Is there a purpose to Genetics?

At what point in your life do you tell science to fuck itself? I understand that you can’t change your DNA but just because your relatives look a certain way or have certain health conditions, does that mean you to as well?

Growing up I’ve always been told you are what you eat. You need to have a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise. I look at my parents and think well you don’t do that but are telling me this? I brushed it off until I was in my late teens early twenties where society told me I was ‘too fat,’ even though I was at the average weight for my height and weight. Then I was told that no matter what I do my mother is what I will look like when I get to that age. I never wanted that. So, I made it my mission for most of my twenties to stay physically fit and eat healthy. This made me feel amazing because I was in control of my body but again was told you can’t change your genes because that’s what your mother looked like at your age.

I got depressed and stopped trying so hard to stay fit and then the genes started to activate, and I felt like I was turning into my mother. When looking at my mother and seeing how she is choosing to live like this and eat the way she doesn’t mean I have to because genes told me I have to be like this.

I’ve always had this fear that when I am older, I’ll look like my mother (body). To which I don’t but lately, I have slacked on eating healthy and exercising and gained a little bit of weight and it looks like I am leaning towards my mothers’ body. But studies have suggested that even though genes may determine 80 percent of your weight and body shape but the environment and the choices you make still have a significant role. As in just because that’s what your mother looks like at forty doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll look like that when you get there.

So, now I am on a new mission to be physically active and to give my body the nutrients that it needs to be able to achieve the dream body I want to have.

Is it even possible to change your genes? You can’t change your frame size, bone structure, or places you store body fat or muscle. All these depend on your DNA. What you put in your body does have a major say in your physique. The nutrients in your food interact with your genes. This interaction is called “nutrigenomics.” This changes everything, the ability to use nutrition to affect our genes means that we’re no longer at the mercy of our DNA.

You may not be able to change your genes but how you handle them is what matters the most. When your family history says heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, you can look at this and say oh boy I’m doomed. But the thing is with a healthy balanced diet that suits your body type and regular physical exercise you will be able to either prevent these diseases or minimize the symptoms of them.

Not everything you inherit in your genes is permanent. The lifestyle you live, in some circumstances, can awaken such genes. You know the saying you are what you eat? Well, it’s true. Food and nutrition are important and can influence your mind and body. What you put in your body has a huge impact on the system. It’s strange of how people are aware of the negative effects that unhealthy foods, drugs, alcohol on the body but they still consume them anyways.

Stress is also another huge facture on your mind and body. Each individual person deals with stress but how you handle is what is important. Knowing how to deal with stress in a healthy manner can go a long way. For myself, I like to hit the gym or go for a walk and read a book just to get away for a little while.

Having a healthy balanced diet is only one key to cheating out some of the ugly genes no one really wants. Being physically active is the second important cheat you could do for yourself. They say two and a half hours to five hours of physical activity a week for adults is good. Being physically active helps to get all of the blood flowing and the circulation going. Being active helps reduce stress, depression, blood pressure and gets endorphins going (your body’s natural happy pills).

Strangely enough, the environment you live in also has a big factor as well. Sometimes you can’t always pick on where you live but you can decide how you live in your environment. Simple things like creating your dream space and making it feel like you.

At the end of the day, no one knows your body more then you do. It just takes time to sit down and find out what it is your body needs to be happy and healthy. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just because your genes telling you something doesn’t mean it is written in stone and you cant modify them.