Your Genes Are Key To Improved Health

Your Genes Are Key To Improved Health

Leverage your genetic insights to change your health journey

“… you’ve got to be very careful about how you tell these stories because it starts to become you, that you are in the way you craft your narrative, kind of crafting your character.” (Michael Lewis on The Tim Ferris Show) 

Our personal narratives have incredible power over our health and our decisions. During times of personal health crises, the will to live or die has often been attributed to our faith, our determination, and how we feel the world will be with or without us. Our brain loves absolutes: if I work out for 20 minutes, I will burn 200 calories. Unfortunately, health rarely lives in the world of black and white because we have this unique, individual foundation governed by our genes that interacts with our worldview. 

An individual’s personal narrative, especially in the face of a challenging health journey, has always fascinated me. When I ask patients about their family histories, they often attribute the breakdown in their health to the inevitable consequence of “bad genes.”

Lately, I became especially curious if an individual’s personal health narrative could be corroborated when we went to the source: their DNA. Genes can offer intriguing explanations about who we are, how we view the world and what we can do to support our genes.

Our environment sends signals to our genes. This includes, but is by no means limited to, where we live, how much sunlight exposure we get, the quality of our microbiome, our exposure to toxins, and the quality of our sleep. The way these environmental interactions affect our genes is by leaving little markings on our DNA called epigenetics. These epigenetic markings can be passed down through generations.

More importantly, our decisions and our narrative have the power to influence and change our genetic expression.

A fellow practitioner recently told me he had a patient who had the genes for lactose intolerance. A few weeks later, he told me his patient stopped his daily string cheese with his new found genetic knowledge and his chronic diarrhea completely disappeared!

I observe family history or current complaints often validate genetic health predispositions around chronic disease or nutritional deficiencies. What I find most intriguing is how patients use their genetics to justify their current health narrative or lifestyle.

“Well, that explains why I’ve struggled with my weight. My mother weighed 200 pounds during my childhood and now I’m following in her footsteps. But that makes sense because I have her genes for obesity. It seems rather pointless to try a new way of eating if I’m doomed to be fat.”

Instead of my patient exploring how she could make small positive changes in her diet or lifestyle that would improve her health, she quickly became the victim in her health story and adopted more of what Dr. Carol Dweck in her book  Mindset: The New Psychology of Success calls a “fixed mindset.”

Those individuals, like my patient, are much harder to convince that they actually can control their health journey. They are not doomed to be overweight. Their genes are merely a suggestion of what could be. In fact, it is the combination of lifestyle and genes that will be. You see, your genes never change but their expression does in the face of lifestyle choices.

Our health journey decides if we are going to work with our genes or against our genes.

Recently, I had a colleague test his genetics and he found he had several markers for gluten sensitivity, obesity, Crohn’s disease, and musculoskeletal pain. His first comment to me was how glad he is that he has taken such good care of his health by eating very nutritious foods, avoiding gluten for years, and supporting muscle strength.

It turns out he has a family history of colon cancer, yet his most recent colonoscopy yielded one of the most pristine colons his GI doctor had ever seen. His sister is morbidly obese, yet he is incredibly fit. He has struggled with musculoskeletal issues in the past and took extra precautions to protect his joints and muscles during workouts. In short, his genes gave him a glimpse of what could have been had he not changed his health story.

I strongly believe that our health narrative is not one that is final; it is not one that is predestined by family history or by our genetics alone. Understanding our DNA and epigenetics gives us all a chance to write a health narrative full of optimism even when genes and family history might suggest otherwise. 

Every experienced card player will say that the cards you are dealt do not determine the outcome of the game. It’s how you play the cards you are dealt. Remember, your genes are not your destiny.