Genetics Is Not The Key To Disease

specializesWe all agree that cells communicate with each other. This happens through receptor cell membranes, the surface of which must be free of obstacles in order for communication to take place. When there are obstacles, the cell communication is altered, inhibited and even garbled. The environ-ment within which a cell functions and which affects the health of the cell without changing the genetic code is known as epigenetics. You may be surprised to learn that the latest research has shown that as much as 75% of genetic expression is due to epigenetics while only 25% is related to the genetic hard-wired code itself.

Epigenetics (outside of genetics) includes the environment directly outside of the cell, the fluid pathways to the cell, the availability of nutrition, immunity and cleansing capacity. All of this influences, distorts, amplifies or blocks the messages that the cell is sending out to other cells and tissues. This new view of cellular communication makes the idea that our health and fate are pre-programmed in our genes, obsolete because it isn’t important what the code says as much as what the cellular environment is. So you are not the result of your genetics, you determine your genetics through epigenetic factors. This is the real key to disease.

Think of it this way. Is it “like father, like son” or “the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree”? Or is it more accurate to say “you create your destiny”? Are we destined to have cancer because our parent did? How much cancer risk is genetic? You may think it is quite high given the lengths to which people will go to prevent cancer when they have had a positive genetic trait test. The clinical truth is 5-10% of all cancers seem to have a genetic link, while 90-95% are due to epigenetics, the environment that you control.

So genetics are not the key to disease. Now what?

Once we realize how much of our cellular health lies in our hands, we can begin to identify just how healthy our environment and lifestyle are. One key piece is cellular communication. In many diseases including cancer, cellular communication becomes blocked or distorted. If we turn our attention to the fluid through which cells communicate, we can create incredible changes. I’m not talking about blood, I’m talking about lymph. This is the one fluid that not only filters the blood, but it carries your immune cells, transports nutrients to cells and carries away toxins. This specialized system of channels and tissues is the largest system penetrating the human organism completely. It is here in the lymphatic pathways that toxins can influence the epigenetic processes and begin the hidden process of disease. This makes the lymph the first step in any remedy approach to illness.

This also means that through our lymph we are a living extension of our environment, which includes the air we breathe, the toxins we are exposed to, the food we eat, the world upon our skin. It is through this interconnected system that both health and illness spread throughout the body and cross body system bound-aries. This may explain how cancer will metastasize in any one person’s body, by following these extracellular matrix pathways that have already been created. So, focusing on this liquid matrix will create greater change that will influence better cellular health and communication.

Begin with movement…walking, yoga, dance, Tai Chi. Movement helps to mobilize the lymph fluid allowing the lymph nodes to filter and cleanse the lymphatic fluid. Next is heat. There is nothing better for liquifying lymph fluid between the cells and into the lymphatic vessels than heat from the sauna, the bath, a bit of Tiger Balm or sweating in the sun. Decongestive Lymphatic Therapy utilizes heat, vibration, chromalight therapy and pressure to ease physical blockages to lymph, such as calcifications or congested lymph nodes. These are not reachable with Manual Lymphatic Drainage nor with lymphatic remedies. So, including this essential therapy along with medicinals will have effective, lasting change. And of course, the remedies, including thymus support, homeopathics for other lymphatic tissues such as parotids, spleen, tonsils and appendix plus the key herbs that have historically been essential in natural medicine for lymphatic cleansing, such as Cleavers, Burdock and Poke Root.

Don’t be distracted by genetics in your search for health. Instead pay attention to the cellular environment and by extension your living environment. Remember that any plant can do well with the right soil, optimal food and sufficient sunlight. When you see an unhealthy plant, you don’t think it’s the plant’s pre-determined genetics. Instead you look for bugs, poor soil, dehydration or pH problems – all things that make up the plant’s environment. Our epigenetic garden is no different.

Karen Clickner, C.C.H., specializes in immune disorders, natural fertility and whole body medicinne. She is also the owner of Conscious Body Natural Medicine with offices in Holden and Westbnorough, MA. 617-505-3585