Even though genetic code is considered the blueprint for the body’s development – in reality, it’s not the ultimate decider about the direction our health takes.
As part of the complete health system I’ve developed – the F.I.G.H.T program – every component of our well-being can be addressed. When we look at our health as a unified whole, we have the best chance of reaching optimal health.
Here we look at genetics and the capacity to take control of our own health destiny.
There’s no doubt that genetic determinism is correct to certain ends. Our DNA is responsible for our appearance, elements of our behavior, and our predisposition to specific illnesses. Of course, hereditary diseases are not conscious choices we make.
What’s increasingly being recognized by geneticists worldwide is that heredity is not the ultimate defining health factor: just because we may be prone to a particular condition through our genetic line, we can affect whether we develop a certain condition or not. This special branch of medicine is known as epigenetics – an area we’ll look at in more detail, in a moment.
The media has a tendency to sensationalize. Where medicine and the media are concerned, the knee-jerk reactions to take more drastic measures to counter the development of potential diseases can prevail. That’s not to say that certain pre-emptive screening isn’t necessary, but specific treatments or surgical procedures needn’t be necessary – if the right natural and preventative steps are taken.
In the case of possessing the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene – the gene for breast or ovarian cancer – it is suggested that you should undergo prophylactic surgery or chemo-prevention. This includes some serious procedures – either voluntarily removing healthy breasts or ovaries, or taking side-effect laden cancer drugs like Tamoxifen or Raloxifene. These are not sure-fire ways to avoid these types of cancer, and if there are other ways to reduce the chances of developing cancer, then they must be explored. This is where epigenetics and other conventional medicines come to the fore.
This branch of medicine reveals how external factors affect our genes predisposition. It’s not just our DNA that has control whether we develop the conditions that we may be prone to. Things like our environment being increasingly saturated with pollutants, toxins, heavy metals, and general impurities, or even factors like diet or the amount of physical and emotional stress we experience affects our health dramatically.
These are factors that we can affect. The upshot of this is that we do have control of the way our genes react and whether we trigger the conditions that our genes lend us.
Examples of the way we’re exposed to toxins daily include BPA. This organic compound is a major component in the manufacture of water bottles, baby bottles, plastic food wrap and general food and drink containers. Used as part of an epoxy resin coating, unfortunately BPA has been found to act as an endocrine disruptor when we ingest this substance inadvertently with our food and drink. It mirrors the body’s own hormones, but with very damaging consequences. In fact, Canada has officially become the first country to declare BPA a toxic substance. Japan has followed suit to declare that an alternative is used to BPA country-wide.
Explorations into the effect of BPA by Dr. Randy Jirtle at Duke University have shown how it can induce epigenetic disease. In his research on Agouti mice, he found that when pregnant mice were exposed to BPA, their offspring were prone to heart disease, obesity, diabetes and even had a yellowish coloring. Methyl-rich supplements like vitamin B12 and folic acid were then given to the yellow mice, and the results were that these mice produced offspring that were healthy, lean and brown. This demonstrates that the birth predispositions were reversed.
Other studies into this everyday toxin have revealed that BPA is present in the urine of 95% of people – a factor which could explain the proliferation of diabetes, obesity and cancer.
BPA is just one case of a toxin that is responsible for triggering illness and disease that can be countered – whatever our predisposition.
One person who has extensively studied peoples’ genetic propensity to cancer is Dr. Tsneneo Kobayashi, MD, PhD. The leading oncologist conducted a major study involving following several thousand cancer-risk patients for ten years and carrying out annual screening tests.
By adhering to a basic health program that included a holistic program of detoxification supplements, simple immune system boosting steps, a simplified diet, regulating exercise and sleep routines and employing techniques to lower stress, not a single patient contracted clinical cancer under his guidance. Whilst monitoring the patients, if tests indicated that they were becoming close to displaying tumor marker activity, he simply elevated the level of additional supplements.
There are a plethora of information sources that echo these findings and one book in particular I recommend on the subject is Dr. Bruce Lipton’s ‘The Biology of Belief’ or ‘Spontaneous Evolution’.
The complete health system I’ve developed – the F.I.G.H.T program – is in sync with the protocols set out by Dr. Kobayashi. I’ve added elements to increase longevity and slow aging, but the principals behind the program are in accord – simple steps and regular supplements of the things that our body needs to work at its best are vital to the direction our health takes. This is especially relevant today where dealing with increasing levels of pollutants and toxins are a standard part of our body’s daily fight.
Taking our own destiny in our hands is why I developed the F.I.G.H.T program – we’re not a slave to our DNA and genetic propensity to illness. Armed with the knowledge that we’re in control of our health, we can improve our quality of life now and for the future – and that information has got to be something worth passing on.