I had a conversation with a patient this afternoon and disease and the role genes play in our health was brought up. She mentioned how our genes are set from birth, breast cancer for example. However what she was not aware and what I brought up was that even though some of us have genetic predispositions or are more likely to experience disease, this does not by any means indicate that those genes must be expressed! This is where epigenetics come into play. For those who do not know what this newer term means: it indicates or suggests the role that what we do, our lifestyle essentially, determines which genes are being expressed. She was very interested in this, as she like most, had not heard of this concept before. The most amazing thought that this leads to though, is if our lifestyle, our exercise habits, our nutrition, getting adjusted, if we are doing all of these things, the gene expression we pass on to our offspring benefits. Who wouldn’t want their children to have the best possible genetic makeup! This shifts the role of our health to not just our own responsibility, but by helping the future generations of the world be a better place for all of our children, their children, and so on!

The choice of how you manage your health and the health of your family is always yours. Would you rather manage it from a wellness approach, or a reactive approach in which we are the largest drug consuming country in the world… where the only answer is take a pill to cover up a symptom until another symptom comes along. The implications of this for future generations are unknown meanwhile the pockets of the greed fueled pharmaceutical industry continue to be filled. I can say for certain which route my family’s health will be taken care of by. What’s your answer?