I’VE got my mother’s eyes, my father’s nose and I inherited certain abilities from both of them. Does this mean that I might have arthritis or suffer from heart attack like my parents? Maybe. But I’m taking control of my life and fighting back by eating healthy and taking care of my body.
More than 4,000 disorders have been found to result from defects in single genes. Many other ailments are triggered by the interaction between several genes and outside factors. But as I said in my previous column, disposition does not mean development. Chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes tend to be caused by an interaction of genes with environmental factors such as diet and physical activity. Heredity does not mean certainty but it can if you don’t take the proper precautions now. Even if a disease is known to run in your family where and when it might strike is the great unknown. So you may want to consider genetic testing to help prove whatever your family health history suggests. We all walk around with defective genes and our ability to detect the ones that are not working is far greater today than ever before. you want to make sure those genes don’t get their chance to mutate and take over. You can stack the deck in your favor if you know what to look for.
Therefore everyday of your life you have the choice to make better and more improved cells for your body by consciously improving the quality of your life. Or by leading an unhealthy lifestyle you can continue to make defective and less vibrant cells which will eventually break down, making you more susceptible to disease. Here’s an outlined list of common genetically inherited diseases. In each and every case you can take precautions to prevent or at least diminish your odds of inheriting the
disease.
Obesity
Defined as being 20 percent or more over your ideal body weight, obesity can increase your risk of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Obesity afflicts one in three adults and one in four children. Obesity is not linked to any one single gene but genetic factors are possible. These are known fat genes and you should be conscious of other family members that have constantly battled the bulge. Patterns of growth can be inherited and genetics can contribute to how fat you are and your body shape but it’s not mandatory so don’t use heredity as your only excuse. Obesity can also be and often is caused by environmental factors such as eating habits you learn from your family. You can control obesity by following a healthy and well-designed eating program and doing regular exercise. Exercise speeds up your metabolism and will help you shed the weight. There’s no great revelation here
because these are facts. But I just want to reveal to you that hereditary obesity does not have to be your destiny.
High blood pressure
Often called the silent killer, high blood pressure can lead to a heart disease or a stroke. High blood pressure is easy to detect and easy to control. If one of your parents has or had high blood pressure, you are 25-50 percent more likely to develop it. If you had a parent who handled stressful situations by getting red in the face and always seemed to be on the verge of exploding, you may want to check for that behavior in yourself. Stress management might be a good idea. In addition most people with high blood pressure have high sodium diets which raises your blood pressure so that number one prevention is to cut salt (especially table salt) from your
diet. Eating potassium rich foods like bananas and potatoes also help keep the blood pressure down. As with obesity, exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet are surefire ways to improve your blood pressure.
Heart disease
Because heart disease was a particular concern of mine, I was especially interested in the facts and what I discovered was staggering. We now know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women. Heart disease kills twice as many women as all cancers combined. This is a serious concern and many genetic factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and weight affect your likelihood of suffering from some sort of heart disease in your lifetime. Having a parent with heart disease raises your risk of having heart disease. The younger the parent was when the illness developed, the more likely you are to develop some form of heart disease. Again, environmental factors must also be considered like smoking, eating a high fat diet and living a sedentary lifestyle. The good news is that the effects of almost every risk factor can be turned around. The obvious first step is to eat a low-fat, dairy-free diet. This will help lower almost immediately. Don’t smoke. Some experts think smoking is the number one factor that causes heart disease. Keep an eye on your blood pressure. High blood pressure puts a lot of unnecessary pressure or your arteries which overworks and weakens your heart. Staying fit is once again a key factor in keeping your heart healthy.
Osteoporosis
Your bones are the steel frames for your body. They are supposed to be the support for all your internal organs and act as a structure upon which you can depend. What happens to those who start to lose their strength and skeletal structure because of the onset of osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a steady progressive loss of bone density that causes bones to become fragile and brittle. It will strike one in every four women. If afflicted, you become prone to easily fracturing a hip, your spine may become hunched and you will be at risk for all sorts of other bone-related injuries. You will not only look older as a result of osteoporosis, you’re going to feel older, too. Because of the sensitivity of your bones and skeleton, you will become far more cautious about participating in any
activity that might put you in jeopardy. Osteoporosis can be prevented if you take the right steps toward
correcting the already decaying skeletal structure in your body.
Women have less bone than men to start with, so this crippling disease is particularly dangerous for women. It can really have a devastating effect after the onset of menopause. Because there’s a drop of estrogen during menopause (this helps hold calcium in the bones) osteoporosis often occurs when a woman is going through the change. Postmenopausal women will lose 2-3 percent of their bone per year and will continue to lose it at that rate for the first five years after menopause. Osteoporosis can strike at any time, however, and if your bones are thinning before menopause you will definitely need to
replace the calcium in your body by taking supplements or starting hormone therapy. If you don’t tend to the problem, neglecting to take care of your body because of a lot of excuses not to exercise, it will develop into a serious case of osteoporosis.
Severe cases can result in shattered spines, severe back pain and the incredible shrinking woman
syndrome which means you will actually get shorter until you will look like that “Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
As you can see, it is important to know your
family history to help you avoid potential bouts with any of these diseases. Once you know what you can do to keep yourself healthy. I really encourage you to seek all of the information you can to be prepared. There is no way of predicting a completely disease for life but you can do something to
curtail your chances if you know how.