Dr. Mom Online

Science has proven that our genes do not determine our level of health or whether or not we will develop chronic illness. Our genes do not make decisions.

Although you may have a genetic ‘code’ for a chronic  illness like cancer, or heart disease, or depression, etc., you won’t necessarily EVER express those illnesses. Just because the gene carries that message doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

It’s clearly our environment that will determine whether or not your genes will express their message. Our environment is created as a result of how we eat, how we move and how we think (or adapt to and respond to the world around us).

This is known as the science of Epigenetics – how environment determines our health.

Regardless of how many people in your family have or have not developed a certain illness, YOUR health is up to YOU and the environment you create.

We all know examples of how this works both ways. We all know someone who comes from a family with a long history of certain chronic illnesses, yet that individual has never developed any symptom of the illness. On the other hand, most of us can think of someone we know who was the “first and only” in their family to develop a particular chronic illness.

That’s because chronic illness isn’t genetic, the way we’ve always thought.

So, what does this mean for you… today?

It means that every healthy choice you make matters. Every time you choose purity and sufficiency over toxicity and deficiency in the way you eat, move or think, you move TOWARD health and AWAY from chronic illness.

While “being healthy” may seem like an overwhelming task, getting healthIER is something you can chunk down into simple, easy, better choices.

You can choose to have a few sips of water here and there throughout your day. You can choose to add fresh fruit to your breakfast. You can choose to add a salad to your lunch or dinner. You can choose to pack some healthy snacks to eat at work rather than junk from the vending machine. You can choose to find something positive about a seemingly negative situation. You can choose to get outside for a break rather than turn on the television. You can choose to hug a loved one when you get the chance rather than take the relationship for granted. You can choose to go to bed a few minutes earlier rather than watching the late night ‘bad news’. You can choose to go for a walk while you’re eating your ice cream cone rather than sit on the bench. Sometimes you can even choose love over winning every argument or having the last word!

HealthIER isn’t necessarily hardER!

Begin by adding more “good” to your day. Don’t stress about the toxic choices you might be making. Focus on proactively, intentionally choosing GOOD. Little bits at a time.

Those little, simple choices will add up over time. Your current health is the result of the choices you have made thus far.

The better choices you make today will result in your better health in the future.

Tags: Exercise, healthy living, lifestyle, Nutrition, stress management, stress reduction, wellness