So when you're looking at a hemoglobin A1C, you always want to make sure it's under 5.5%, 5.5%. Ideally, less than 5.2%. And what's really good is when it's less than 5%. So roughly, let's say 4.5 to 5%. Roughly in that range, that's a sign of very good metabolic health, very good blood sugar regulation. Welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is on the top 5 lab tests for your heart, your brain, for fat burning and for longevity. I break down. These are the labs you want to get. So anytime you're getting your blood drawn, make sure you have these labs. You can add them on. So even if your doctor is not running them, ask them to add these on. These are things that we check all the time at DrJockers.com. We've got an amazing health coaching team, a wonderful naturopath, Dr. Yvonne, as well as health coach Tara, that work with people all over the world with a wide variety of health conditions. And they're running these labs every single day to look at and test the health of your heart, your brain, your fat burning and metabolism, and your longevity. And again, these are easy tests that you can run. We're going to go through that in detail in this episode. Be sure to leave us a 5 star review. Wherever you're listening to this episode, if you're getting value from my podcast, take a moment, leave me a 5 star review. That's my one ask. And of course, share this with anybody you know and that you care about. That has an interest in understanding more about heart health, brain, fat burning, longevity. Share this episode with them. And without further ado, let's go into the episode. Thank you for being a part of our podcast community. And God bless you. I have great news. You can regrow your hair. You see, scientists in Switzerland have made a stark discovery. Hair loss doesn't have anything to do with age. In fact, it has to do with your hair follicles getting turned off. 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So six months to try it out risk-free to access this exclusive buy one, get one free deal and turn your hair follicles back on, simply visit renewyourhair.com forward slash drj. That's renewyourhair.com forward slash drj to start regrowing your hair today. Hey, in today's video, I'm talking about the top five lab tests for your brain health, your heart health, and your longevity. These are labs that are run every single day by doctors, but most don't know how to interpret them. And even more importantly, they don't actually know how to fix them if there's elevated levels of these lab results. Now, I'm not talking about your total LDL cholesterol. I'm not talking about your fasting blood sugar, but these are really critical labs. Chances are you've had one or more of these labs before, but again, your doctor probably didn't know how to interpret it properly or they didn't know how to actually give you good advice to fix it. That's what I'm going to go through in this video. Make sure you stick around to the end, because that's what I'm going to go through exactly what to do to fix these lab results if they are off. I'm also going to go through optimal ranges on all of these five lab tests. Now, these five lab tests are the tests I would get if I can only rely on five tests. These are the ones that I would get to look at how well my brain was functioning, my heart, and my overall longevity, my chance of living long and healthy. Number one is going to be fasting insulin levels. I think this is the most important test for overall metabolic health. So insulin is this superhero hormone that comes out to pull sugar out of the bloodstream and put it into the cells where it can be used for energy. Insulin is really important. However, when we keep spiking our blood sugar by eating processed foods, by eating high glycemic foods, we continue to elevate insulin, and over time the cells start to become resistant to insulin. So they no longer hear the knock on the door. They no longer open the door to allow glucose to flow from the bloodstream and into the cells. So we produce more and more insulin. Now, when insulin is elevated, insulin is a growth-based hormone. So it tells the body to grow. It tells cells to reproduce, and it stops fat burning. You can't burn fat when insulin is elevated, and you actually store more fat. So you actually create more visceral fat, which is the dangerous fat that surrounds your organs and literally shuts off blood supply to your organs. Visceral fat also is what actually produces more inflammatory proteins, more interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, as well as C-reactive protein. So when insulin is elevated, we're going to store fat, we're going to create visceral fat, we're going to be stuck in sugar burning mode, and we're going to damage our mitochondria because we're producing lots and lots of oxidative stress. So a healthy, fasting insulin level, this is where you eat your dinner, let's say, at, you finish your dinner at 7 p.m. You fast for roughly 12 to 14 hours right in that range, and you get your blood work done the next morning. So if you finish dinner by 7 p.m., you got your blood work done at 8 a.m., it would be a, you know, a valid test in that 12 to 14 hour range. Your fasting insulin should be less than 6, so it should be under 6. Now you should have some insulin, so if there's zero insulin, that means your pancreas is not producing any, which means you probably have an autoimmune condition, type 1 diabetes, that's not all we want. You're going to have some unless you have that condition. So roughly between 1 to 6, that is a healthy, fasting insulin level. Make sure you ask your doctor to check. Most insurances will cover it. It's not an expensive test. If you're paying out of pocket, make sure you're looking at your fasting insulin. Number two is going to be your hemoglobin A1C. You've probably heard of this, HBA1C. This is looking at roughly a 90 to 120 day life cycle of a red blood cell, and how much glycation has occurred to the red blood cell. So what is glycation? It's when sugar binds to the red blood cell. So if we have excess blood sugar, higher blood sugar, the sugar molecules will start to bind to red blood cells and create sticky proteins, glycated proteins, glycated red blood cells. These glycated red blood cells are not able to function well. They're not able to get oxygen to cells. They're not able to get nutrients to cells. So they're dysfunctional, basically senescent or aged red blood cells. Now we don't want many of those obviously because they're not functioning well. So we want ideally less than 5% of our red blood cells to be glycated. So when you're looking at a hemoglobin A1C, you always want to make sure it's under 5.5%, ideally less than 5.2%. And what's really good is when it's less than 5%. So roughly, let's say 4.5 to 5%. Roughly in that range, that's a sign of very good metabolic health, very good blood sugar regulation. Now you always want to test that with fasting insulin because you also want to make sure your insulin is not too high. And that obviously if your insulin is high and your blood sugar is low, that you still have insulin resistance if that's the case. So you want to make sure you're keeping your glycated red blood cells under control, but also keeping your insulin under control. So again, hemoglobin A1C, important to look at because if your blood sugar is really high, you're going to get dysfunctional, senescent damaged red blood cells. You're not going to get oxygen and nutrients to cells the way that you need to to really have great cellular health. So that's the second test. The third one is triglycerides to HDL. So a ratio between triglycerides, which are circulating fat along with your HDL, which is your high density lipoprotein, they call that the good cholesterol. And so normally that ratio, you don't want a lot of triglycerides. Triglycerides should be low. You don't want a lot of circulating fat. If triglycerides are high, it's a sign that your body's not good at getting the fat into the cells to be used for energy. So kind of like insulin resistance, right? We don't want high blood sugar. We also don't want high fat in our blood, our bloodstream. So triglycerides ideally are under 100. And your triglyceride to HDL ratio, the amount of triglycerides to the amount of HDL should be less than two. And ideally as close to one as possible. So if your triglycerides are 80 and your HDL is 70, that's pretty close to one. That's a good triglyceride to HDL ratio. If your triglycerides are, let's say 70 and your HDL is 65, that would be a good triglyceride to HDL ratio. You want to get that ratio roughly about as close to one as possible. That is a sign that your body's good at burning fat for fuel. You're metabolically healthy. You have good, typically, you know what, the reason why somebody would have high triglycerides would be because they have high insulin levels. That's the number one driver for high triglycerides. So if your triglycerides are low, your HDL is in a good, at a good amount, you're going to be metabolically healthy. So triglyceride HDL ratio, always under two, ideally as close to one as possible. Well, I just want to interrupt this podcast and thank Huell for partnering and supporting our show. You all know that I'm a huge fan of a high protein diet to burn fat, improve satiety, suppress hunger and cravings, improve muscle tissue, and just feel great in general. And that's why I love the High Protein Starter Kit from Huell. It's five black edition, ready to drinks, plus the black edition chocolate powder. And it's an easy way to get lots of protein in a delicious drink. And by the way, Huell just launched in Target nationwide. 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That's huel.com forward slash jockers. This is for new customers only. Again, it's www.huel.com forward slash jockers. That gets you 20% off. Try that out today. Now, the fourth test that we're going to look at is something called Homo-cystine. Homo-cystine, and that is actually an amino acid. It's part of the methionine metabolism cycle. Homo-cystine can turn into something called SAME, which is a precursor to serotonin, dopamine, all of our critical neurotransmitters. It can also turn into glutathione. It's used to be able to turn into glutathione, which is our body's master antioxidant, as well as SAME, the precursor for all these key neurotransmitters. However, when Homo-cystine is not metabolized properly, it becomes very reactive. If Homo-cystine is elevated in our bloodstream up above nine units in our bloodstream, it becomes a potent inflammatory agent that damages our endothelial lining of our blood vessels, increases our risk of stroke, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, all the different neurodegenerative conditions, as well as stroke. So we really need to get that under control. What kind of nutrients are needed for proper Homo-cystine metabolism? This is going to be your B vitamins, in particular, vitamin B2, which is riboflavin, also B6, pyridoxine, as well as folate, which is B9 and B12. Those are all really key for proper Homo-cystine metabolism. We also need zinc and choline. So those are all the key compounds that we need in order to make sure that we're metabolizing Homo-cystine and turning it into glutathione, as well as SAME. If we're not getting those nutrients, if we're either not consuming them or not absorbing them properly and utilizing them, we're going to have elevated Homo-cystine levels. And if your Homo-cystine is up over nine, it dramatically increases your risk of developing heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, or stroke, as well as dementia, Alzheimer's, and different neurodegenerative conditions. It also can cause problems like infertility, or for pregnant women, it can cause a higher risk of having abnormalities, or even losing the birth, miscarriages, and things like that. So it's a really big issue that we've got to address. We've got to make sure we're getting those nutrients on board, absorbing them properly, and we're producing enough stomach acid, for example, to absorb vitamin B12 effectively. They say B12 actually is the biggest driver when it comes to Homo-cystine levels. So if you're not absorbing B12, because you are not producing enough stomach acid, maybe you're on a vegetarian or vegan diet, that's going to increase your risk of having high Homo-cystine levels and having problems. So again, Homo-cystine should be under nine, ideally under seven. Ideally, the ideal range is somewhere between five to seven units. We're always going to have some Homo-cystine. It's rare that it's too low, which could be the case, especially if we're not absorbing amino acids well, we're not absorbing or consuming enough methionine, we might have too little Homo-cystine, but that's rare. Typically, we're looking at high Homo-cystine as an issue. We want that level to be roughly between five and seven units. So that's number four, and then the fifth one is C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is an inflammatory protein. It's produced when we have high amounts of visceral fat or infections or high toxicity in our body. So if we have high visceral fat, which is the kind of fat that surrounds our organs, like our liver, for example, fatty liver disease or surrounds our heart, our pancreas, that visceral fat will release inflammatory compounds, particularly inner leucine 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, TNF alpha. Those inflammatory compounds, those cytokines, go to the liver and they tell the liver to produce C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein, we can measure easily on a blood test. It's a very easy add-on to any blood test you're getting. Ask your doctor to order C-reactive protein. If that is up over two, it dramatically increases your risk of developing some sort of chronic disease, in particular, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as dementia, and it also increases your risk of developing fatty liver disease as well. And so we want to make sure it's under two, ideally under one. That's what we're looking at there. So visceral fat is a big player. If we get our metabolic health right, that's going to lower C-reactive protein. Another thing is infections. Particularly, I found oral infections. For example, having periodontal disease really increases your risk of C-reactive protein. Having root canals that were not done properly may be a factor for increased C-reactive protein in your bloodstream. So that's a big factor. Now, when you get your C, when you get your blood test, one thing you want to make sure is that you didn't get a real big workout in the day before, because this is where you get a false positive for C-reactive protein. Let's say you did some strenuous exercise the day before, your C-reactive protein is going to be high. And that's normal. That's part of the healing response, part of the healing process. So it's always a good idea to just do light movement. Like maybe take some walks the day before your blood test, but don't do intense strength training or interval training. That way, you don't get a false positive for C-reactive protein. So give yourself a good day off from any sort of intense exercise the next morning. Of course, in a fasted state, 12 to 14 hours, get your C-reactive protein run. That's going to give you a more accurate view of what your C-reactive protein looks like. And again, it can be high if you have high levels of visceral fat, if you have metabolic disease. Also, if you have high levels of infections or high toxicity level, maybe you've got mercury fillings in your mouth. Maybe you've been exposed to a lot of forever chemicals like BPA and plasticizers and plastics, microplastics, phthalates and makeup, things like that. All of that can drive higher amounts of C-reactive protein. So if any of those levels are high, the first thing you can focus on is your diet. By just fixing your diet, by focusing on a blood sugar stabilizing diet, that should improve your fasting insulin levels, your hemoglobin A1C, your C-reactive protein, your homocysteine, and your triglyceride HCl ratio. So focus on getting good quality protein, grass-fed, organic animal products as much as possible, healthy fats from things like high polyphenol, extra virgin olive oil, avocados, grass-fed butter, pasture-raised eggs, beef tallow, which is a great cooking oil, all really good for the body. Those are going to all help improve your metabolic health. And then lots of colorful fruits and vegetables, of course, adding in some intermittent fasting where you're going, let's say you're eating your meals in an eight-hour eating window and fasting for 16 hours. Maybe you eat from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. And you fast outside of that, that gives your body time to heal and repair your metabolism, to burn fat for fuel, to bring insulin down so you can burn fat for fuel. And that's going to help reduce your hemoglobin A1C, reduce your visceral fat, and reduce your overall inflammatory proteins. Make sure you're getting enough B vitamins. How do you get B vitamins? Well, grass-fed, organic animal products are key. Take some apple cider vinegar in water, maybe one tablespoon and four ounces of water before you eat your meal. That will stimulate good stomach acid production, which will help you absorb vitamin B12 from your red meat, for example. Okay, that's a great way to get B12. Eat, you know, cruciferous veggies or arugula or something like that. You'll get a lot of folate. Organ meats can also be a great source of folate, B6 as well, and vitamin B2. So, grass-fed, organic animal products really prioritizing getting 30 to 50 grams of high-quality protein in a meal is a great way to start to balance and stabilize your blood sugar. And that's going to help you burn fat for fuel and reduce these inflammatory lab markers, right? So that's the number one place to start. If you're getting your diet in order, you're exercising as well, getting some good movement in, doing some strength training, building muscle, really prioritizing good sleep, keeping stress under control. You should see these numbers go down. If not, it's a sign you want to work with some sort of functional health practitioner to really figure out what the root cause factors are. Maybe you have sleep apnea. That can be a factor. Maybe you have oral infections like we talked about. Maybe you're being exposed to mold or you have a high toxic load and you need help with overall detoxification. If that's the case, work with some sort of good functional practitioner. But in general, I would say 80% of the deal with getting results and moving these lab markers in a positive direction is going to come from your diet and lifestyle. So really focus there to start. Hopefully, you got a lot of value out of this. Please share this information as well with anybody that you know and that you care about. Be blessed. Well, that's all for this show. And I want to thank you again for spending your valuable time with me today. And if there was something you heard in this interview that you have questions on, or you want to dive into deeper, then DrJockers.com is the best place to go. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider taking just a quick moment and giving us a great review. Your reviews help us influence more people and transform more lives. And if you took something valuable away from this episode, then please share it with someone in your life. You know it can help. We'll see you soon on our future podcast. Be blessed, everybody.
