Improving your health, aging well and reducing the chance of chronic disease

I was attending an online conference on epigenetics and trauma healing where I came across Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, talking about her book, Younger You: Reduce Your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better.

Based on a rigorous clinical pilot trial, the book, Younger You, focuses on “the thread that connects your diet and lifestyle habits, your bio age, and your risk of disease, which is epigenetics—or more specifically, an important epigenetic process called DNA methylation” which tells genes what to do. For example, good genes might be activated (such as those that suppress tumor growth) and bad genes turned off (such as those that cause inflammation). The eight-week study found that study participants lowered their biological age by an average of 3.23 years.

Younger You explains the epigenetic effect on aging and that your genes do not dictate your fate. The book includes the diet from the clinical trial as well as a modified version, recipes, information and advice on food, supplements, guidelines for exercise and simple lifestyle practices, a bio-age self-assessment, and other useful information. If you’re interested in improving your health, aging well and reducing the chance of chronic disease, I recommend this book to you.

Younger You offers some compelling proof that mind-body self-care is vitally important to your wellbeing! Your “diet, exercise, sleep, stress, relationships and chemical exposure are continually adding new . . .(epigenetic) marks and removing old ones” from the DNA. Research sited in the book shows how quickly some changes happen. For example:

An in vitro study of human stem cells found that a single high-sugar event produced epigenetic changes that increased the production of free radicals and downregulated antioxidant genes.

In humans, a single episode of exercise has shown favorable epigenetic changes relation to insulin sensitivity and anti-inflammation.

A 2012 study found that nonexercising healthy adults experienced immediate (albeit transient) DNA methylation changes—genes associated with metabolism were turned on—after a single exercise session.

By the choices you make daily about what to eat, drink and do, you are making changes to your epigenome. Consistency is key. Over time, consistently making healthy lifestyle and mindset choices can make lasting changes that profoundly influence your health and wellbeing. And do not forget that (as acknowledged in the book) sleep, relaxation and connection also impact your overall health.

I hope that Younger You inspires you to make healthy choices!

On a personal note, I became interested in epigenetics because we all have certain tendencies, ingrained habit patterns and unresolved emotional energy—our own personal backlog— to heal in order to untangle ourselves from the grip of the past, be it personal, ancestral or collective. Epigenetic changes likely explain how trauma experienced by an ancestor becomes embedded in our genes. Understanding that this backlog is not personal, but has its roots in the past— that it is energy set in motion, moving, unfolding, and arising according to the universal law of cause and effect—helps you to look at, and respond to, whatever is up for you with greater detachment, compassion and understanding. 

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Fate may be the hand you are dealt,

but destiny is the choices that you make in playing it.

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