You Have the Power to Make Amazing Shifts in Your Genetic Code!

Let's talk about genetics, shall we? Before you yawn and click onto something else-I've got some really cool news. Have you ever wondered why your body is different than a friend's, when you eat the same healthy food and live similar lifestyles? Ever wondered why you have severe PMS and she doesn't? Why your friend got breast cancer when you know she was living mindfully...even healthier than you?

The truth is we're all exposed to the same environmental and endocrine disruptors (pesticides, toxins, preservatives, skin products...the list goes on) as the next person. Everyone's glands, organs, and cells function similarly. Full stop.

Here's why: genetics.

Just as your muscles are wrapped onto your skeleton by a layer of collagen, there is a thin layer of protein that wraps around your DNA strands. Depending on your diet, stress and lifestyle choices, that protein either constricts or expands around certain genes, turning them ON or OFF. This process is the subject of a field of research called epigenetics.

It's the study of changes in gene expression that are affected almost exclusively by diet and lifestyle factors. A whopping 90% of our current health is controlled by the environment in which we live-the food we eat, our exercise regimen, our resilience to stress, and our exposure to environmental toxins all play a role.

Isn't that totally epic?  I love that our choices, our actions play such a huge role in our health.

If you aren't taking care of yourself, however, there are some potentially major costs to your next of kin, and generations beyond that. Duke and Groningen Universities proved that how you eat and live gets passed down at least one generation through this epigenetic process.

One recent study in the Netherlands found that your diet causes changes in ALL of your cells-including sperm and egg cells-that can be passed on to offspring and future generations.

So, your friend who isn't predisposed to heart disease may be able to eat more junk food than you can, if you carry this predisposition. Even within a family your genes can be expressed differently. Perhaps your sister struggled with infertility but you did not. You may have avoided more endocrine disrupting chemicals and foods than she did and/or your body managed to temper those things more effectively than hers.

So what's the exciting part of this?

Epigenetically speaking, you can eat your way to support your beautiful body and prevent potentially sucky things from happening. You can have real control over your own body from the inside out. We know that it takes on average, seven years for your cells to regenerate, which is amazing news because that means what you do and eat today will dictate what happens to your health in the future.

What's critical here is that you work from a lifestyle that is in sync with your unique biochemistry. How do you figure that out? You fine tune your mind-body connection because the truth is...your BODY knows what it wants. It asks you for what it needs...you just need to listen. Deeply listen. And trust.

Working with somebody who takes you step-by-step to figure out which foods make you thrive, and which make you dive, can be the best route, especially because it's hard to know where to start. The right practitioner can help you make lasting change and empower you to make choices (not just follow the latest diet fad) that will lead to the change you want in your life.

When you approach food with gratitude and curiosity-while listening deeply to your body-you will discover a way of eating that will sustain you and give you a long, happy life.

"To transform is to begin."

In love and health,

Stephanie