Most people recall with a bit of eye-rolling that frequent mealtime parental directive to “eat your vegetables”. Little did we know that years later, those daily entreaties would prove to be life-saving. The new news is that the latest science shows that food can actually alter your genes and send messages to the rest of the body, as well as affect the quality and quantity of your lifespan. How is this so?

Back in the 1990’s, scientists began to realize that DNA was not necessarily destiny as it related to common conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Lifestyle habits and environmental influences became recognized as having a potent capacity to either activate or silence genes.

This was ground-breaking news and a game changer in the field of health and wellness where the new message transformed from one of despair over one’s genetic endowment to one of empowerment -- choose a healthy lifestyle, alter genes positively and as a result, optimize your ability to decrease disease and disability. This revolutionary science was the product of years of work by dedicated scientists at the Human Epigenome Project, a public/private collaboration by members of the multinational Human Epigenome Consortium.

The genome comprises the entire load of our hereditary information, and is packaged in our DNA which contains countless stretches of genes that are either fairly immutable (e.g., height, eye color) or are flexible (e.g., you have the potential to become obese or diabetic, or develop heart disease).  For years geneticists have concerned themselves with what is happening inside the gene to affect our lives. The epigenome involves what is going on “epi” around the “gene” to influence its expression.

Surrounding each gene are proteins called histones. New research has revealed that histones are actually the script writers for the gene, monitoring your actions, wrapping around each gene and writing a script of instructions for it to follow. Histones are influenced by every thought (toxic stress vs calm meditation), mouthful (junk food vs healthy food) and step (couch potato vs regular walker) we take. Each action causes the histones to alter how that gene will “speak” to the rest of the body (genetic expression). Positive, productive changes are induced through a process called methylation in which methyl (CH₃) groups are added to the DNA by some action you choose to do (for example, eating broccoli instead of a cheeseburger). This results in either a partial or complete quieting of a gene that would normally have left you with a high risk for a negative health outcome, such as cancer, for instance.

Don’t worry too much about the science details. Just remember that methyl groups are your new best friend and you need to do whatever it takes to keep methylating your genes. Which brings us to why everyone needs to focus on Sanitas Per Escam (SPE), or “health through food”.

Not surprisingly, methyl donors are certainly not found in refined and processed food products. Rather, they’re richly represented in whole foods. Here’s a sampling:

This new science helps you reframe your entire relationship with food. Sure, you’ll be getting wonderful vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, as well as water and fiber. Yes, the lean protein is great to build and maintain your muscles. But now, as you shop for groceries, suddenly there’s another extraordinary benefit--- you’re making your histones happy, producing gifted genes that lead to lively longevity. This is SPE in action!

Another side benefit to living the SPE way is to fall in love with cooking. You cannot rely upon dashboard dining and grab ‘n go junk food for your sustenance if you want happy histones. Consuming processed food leads to self-destructive genetic expression. Instead, hop back into the kitchen and make room for three bean soups, colorful salads, and savory meats and fish. Whether vegetarian or flexitarian, prepare your foods with loving care and envision your genes directing a stronger immune system, as well as better blood sugar and cholesterol control.

Further, if you add moderate regular physical activity, like walking, you’ll further quiet destructive genes.  Research has shown that simply walking an accrued 30-45 minutes per day can dampen the most powerful obesity gene in humans by 40%. Add healthy nutrition and suddenly DNA is no longer destiny. Your lifestyle choices are. Remember that:

Genetics may load the gun, but environment and lifestyle pull the (epigenetic) trigger.

Indeed, you are what you eat…with an epigenetic twist. Make the greens and genes connection. Live a life of health through food, keep your histones happy, and your genes on a mission of wellness. Bon appetit!

We’re eating out more than ever these days. More than half the money we spend on food in the U.S. goes to buy food prepared in restaurants for us to eat there, at home, or in our cars. That trend started more than sixty years ago and has led to increasing success in the restaurant and hospitality industry, along with greater interest among diners in where to get good food, how it was prepared, and how good it will be for my health and the health of family.

One driver of success over these six decades has been a series of certification programs that have helped recognize businesses that provide better services and also have grown their market.

AAA

A few decades back, restaurants and hotels in America competed for certification from the American Automobile Association. AAA certification and its diamond quality ranking drove restaurants and hotels to make sure they had the right set of food and hospitality service to provide a safe, clean and friendly visit. Competing for four diamonds when the AAA inspector comes to visit remains a goal for some businesses while the basic certification is now used by almost everyone restaurant and hotel.

And the AAA certification also let families know it was safe to take a very long drive across America and dine along the way. AAA’s certification helped make the family road trip a part of our culture, and a major part of a successful summer season for many restaurants and hotels.

Michelin Guide

In Europe, the Michelin Guide did much the same beginning more than a century ago. Being mentioned in the Michelin Guide and visited by their inspectors became a must have mark of quality for restaurants in a dozen countries.

This came from their extraordinary standards and focus on taste as well as service, along with an inspection process involving the “Michelin Men,” who suffered the burden of dining in some of Europe’s best restaurants alone and anonymously, and often several times a day, to avoid any undue influence and meet the growing demand from the restaurant industry. And, like AAA, Michelin also had its four levels, from a mention without stars on up to the coveted three Michelin stars.

The success of Michelin, now a global guide to fine dining, is obvious. When launched in Europe, so were the business benefits for all involved. Not only did the Michelin guide help drive growth in the restaurant industry, it also helped drive the increasing in driving itself — to visit so many wonderful restaurants far from one’s hometown — and wear our your Michelin tires more quickly in the process.

LEED

Less than two decades ago, a few leaders in the restaurant and hospitality industry began using the LEED Standard for building construction, which recognizes Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Like AAA’s certification standard, it also includes four grades of quality and requires a rigorous evaluation of construction and renovation plans as well as building operations.

It also now helps diners and travelers find restaurants that share their concern for the environment and has raised the importance of architecture and design in the industry. The business benefits from achieving LEED certification have been so strong that the construction of LEED certified buildings continued to grow every year since, including during the 2007-2008 downturn when the construction industry as a whole contracted.

For all the success of AAA, LEED and Michelin, there’s also a fair sized pile of less successful and failed efforts at least in the food industry. A couple years ago, Changing Tastes conducted a review of ethical and sustainable food certifications and found more than 800 available to U.S. food producers and restaurants. Many did as much to put their clients’ reputation at risk as they did to help recognize the quality of their services. More than a few were simply logos and plaquards for sale without any rigorous standards behind them. This means one company might unexpectedly find itself marked as being the same as another with very different practices, and not very good ones.

The best certification programs rely on objective and scientific standards and are backed with thorough evaluations, inspections or training programs. That approach helps both recognize quality and spur improvement while also driving consumer interest and growing the market.

Certification programs like AAA and LEED have done this for restaurants just like Organic, Fair Trade, Marine Stewardship Council and the rest of the best have done for food producers.

Arlin Wasserman, the Founder and Principal of changing tastes, also serves as Sustainability Advisor to SPE Certified.