The Body's Blueprint

A guide for genes, signals, and how the body responds to what it’s given.

The Blueprint

It begins before birth. Before memory. Before language or thought.

It begins with a set of instructions, tucked into every cell, a blueprint, folded into spirals, carried quietly.

And for a long time, we thought that blueprint was the whole story. We were told: this is what you’ve been given. This is your fate. This is your risk.

But that was never the full truth.

Because something remarkable is also happening, all the time: The body is reading the environment. Adjusting. Adapting. Deciding which parts of the blueprint to follow. Which pages to keep closed. Which systems to activate. Which ones to let rest.

This is not guesswork. It’s communication. And food is part of the language.

The Blueprint and the Signals

Every person is born with a full set of genetic instructions. That’s the DNA. It doesn’t change.

But what does change, constantly, is which parts of those instructions get used. Which genes are turned up, and which are dialed down. Which get read like urgent messages, and which are quietly ignored.

This is epigenetics: The signals that sit on top of  the genes, influencing how they behave. Signals that come from light, movement, sleep, breath. From minerals, microbes, rhythm, and rest. And most tangibly, from food.

The body is not static. It is responsive. Which means that nourishment is not just supportive, it’s directive.

Food as Instruction

Food is not just fuel. It is information.

Every meal, every herb, every compound the body receives sends a message.

Some say, “Activate detoxification". Others whisper, “Calm inflammation". Some rebuild neurotransmitters. Some stabilise hormones. Some repair DNA.

These compounds are called epinutrients, nutrients that influence gene expression. They don’t force the body to change. They create the conditions where change becomes possible.

A plate of greens is not a checklist. It’s a signal. A spoonful of sprouts is not a trend. It’s instruction.

The body listens, not because food is perfect, but because it is relational.

What Are Genes?

Genes are short sections of DNA that contain instructions for how the body builds and maintains itself. Some genes produce enzymes. Others regulate hormones. Others control immune responses, antioxidant production, nutrient metabolism, and more.

There are roughly 20,000 genes in the human body. But they don’t all act at once. The body selects what’s needed, and that selection is where the story really lives.

What Are Gene Variants?

Not every body reads the instructions the same way. Tiny differences in the genetic code, called SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) can affect how well a process runs.

Some variants make enzymes slower. Others make receptors more sensitive. Some increase the need for certain nutrients. Others change how the body reacts to stress, caffeine, folate, or inflammation.

These aren’t errors. They’re variations. They don’t determine health on their own. They simply create different starting points.

Knowing those points can help tailor support, not to fix something broken, but to help the body do what it’s trying to do with more ease.

Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics (A Clear Distinction)

These two words often get tangled. Here’s how they work:

• Nutrigenetics asks: How do my genes affect the way I respond to food?

  
  

   (Example: A variant in the MTHFR gene makes it harder to use folic acid, so active folate may be needed.)

• Nutrigenomics asks: How does food affect the way my genes are expressed?

  
  

   (Example: Sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts turns on antioxidant gene pathways.)

Both are real. Both are useful. But they do different things.

One explains why two people might respond differently to the same food. The other explains how food creates ripple effects throughout the body’s regulatory systems.

What Epigenetics Is Not

It is not magic. It is not control. It is not a hack or a shortcut.

Epigenetics doesn’t override genetics, it works with it. It doesn’t guarantee outcomes, it shifts likelihoods.

It doesn’t mean every system can be “optimised”, but it does mean every system can be supported.

It means the body is not a machine. It is a participant. And that participation is shaped, daily, by what it receives.

Do You Need a DNA Test?

No.

A test can provide clarity. It can show where extra support might be needed, or why certain strategies haven’t worked. It can validate what the body has been trying to say all along.

You don’t need a DNA test to support your genes. You don’t need a lab report to practice epigenetics. And you don’t need permission to begin building meals that speak your biology’s language.

Food will still send signals. Herbs will still guide pathways. Rhythm will still shape repair.

That said—DNA reports can be a shortcut to insight. A way of getting the full map, quickly. Of seeing where methylation slows, detox clogs, inflammation flares, or mood pathways misfire. They don’t tell you what to eat, but they help explain why certain foods or patterns may feel better than others.

Reports are available, and they can make the work more personal, more precise, and more efficient. But they’re not the only way in.

The body responds to care, whether or not it’s been sequenced.

What This Changes

When food is seen as signal, not just fuel, the goal stops being control. It becomes relationship. With the body. With its timing. With its limitations. With its potential. With the systems trying, always, to return to balance.

In Summary

• DNA is the blueprint.

• Genes are instructions within that blueprint.

• Epigenetics decides which instructions are used, based on signals from the environment (DNA test not required)

• Food is one of the most powerful signals the body receives.

• Nutrigenetics = how genes affect food response (DNA test helpful)

• Nutrigenomics = how food affects gene expression (DNA test not required)

• Epinutrients are compounds in food that influence gene pathways directly.

• The body is responsive, not static, and every meal is an opportunity to shift the conversation.

So yes, your DNA holds the map. But the way you move through it? That’s shaped by what you do, what you eat, and how you live.

And that’s not just empowering. It’s the whole point.

Want to see where the science comes from? For the extra curious, the references are here.