Client Lab Results – Numbers Say a Lot
As a coach or trainer, you are not licensed or credentialed to order medical lab results. However, you can strongly encourage your client to ask their doctor to order blood panels to ensure optimal understanding of the client’s health. Your client’s doctor will review all the results with the client. You cannot demand, but you can ask, the client to share the lab results with you. Having this information is very helpful for a deep understanding of your client’s health and wellness. It can also help build a collaborate effort with their medical team. Let’s discuss what’s most important.
Some clients will be very private and not share lab results with anyone. Others will be eager to show you their result. For these clients, the coach should have a general understanding of what they are looking at – however, there is no expectation that we are qualified to read and interpret lab results or blood work. In fact, the more reports you see of this type, the more comfortable and confident you will feel in understanding them and having discussions with your client about what you are seeing. In time you will be able to identify some indicators of what you should be looking for – this is made simple when data is provided alongside a normal reference range. Anything out of the normal range will be a primary indicator of dysregulation in the body. If properly qualified, we can then focus on anything pointing to an area needing to be addressed in the diet and lifestyle metabolic panel results.
A complete metabolic panel is a blood test that measures your sugar level, electrolyte and fluid balance, kidney function, and liver function. As part of a regular health checkup, it allows for the monitoring of many medical conditions. For example, a fasting blood glucose test is used as a diagnostic tool to identify pre-diabetes or diabetes. Taken after an overnight fast, a reading of less than 100 milligrams per deciliter is considered normal; levels between 100 -125 are considered pre-diabetic and 126 or greater indicates diabetes. Ideally an optimal level of blood sugar would be in the range of 80 to 90. Here’s more information on metabolic health and disorders.
If your client has a body mass index over 25 they should have their fasting blood glucose measured so that action can be taken to prevent a type-II diabetes situation from becoming full-blown diabetes.
Hemoglobin A1C is a blood test that indicates the amount of sugar that has been circulating in the bloodstream over the last 2-3 months. A1C measures the percentage of blood sugar attached to hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying protein in red blood cells. A level of 5.6% or lower is normal; 5.7 – 6.4% indicates pre-diabetes and 6.5 or greater indicates diabetes.
A lipid panel is a test designed to measure total cholesterol, triglyceride levels, HDL and LDL cholesterol. It is used to determine risk of heart disease. Cholesterol is required for the synthesis of steroid hormones and is a component of cell membranes, and if we do not take in enough cholesterol from the diet, the liver will produce it for us. But we want cholesterol to be in a healthy (or ideal) and the means less than 200 milligrams per deciliter. Triglycerides are the fats absorbed in the blood following a meal or are made by your liver in response to a diet rich in sugar, processed or refined carbohydrates, and fats. Triglycerides should be lower than 150 milligrams per deciliter. HLC cholesterol is considered the good cholesterol, as it helps to remove excess cholesterol deposits from the lining of our arteries. The target for this measurement is 40 – 60 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). When a client’s diet is high in saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, refined sugars, and high fructose corn syrup, the result will likely be a low HDL. Higher HDL values come from a healthy diet and regular exercise at a moderate level of intensity.
LDL cholesterol is considered the undesirable cholesterol, as it clings to the arterial lining and impairs blood flow. Ideal LDL levels are considered to be under 99 mg/dl. LDL levels are influenced by inactivity/sedentary lifestyles, obesity, and diabetes – but just as you may have guessed, a diet high in refined carbohydrates, sugar, saturated animal fats, trans fats, and hydrogenated fats also affect LDL levels negatively.
CRP Testing
Technology has advanced to provide physicians with what is known as the C-reactive protein (CRP) test, which measures immune markers. A high sensitivity crp test or c-reactive protein is used to identify the presence of inflammation in the body. Used mainly to assess acute conditions causing inflammation, it is also commonly ordered in lab work when someone has an inflammatory disorder such as arthritis, autoimmune disorders, or irritable bowel syndrome.
Vitamin D
Because one’s vitamin D level is part of normal lab work, it is included in this part of your training; it will also be discussed later for its role in support of optimizing brain health.
Vitamin D is considered a supporting a steroid hormone with multiple functions in the body, including calcium absorption, enabling normal mineralization of bone, as well as modulation of cell growth, neuromuscular an immune function, and reduction of inflammation. 30 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) is considered deficient; 30-50 ng/ml indicates a risk for inadequacy for vitamin D. Ideally, or optimally, this value should be greater than 50 but less than 80. This is because vitamin D is stored in the fat tissues of the body and higher levels are toxic. Vitamin D toxicity occurs when a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), causing nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination.
Hormone Panel
With age, hormone production declines. It is therefore important to have an annual panel done to evaluate the status of hormones that support mood, alertness, feelings of well-being, and optimal body function. For women, hormones, like estrogen and progesterone, not only play a role in conception and pregnancy, but they also serve to maintain skin, hair, bone, kidney, and liver function. Progesterone is a natural calming agent to the nervous system and has significant functions for women that are different, depending on whether there is a pregnancy or not.
DHEA is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenals, in conjunction with input from the brain; the hypothalamus and pituitary gland manage the output of the adrenal glands. DHEA is also a precursor to testosterone and estrogen. You may already know that testosterone can enhance energy and support lean body mass. For male clients, a thyroid panel is used to evaluate thyroid function and to help diagnose hypo- and hyperthyroidism.
The thyroid plays an important role in the control of body temperature. If a person has a low body temperature, the functioning of the thyroid is likely impaired. Thyroid dysfunction is linked to fatigue, weight gain, dry skin, constipation, and hair loss if it is low in function (hypothyroidism); when there is an observable increase in heart rate, anxiety, weight loss, and sleep issues, it may be due to overactive thyroid function (hyperthyroidism). For Coaches, it’s important to know if this needs to be taken into consideration when working with a client on specific goals (such as those mentioned here).
Insulin is also a hormone. It is produced in the pancreas and helps to bring glucose into our cells. A fasting insulin test establishes a baseline and can then assess your risk for insulin resistance. This is important since it is an indicator leading to Type II diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome.
Obviously, there is much more to discuss here. It’s vital that coaches and trainers understand the importance of getting as many metrics as possible when working with a client. Some data needs to come from medical professionals.
We encourage you to keep learning and realize there is so much more to know. This article just scratches the surface. If you are interested in a more data-driven approach in your coaching practice, you will want to learn more about the Integrative Health Coach Certification.
