Nutrilite Health Assessment (Post 2 of 2)

Remember “Post 1” back in November when Pharmie and I went out to California? We were sent out there by Nutrilite to get a very individualized health assessment, learn about their products, hear how they could fit into our life, and learn to be healthier all around. I got my assessment results back in early December, and I have the results to share with you all.

Grip Strength:
“Grip strength provides a very reliable assessment of your general upper body muscular strength. Grip strength can be improved with regular strength and/or weight training exercises.”

What? Below average? When I had the phone consultation with Dr. Duke, he told me I needed to start lifting weights. START! Wait, what have I been doing at the gym 2-3 days each week for the last 12 years? Damn. Ego blow.

Flexibility:
Your basic “sit-and-reach.”

Redemption. When the lady was taking my reading, she was impressed! Ask Pharmie - she was there!

Resting Heart Rate:
Basic judge of cardiovascular fitness.

Sure, it’s in the “above average” to “good” range, but this was shortly after they drew blood and I got light-headed. Normally, my resting heart rate is just a wee-bit lower.

Body Composition:
Lean body weight vs fat weight.

Ya see that ladies? That’s right, I’m ranked BETTER than “desirable.” Damn skippy.

Waist to Hip Ratio:
Judge of coronary heart disease.

Again: better than “desirable.” Too bad I’m married. ;)

Blood Pressure:

Not bad. No problems here. Doc says there’s no risk of heart disease in my BP readings.

BCoR Score:
“The true designation of obesity is mandatory to determine whether or not you are at risk for developing chronic diseases. The most accurate determination of obesity not only includes BMI, but also percent body fat and waist-to-hip ratio. Exceeding that parameters given for any of the three measurements increases your risk for chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.”

Smack dab in the middle of “Ideal.” Good.

Bone Density:
Down to -1 is OK, and above 0 is good.

So my reading of +0.2 is fine. All that running is paying off.

Blood work:
I’m glad Doc walked me through all of this, because I don’t know what any of this means:

I spent almost an hour on the phone with Dr. Duke as we talked about these results. He loved most things my body had to say. He thought my body composition and my BCoR score were both just about perfect. My heartrate, BP, and waist-to-hip ration were all good. But it was some stuff in the blood work that stood out a little. These following thoughts on the numbers are what I wrote down as Dr. Duke and I were talking; these are his thoughts on these readings:

Vit D: Good, not ideal. Above 37 is good, I’m 34. Still surprisingly good for where I live and this time of year. Not a problem.

Iron: Good. Normal (ideal) body stores should be 50-100. I’m 144. Current average in society is 250-350. So where I am is fine, and it might be higher because I work out hard.

GTT: Should be below 60. I was 17. This means I’m a lightweight when it comes to holding my liquor. No surprise there. When was the last time I had an alcoholic beverage?...

Folate: Good.

B12: Good.

Calcium: Good.

Insulin: This was the biggest foreseeable issue. A reading of 5 or below is good. I was 6.1, which is STARTING to show signs of insulin resistance, which CAN lead to Type 2 Diabetes. I was told this really isn’t a problem right now, but it’s something to watch. A reading of 10 is getting bad, and a reading a 20 means you will most likely develop Type 2 Diabetes within the next year. I’m not freaking out, and the doc said I really don’t need to change anything now, but this sure was an eye-opener for me.

Talking over my results, the Doc said that the biggest thing I needed to start doing was to up my veggie intake. No surprise there. My favorite vegetable is sausage.

He had a few recommendations for Nutrilite supplements that I could be taking. It wasn’t just a sales pitch - he just mentioned some things I could try. He kept saying he can't connect a supplement to reducing risk of diseases, but he can connect nutrients to reducing diseases. The things that I need more of could be found in 3 of their projects: Double X (their premier all-around supplement), concentrated fruits and veggies, and omega 3. They sent me each of those things to try out. I’ve been enjoying them but they ARE a little spendy, so I don’t know that I’ll be continuing them after I use up what they sent. (They do have a cheaper version of Double X [I forget what that is called], and I might start taking that after I run out of Double X.)

So the health assessment was quite interesting to me. It would be ideal if they had me start taking their supplements and start changing some of my eating habits (which I HAVE been slowly trying to do) and then fly us back to Cali to take our numbers all over again and see if we’ve been able to make any changes for the better. If I made the changes that Dr. Duke recommended and started taking the supplements he suggested, how big of a difference could that make? And how quickly would that change be noticeable? Or maybe I’m just hoping for another trip to Cali...

Anyway, thanks to Nutrilite for sending Pharmie and I out to see what they’re all about! Click here to see photos and hear about our time on the Nutrilite campus (when we got tested for all the things listed above), and click here to see a bunch of fun (non-Nutrilite related) photos from our trip back in November.