Ready to get healthy…truly healthy?
We believe that blood work is a window into a person’s health. Functional or Naturopathic Medicine is a personalized approach to addressing concerns, as well as preventing disease from even occurring.
- Does your doctor say all of your tests are normal, but you still have symptoms?
- Do you want to finally find out why you don’t feel well?
- Would you like to feel great and have bountiful energy?
- Do you want to take proactive steps to secure that your health and wellness remain optimal?
- Do you want to reduce your chances of getting sick or developing a disease?
- If you answered yes to any of the above then a Comprehensive Wellness Blood Panel is the first step.
A detailed blood screen can help practitioners prioritize where they need to dig deeper, often in places overlooked by conventional medicine. Our Naturopaths and Nurse practitioners use cutting edge diagnostic testing and detailed assessments to get you answers and information about your body!
Why is detailed lab work important?
Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines health as: “A state of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”. I love this quote and use it as a bases for my daily patient interactions. Just because a person is not acutely sick does not mean they are necessarily healthy. Just because some blood testing comes up normal, does not mean we should stop looking for the cause of symptomology or illness. Naturopathic and Functional medicine go beyond the surface, to give you real answers and help you work toward optimal health.
As we all know, without health our world becomes very small. Some of my best moments in medicine have been finding risk factors in blood work and objective data, and helping a person make changes to correct the imbalance. When changes are made, disease can be prevented and symptoms can improve. Most disease is preventable, but it is not easy or inexpensive to be healthy unfortunately. Our goal in functional or naturopathic medicine is to take time to listen, perform detailed assessments and treat based on the root cause of any concern. Even though it is not easy, I believe it is essential to build your healthcare team robustly, so that your worldly interactions can be abundant.
So….you might be wondering what a person should get tested then? Here is an overview of my favorite comprehensive blood work panel:
Genetic Risk Factor Assessment
- HLA DQ2 and HLA DQ8 for gluten sensitivity
- ApoE4 for lipid metabolism and Alzheimer’s risk
Sex Hormone Overview Assessment
- estradiol
- Progesterone
- Free testosterone
- DHEA-S
- pregnenolone
Vitamins, minerals, and nutrients Health Assessment
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin A
- Zinc
- Copper
- RBC magnesium
- omega 3:6 ratio
- ferritin
- iron and transferrin
- Albumin
Detailed blood sugar and insulin assessment
- Hb A1C
- fasting insulin
- fasting glucose
- basil metabolic rate
- Muscle, fat and bone body composition analysis
Liver and Kidney detoxification Health Assessment
- Creatinine and GFR
- Electrolytes
- AST, ALT and GGT
Cardiovascular and blood flow Health Assessment
- cholesterol panel
- Triglycerides
- Lp(a)
- Apo-B
- Apo-A100
- oxidized LDL
- Blood Pressure
- Visceral Fat rating
Detailed Thyroid Panel Assessment
- TSH
- FT3
- FT4
- Reverse T3
Inflammatory Marker Health Assessment
- Hs-CRP
- Homocysteine
- Ferritin
- Uric acid
Immune Health Assessment
- CBC
- Vitamin D
Bone Health and Calcium metabolism
- Alk. Phos.
- Vitamin D
- Calcium
Markers of stress response imbalance
- cortisol
- DHEA-S
Additional to also consider:
- Heavy metal toxicity with a urine heavy metal test
- Digestive health assessment with a comprehensive stool test
- Blood clotting risk factors with Factor V Laden Deficiency genetic testing and D-Dimer
Warming Vegetarian Curry
Servings: 4 people
Time: 40 minutes (20 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of cooking)
Materials
- Medium-sized pot with lid
- Knife and cutting board
- Bowls, spoons, and serving materials
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Coconut oil
- 2 tbsp Lemon grass (about 1 piece)
- 1 tsp Turmeric, powder
- 1 tbsp minced Ginger root
- 1 medium Lemon (juiced)
- 1/2 medium Yellow onion (sliced)
- 1 large Carrots (sliced)
- 2 cup Cauliflower
- 1 cup Cremini (Italian) mushroom (sliced)
- 1 cup shredded Red cabbage
- 1 cup Bok choy (chopped; about; small squash; for soup)
- 3 tbsp Seaweed, wakame, dried (aprox, 3 strips
- 1/2 cup Chickpeas, canned, drained
- 1/2 cup Lentils, canned
- 2 cup Vegetable stock/broth
- 1 can(s) (13.5 oz) Coconut milk, sweetened
- 1 tbsp Red curry paste (or to taste)
- 1 medium Tomato (diced)
- 1/2 cucumber(s) Cucumber (sliced)
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil on medium high, add lemon grass, turmeric and ginger and cook until aromatic
- Reduce heat to medium and add onion, cook until onion is translucent
- Add vegetables, hardest to softened leaving a few minutes between each vegetable group start with: carrots and cauliflower, then add mushroom and red cabbage, and finally add bok choy, cook until greens are wilted
- Add lentils and chickpeas and wakame and stir everything together.
- Add the remainder ingredients, stir and let simmer on medium low for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and enjoy
Add fresh basil for extra flavour, top with pumpkin seeds, and add yam noodles, rice or udon/soba noodles if you would like.
Thanks to Holistic Vitality for this great recipe!
