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Medichecks Fasting Insulin

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Jim Lahey said:
Signed up with Medichecks and ordered my fasting insulin kit. The whole dashboard thing is cool. Really digging the setup and it seems a great site for logging data. Quite amused to see my dietary rating at only 63% because I add salt to my food and consume no fruit. WOTEVA :stop:
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Yes. I had the same from Thriva.
Scored low because i eat more than 2 portions of red meat a week.
I laughed out loud.
 
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Funny thing is it moans about salt and blood pressure even though I entered my latest BP reading (taken weekly) of 117/77 :D
 
Jim Lahey said:
Signed up with Medichecks and ordered my fasting insulin kit. The whole dashboard thing is cool. Really digging the setup and it seems a great site for logging data. Quite amused to see my dietary rating at only 63% because I add salt to my food and consume no fruit. WOTEVA :stop:
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Just checked mine. Apparently my diet is only 38% good! Too much meat and salt, not enough fruit, vegetables or ‘healthy’ oils.
 
bulkbiker said:
Have I missed something? Where's this dietary rating?
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If you log into your account and find the dashboard it’s on there. You need to scroll down a bit. But you need to have answered their lifestyle questions.
 
Jim Lahey said:
Signed up with Medichecks and ordered my fasting insulin kit. The whole dashboard thing is cool. Really digging the setup and it seems a great site for logging data. Quite amused to see my dietary rating at only 63% because I add salt to my food and consume no fruit. WOTEVA :stop:
Click to expand...

I was annoyed at my low score there as I don’t eat fruit. I CAN’T eat fruit.
 
The question is what are they basing their diet score on? Eatwell? I’m surprised that you all are bothered
 
Thanks for such a great discussion! I live in the US. I have insurance with a high deductible...I think it's $4500/year...so I can't afford any medical care. Not sure how long it's been since I've had any lab work. Perhaps 2 years or more, BUT I monitor my blood glucose levels throughout the day at least. A few days ago I paid a cash only lab to check my fasting insulin level, A1c, along with a lot of other tests. Hoping to get the results on Friday.

Since starting the low carb/low carb keto diet 4 years ago, I got a lot better, lost 25 pounds but over the last three years have regained 18 pounds back. Now that we're through the holidays, I decided to revisit Jason Fung's books and try fasting to lose weight as I continue on my lchf/keto diet. Lost 3 pounds fairly quickly which probably is not water weight because I'm already in ketosis.

The purpose of the lab work was to give me a baseline to compare to every couple of months, also to see how my results compare to my last results 2 years ago.

So long as I'm physically active, I can knock down a high glucose level with a brisk 20 to 60 minute walk. The reason I'm interested in knowing my fasting insulin level, in addition to my glucose levels through the day, is because it occurred to me that my habit of having a treat then walking it off may be working against me. By that I mean, I may be knocking the glucose down with the walk but pushing the insulin level up with the sweet treat.

I'm very curious about this. Any thoughts?
 
HSSS said:
The question is what are they basing their diet score on? Eatwell? I’m surprised that you all are bothered
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I’m not sure anyone is actually bothered about that. Just a bit of fun. I kind of expected a bit better than “get your five a day” from a company who must serve a lot of folk like us, but I suppose I should have known better. Their dietary advice seems to very much toe the party line. No big deal, just amusing :D

Speaking only for myself of course.
 
Winnie53 said:
[...] The reason I'm interested in knowing my fasting insulin level, in addition to my glucose levels through the day, is because it occurred to me that my habit of having a treat then walking it off may be working against me. By that I mean, I may be knocking the glucose down with the walk but pushing the insulin level up with the sweet treat.

I'm very curious about this. Any thoughts?
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Yeah this may be a legitimate factor for someone wishing to optimise their insulin profile, as it were. Personally I try - but don’t always succeed - to minimise the number of times that I eat. My view is that if I’m going to raise blood insulin then it should be for a full, low carbohydrate meal. Rather than grazing, I eat only one or two fully satiating meals per day and don’t snack. I find this pretty easy in ketosis and not at all restrictive. The closest I get to caloric snacking is having a few too many coffees with a dash of double cream :)

That’s just my strategy though, and may not work best for everyone ;)
 
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Jim, that's intermittent fasting. For the last week I've begun eating two meals a day in a 6 - 8 hour window. Very curious about my fasting insulin. Hope the results arrive soon!
 
Got my lab test results back today. Fasting insulin 3.8; glucose 113 mg/dL; HOMA-IR 1.1 A1c 6.3%.

Not bad for someone who crossed over from pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes in 2005. I take no medication. I manage my diabetes with the low carb ketogenic diet with an emphasis on eating whole, real foods and walking. Still processing the other results.

Triglycerides and HDL are within range. Cholesterol and LDL are both high. After 4 years of eating low carb, I suppose this was to be expected. Kidneys and liver are healthy and within range. Vitamin D is at 62. Homocystine is just bumping up against the high end of the normal range despite taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement. hsCRP is 1.9. TSH is 0.02 but stable. I've have subclinical hyperthyroid for more than 15 years. All other test results are within range. :)
 
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Sample taken and will be posted on my morning walk in a little while. Didn’t find it too tricky with the home kit. Pinky pretty much filled the pot in one go.

At the same time I measured my own glucose at 4.4mmol/L and will use this value to calculate my HOMA-IR when I get the insulin value. I understand that my own glucose reading carries a degree of inaccuracy, but it’s a very reliable and repeatable meter, so I’m happy that it’s good enough for what I am trying to achieve. Really I just want to know that my insulin isn’t elevated in the mornings, which does seem unlikely but one never knows without testing. Given my glucose trends, if my insulin is also low then I’ll truly be able to consider my diabetes gone (don’t want to debate the semantics of gone/reversed/remission - I’m well aware of the nuances and differences of opinion).

Should know in a couple of days :playful:
 
Jim Lahey said:
Sample taken and will be posted on my morning walk in a little while. Didn’t find it too tricky with the home kit. Pinky pretty much filled the pot in one go.

At the same time I measured my own glucose at 4.4mmol/L and will use this value to calculate my HOMA-IR when I get the insulin value. I understand that my own glucose reading carries a degree of inaccuracy, but it’s a very reliable and repeatable meter, so I’m happy that it’s good enough for what I am trying to achieve. Really I just want to know that my insulin isn’t elevated in the mornings, which does seem unlikely but one never knows without testing. Given my glucose trends, if my insulin is also low then I’ll truly be able to consider my diabetes gone (don’t want to debate the semantics of gone/reversed/remission - I’m well aware of the nuances and differences of opinion).

Should know in a couple of days :playful:
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Out of curiosity, do you test FBG levels?
 
Tophat1900 said:
Out of curiosity, do you test FBG levels?
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Yeah, although not every day now. Maybe every couple of days. Last few times have ranged between 4.4-5.1. The highest I’ve seen at any time of day or night for a while is 5.6. Last HbA1c was 31mmol/mol but I think the next will be closer to 28-29. I’m certainly confident that my glucose is ok, and just want to know that I’m not requiring elevated insulin levels in order to achieve it :)
 
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