Meditation, Whole Foods & Oxidative Stress
Family health history is often called the first genetic test. Genetic disorders typically involve the inheritance of a particular mutated disease-causing gene. Generally we’ve thought of this in terms of a mutated gene that is passed down through a family, and each generation of children can inherit the gene that causes the disease. Most are just carriers and every now and then someone is affected by that gene.
New research claims that environmental factors affect not just your individual genes ..but those of your offspring too. Diabetes, obesity – even certain phobias – may all be influenced by the behavior of our parents and grandparents. I talk about epigenetics all the time. Childhood Obesity is a very serious epidemic in North America, as well as around the globe. Disease that has never been seen in children before are starting to pop up across the nation. And overweight child will become an overweight adult. Even if the epigenetics started at the grandparent stage.
The even greater surprise is the recent discovery that epigenetic signals from the environment can be passed on from one generation to the next, sometimes for several generations, without changing a single gene sequence. It's well established, of course, that environmental effects like radiation, which alter the genetic sequences in a sex cell's DNA, can leave a mark on subsequent generations.
Likewise, it's known that the environment in a mother's womb can alter the development of a fetus. What's eye-opening is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the epigenetic changes wrought by one's diet, behavior, or surroundings can work their way into the germ line and echo far into the future. Put simply, and as bizarre as it may sound, what you eat or smoke today could affect the health and behavior of your great-grandchildren. Methylation patterns also hold promise as diagnostic tools, and there is one of my podcasts where I go into a little more detail on this issue.
Remove, Repair, Restore, Reduce, Re-establish… the priorities of health. So we need to remove the toxins, and start to repair our health. When we remove toxic foods {IE junk, processed, pesticides, chemicals}, toxic personal care products and toxic cleaning chemicals out of our homes, we remove the largest impact of epigenetic impactors and that is where I generally get started when working with a new client. Changing food purchasing habits, meal planning, organic fruits and vegetables, and if you aren't vegan using wild caught or pastured raised foods. As well you should be looking for and using nontoxic cleaners or making cleaners with essential oils. This is the practice that could reduce the impact on the future generations of children.
Changing our epigenetics doesn't change something like having the MTHFR mutation. Epigenetic changes offer support with gene expression, and what genes we pass on to our children and their children. If you think of this in terms of digestive enzymes. If you are lactose intolerant you have an enzyme you can take to allow you to digest milk. There is no supplement that will, at this time, give you the support with the missing methylation enzyme you do not have. That is why we eliminate those foods and supplements that have the unmethylated versions, and instead use foods and supplements that are body can readily use.
Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research did research into how the Moringa Leaf Extract Prevents In Vitro Oxidative DNA Damage. What they found was that this extract has a strong potential as curative and therapeutic agent against oxidative stress originating from any source. So what is oxidative dna damage (besides being a part of that whole epigenetics cycle).. Well oxidative stress damages DNA. Oxidative stress is essentially an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the ability of the body to counteract or detoxify their harmful effects through neutralization by antioxidants. When we over exercise, we create oxidative damage. With someone like myself with the MTHFR mutation, when you have oxidative stress it impairs methylation and our overall health. While I don't want to stop working out, I know that I can use fruits and vegetables to neutralize free radicals through their antioxidants. This is why I supplement every day with whole foods both as my main sources of diet, but also my main sources of supplementation as it has been proven to change over 1600 genes in just eight weeks of supplementation.
Oxidative stress is what happens as a result of an imbalance between free radical production and antioxidant defenses. This is why supplementation is so highly called for by integrative practice. As well, meditation can cause hundreds of genes to turn off or on including involved in cellular metabolism and in the body's response to 'oxidative stress'. Meditation can be the best sources to start using to offer your body brain-focused strategies. Our cells when they are out of balance, it is sort of like a game of tag, where one cell steals from another cell via electron robbery. Although the cell is once again complete, it will never be the same. Stress is the biggest generator of this imbalance in the body. Stress does so much to us, and impacts so many different areas of our biology. Glutathione, which I have talked a lot about over the years, and other major antioxidants are the cellular shields. Meditation raises your levels of glutathione, and along with your rich antioxidant foods and supplementation, can be a huge step in this Season of Becoming challenge.
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moringa oleifera leaf extract prevents in vitro oxidative dna damage
www.ajpcr.com/Vol6Suppl2/1708.pdf
Harvard Study finds that Meditation Impacts DNA | David R Hamilton ...
http://drdavidhamilton.com/harvard-study-finds-that-meditation-impacts-dna/
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