METABOLIC WELLNESS

Our wellbeing is largely determined by our diet and lifestyle, which serve as signals, or information, for our bodies, thereby influencing physiological metabolic processes and the programming of all cells.

There is no one healthy diet for all of us, we are all different! Our genes, predispositions, lifestyles, gut bacteria and the way our bodies respond to diet is different from one person to another. We can choose dietary and lifestyle habits that promote health (i.e. metabolic wellness), by choosing a health-promoting diet and lifestyle, tailored to our unique make-up. Alternatively, unhealthy dietary and lifestyle habits that go against our unique make-up are likely to contribute to disease or metabolic dysfunction.

Various environmental factors – food/nutritional status, air, water, physical activity, toxic load, stress, sleep, psychosocial factors, trauma, emotions etc. – interact with our genes, determining whether genes are expressed or not and whether we manifest health or disease. It is now very well understood that our genes are not fixed and diseases are not ‘hardwired’ into our genes.

OUR GENES LOAD THE GUN…
THE ENVIRONMENT PULLS THE TRIGGER.

Genes may be expressed (turned on) or silenced (turned off) depending on environmental factors (this field of science is known as epigenetics), so it’s the interaction of our genes with practically everything external to our bodies that ultimately determines our health outcome. Therefore, we all have a great opportunity to support a healthy expression of our genes by choosing the correct foods, lifestyle habits, thoughts, emotions and environments for us as individuals.