The Only Way To Know If You’re Feeding Your Body Well

A resource you might love as much as I do 🧪

Biohacking isn’t something you find in most women’s vocabularies, especially in midlife. It’s a concept that started a decade or so ago by a small group of mostly healthy, wealthy males. They were looking for ways to optimize performance outside traditional medicine. They applied tech-savvy protocols to maximize everything about life.

My introduction to biohacking was through Tim Ferris’ book, The 4-Hour Body. I’d become a fan of his first book, The 4-Hour Workweek, and when he introduced The 4-Hour Body, I dove in to learn all I could. In his words, “The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body.”

While I’ll never be a biohacker, parts of it resonated with me. I’d already started the process of creating my own health hacks. I didn’t like a lot of the solutions used in modern Western health practices, and was starting to piece together my own tactics.

Fast-forward to today, and biohacking has taken on entirely new meanings. You’ll see people using the term everywhere – every approach to health that’s somewhat beyond the norm may be labeled by someone as biohacking.

Here’s my take on it.

Biohacking is a way to critically think about your own health and well-being. It’s a way to utilize all kinds of tools and resources to improve your health. It’s about critically thinking about your health, saying NO to what doesn’t make sense to you, and taking the time to do your due diligence to find a better way.

I believe that’s what it means to become Wellthy!

This is about mind and body. It’s about improving every aspect of everyday life to be the best you can be.

It starts with a question. Or a problem. Or an issue.

Then you work to find the very best approach to improve it, and create a better you. To optimize you!

Whether you’ve heard the term “biohacking” or not isn’t important. I don’t believe you need plunge pools, home infrared saunas, or other tech tools that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

I believe it’s easier than that.

I think it starts with knowledge.

Why you should be testing

Imagine …

You’re 50. You’re busy. You work 40 hours. You have a husband with a demanding career. You have a kid in high school and one who just started college. You’re starting a remodeling project in your kitchen. Your mom needs a little help on the weekends.

Sounds pretty typical, right? I’m sure you see yourself a bit tucked in that description. Let’s continue.

You eat right. Grab your yogurt and berries for breakfast. Pack a salad for lunch. Try to make dinner a few nights a week. Pick healthy menu items when you head out to restaurants. Even take a supplement with breakfast each morning.

But lately, you’re feeling sluggish. Something’s different. Your 50th birthday hit you hard. Mood swings. Weight gain. Aches and pains you’ve never experienced before. It’s not bad … just not the same. Where do you stand?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see what’s going on? Enter health tests. Yes, your Western doctor will run a few for cholesterol and thyroid. You pay for every one of them because your insurance doesn’t. It shows a limited view at best.

This is the perfect place for “biohacking!”

Ask a Western doctor about health tests; she’ll turn you down flat. (I know. I asked.) But the only way to work on your numbers is to know where your numbers are at. The first line of defense for any biohacker is testing. And testing repeatedly.

Let’s talk about vitamin D. Do a quick search, and you’ll find hundreds of resources talking about the importance of vitamin D in overall wellness. Higher vitamin D levels were also linked to better covid outcomes. Yet the vast majority of us don’t get enough.

What about supplements? Are supplements worth it? I know it’s easy to find opinions on every level of the spectrum. But years ago, I learned that in today’s world, it’s almost impossible to get everything you need from what’s around you. Monocropping, soil degradation, pollution in the air supply, and low-quality foods are just some of the reasons you might not be perfectly balanced on the inside.

Supplements make up the difference. They provide you with essential vitamins and minerals you might otherwise be lacking. Of course, there is a skill to learning what to take. It’s not something you’ll learn quickly, but you can start slow.

Yet how do you know!?

The answer comes from a test.

Biomarkers can point you in the right direction

It starts with knowledge.

I read and watch this stuff all the time. But even if you don’t have the time or aren’t interested, it’s worth it. Many meditation teachers will tell you to sit in meditation for 10 minutes a day; if you don’t have time, sit for 20. I believe health education is the same way. It doesn’t take that long. Switch out the fiction book you read on the treadmill to a health podcast from time to time. You’ll learn a lot.

There you’ll learn the importance of biomarkers. Because you can’t move forward if you don’t know where you’re moving from. Here’s a good place to start.

You can talk with your doctor (and you should) about testing on deeper levels. If you don’t have any luck, don’t let it stop you from getting what you need.

I work with a naturopathic physician I love. She’s liberal in her testing and we work together to decide what’s necessary and what I should test.

Yet last year, I was a little surprised at the cost. With our broken healthcare system, it means my insurance won’t cover tests - not until I reach an exorbitant deductible.

NOTE: This is me and what I’ve chosen to do. No medical advice here. I get no kickbacks from Function Health. Just one viewpoint of a way to monitor and track your own health.

I noticed Function Health earlier this year. Many testing companies are coming into the market. It’s a way to overcome the many challenges associated with our insurance and healthcare systems. But what made me return to Function was the ease. Buy in, and you can instantly schedule your 100+ lab tests with a local lab near you. It takes 2 lab visits a week apart … just so you know.

With your own personal portal, you’ll watch as your results come in. A quick graph shows you how many biomarkers are in range, and how many are out of range. Stick with the system, and it will track your biomarkers over time, showing you how many of your biomarkers are improving because of your work.

You’ll see your healthspan vs lifespan ranking - how far your biological age is from your calendar age. I’m 11 years younger … I’ll take that.

You can click through and see your results in many categories: autoimmunity, blood, female health, heavy metals, metabolic, heart, lever, nutrients. When your blood work is complete, a clinician reviews the lab results and makes detailed recommendations. She even called me to discuss one of the results.

It gives an action plan. Foods I should incorporate into my diet. Supplement recommendations I can explore. A lot of confirmation that what I’ve been doing is working. And a few surprises. (As it should be. Our bodies are always changing and reacting to the world around us.)

Now I have a tool to build from. The test told me my vitamin D levels are good, right where I want them to be. It gave me results on many other issues I wouldn't know about without testing.

Plus, it gives me a resource to share with my doctor. We’ll be talking about it more when I visit her later this month.

Wellness is about seeing where you’re at today and coming up with a plan to get better.

Isn’t that better than waiting until something is deeply wrong, and working at trying to fix it?

Our healthcare system is programmed that way. It’s programmed us into accepting that’s acceptable. It isn’t.

It’s so much better to handle little things as they occur, when they’re easy to handle. It leads to better health.

And Gorgeous Wellth!

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