Choosing How You Age: Learn What Actually Governs the Outcome of Your Health

By CBE Ezhra V. Martin

IF YOU THINK NATURE CAN NO LONGER AMAZE YOU, CHOOSING HOW YOU AGE WILL TAKE YOU ON A NATURE WALK THAT WILL AWE EVEN THE MOST DIFFICULT TO IMPRESS.

In her illuminating and informative book, Ezhra V. Martin presents startling revelations to questions that have puzzled mankind for centuries. Where does our intuition come from? Are ou

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Apr 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890418869

CBE Ezhra V. Martin

Ezhra V. Martin CBE., certified body ecologist and health and wellness owner of Genesis Alternative Health for almost four decades, spent much of her time studying and researching the most advanced and revolutionary concepts for the root causes of disease to give her clients innovative guidance, helping them to achieve good health and longevity. Her holistic approach to life in general is a major contributor to her success.

Book preview

FOREWORD

I have had the pleasure of knowing Ezhra V. Martin for many years. Early on, it was apparent that her life, health, and practice were holistic in nature.

When I began my practice in the 1970s, I was considered a holistic therapist. However, Ezhra has brought new meaning to that title, expanding my understanding of the term holistic beyond the realm of my imagination.

Within the covers of her new book Choosing How You Age, Ezhra skillfully and articulately presents her material in a most easy-to-read format to assure her readers a legible and uncomplicated version of the science behind the natural laws of health and longevity while introducing the most up-to-date research from the scientists, clinicians, and physicians who adhere to this approach.

Ezhra applies her extensive knowledge of the complex biochemical communication system within the body to explain the interdependent functioning of our bodies, minds, and emotions. She explains how the foods we consume, the chemicals we are exposed to, and our attitude will biologically affect how we think and feel, either positively or negatively. Her book delivers to the health-conscious reader the most cutting-edge approach to conquering the conditions and diseases that affect our overall health and aging.

Dr. Robert F. Broussard, MEd, MDiv, DMin

This book is dedicated to Adam and all those challenged by autoimmune conditions.

PREFACE

I am a Certified Body Ecologist, Living Foods Educator, Certified Colon Hydrotherapist, and Health and Wellness guide in nutrition and lifestyle change. For over three decades, I have worked with thousands of clients with long histories of anxiety, depression, foggy brains, gut imbalances, food intolerances, chemical sensitivities, and autoimmune diseases. Some of these people had been on medication for years and were still suffering from anxiety and depression, often accompanied by bowel disorders such as bloating, gas, constipation, or loose stools. Some of these conditions developed into more serious conditions, such as suicidality, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). It became obvious that the brain and gut issues went hand in hand. Losing hope, many of my clients suffering from these maladies were on medications that had not lived up to their promise, and some had been self-medicating with alcohol, marijuana, or other substances in a desperate attempt to calm their emotional state.

In the years before, in 1975, after searching for the answers to my own anxiety, depression, chemical sensitivities, and overall unwellness, I was divinely led out of the dark and into the light of a permanent lifestyle change. The transformation began immediately as I turned my life and will over to God, following His guidance. In the subsequent years, I was to find good health, an abundance of energy, and a new and lasting peace. I left my fashion-designing business and began to pursue a field in natural health. I read everything I could get my hands on about this subject. One book led to another. I had a new passion that has been with me now for over 45 years. I found myself back in school, studying the sciences that gave me the answers to my health. Eager to share a winning formula, I started a health and wellness center, Genesis Alternative Health, and have had the privilege to work with amazing people who were excited to follow the suggestions of those who went before me. As a result, in the 37 years to follow, I was blessed to witness countless health transformations and healings with these individuals. Today, I stay committed to keeping current with cutting-edge science in gut/brain health and about my field through online classes, master classes, webinars, podcasts, and books made available from the leading professionals and experts in the world.

My book, Choosing How You Age, is a message of hope that shows the reader incredible breakthroughs in new science that have exposed the mysteries of the maladies mentioned above. The revelation of the second brain that resides in our gut has caused a great paradigm shift in the field of psychology and gut health, known as the brain/gut connection, that inspired the creation of the new science called neurogastroenterology.

Throughout the book, I have drawn and labeled the illustrations to assist the reader in having a clearer understanding of the material within. You will learn about the well-researched method on how to shut your genes off that would otherwise pre-dispose you to genetic illnesses; you will read about the value of friendly bacteria and how these tiny fellows will eliminate anxiety and depression, how the brain and gut communicate with each other, how to combine foods to correct uncomfortable indigestion and leave our tummies feeling good after a meal, how intermittent fasting can prevent Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other memory problems. You will be introduced to an easy-to-read and easy-to-digest outline of the central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, and gut including accessory organs, and the most recent findings about one of the not so well known organs. When pieces of this organ are placed over other injured organs or damaged body parts, it will promote tissue repair. We will also cover how the science called psychoneuroimmunology explains how and why our thoughts can make us sick and keep us sick until we are willing to change them, and how the power of prayer plays a crucial part in our healing. You will read about the spirit, soul, and body, the importance of balancing these three parts to achieve total wellness, and how the choice is ours to choose how we age.

Ezhra V. Martin, CBE

Chapter One

A STUNNING REVELATION

In the early 1940’s, genetic science announced that we are no longer victims of our genetics. Our personal genome blueprint can be changed by the physical, emotional, and nutritional environment we expose it to throughout our lifetime. We now know our genetic coding can be used as a guidepost for prevention. It provides us with the knowledge to make informed decisions about our health, allowing us to avoid genetic diseases and conditions we would otherwise be destined to suffer. We can actually alter our internal environment through diet and lifestyle to influence how our genes will react and express themselves (1).

Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Mass General Hospital for Children, Harvard professor and researcher Alessio Fasano, MD, identifies five major pillars contributing to autoimmune disease and the mechanisms that spark autoimmune conditions and poor health. The five factors are:

Genetics

Environmental triggers

Chronic systemic inflammation

Intestinal permeability (commonly known as leaky gut syndrome)

The composition, diversity, and the condition of our microbiome

These primary contributors are the root cause of our health conditions. They are the central focus of the functional medicine community and those in the medical field that practice on the forefront of medical science.

Throughout this manual, you will learn about the mechanisms of these pillars, what influences them, and how they are closely linked.

Note that the number one factor on this list is genetics.

Alessio’s second pillar in autoimmunity is environmental triggers, which play a significant role in our genetic expression from the foods we eat, the quality of water we drink, the amount of alcohol we consume (2), the chemicals we are exposed to, the products we use on our skin, in our homes, at the office, in our yards and gardens, the places we shop at, the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from our electronic devices, emotional pressures, and the level of stress triggered by these factors. We can shut off our genetic expression by taking preventive measures to protect ourselves from these exposures. This prophylactic action is known as epigenetics.

Conrad Waddington (3), geneticist, embryologist, and professor at Edinburgh University in Scotland, coined the term epigenetics in 1942 to describe the interactions between genes and the environment. The word is of Greek origin, and it means over and above the genome. Epigenetics refers to the condition whereby our genetic expression is turned down and silenced when favorable environmental factors are introduced. The genome no longer governs the outcome of our health. Through our free will, we have the opportunity to take charge of our personal environment by making wise choices through diet and lifestyle. Waddington understood that the environment in which the fertilized egg develops can influence how the organism functions. Epigenetics deactivates and transfers the genetic expression from our genes over to the influence of our surrounding environment. The phenomenon of epigenetics is accomplished through the chemistry of attaching methyl tags to our genomes. This chemical process is called Methylation (CH3) (4). Methylation turns the volume down. It silences the genetic behavior in our genes, while reduced methylation (or lack of it) turns the volume back up (demethylation), activating the original genetic blueprint. A methyl-rich diet plays a critical role in managing this mechanism. Let’s take a look at the research and the essential nutrients involved.

In 2003, geneticists Randy L. Jirtle and Robert A. Waterland demonstrated how favorable environmental conditions can, amazingly, influence and alter the outcome of our health. To help us understand this process, we’ll look at a compelling experiment that was played out with agouti yellow mice. All mammals (including humans) have an agouti gene. However, the agouti gene in these mice has an extra element of DNA, giving them yellow coats and an unhealthy propensity to obesity. Jirtle and Waterland supplemented the diet (5) of pregnant agouti mice with methyl-rich nutrients, including vitamin B12, folic acid, choline, and betaine HCL before, during, and after pregnancy (6). The mice received 3 to 20 times the required daily amount of the tested methyl-rich nutrients. The results of this experiment produced healthy, thin pups with plush brown coats (7), setting in motion a dramatic paradigm shift in genetic science known as nutritional epigenetics.

The genetic defects in our genetic coding are called single nucleotide polymorphisms known as SNPs, pronounced snips (8) (9). Methylation blocks the expression of almost all genetic SNPs. It is crucial to the healthy function of numerous cellular processes, such as building and repairing our DNA, assisting the absorption of nutrients, and maintaining our detoxification systems (skin, lungs, kidneys, liver, lymphatics, and digestive system). By using high amounts of the methyl-rich nutrients mentioned above and taking control of other elements in our environment, we are free to avoid the prospect of inheriting or expressing undesirable health conditions and diseases.

Jirtle says, Epigenetics is proving we have some responsibility for the integrity of our genome. Before, genes determined the outcome. Now, everything we do, everything we eat or smoke – can affect our gene expression and that of future generations. Epigenetics introduces the concept of free will into our idea of genetics.

More than 3000 subsequent research papers have been completed on environmental and nutritional epigenetics by studying agouti mice. Through this genomic revolution, the once-accepted rules of disease and heredity are now being rethought, revised, and rewritten. A growing number of medical and functional medicine doctors are opting to include genetic testing to better understand the patient’s strengths and weaknesses within our genetic coding. This additional testing presents an option to avoid illness altogether and/or to extend or save someone’s life. A favored motto within the functional medicine community is If you don’t test, you guess.

Chapter Two

WHOVILLE

Dr. Seuss’ delightful book titled Horton Hears a Who, written in 1954 tells the story of an eccentric elephant named Horton who lives in the Jungle of Nool. When a speck of dust floats past Horton, the elephant hears a tiny scream coming from the dust speck and captures it. He soon finds it contains the city of Whoville, an entire community of microscopic creatures, the Whos. After further examination, Horton discovers some intimate details of Whoville, including its environment, the mayor and the other residents, their culture, and some of the drama among them. Much like the world of Whoville, the world of microbes, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa, was once hidden from our sight. With the invention of the first efficient microscope in 1674 by a lens expert named Anton van Leeuwenhoek, man has been able to peer into this once tiny, mysterious microbial society and observe their habits and capabilities. Like the creatures of Whoville, this boundless and fascinating universe of microscopic inhabitants have their own names, personalities, and drama that they are purposely living out in our world and in our bodies today. Although the functions and uniqueness of these creatures can seem complicated, they are anything but dull. Narcissistic in nature, their first agenda is self-preservation. Their intent is to survive at all costs. Many of them, when in balanced numbers, play deliberate and crucial roles, running countless mechanisms and systems throughout our bodies to keep us alive and well. We will explore some of these mechanisms and how the microbes are directly involved, but first, let’s get acquainted with some of the lively cast of characters