What are epigenetics?

Have you ever been diagnosed with a condition that's considered genetic?

Did you throw your hands in the air and say, "Oh well, it can't be helped"? The truth is, though you may have genes for a particular condition or disease, there are many factors that determine whether or not that gene will be expressed, or activated. These factors include: - Your diet - Your digestive health - Exposure to toxins - How effective your body is at detoxification - Daily body movement or exercise habits - The way you perceive stress in your life - What you do to manage that stress - Your sleep habits - Feelings of connectedness or isolation The science of how genes respond to your environment is called epigenetics. Lifestyle habits play a big role in gene expression, giving you lots of room to make the terrain of your body ripe for health and hostile to disease. Even identical twins, who share genes, can have very different health outcomes if they make significantly different lifestyle choices. Let's look at our twins for a moment. One twin is in a loving relationship. She eats a vibrant Mediterranean diet, and works a particularly active job, where she's on her feet all day. She's generally happy, sleeps well, and takes time for herself regularly. The other twin moved abroad, away from family. She feels isolated most of the time. Lack of familiarity with the local food scene leads her to make less healthy food choices. She comes home so exhausted from her 15-hour work day, all she can do is heat dinner up in the microwave before falling into a fitful sleep. She's stressed out and depressed. She needs her job, so she feels stuck. Which twin is more likely to get sick?

Yes, of course it's the second twin, our exhausted, overworked, depressed, and undernourished girl. Because she doesn't get the rest, nutrients or emotional boosts she needs, her body's inner terrain is wracked with stress chemicals and inflammation. It's likely she has digestive issues and hormone imbalances that leave her bloated, gassy and uncomfortable. She may see the pounds creep up on the scale year after year until she doesn't look much like her twin at all anymore. Under these conditions, the disease genes are likely to take hold. That is epigenetics at work--how environmental factors and lifestyle choices influence which genes actually get expressed. What are the habits that improve your internal terrain and decrease the likelihood of a diagnosis or disease? Let's explore some best practices related to the key factors.

1) Diet/Nutrition: Eat a whole foods diet, which means eating food in its most original form-- potatoes, instead of potato chips, apples instead of apple pie. Also, limit refined sugars (white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, especially). Eat the rainbow, as they say. That means you should consume fruits and veggies of all colors to maximize vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fluids and fiber. 2) Detoxification: To minimize the number of chemical pollutants coming in, practice avoidance. Where budget allows, and following the Environmental Working Group's annual Guide to Pesticides in Produce, buy organic fruits and vegetables. Source clean organic, grass-fed beef, organic, pastured poultry and small wild-caught fish. Switch to clean face and body care products and less-harsh cleaning products. Take your shoes off before coming indoors, and wash your hands when you return from being out and about. The other part of detoxification is getting rid of toxins that have made it past your natural barrier systems. Follow the food guidance above to be sure your microbiome is robust and healthy and you're pooping at least 1-3 times a day (yes, I said a day). Also, try infrared sauna and/or exercise to help sweat toxins out. 3) Stress/Resilience: Develop a solid self-care toolkit you can access when stress creeps up on you, as it tends to do in life. Common stress management tools include: deep breathing, meditation, gratitude journaling, walking in nature, exercise, reading, and connecting with friends. As always, it's highly individual what fills someone up, so get in touch with yourself, and do what resonates with you. At best, any combination of stress-mediating activities, done regularly, will release the pressure valve, instill calm, and improve your outlook. 4) Movement/Exercise: Movement can help with digestion, mindset and detoxification. Our bodies are meant to move. Take time to get out of your comfort zone. If you love strength training, but hate stretching, try a yoga class. The breath connection creates tangible mind-body benefits. If you love yoga, but hate cardio, get moving. Try a vigorous walk in nature. Increase the difficulty by speeding up or trekking up-hill. End your walk with a barefoot stroll in the grass, called grounding, which is said to stabilize the electrical charge of your body, reducing inflammation and pain, improving blood flow, and increasing energy. 5) Sleep: During sleep, your body undergoes several critical processes. The old adage, "you can sleep when you're dead," may very well hasten the process. When you sleep, your brain assimilates new information and removes toxic waste. Nerve cells reorganize, tissues repair, and energy is replenished. Your sleep quality affects immunity, hunger and satiety, brain health, mood, energy, hormones and more. Get a good bedtime ritual in place so your body knows when it's time to settle down for sleep. This can include removing electronics an hour before bedtime, meditating, deep breathing, reading or any other quiet activity that communicates to your brain that you're ready to rest.

These best practices can work to optimize the terrain in most any body. To make results stick, pick one small habit to try for 3 weeks. When you've mastered that, pick another and give it the 3 week trial. Keep going, habit by habit. Soon, you'll be making your epigenetics work for a healthy body, mind and spirit!