Are Your Genes Talking to You?

Did you know that your genes are constantly talking to you?

Not only that, you’re also talking to your genes through every choice you make, and every decision.

Especially when it comes to diet and lifestyle!

How’s that even possible?

Truth is, you can’t change the genes that you were born with.

However, you do have the ability to control how your genes are “expressed”.

What does that mean?

Throughout a typical day, the foods you choose to eat, the amount of sleep or exercise you get and any number of things that you might be exposed to, are signaling to your genes.

They’re having a conversation.

And these signals, or triggers, are either turning your genes “on” – or “off”.

Pretty cool, huh?

But what does this have to do with the health of your gut, not to mention your sensitivity to gluten and other foods?

Actually, it has everything to do with it. Even your weight!

(Those excess pounds are likely not about genetics.)

Here’s another way to look at it.

Think of your genetic makeup as your hardware.

That is, it’s hardwired into your DNA, so there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.

Does this mean you’re doomed to develop Alzheimer’s disease because that’s what happened to your grandmother, or parent?

Absolutely not!

Scientists use to think that, yes.

However, we now know, that just because you carry the gene for a particular disease it doesn’t determine your destiny.

In other words, you are not doomed.

You have the ability to change the outcome.

That’s where it gets exciting!

There’s even a scientific term, for this – “epigenetics”.

Epigenetics simply has to do with the fact that you have the ability to control how your genes are “expressed”.

This is the equivalent of your body’s software, meaning you have the ability to manipulate it.

Remember, it’s all about the conversation!

Take Celiac disease, for example.

Given the explanation above, you’d first have to inherit the gene from one or both of your parents.

Next, you would need to expose yourself to what we call an “environmental trigger”, in this case that would be gluten.

That’s what’s going to trigger the gene for Celiac disease and turn it “on”.

Which is, of course, really easy to do because who doesn’t eat gluten?

It’s in everything, right?

By exposing yourself to gluten (almost from the day you were born) you’ve inadvertently triggered the gene for Celiac disease, especially if that happened to be your weakest link.

That’s how the conversation got started.

You’re genes were actually talking – turning “on” your genetic code for Celiac disease.

That’s a very simplistic explanation, but in a nutshell this is what epigenetics is all about.

It’s what I refer to as the magical mix of your genes and your environment and the on-going “dance” that is taking place between them.

How cool is that?

Want to learn more?

Check out this fun video: