Reclaim Your Health: Health Inventory Checklist

Now that Spring is in the air, it’s a great time to clean out the cobweb’s and make room for YOU!

I’m talking about a Spring Cleaning for your health! 

Yes, its time to Reclaim Your Health and Be the Healthiest version of you Mind + Body + Soul!

If you want to:

-          Cleanse YOUR body

-          Eliminate Toxins

-          Improve Brain Clarity

-          Boost Mood & Energy Levels

-          Ease Inflammation

-          Get Well

-          Improve Digestion

-          Balance Hormones

-          Lose Weight

-          Balance Blood Sugar

-          Reverse Aging

Then listen up! You can make it happen but you have to sift through the system and really push your way into being your own health advocate.

Let’s face it, we live in a sick care system.  Our doctors have limited time with us and in reality we only go to the doctor when we are sick.  We rarely go when we are feeling good for a health check-in!

I know many insurance companies offer discounts as do company’s if their employees get regular health checkup’s and that’s just a start!  There’s only so many things that are discussed and generally its not about how you are sleeping, what you are eating, how is your emotional state, how is your stress and so on.  Well, believe it or not, these things have EVERYTHING to do with your Health!

Let me explain.

Stress for example, is a monster in itself.  It can actually impact your cells and your chemical makeup.  It impacts your hormones, digestion, mood, sleep and so on.  While acute stress is part of normal everyday life, it’s the chronic stress that can cause long term damage to your cells leading to more serious problems like heart disease, cancer and more. 

Now, what if we got ahead of the curve? What if we were able to identify the signals and warning signs the body gives off prior to going down a more serious health concerning path?

The body is a very smart and complex system and it gives off internal warning signs where something may be wrong.  Some more subtle examples may be a skin rash, or constipation, or high blood pressure. 

Let’s go with that.  You go to the doctor, lets say to treat the skin rash.  The doctor gives you a topical ointment or possibly a prescription medication to get rid of the rash.  It goes away and the problem is over right?  Wrong. 

That was just the surface.  What’s going on deeper in the body to send off that signal?  What’s going on in the gut?  How would you even know to check for anything?  As far as you and your doctor are concerned, all is great.  Well, what if it wasn’t?  What if something was overlooked.  Do you ever have that feeling?  If you do, go with it.  Dig deeper.  Get to the root cause. That’s what I mean by RECLAIM your Health!

Here’s a few ways you can talk with your doctor proactively about some tests you can take to check for inflammation, thyroid function, food sensitivities, allergies, kidney and liver function, dehydration and more!

1. Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) - This is something most insurance covers as part of an annual checkup. Your doctor might also want a CMP to screen you for problems, keep track of any chronic conditions you have, or make sure your liver and kidney are functioning properly. This blood test measures your sugar (glucose) level, electrolyte and fluid balance, kidney function, and liver function.

   However this test has its limitations. It provides a snapshot and a “reference range”. If your results are inside the reference range, they’re normal. If they’re above or below it, they’re considered abnormal.  But what is the average American Health look like? So if you still feel there is something not right, you go deeper.

2. Urinalysis - A urine test checks different components of urine, a waste product made by the kidneys. A regular urine test may be done to help find the cause of symptoms. The test can give information about your health and problems you may have.

   The kidneys take out waste material, minerals, fluids, and other substances from the blood to be passed in the urine. Urine has hundreds of different body wastes. What you eat and drink, how much you exercise, and how well your kidneys work can affect what is in your urine.

   A urine test checks the color, clarity (clear or cloudy), odor, concentration, and acidity (pH) of your urine. It also checks your levels of protein, sugar, blood cells, or other substances in your urine.

3. Inflammation - This is a blood test that checks for high markers of inflammation. This test is an indirect measure of inflammation in the body enabling you to identify and monitor inflammation risk. The Chronic Inflammation Test Score™ may alert you to recommend changes in diet and lifestyle or indicate the need for an appropriate medical diagnosis and timely treatment.

4. White Blood Cell Differential - A white blood cell differential counts the different types of white blood cells in a blood sample. There are five major kinds of white blood cells. The numbers of each type of white blood cell give important information about your immune system. The test helps to measure how the body is responding to different types of infections. It can also help measure certain allergic reactions.

5. Thyroid Test - are a series of blood tests used to measure how well your thyroid gland is working. However, this test is not done as a standard practice and would be a way to get to the deeper root of any symptoms your are experiencing and a way to rule out one of the below.

   If your thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough of these hormones, you may experience symptoms such as weight gain, lack of energy, and depression. This condition is called hypothyroidism.

   If your thyroid gland produces too many hormones, you may experience weight loss, high levels of anxiety, tremors and a sense of being on a high. This is called hyperthyroidism.

6. Food Sensitivities Test - Sometimes certain foods can make you feel unwell, regardless if they’re healthy or not.

   They may trigger any number of food sensitivity symptoms, such as headaches, digestive issues, joint pain or skin problems.

   It can be tricky to figure out which foods are the culprits, as food sensitivity reactions are often delayed by a few hours or longer after eating the foods.

7. Organic Acids Test - This is not a typical test ran by a primary care physician. The Organic Acids Test (OAT) is comprehensive test that gives metabolic insight into a person’s overall health. There are over 70 markers on the organic acids test including vitamins and antioxidants, oxidative stress, energy production, detoxification, neurotransmitter levels, oxalates, and intestinal yeast and bacteria. The test is a simple, non-invasive, at home urine test that gives a great deal of information.

   People with chronic illnesses, neurological issues, and other health conditions often excrete several abnormal acids in their urine. The causes of the high levels could be high sugar diets, immune deficiencies, infections, oral antibiotics, and genetic factors. The OAT will reveal problems with metabolism, nutrient deficiencies, detoxification pathways, yeast and bacterial overgrowths, neurotransmitters, and much more.

Now certainly I am recommending that you ALWAYS consult your primary care physician in all cases and talk with about options for testing if you continue with symptoms that are not being resolved and don’t want to continue taking medications. However, there are testing facilities that you can order these test and then talk with you primary care doctor, or naturopathic doctor, or health practitioner.

Here are some sites where you can see different at-home testing options if you don’t have insurance OR you are working with a health practitioner.

• Equilibrium Nutrition

• Let’s Get Checked

• Everly Well

Everyday we are seeing more and more staggering statistics of how the US population is headed down an even unhealthier path.  How can that be?  We have all the knowledge and information for health at our fingertips yet we are sicker than ever before?

Here are a few stats that may be a bit alarming:

-          79% of Americans are afflicted by Stress

-          61% of Americans live with GI discomfort

-          35% of population regularly get less than 6-8 hours of sleep

-          Nearly 20% of Americans live with Anxiety

-          Nearly 40% of the workforce experiences fatigue

Not to mention the staggering all time high in food allergies, autoimmune, diabetes, obesity and more!

How are we getting sicker?

 I don’t blame doctors and I certainly don’t blame YOU.  I blame the food we have available and are heavily marketed to in this country that are prohibited in any other country in the world.  I blame lack of knowledge about how WE can take control of our health.  We leave it in the hands of doctors but we only see our doctors a very small percentage of our lives.  We live in our bodies and we have lived in our bodies for 10, 20, 30 + years.  We are the experts here!

Now, I don’t want to say we should take control and stop seeing our doctors.  Not at all.  What I do want is YOU to take ownership and go to your doctor with your concerns and your own personal research.  What I do want is everyone to be working with a health coach or a naturopathic doctor as additional support and encouragement.

Now let’s get to the meat of this post.  Let’s get to WHY I’m so passionate about YOUR health.    Why I’m so passionate about EMPOWERING YOU!  Because this is my mission.  This is why I became a health coach.  This is why I became a fitness instructor and personal trainer.  This is why I take an interest in health and wellness.

Let’s talk about the 7 things you can do to RECLAIM YOUR HEALTH and do a Health Inventory Check in!

1. STRESS -

   Do you feel stressed on a daily/weekly basis?  At work?  At home?  How would you rate your stress level on a scale of 1-5?  1 being – very little to no stress.  5 being daily stress to where you feel anxious, have trouble sleeping and have a hard time relaxing.

2. SLEEP -

   How well are you sleeping?  How many nights a week?  Do you go to bed with your phone?  Are you getting 6-8 hours a night of quality sleep?

3. DIET

   Are you currently on a diet?  How do you feel after a meal?  Before a meal?  How many servings of fruits and vegetables are you having in a day?  How much sugar do you consume in a day? How much caffeine do you consume?

4. EMOTIONAL HEALTH

   Do you go through most days feeling anxious, depressed, unhappy?  What is your overall general mood?  Positive?  Negative?

5. MEDICATION

   Do you take prescription medication? For what?  How long?  Have you discussed alternative options with your doctor?  Have you talked to your doctor about stopping your meds?  How do they make you feel?

6. HYDRATION

   How much water do you consume in a day?  How often are you drinking water?  How much at a time?  What type of water? How often do you pee?  How dark/light is your urine?

7. EXERCISE

   How much do you exercise a week?  1x a week?  5x a week?  What type of exercise?  How intense is your exercise?  How do you feel after exercise?  Why do you exercise?

Your Assignment - After answering all of these questions.  I want you to journal them.  For the next couple of days, continue to journal.  Write down what you are eating, what you are drinking, how you feel physically and emotionally and your stress level. 

Coming Up - Next week, we will start to go through each of these one by one.  You won’t want to miss it!  If you haven’t already signed up for email, it’s a great way to get updates on these posts and be the first to hear about the latest and greatest nutrition tips, recipes, workouts and more!

If you found this post helpful, I’d love to hear your feedback below!  Always feel free to reach out or find me on Instagram @AngieReneeFitLife and send me a massage!

Thank you for following along!  I appreciate YOU and your support!

XX

Angie