What is Epigenetics?

Epigenetics translates to control above the genes. The conventional paradigm indicates that genes are destiny, but this is out dated and inaccurate. You may have a genetic predisposition for something, meaning you have have a higher risk of a disease, but you have influence over how that risk is expressed. Genes are like a blueprint, genes can’t do anything of themselves, but the environmental triggers have to be activated. The genes themselves don’t change, but whether they express health or disease can change. Less than 1% of all disease is caused by genes. Even with those, you are not doomed, there is something that you can do. We used to think that the brain of the cell is the nucleus because it contains the genes. We now know it’s the cell membrane, which is the part that signals gene expression through environmental input.

What is Genetic Determinism?

Genetic determinism is the belief that our DNA is our destiny. A belief is not a fact. When experimenters tested genes, they through away the regulatory proteins, and studied the DNA. As I stated, the DNA is the blueprint, but the regulatory proteins pick up environmental signals and change how the genes are expressed. What genetic determinism is essentially victimization. You have no control and your at the mercy of your genes. With epigenetics, the power is in your hands because your genes are expressed through factors that you do have control over.

Epigenetic Controllers- How to Control Your Genetic Expression

1. The mind

Your mind is by far the most powerful epigenetic controller. The reason for this is because it influences every decision that you make when it comes to our health. Also, every thought that you think becomes chemistry. Your thoughts create physical structure in the brain. There are fields of science known as psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology. This translates to how our thoughts affect our immune system and our endocrine system. For example, you start beating yourself up for being late to a meeting. Your immediately going to produce stress hormones such as cortisol that put you in a stressed state. This demonstrates how your thoughts influence your hormones and neurotransmitters. Also there is something in science called  the placebo effect. This is used for clinical trials as the control. Patients are given nothing, but they believe they’re receiving treatments. When the patients believe they’re receiving treatment, they get better an average of 33% of the time. This is the power of our minds. Something less talked about is the nocebo effect, which is the opposite of the placebo. This is when your given a negative injunction, whether it’s 6 months to live, or an incurable disease. Immediate fear arises and your body responds accordingly. The thing that you believe that will happen will largely influence the outcome. You have the power to be well, but that power starts in our mind. Our actions are largely done as a habit through the unconscious mind. Our responses, behaviors, and aims are often unconscious until we become aware and take control. We don’t see the world as it is, we see it through our perception.

2. Nutrigenomics

Nutrigenomics is the science of how every molecule of food you eat impacts your genetic expression. We have to keep in mind that food just isn’t food, it’s information. The food that you eat is going to determine what kinds of copies your cells are printing out.

3. Relationships

Who we spend time with is who we become. Are brain waves have been studied and shown to sink up with each other during conversation. Our relationships also largely influence the decisions that we make with what we eat and how we move. Your much more likely to make healthy decisions if your around healthy people.