One of the basic ideas that we’re trying to advance with EpiGaia is that our bodies are programmed to benefit from proper nutrition - and that epigenetic nutrition can provide many of the specific substances our bodies need most. The importance behind this is clear: when your body doesn’t get what it needs, your health declines.

The Wall Street Journal had a great article on Tuesday about paying attention to external signs your body provides to signal internal problems. It is so important to pay attention to what goes on with your body: you know what is normal and what isn’t, and your body will show signs when things aren’t functioning properly.

One key takeaway from this article is the need to pay attention to preventive care.

With major changes to the nation’s health-care system looming, it may be more important than ever for people to keep track of their own physical health. Primary-care doctors could become increasingly pressed for time, and long-term doctor-patient relationships may be harder to sustain. The growing emphasis on preventive medicine may also place more responsibility on patients to head off illnesses before they become serious.

Proper nutrition is an essential part of maintaining good health and preventing diseases such as diabetes and other ailments. Getting the nutrients your body needs can help keep your immune system strong and ensure proper functioning of your stomach, liver, kidneys and other organs.

So, like the Journal says, we should “be vigilant for anything new or unusual” about our bodies. And if we really want to be ahead of the game, we should make sure our body’s genetic nutrition needs are being met.

The Dr. Mom Online blog had a great post recently about how to make nutritional choices. The author discussed how important proper nutrition is for good health, sufficient energy, clear thinking/learning ability, resistance to injury and disease, and all other aspects of living. Because, when you think about it, the quality of nutrition determines how well our body can function.

One point that was made is that to achieve proper nutrition, we need to believe 100% in the lifestyle changes we’re trying to make - and REALLY want them, not just trick ourselves into it. A great example:

If we say to ourselves, “Twinkies aren’t any good for me and they’re making me fat… I really need to stop eating those”, but our true belief is, “But, maaaaaan… I sure do LOVE Twinkies!! I love the way they taste, I love how happy they make me while I’m eating them, I look forward to my Twinkie snack all day long!!” It’s unlikely we’ll be giving up Twinkies anytime soon… we’ve still got too much pleasure attached to the idea of a Twinkie!

Our belief is that the Twinkies are GOOD, therefore our behavior (eating them) is in alignment with that belief.

There’s an even more-important point made towards the middle of the post. It’s so sensible, and so obvious, yet so many people either disregard this fundamental fact or don’t think about it:

A food choice is either congruent with our innate genetic requirements (and moves us toward health), or it’s not.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Think about that when you’re meal-planning…or at grocery store…or the gas station, trying to decide between Zingers and Ding-Dongs. If it’s not in line with your genetic needs, it’s not healthy.

Visit the full post here for some great information and insight.

A few days ago EpiGaia issued a press release highlighting its impressive ORAC test results. The release was subtitled, “EpiGaia’s Antioxidant Power Out Rates Most Popular Health Drinks” - because EpiGaia’s ORAC value was:

… 16,450 units per daily serving (50 grams) - three times as powerful as pomegranate juice (ORAC of 5,250) and almost two times more powerful than Acai berry juice (ORAC of 9,200). It is over ten times more potent than juice made from Noni berries (ORAC of 856), Goji berries (ORAC of 706), and blueberries (ORAC of 1,600).

A brief explanation of ORAC:
ORAC is an acronym for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity - basically, how well a food or supplement performs as an antioxidant. Foods and nutrients with a higher ORAC score are believed to be more effective at eliminating oxygen free radicals in the body, promoting improved health and function of the body.

So, EpiGaia’s high ORAC value - higher than several other nutrition/health drinks and juices - looks pretty impressive. One possible explanation comes from Guohua (Howard) Cao, a physician and chemist who developed the ORAC assay: “It may be that combinations of nutrients found in foods have greater protective effects than each nutrient taken alone.”

If you’d like to read the press release, it’s available here. For more information about EpiGaia, be sure to visit the EpiGaia website and download the free report, “Epigenetic Nutrition: Attaining Natural Good Health through Ancestral Sourced Whole Foods.”