KNOW YOUR NUMBERS: TAKE A MEASURE OF YOURSELF

TRACK YOUR NUMBERS

When it comes to the health of your heart, brain and body, there are some numbers that are critical to know. When some of these numbers are out of sync, it can prevent you from losing weight and achieving your health goals.

YOUR STORY: SYMPTOMS AND PATTERNS

  • Take the Toxicity and Inflammation Quiz (Medical Symptom Score) based on the last 30 days
  • Take it weekly during the six week program based on the last 24 hours
  • Consider taking UltraMind and Brain Type Quizzes on the danielplan.com website
  • Numbers to Track
    • ____ Number of fruits and vegetables you eat a day. Eat more vegetables than fruit and try to get that number to between five and ten servings a day to lower the risk for all disease.
    • ____ Numbers of hours you sleep a night. Getting less than seven hours of sleep at night is associated with lower overall blood flow to the brain, more cravings, and more fat on our bodies. The goal is eight hours.

YOUR BODY: WHAT’S IMPORTANT ABOUT YOUR SIZE AND SHAPE

  • Weight
  • Height
  • Body Mass Index (BMI) – a measure of your weight
    • See chart below
    • Normal 18.5 – 24.9, overweight 25-29.9, obese > or = 30
  • Waist to Height Ratio (your waist in inches divided by your height in inches)
    • Highly correlated with heart disease, brain aging, diabetes and death
    • WOMEN
      • Ratio less than 35: Abnormally Slim to Underweight
      • Ratio 35 to 42: Extremely Slim Ratio 42 to 46: Slender and Healthy
      • Ratio 46 to 49: Healthy
      • Ratio 49 to 54: Overweight
      • Ratio 54 to 58: Seriously Overweight
      • Ratio over 58: Highly Obese
    • MEN
      • Ratio less than 35: Abnormally Slim to Underweight
      • Ratio 35 to 43: Extremely slim
      • Ratio 43 to 46: Slender and Healthy
      • Ratio 46 to 53: Healthy, NormalWeight
      • Ratio 53 to 58: Overweight
      • Ratio 58 to 63: Extremely Overweight/Obese
      • Ratio over 63: Highly Obese
  • Blood Pressure (normal < 115/75)

YOUR BLOOD: LATENT DISEASE AND HIDDEN PROBLEMS

Screening laboratory tests. We recommend you team with your doctor and obtain the following tests. If you do not have a doctor you can obtain these tests yourself through www.saveonlabs.com or www.directlabs.com.

Do a baseline set of tests before you start.

Recheck the abnormal results after 6 weeks on the Daniel Plan.

Foundational Testing (essential for everyone)

  • Insulin Response Test (Glucose tolerance test WITH insulin)
    • 1 in 2 people have diabetes or metabolic syndrome (prediabetes) and 90% do not know it. The Insulin Response test is the best way to find out if you have the problem.
    • Fasting, followed by 1-hour and 2-hour glucose and insulin levels after a 75-gram glucose load. (See below for abnormal.)
    • Fasting glucose should be less than 80 mg/dL
    • One-hour and two-hour glucose should not rise above 120 mg/dL
    • Fasting insulin should be between 2 IU/mL and 5, anything greater than 10 IU/mL is significantly elevated.
    • One-hour and two-hour should be less than 25 IU/mL to 30 IU/mL. Anything higher than 30 IU/mL indicates some degree of insulin resistance.
  • Hemoglobin A1c (>5.5 % of total hemoglobin)
    • This is a measure of the average of the last 6-8 weeks of your blood sugar levels and can pick up metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
  • NMR lipid profile—particle size and number. Even if your cholesterol numbers are normal with or without medication you may still be at significant risk if you have small cholesterol particles.
    • Total LDL particles < 1000 nmol/L
    • Total small LDL particles < 600 nmol/L
    • LDL size > 21 nm
    • HDL size > 9 µmol/L
    • VLDL < 0.1 nmol/L
  • Cholesterol panel:
    • Total cholesterol (> 180 mg/dl)
    • LDL (>70 mg/dl)
    • HDL cholesterol (<60 mg/dl)
    • Triglycerides (>100 mg/dl)
    • Triglyceride/HDL ratio (>4)
    • Total cholesterol/HDL ratio (>3)
  • High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (less than 1.0 mg/L is ideal): This is the best measure of hidden inflammation in the body.
  • Homocysteine (less than 8.0 mol/L is ideal): This is a sensitive marker for folic acid deficiency.
  • Complete blood count: assess white and red blood cells and platelets
  • Ferritin (less than 200 ng/mL is ideal): This is a measure of excess iron stores that increases with inflammation and insulin resistance.
  • Liver function tests (elevated AST, ALT, GGT): These tests identify the death of liver cells, most often caused by elevated insulin resistance because of a fatty liver. This affects over 70 million Americans.
  • Kidney function tests (BUN, creatintine, and urine microalbumin): Used to identify early damage to kidneys, which can occur from prediabetes, diabetes and high blood pressure.
  • 25 OH vitamin D (50-80 ng/dl is ideal): Vitamin D deficiency is an important predisposing factor to inflammatory and chronic diseases.
  • Thyroid hormones (TSH, free T3, free T4, TPO antibodies): Low thyroid function is undiagnosed in 50% of people who suffer. All these tests are needed.
  • Celiac and gluten sensitivity testing: wheat and gluten sensitivity leads to inflammation, obesity, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune, digestive, mood, cognitive and many other common disorders. This test may be optional but gluten sensitivity affects up to 1 in 10 people, most who don’t know it. We strongly recommend it.
    • Ask for total IgA, IgA and IgG antigliadin antibodies, and IgA tissue transglutaminase.

Additional Testing (for a more comprehensive analysis)

  • Sex hormones (male and female): These hormones are often altered by lifestyle and diet, and are important to monitor and treat.
  • Fibrinogen (less than 350 mg/dL is ideal): This is a clotting factor in the blood that increases with inflammation and insulin resistance.
  • Lipoprotein (a) is a genetically inherited lipoprotein marker that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease but can be treated. Less than 30 nmol/L is ideal.
  • Uric acid (less than 7.0 mg/dL is ideal): This is a byproduct of protein metabolism that causes gout and increases in insulin resistance.
  • Anti-nuclear antibodies (pre-autoimmune disease screening)
  • Whole blood mercury, lead and arsenic to assess hidden toxicity
  • Oxidative Stress (home test for free radicals related to disease and unhealthy aging – see resources)

BODY MASS INDEX

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