We had a patient come in the other day and give the familiar statement “It’s in my Genes” I really do love this one. Dad, Grandpa, Mom, Sister, Cousin had “it” so it was only a matter of time before I got “it.” Funny thing is that people actually buy into this frame of thought. They accept dis-ease as some kind of fate or divine will. I was meant to have “it.” What’s your “it?”Is it obesity, heart disease, cancer, high cholesterol, high blood pressure? Depending on which study or report you read genetics or “genes” play anywhere from as little as 3 to 30% in your health. So if your health is defined by only 1/3 genetics what else plays a role in your health? The answer is Your Environment and Nutrition. The surroundings that you put your body in or around play a huge role in your health as well as the food you put into your body. Let’s follow John, a typical American during a typical American workday. He wakes up for work before the sun, most likely stiff from his night of sleep. He sleeps on the wrong bed and wrong pillow. It’s either too firm or too soft for his body type. He grabs his coffee and donut and heads out into his hour long commute. Sitting for many hours each day with poor posture while driving. A very stressful endeavor. With any luck he makes it to work where he sits again for hours upon hours with most likely poor posture once again. His computer screen is too low, his chair height is too high, or worse he works on his laptop using the built in touch pad. At lunch time John steps out to grab some fast food or even faster food from the vending machine. Nutritious and Delicisious! The work day ends he heads back into traffic. Exhausted he skips the gym and heads to the couch. Finally relaxation! Big comfy couch, horrible posture for hours of mind numbing television. If John does extract himself from the couch for dinner I highly doubt a well balanced meal is on his agenda.

Do you know somebody like John? Maybe your life is just like John’s. If John keeps up with this behavior he is essentially killing himself slowly. Poor diet, stressful environments, lack of exercise, bad posture all add up and wreck havoc on John’s body. So whatever John was pre-disposed to from his genes are allowed to manifest. If he did have a probability of heart disease his lifestyle made sure of it!

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