The word genetics is mentioned a lot from people, especially who faced health challenges at some point in their life – allergies, hay fever, candida, etc. In fact, almost every health problem is commonly blamed on genetics. My parents also believed eczema, allergies, and asthma that were running in the family were brought by genetics.

We pollute the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe with industrial and nuclear wastes and when we get ill we blame it all on genetics. We deplete our soils of minerals and other nutrients and replace them with pesticides, organophosphates, weedkillers and lots of other chemicals, we grow our crops on these soils, we eat these crops, we get ill and blame it all on genetics. We damage our children’s immune systems with vaccinations and antibiotics and blame it all on genetics. we regularly consume processed foods with virtually no nourishment for the body that are full of chemicals and detrimental to health, and when we get ill we blame it all on genetics. We regularly intoxicate ourselves with alcohol, tobacco and drugs and when we get ill we blame it all on genetics.(1)

How about all the epidemics of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, autoimmune disorders, obesity, etc.? These are all conditions starting at young age which doctors very rarely encountered a hundred years ago. Have our genetics gotten very poor so quickly to cause those degenerative diseases?

Genetics are a very convenient excuse. It is something we are born with, I would call them some strengths and weaknesses of our constitution. Therefore, there is nothing we can do about it at the moment. If we were born with weaknesses in kidneys, we have potential to have problems in kidneys genetically. If we have strengths in processing alcohol, we may be able to drink more than people who don’t. But does this mean we have no responsibility for our food that we eat, environment or lifestyles? Can we conveniently blame our state of health on our genetics?

As with the rapidly increasing numbers of modern epidemic sufferers, there is a genetic predisposition to the disorder rather than a genetic cause. That said, there has to have certain environmental conditions before any predisposition materializes into a disease. Diet is a major part of this environmental conditioning as our diet profoundly influences on gene expression, in other words what we eat could change our genetics throughout our lives. By changing the environment (diet, lifestyle, pollution, stress, infections, etc.), we can make sure that whatever genetic predisposition we may have, this predisposition won’t develop into a disease. And at the same time we can alter gene expression with the correct diet which will indirectly improve our genetics.

We don’t need to have the same disease that our family members have. We may have the predisposition, weaknesses, or genes that had expressed as symptoms. But it’s completely up to us whether we want to struggle with it or not. When we wisely choose what we eat, the way we live, and healthy relationships with others, we are not only healing ourselves but the future generations.

**Here I am not talking about clearly identified genetic conditions like haemophilia and many others where specific faulty genes have been discovered. They are not the main concern as what I wanted to discuss here was the epidemics that are becoming the real problem in the modern world.

 

(1) GAPS™ Gut and Psychology Syndrome Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride MD