How Your Diet Can Rewrite Your Health Story: An Epigenetic Perspective

Nutrition plays a critical role in our health.

We're born with a set of genes, a potential inherited from our parents. However, whether a particular gene is active, and in what way, is determined by our lifestyle – the food we eat, our sleep patterns, thoughts, physical activity, and movement. This area of biology that studies these changes in gene function is called epigenetics.

Even if we have a genetic predisposition to a certain disease, it doesn't mean it will necessarily develop, because our environment – namely, our lifestyle – influences the genes we've inherited.

Nutrients from the food we eat enter our body's cell nuclei, where they reach the chromosomes and influence the DNA control regions. This determines whether genes are active or dormant.

In many diseases, even if we've inherited unfavorable genetics, such as having parents with diabetes, it's true that our risk is higher, but if we take the right actions and live appropriately, there's a good chance we won't end up in the same place as our parents. This applies to most diseases: we're given a starting point by inheritance, yet what we do – our choices – impacts gene function.

There are many different approaches in natural health, but the rule of eating food as close to its natural state is common across all methods.

Anything with added substances like sugar, food coloring, and preservatives, as well as foods that underwent processes like frying and processing, will disrupt body cells and not promote health.

Physical exercise is a basic condition for maintaining health, and even a few minutes a day will benefit and improve many body functions, such as hormonal balance, bone strength, metabolism, sugar regulation, blood pressure, and more.

Working on thought patterns, inner peace, and positive interpretation will also enable greater health and reduce the likelihood of illness.

The control lies with us – what we choose to put into our bodies, how much we respect our bodies – how we eat, how much we eat, and how fast. Chewing affects the absorption of vitamins and minerals.

Dietary substances act like switches. They can turn genes on or off. Substances found in fruits and vegetables or in legumes and whole grains may silence genes responsible for producing substances in the body that cause diseases.

Zohara Sharbiv is a naturopath N.D. and an iris diagnostician, with extensive years of experience in treatment, consultation, and workshop facilitation. To book a free workshop, call 073-2221290