Recommended Online Labs for Beginner?

[CiggyTardust]

I'm relatively new to Peating but in just a few months I have noticed considerable improvements in my health.

In regards to blood work, I am leery of getting bogged down chasing perfect numbers and would prefer to keep things as simple as possible. So I'm looking at a few labs to get a basic assessment of where I'm at... my main concerns being testosterone and thyroid function. I am 35 and my libido is almost non-existent unless I take Zinc but even then it's not great. I did get my testosterone levels checked maybe 5 years ago while living under extreme stress in a foreign country and the number I recall is 220 which is very low for a 30 year old. I'd like to get them checked now and see if my Peaty diet/lifestyle changes is making any kind of improvement. I understand thyroid function and overall metabolic health is important here too.

So I'm looking at getting my thyroid function checked, vitamin D levels and male hormone levels. Letsgetchecked.com was recommended to me but I'm not sure if this is a good option or not. Aside from going to a doctor (which I'd rather avoid) are there any other recommended services that can make this process as easy/affordable as possible? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I should add that I'm pretty certain I made myself hypothyroid as a vegetarian in my early twenties... and I suspect never fully recovered after that so I'm curious how much that can impact androgenic health.

 

[Rasaari]

Measuring metabolism (pulse/heartrate) is the most important, if your metabolism is bad then everything else will be bad. Anyways probably whole blood+crp (shows if you have an latent infection) TSH, total thyroids, rT3, cholesterol, PTH, vit-d, prolactin (prolactin is a good measure of serotonin & estrogen activity)
iron saturation and serum phosphorus are also considered useful in the peatosphere. For testosterone you could do maybe LH-Fsh, total test, shbg, maybe DHT. Estradiol might be useful but it doesn't take into account the tissue saturation & activity.

 

[CiggyTardust]

Measuring metabolism (pulse/heartrate) is the most important, if your metabolism is bad then everything else will be bad. Anyways probably whole blood+crp (shows if you have an latent infection) TSH, total thyroids, rT3, cholesterol, PTH, vit-d, prolactin (prolactin is a good measure of serotonin & estrogen activity)
iron saturation and serum phosphorus are also considered useful in the peatosphere. For testosterone you could do maybe LH-Fsh, total test, shbg, maybe DHT. Estradiol might be useful but it doesn't take into account the tissue saturation & activity.

Thank you for the suggestions. Will keep this in mind.

 

[Perry Staltic]

Measuring metabolism (pulse/heartrate) is the most important, if your metabolism is bad then everything else will be bad. Anyways probably whole blood+crp (shows if you have an latent infection) TSH, total thyroids, rT3, cholesterol, PTH, vit-d, prolactin (prolactin is a good measure of serotonin & estrogen activity)
iron saturation and serum phosphorus are also considered useful in the peatosphere. For testosterone you could do maybe LH-Fsh, total test, shbg, maybe DHT. Estradiol might be useful but it doesn't take into account the tissue saturation & activity.

Pulse is not necessarily an indication of metabolic status.

 

[TanyaHarris]

I'm relatively new to Peating but in just a few months I have noticed considerable improvements in my health.

In regards to blood work, I am leery of getting bogged down chasing perfect numbers and would prefer to keep things as simple as possible. So I'm looking at a few labs to get a basic assessment of where I'm at... my main concerns being testosterone and thyroid function. I am 35 and my libido is almost non-existent unless I take Zinc but even then it's not great. I did get my testosterone levels checked maybe 5 years ago while living under extreme stress in a foreign country and the number I recall is 220 which is very low for a 30 year old. I'd like to get them checked now and see if my Peaty diet/lifestyle changes is making any kind of improvement. I understand thyroid function and overall metabolic health is important here too.

So I'm looking at getting my thyroid function checked, vitamin D levels and male hormone levels. Letsgetchecked.com was recommended to me but I'm not sure if this is a good option or not. Aside from going to a doctor (which I'd rather avoid) are there any other recommended services that can make this process as easy/affordable as possible? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I should add that I'm pretty certain I made myself hypothyroid as a vegetarian in my early twenties... and I suspect never fully recovered after that so I'm curious how much that can impact androgenic health.

I started listening to podcasts by Dr. Jennifer Daniels (vitalitycycles.com) and she refers to bloodwork as “ritualistic blood-letting”. Her insight will rock your world. Based on what I learned from her so far, it sounds like you need to get your cholesterol level WAY UP and your hormones will fix themselves. Go eat some calf liver. She speaks from experience, she was a vegan/vegetarian and talks about how it messed her up. Good luck!

 

[CiggyTardust]

I started listening to podcasts by Dr. Jennifer Daniels (vitalitycycles.com) and she refers to bloodwork as “ritualistic blood-letting”. Her insight will rock your world. Based on what I learned from her so far, it sounds like you need to get your cholesterol level WAY UP and your hormones will fix themselves. Go eat some calf liver. She speaks from experience, she was a vegan/vegetarian and talks about how it messed her up. Good luck!

I've listened to Dr. Daniels quite a bit myself and do like this idea. I have always steered away from blood work for this reason, actually. But the main thing I'm looking to do is improve libido as I suspect T levels are low and I'd like to track this.

I suppose I could try and get cholesterol levels up but even there I'm not sure what they're at now... also it's hard to do this if you can't tolerate eggs or milk too well (yet).

 

[Rasaari]

Pulse is not necessarily an indication of metabolic status.

Yeah, it can easily stay high due to adrenaline/stress, which is why the temps are also necessary. Over time though the stress starts to downregulate metabolism and stress hormone "receptors" and you end up with low pulse. Classic sign of depression is that cortisol drugs have no effect anymore. A trial of thyroid supplement could also help to see how much stress hormones are compensating.