When you’re running a business, or multiple businesses plus trying to balance a family or social life, it can easy to let health and wellness slip, it is something that you think can be put off to later.
Or even if you are diligently having green smoothies for breakfast, practicing intermittent fasting because you have heard of the amazing benefits, and regularly getting into Crossfit or Yoga, how do you know how healthy you are on the inside?
Entrepreneurs like Richard Branson tell us the secret of success is being fit and healthy, the billionaire Mark Cuban tracks an extensive array of blood markers every 3 months to maintain optimal health. While you may not need to track your blood as regularly as Mark Cuban, a yearly comprehensive assessment can help you maintain, or reach your optimal health.
One option is to visit your doctor for the “standard” blood test which includes liver and kidney function, cholesterol and maybe a glucose reading, once the results are back you are usually told everything is “fine”.
While these tests are great to do in certain situations they actually tell you very little about how healthy you are. For example, a liver function test does not tell you how your liver is functioning but just measures the liver enzymes, which if elevated is a sign of liver inflammation.
Tracking your blood markers on a yearly basis is a good way of assessing changes in your health, this can enable you to be proactive in preventing health problems from occurring. With the standard blood testing, you will find out when you have diabetes, heart disease or other health issues once it is too late.
With functional pathology testing, we take a deeper look at your pathology results, testing for things that the standard blood tests do not do. The reason that they are not on a standard test is because of Medicare restrictions and insurance companies not wanting to pay the extra money.
Functional medicine testing enables you to track your blood markers in more detail so that you will have the knowledge to be able to prevent the disease from occurring, by being able to make changes before it’s too late. This can include hormone testing, inflammation markers, vitamin and mineral deficiencies as well as detailed cardiovascular testing.
As well as blood markers we can also test stool samples to assess pathogenic bacteria and parasites, as well as look at your levels of beneficial bacteria and how well you are actually absorbing and digesting your food.
Organic Acid testing can assess your metabolism, energy production, neurotransmitters, and gut health if your feeling tired, stressed and burnout this is a great test to do.
One of the main reasons for doing more detailed testing is to identify changes in your health before it becomes a problem, preventing disease, rather than waiting for it to occur. This can be done quickly and easily once or twice a year, schedule the time now to have optimal health for years to come.
If your health is currently not optimal here are some reasons why you may want to do some Functional Medicine testing to identify what the underlying cause is
Here is a list of the tests that I recommend that you do:
Diabetes levels are increasing, and most people don’t realize they have a blood sugar problem until they are told they have diabetes, but if you test these markers you can prevent diabetes from occurring:
If you have trouble sleeping, are fatigued, stressed, have trouble losing weight or have a low libido this can be caused by an imbalance in your hormones, here are some of the hormones that we assess at Planet Naturopath.
Even with a good diet, it is possible to be low in certain vitamins and minerals, this could be because of increased stress, or poor digestion function which leads to absorption issues. At Planet Naturopath here are some of the essential nutrients we check:
There is a lot of research these days into the importance of our gut bacteria, and how it can influence many aspects of our health, this is why I highly recommend the GI Map Test.
Gut dysfunction is often the cause of inflammation which can affect the rest of your health, the GI Map test will give you a detailed overview of your digestive health
The DUTCH hormone test is the most advanced test for the adrenal and sex hormones, DUTCH stands for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones and these test kits can be sent anywhere in the world. The samples are easy to collect and will give us a complete overview of your hormonal health.
When you do testing through Planet Naturopath there are several advantages
Michael is head consultant at Planet Naturopath - Functional Medicine and Nutrition Solutions. He is a registered naturopath with the Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA) and works with clients from all over the world via video or phone consultations. He is a degree qualified naturopath from the Endeavour College of Natural Medicine in Australia with 18 years of experience. He uses advanced testing methods, nutritional medicine, herbal medicine, and lifestyle advice to help you stay healthy. He is a Kalish Method-trained practitioner that keeps updating his education with Chris Kresser. Michael completed Dr. Terry Wahls practitioner training program, a 12-month program with ongoing training that helps understand the underlying cause and treatment of MS and autoimmune conditions. He keeps up to date with the latest research into health and natural medicine through the Metabolic Fitness Pro course with Dr. Bryan Walsh.