I hope to revive this thread and start a discussion, as the "heredity" thing is swirling around my husband's family.
His dad has high BP (just had a minor stroke), heart disease (needs a quad bypass after he heals from the stroke), and some years ago had both colon and prostate cancer.
Now all of those are considered genetically passed down! And people in his family are getting tested and screened for things, and pressuring others to do the same. My SIL is going in for a colonoscopy next week. My BIL had one last year (he's 40!). My SIL had a mammogram. Everyone is convinced that they all have a good chance of getting any or all of these diseases and therefore want to screen screen screen!
My husband is in the "healthy diet, exercise, positive attitude" camp. I'm right there camping with him! But we would like to have some good facts or answers or even antecdotes to use when the talk comes up that he should do all this stuff to "prevent" or "catch" diseases before it's too late.
My FIL (the sick one) has smoked for years. He is also struggling with extreme stress, some bitterness and unforgiveness, and eats a refined, chemically unbalanced diet. Of course he's going to have high BP, cancer and heart disease. BUT, oh wait! It's in the family! His mother, his father, some cousins, etc. See! It must be genetically passed down!
We figure that a colonoscopy has it's own risks - first of all that horrible pile of chemicals to drink, then meds at the hospital, not to mention the probe!
Can a person "beat the odds" by living a chemcial free life as best as possible - meaning organic food, clean water, clean products - combined with spiritual balance and healthy emotions? We think so. What do you all think?
And let's leave off discussion of "generational sins" or "curses" as I'd like to just know about the science and health aspect of it.
Thank you!