Inheriting Bad Genes

I hope you'll forgive me, but I always get fumed up when I hear someone say, "I must have inherited bad genes" when a person is talking about "inherited" illness, obesity, or poor health.

It's true, our genes have a part to play in our health, our stature, our longevity. But more often what we inherit from our parents to our detriment is our lifestyle. That includes the foods we like to eat, how, when and why we eat, whether we exercise or not, etc., etc.

My husband and I are making a concerted effort to model a healthy lifestyle for our children to copy. And it seems to be working. They're not fussy eaters. They enjoy going outside to play (even when it's -30 degrees Celsius, like it was today!). Hopefully, they're inheriting a healthy lifestyle and attitudes from us.

Afterall, it's the little daily habits that add up to either good health or poor health. With young children, we have the opportunity to make a healthy lifestyle "normal". It's about choices.

Tammie