"Most disease promoting genes do NOT determine disease risk. It is the choices we make consciously or unconsciously that largely determine our future health," says Wes Youngberg, DrPH. In a twist on Shakespeare, he continues, "'Our fate, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars but in ourselves.' What a great opportunity we have – even to change our destiny. We have choices set before us whereby we may 'be transformed by the renewing of our mind.'" As medical science is unraveling more and more of the mysteries of DNA, Dr. Youngberg brings good news that neither our genes nor our family history determines our health status.
Based on his educational background as well as his wealth of clinical experience, Dr. Youngberg says that we can change the function and expression of our genes with the choices we make about our environment. Our lifestyle, what we eat, drink, think, and do, greatly affect how our genes function. For example, he explains that "inflammatory foods, like all other foods and chemicals in foods, will turn genes on or off. And inflammation turns genes in the wrong direction. It activates the disease producing genes." However, he says, that "a comprehensive wellness program including a plant-based diet, daily exercise, and appropriate supplements can result in dramatically reducing inflammation and risk factors for cardiac disease."
For over 20 years Dr. Youngberg has worked as a clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist helping people transform their lives. He spent fourteen years on the Micronesian island of Guam where he researched the diabetes epidemic in that region and directed the Wellness Center at the Guam Seventh-day Adventist Clinic. He traveled throughout the islands of the Western Pacific providing public health education, screenings, and professional training for diabetes prevention and care, and was honored by both the local government of Guam and the American Diabetes Association for his work in public health.
Currently, Dr. Youngberg is a member of the clinical faculty at Loma Linda University, serving as an assistant clinical professor for both the Department of Preventive Medicine at the School of Medicine and the Department of Health Promotion at the School of Public Health. Dr. Youngberg is a board Certified Nutrition Specialist, and is a founding director and fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. In addition to his nutritional practice in Temecula, CA, Dr. Youngberg is a seminar speaker, has authored several books, and lectures at medical conferences around the world.
Dr. Youngberg often attends some of the same medical conferences and other professional functions which we do. We greatly admire his work and enthusiastically support his passion for teaching both the public and medical professionals about the power of diet and lifestyle choices to optimize health. Please watch his presentation, "Gene Management: Transforming Genetic Risk," by clicking on the video below and learn how you can change your tomorrows by changing your lifestyle today. This video was filmed in a church and does contain some Biblical references.