your body away from genetic risk factors.
Your genes are not your destiny; they are just one factor at play. By finding awareness around your unique genetics and utilizing the right lifestyle interventions, you can overcome bad genes and take control of your health.