Slave To Your Genes Or Master Of Your Destiny?

When Watson and Crick discovered the DNA molecule in 1953 they proclaimed, “We’ve found the secret of life!” It sparked over six decades dedicated to the pursuit of uncovering the genetic cause of disease.

We were told The Human Genome Project would map our DNA and tell us of the grave future that lay ahead. Thankfully, Big Pharma had plenty of chemical solutions to keep us alive and ticking.

The results? Well, let’s just say they’ve fallen quite short of the hundreds of billions invested. In 2009, 27 prominent geneticists published a paper in the journal Nature acknowledging they had discovered no more than a fractional genetic basis for disease.

It’s not that genes don’t matter; it’s that they don’t predetermine your life. Only a small percentage of disease is “purely” genetic. Bruce Lipton, a former Stanford cell biologist and author of The Biology of Belief, suggests less than 5% of our known diseases are genetic.

Genes play a role in all body function, as they are the blueprint for creating proteins, the basic building blocks for hormones and other important molecules. It is estimated one gene makes up to 30,000 different proteins. This means, for the vast majority, having a certain gene does not necessarily default them to having a particular disease condition.

How those genes are expressed are a result of our lifestyle choices and stressors. It is our environment that is the primary determinate in the way our genes are expressed. How we live, eat, move, think, the quality of our neurological function and the toxicity of the world around us form the basis of our quality and quantity of life.

It’s why twins with identical genetics can have different health levels, so much so that one can develop disease once thought purely genetic and the other live well and vital. As Dr. James Chestnut says: “You are the genetic expression of your lifestyle choices.”

New research in the field of Epigenetics shows that even our grandparents’ food choices may affect not just the health of their children but that of their grandchildren! Amazing.

What can be controlled is your choices.

The limiting factors for healing and attaining optimal health are time and how much damage has been done with genes turned on in an unhealthy way.  And only time will tell what the body is truly capable of.

This is the foundation of Life By Design. Identify what the body needs and then create a lifestyle around fulfilling all those requirements for a period of time, preferably a lifetime.

Dr. Michael Gibson is a Kanata chiropractor and the clinic director of The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility.  He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to live the best life possible through the principles of Life by Design.

30-Day Eat By Design Challenge

We will be launching our transformational Eat By Design 30-Day Challenge again on Monday, February 13th. It was created to help you take all of the knowledge you gained from the Eat By Design Seminar and put it into action.

Be sure to visit the My Life By Design Facebook Fanpage and "like" it so that you will have access to it all. The bulk of the 30- Day Challenge will be hosted from that page in order to bring the entire Life By Design community worldwide together into one central hub. Throughout the challenge we will be posting recipes, tips, resources, articles, as well as what we ate that day to help you implement all that you've learned.

To participate simply write "I'm in!" on the My Life By Design Facebook Fanpage to let everyone you know you are challenging yourself for 30 days to live as close to "By Design" as possible - accountability is powerful!

Follow the steps: Brain Body Connection - Eat By Design - Move By Design- Rest, Play, Love - Clearly Define Your Purpose -the more you follow the bigger the impact.

This is not simply about "losing weight", there is enough of that mentality to go around, it is about being well, fulfilling the requirements for a full expression of life and watching what happens, not just to your physique but your well-being.

Participate - share your goals, recipes, your meals, pics (take pre/post for yourself and even post them if you're courageous!), take a few measurements (waist, thighs, arms, chest - there will be millions of physiological changes but it's nice to measure a few) ask questions, encourage others.

Looking forward to hearing of your successes!

Dr. Michael Gibson is a Kanata chiropractor and the clinic director of The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility.  He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to live the best life possible through the principles of Life by Design.

Kanata Chiropractor

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]“One day I felt fine, and then the next day I was just. . ..” How often have you heard this? Probably enough that you do not even recognize the absolute absurdity of that statement. Except for severe traumas, such as car accidents, major falls, poisoning, etc., people do not suddenly become ill. Disease does not occur spontaneously.

Small traumas, long-term abuse and negligence, though unnoticeable at first, take their toll on the body over a period of time. When the first symptoms appear, the body has already been malfunctioning for some period of time — often years.

Studies have shown that a significant percentage of children undergo trauma during the birthing process. Wellness Chiropractors are trained to identify aspects of this damage called the Vertebral Subluxation Process. Not only will this spinal and neurological imbalance become part of a child’s structure as they develop, but many of them will go 30 or 40 years – and possibly the rest of their lives — with the effects of that initial damage to the spine and nerve system affecting both their health and quality of life.

Any interference in the body’s master control system results in a lessening in every aspect of that child’s function. An impaired nerve system could reduce immune function, concentration, recovery from illness and injury; it could lessen athletic performance and digestive function.  It could even alter behaviour.

While it is true that people often see a chiropractor to help them recover from physical health problems, that is not the purpose of chiropractic care. Chiropractic adjustments are aimed at correcting misalignments that compromise neurological integrity. This is vital for everyone to reach their full health potential.

Some may be concerned about the forcefulness of an adjustment for a growing child. That would be a legitimate concern if all people received the same adjustment. Thankfully, they do not. Each person is adjusted according to their age and size. No two adjustments on the same person are even the same, let alone on two different people.

If we understand that health means 100% function, not merely being symptom-free, then the function of the nerve and spinal system needs to addressed.

Who has more potential to fulfill and more to gain from chiropractic care than our kids?

Dr. Michael Gibson is a Kanata chiropractor and the clinic director of The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility.  He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to live the best life possible through the principles of Life by Design.