Data Driven Nutrition = Individualized Care
The Metabolic Checkup
The Metabolic Checkup is a set of labs that provide excellent insight into your body’s current metabolic status. The advantages to data driven nutrition are huge. Your results answer the million dollar question: how is your genetic code interacting with your environment at this moment in time? Knowing this allows us to devise a plan that is specific to your needs. Do you need to cut carbs? How much? Exercise more? Strength or cardio? And better yet, by repeating this panel 1-2 times per year, we can see if your efforts are working! Weight is a terrible metric for assessing metabolic health since it can fluctuate (or refuse to budge) for a huge number of reasons. But your blood doesn’t lie. If these labs are getting better, we know that you are improving your habits in a way that suits your genetic code.
Ready to get started? The lists below contain all the key labs you’ll need. See below for details on how to order these labs. Once you have your results, be sure to schedule an appointment to review the findings and create an individualized plan to get your metabolism on track.
The Labs (labs should be drawn after at least 8 hours of fasting)
Blood Sugar Control
Glucose
Insulin
Hemoglobin A1C
Lipids
HDL-cholesterol
Triglycerides
ApoB (apolipoprotein B-100)
Lipoprotein(a)
Cellular Health
ALT (alanine transaminase)
Uric Acid
Other Measures (non-laboratory)
Blood pressure
Waist circumference (measured at belly button height)
How to order labs
One option is to ask your doctor to order the labs for you. This will allow you to take advantage of your insurance for whatever portion of the labs are covered. Many of them are considered standard and will be covered at certain intervals. Bring this letter to your doctor to let them know which labs to order.
If you do not plan to use insurance, you can order the labs yourself. Many labs like Quest and Labcorp will allow you to order directly on their websites.