A challenge facing those learning to make healthy choices is taking responsibility for the role we play in creating our own health. The problem is that our modern society tends to disconnect from this responsibility, instead choosing to place the fault on the many other factors that could take some blame (e.g. poor genetics).
This lets us off the hook and allows us to go through life feeling better about ourselves; however, it is not a course of action that leads to the healthiest outcomes.
Remember, our goal here at Your Health, Reprogrammed is to understand how we can make healthy decisions so that we can take action that leads to our healthiest selves.
With this article, I want to get clear about what I mean when I say this, including how our decisions quite literally reprogram our selves – body and mind – leading us down our particular path towards good health or towards poor health and modern disease.
To help you understand, let’s take a look at the reprogrammable human body…
The remarkable biological machine
The human body is a remarkable biological machine, fully equipped with adaptable systems primed to respond to an ever-changing environment. Comprised of individual cells working together through vast, dynamic networks, the human body has the full power of biological complexity to help it maneuver through life’s challenges with dynamic, responsive adaptations.
Given this, it frustrates me when I hear, all-too-often, people speak of their bodies as if they were set in stone – as if they were hardwired, given a set programming that they are forever fated to manage.
As biologists have learned over the past century, the human body is not at all as set as we once believed. The story that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks or that we are stuck being controlled by the DNA we were given – these stories turned out to be just plain false.
The true story is that the body is an ever-changing, incredibly adaptable system – a system which is constantly responding to the signals given to it from the external world with system upgrades in an attempt to maintain an ever-improving individual.
That is, at least, if only the body receives the right kind of signals and resources.
If, instead, the body receives signals that it is unaccustomed to processing and if the resources it receives are lacking or over-abundant, then it can head down the path of poor health and modern disease as its systems break down one by one.
The goal here at Your Health, Reprogrammed is to avoid this decline and instead to choose the path that leads toward good health.
This is done, as the name says, by the process of reprogramming.
Let’s now work to understand exactly what I mean with this term, including how we can understand the signals and resources that are optimal for our own bodies.
Programming
I’m an engineer, and as such, I’ve developed a skillset involving various forms of programming.
Whenever tackling any sort of programming challenge, I think about that which is already established and out of my control (hardwired), and that which I have to work with to create the end product that I desire.
Once it is understood what is hardwired – that which cannot be changed without work that is beyond the scope of the project – the work of the programmer comes in as communication with this hardwiring.
A computer has hardware that boils down to just two numbers (0 or 1). We communicate with these 1’s and 0’s via programming languages. Based on how we communicate with this hardware (that is, based on the computer’s programming), that hardware comes to life in different forms and functions.
What sets a computer up for what it can potentially become is its hardware. If the hardware is from decades ago, we would never be able to produce the types of games, movies, or other software that we experience today.
On the flip side, even if the hardware is state of the art, if a mediocre programmer tried to write code to create the next big video game, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
This is to say, the hardware defines what is possible to create. However, the magic really comes into play when the programmer begins communicating with this hardware. Once this communication begins, a vast array of options are created as to what sorts of programs will be run.
The human body’s programming
Your body works in the same way. At conception, you were given a set of hardwired code. This code, by itself, isn’t much. It’s just a string of proteins that we code as four letters (A,T,C,G).
However, this code comes to life as form and function via the translation process – that is, the process of reading the code, taking this information to specific machinery, and creating the form and function (protein) that will serve to become you.
Moreover, while your specific genome dictates what can be created, the translation process is what dictates what actually arises as form and function.
That is, you are not your genes. Your genes are little more than a string of code that sets the stage for what is possible.
You, as form and function, are the product of the expression of those genes.
There is a big difference.
DNA and setting up the potential that is you
While we have been led to believe that we are a direct result of our DNA, a process that is predestined and hardwired, the truth is really very different. In reality, our DNA is not an exact rule book which must be followed exactly; rather, our DNA is better thought of as a template, or as a set of design plans that may or may not be implemented.
Think about it in this way: each cell in your body has the exact same DNA. Whether it’s a muscle cell, liver cell, skin cell, brain cell, or any other type of cell – the DNA that resides within is the exact same within one individual’s body.
If DNA is all the same in each of our cells, what then determines what becomes of the cell?
That is, what determines which DNA sequences are transcribed and translated into protein to become the form and function that is the human body?
Here’s the short version:
It is the environmental cues that the cell’s nucleus receives that allows specific strands of DNA to be exposed, and it is the specific signals and resources sent to the cell that ultimately determines if that specific DNA strand gets transcribed and translated into protein.
This is to say, it is not necessarily that the specific strand of DNA exists in the first place, but rather, that the particular cell receives information that leads to the strand of DNA being exposed so that it can be transcribed and translated into protein.
As for what this has to do with our ability to create healthy cells (which is, after all, our goal here at Your Health, Reprogrammed)…
The thing is, while some of this information comes from processes that are going on inside the cell, there is significant potential for information to travel from outside of the body, into the cell, and into the cell’s nucleus to determine what is eventually expressed as form and function.
And, as you have significant control over that which you allow to enter your body, you, therefore, have significant control over how your genes are expressed and translated to become the form and function that is you.
And this is great news, because this means that you have a significant amount of control over your own physical state.
How much control is this, exactly?
While that question is impossible to answer due to the extreme complexity of this particular system, I will say this:
We must understand that some of these DNA design plans are much more likely to manifest into physical form and defined systems, and there are a select few genes that, when present, will inevitably create problems within these systems down the road. However, these cases can be thought of more as the exception to the rule.
By this I mean the hardwired gene-to-disease case is more often the rare case.
The case that is dependent on environmental cues – the one that you have great control over – this is the situation we most often deal with, and as a result, knowing we have the ability to control the fate of our bodies is the mentality I believe we should take on.
This has a number of implications for how we live our lives today. When we understand that we are capable of taking charge of what many of those cues are, we can work to send the body the proper signals it needs to grow in a productive, healthy direction. For example, we can ensure that we give the body the signals and resources needed to express the genes that allow our cells to thrive for decades, as opposed to sending our genome the signals that lead to broken down, dysfunctional cells, which in turn create broken down, dysfunctional organs and organ systems, which in turn create a broken down, dysfunctional body.
While this is great news for those of us who wish to take care of our bodies and thus promote full, long lives, there is a second side to this coin, a side that is possibly even more important to understand. Choosing to make healthy choices to prevent disease is one thing, but we must also understand the alternative is choosing to make non-healthy choices that lead to higher chances of one day getting that disease diagnosis. As we work to understand that we can make healthy choices that can affect the fate of our bodies, we also must understand that all of our choices, whether full of intent or not, lead to our body’s physical state.
The truth is that our choices determine, to a remarkable extent, whether or not we will one day get that diagnosis. This means we have the power to choose healthy actions that lead to healthy bodies, or we can choose unhealthy choices that lead to disease.
That choice is yours.
Let’s take a look at that choice by examining what it means to Reprogram the human body.
Reprogramming
Here’s the story that follows far too many…
At birth, we are given a human body that, generally, is very healthy. That is, it is capable of providing the energy, mental clarity, and physical ability to take on each and every day.
As we go through the first decades of our lives, most of us are able to get by rather smoothly regardless of our choices. Sometimes we face specific challenges, but given the amazing capabilities of the human body, it does a pretty fantastic job of taking all the crap we throw at it while continuing to support us.
Then, one day, things start to change. It may appear first as heavier breathing the next time you try to sprint down a field or walk up stairs. Or, it may appear as pain in areas where you don’t remember doing anything particular (why does my knee hurt, I haven’t ran/lifted/done any sort of physical exercise in weeks!). Or, it may appear simply as a tangible decline in energy throughout the day (why am I so tired all the time?)
Sound familiar?
If you are here, I can make the assumption that you fall in the category of someone who has arrived at this point, or may be getting a tad too close for comfort.
This can be scary, because the common path forward for most people in your shoes is the continued progression towards modern disease. As the human body continues to lack the resources it needs to fully function, and as it receives signals that are misaligned with its design, the systems supporting the human body will break down, creating opportunity for clinically relevant symptoms to arise.
But that’s not what is going to happen to any of us.
Instead, we are here to understand how we can change our course so that we step away from the path towards modern disease and instead shift.
That is, we are here to Reprogram our selves – body, brain, and mind – so that we stop our progression down this unhealthy pathway and instead embrace a life supported by a healthy body.
Remember, we’re not here on this particular post to speak in metaphor. I’m speaking physically – what is happening to the form and function that is your body.
And the reality is, you are in direct communication with how your genes express themselves as form and function via the signals and resources you allow to enter or be received by your body.
And if, at this point in your journey, you have neglected to take responsibility for these signals and resources, we don’t have to worry because our bodies are reprogrammable – that is, even if the expression of our genes is currently not the healthiest, we can step in, right now, and change that.
How do we do this?
Here’s the short version: every choice you make has potential to impact the expression of your genes.
This means that have time you make a decision, you have the choice to take into consideration the impact that it will have on your health.
While you could take this to the full extreme, I recommend getting started with specific areas that significantly impact the programming of your genes and thus the being that is you.
Diet: Food is a strong messenger to your cells as to what needs to be expressed. You can think about food’s impact on your body in regard to both macronutrients and micronutrients:
- Macro: As one example, you can tell your body to increase its ability to oxidize fats by decreasing carbohydrate load, or you could tell your cells to decrease ability to oxidize fats by consistently consuming carbohydrate.
- Micro: Phytochemicals (bioactive compounds in plants) have been extensively studied for their direct impact on the genome. The one that you have probably heard of is resveratrol (found in wine) which impacts the expression of pro-inflammatory genes (among others)
Exercise: The way that your body moves is a strong indicator to your cells as what needs to be developed or recycled.
- For example, running long miles regularly will be a signal to the body to increase its total load and efficiency of mitochondria, increase blood supply, and potentially break down any excess muscle mass.
- As another example, lifting heavy will be a signal to produce more muscle fibers, increase blood supply to muscle fibers, and to create a whole host of other physiological responses that increase the muscle’s strength.
What does this mean for you?
The bottom line is that any time you make a decision, there is potential to impact the health of your body via the expression of your genes. In other words, everything out here in our world has the ability to impact the expression of your genes (e.g. a phytochemical from your food goes from your mouth, through your digestive and circulatory systems, and into the cell).
If we can understand how our decisions impact our bodies, then we have the ability to make choices that lead us down the road to good health.
This skill is not something that you are going to master today. Instead, what you need is somewhere to get started.
Here’s what I recommend:
- Build a diet based on real, whole foods
- Move your body regularly and dynamically
- Practice a balance of stress and rest