The Simplicity of Wellness Podcast
The Simplicity of Wellness podcast is about learning how to bring your body into balance so that you get leaner, stronger and healthier as you age. Each week I'll share thoughts and ideas that help my clients build the self-awareness, self-confidence and self-reliance to lose weight, shed inches, manage muscle mass and master their mind so that they can stop dieting and enjoy living at their healthy weight with optimal wellness.
The Simplicity of Wellness Podcast
Accessing Your Health: Simple At Home Test & More
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Have you ever wondered where you fall on the spectrum of health and wellness? Join me on this enlightening episode of the Simplicity of Wellness podcast, where
I promise to equip you with the knowledge to assess your health like a professional. Learn how to spot signs of imbalance before they turn into more significant issues and discover a simple, yet effective at home test and essential blood markers to gauge your health status.
In the latter part of the episode, I provide actionable steps to help you reclaim your health through thoughtful lifestyle changes. Revisit some of the most impactful episodes, from practical tips on sustainable weight loss to strategies for managing your energy and finding joy in your favorite foods. I am committed to supporting your journey, inviting you to send in questions that I'll tackle in future episodes, and offering a free consultation to help you achieve the body, comfort, and confidence you deserve. Tune in and take the first step toward a healthier, happier you!
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Welcome to the Simplicity of Wellness podcast. I'm your host, board-certified holistic nutritionist and professional life coach, amy White. The purpose of this podcast is to share information that you can use to become leaner, stronger and healthier by losing weight, shedding inches, maintaining muscle and managing your mind, all while living your normal busy life in this modern, sugar-filled world.
Speaker 2:Hello, simplifiers, today's podcast will be a little different. In a sense it'll be more interactive. You're going to want to take notes. Today I want to go over the spectrum of health. I want you to take the information I give you today and evaluate where you believe you fall on this spectrum. I'm going to start by sharing lifestyle impacts that have the ability to affect where we all fall between the two ends of the spectrum optimal function, or healthy and thriving, versus dysfunction, or unhealthy and just surviving. I'm going to follow that up with a few health markers you can use to more tangibly quantify your suspicions about where you fall on the spectrum of health. Some of the more common lifestyle impacts that have the ability to affect your overall health are your level of stress, the inflammatory foods that you eat, the excessive sugar intake of your diet, ignored food intolerances, nutrient deficiencies, low muscle mass, excessive body weight or body fat, digestive issues which result in internal toxicity and inflammation, lack of restful sleep, prescription medications, alcohol consumption and recreational drug use. A side note about genetics Often people look at their inherited genetics as the root of all their ailments. I didn't include genetics on this list because, while you may have genes that predispose you to specific types of dysfunction. It's really the elements of the list that I just gave you that impact, whether or not those genes are activated. The old saying is your genes load the gun, but your lifestyle pulls the trigger. Now that you have the list of lifestyle factors that tend to greatly impact your health and how you feel, I'm going to go through what life may look like as you slide from healthy and thriving to the other end of the spectrum unhealthy and just surviving With optimal function.
Speaker 2:Your blood work from your doctor looks great. It's not just normal but optimal. More importantly, you feel great. Your energy is excellent. You sleep well. You're active because you enjoy it and feel the need to move your body. You're not on any required prescription medications. You're active because you enjoy it and feel the need to move your body. You're not on any required prescription medications. You're not trying to manage your weight with dieting. You eat a diverse diet and your weight is naturally very stable. You have the strength to take the stairs, carry groceries and even move furniture. You don't suffer with general aches and pains.
Speaker 2:The first slide down the spectrum toward dysfunction is when you start to show signs of imbalance Aches, pains, brain fog, anxiety, depression, fatigue, headaches, gas, bloating, heartburn. Next, you move to over-the-counter drugs or supplements to try and suppress your symptoms of dysfunction, things like antacids, painkillers, laxatives, gas, sex imodium, sleeping pills. After some time, your blood work starts to shift, your doctor's noticing a trend in the wrong direction. You start to feel worse. Your regular body annoyances now show up as diagnosed conditions like GERD, gastroesophageal reflux disease, ibs, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, osteopenia, obesity, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer. At this point you're on required long-term prescription medication. You may even be on a list for surgery. As you settle in to the unhealthy end of the spectrum, you rack up more conditions and disease diagnoses. You are taking more pills in a day than you can even count, without any expectation of ever getting off of those pills.
Speaker 2:I will admit that what I just described is bleak and likely, nothing you want anything to do with. The good news is it doesn't have to come to this. You have the power to control where you fall on the spectrum of health. The further down the spectrum you go, the more effort it takes to move back toward healthy, but in most cases it's not impossible. Most of my clients come to me before they've been officially diagnosed with any named conditions. Often it's the brain fog lack of energy, excess weight, terrible sleep and lack of control around food that triggers them to seek help reclaiming their health before it gets even harder.
Speaker 2:So for you today, let me list a few simple ways you can gauge your level of health and where you might be on this spectrum of health. The first and easiest thing you can do to evaluate your level of fat mass and health is measure your waist. Take a tape measure and, with your abdomen completely relaxed, measure your waist at your belly button. Don't suck it in. Relax and measure. Write that number down. Now. Take your height in inches, divide your waist circumference in inches by your height in inches. Divide your waist circumference in inches by your height in inches. You want the result to be 0.5 or less. Your waist circumference should be at least half your height in inches, ideally less than that. For example, if you're five feet tall, you're 60 inches tall. Your waist should not measure more than 30 inches.
Speaker 2:The other markers I'm going to suggest are found on a blood lab test that you likely have from your doctor. The first thing is fasting glucose. You want this number below 100. The second is hemoglobin A1c. This is a three-month marker of your fasting glucose or blood sugar. Ideally this number should be below 5.7%. Around 5 is awesome. You may even see this number in the high 4s. 5.7% to 6.4% is considered pre-diabetic. 6.5% or higher is when type 2 diabetes is diagnosed. Check your hemoglobin A1c number. Where do you fall? Are you healthy, pre-diabetic or are you a type 2 diabetic?
Speaker 2:Fasting lipid panel? These are what are known as your cholesterol numbers. The two you're most interested in are fasting triglycerides and HDL. You want your fasting triglycerides and HDL. You want your fasting triglycerides under 100. The more metabolically healthy you are, the lower this number will be. It's not unusual to see it in the 80s or even 70s.
Speaker 2:Triglycerides are directly related to how well your body processes sugars. High triglycerides are a sign of inflammation and sugars being stored as fat. Hdl is what most people consider good cholesterol, but in reality it's neither good nor bad. But high levels of HDL are generally associated with lower risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke. For women, the ideal is 75 or greater. It's not unusual for women to be able to get their HDL into the 90s. For men, the ideal is 60 or greater.
Speaker 2:The next marker is triglyceride to HDL ratio. Find that triglyceride number and that HDL number on your blood lab work. You'll need those two numbers. A low ratio is what you're looking for. To get an accurate ratio, your triglycerides can't be below 40. The ideal ratio is one or lower. Moderate would be greater than one, and high or unhealthy would be three or more. Take your triglyceride number and then divide that by your HDL number. If you find that any or all of these markers are out of the healthy optimal range, then it's time for you to put some serious thought into which way you want to be moving on the spectrum of health. These markers are a red flag that indicate your body is shifting toward dysfunction Again. The good news is now you know. So now you can take action and correct the imbalances. You know, so now you can take action and correct the imbalances.
Speaker 2:If you're unsure how to get started reclaiming your health, go back and listen to some of my previous podcast episodes. The ones that I would recommend are February 21st Transforming Health with Simple Lifestyle Tweaks. March 13th Unlocking the Secrets to Sustainable Weight Loss. April 10th Cracking the Calorie Code Energy Management for Permanent Weight Loss. May 8th Enjoying Every Bite the Joyful Path to Sustainable Weight Loss. June 19th From Weight Loss to Lifelong Maintenance A Balanced Approach. And June 26th lifestyle change, without an all or nothing approach.
Speaker 2:As always, if you have questions, please click the link below in the show notes to send me a message. I'll try to answer all questions at the beginning of the next podcast episode. Have a wonderful week and a happy 4th of July podcast episode. Have a wonderful week and a happy 4th of July. Do you like the idea of eating for the body you want? Is there a piece of you that's eager to learn how to become leaner, stronger and healthier without having to overhaul your entire life? If this is you, then you're in luck, because this is what I do. I can help you reconnect and work with your body so that you can enjoy the body, comfort and confidence you deserve, eating foods you love. Click the free consult link in the show notes. Let's talk about where you are, what you want and how you can get there.
