If there’s one thing I don’t want for you on your Sugar Impact Diet journey, it’s a struggle. Giving up sugar is hard enough—you don’t need to also battle invisible demons that keep you hanging onto belly fat for dear life. If you have a condition creating metabolic upheaval that contributes to weight-loss resistance, you have to fix it to lose weight. Period. You could diet for years (you probably have been!) and never lose a pound… at least not for very long.
So if you feel like you’ve been swimming upstream and you can’t figure out why, here’s one of the places you may figure out why! Having your labs done, especially for the first time, is one of the most enlightening, empowering weapons in the fight to drop extra weight and knock back naggy symptoms. You’ll have some serious jaw dropping moments of Wow! Now I get it!
Let these lab tests shine the light on what’s going on inside you. Once they tell you where you are, you can use them to chart the way forward. You can change what you can measure! Let’s make your weeks on the Sugar Impact Diet as pain-free—and successful—as possible!
Normal range: 70–92
Ideal: around 80
Your fasting blood glucose shows how well your body utilizes sugar. High levels can indicate insulin resistance and other factors of metabolic syndrome.
Normal range: 3–5
Ideal: <3
Fasting insulin indicates how much insulin you have in your blood when you’re fasting. High levels can signal that your pancreas is oversecreting insulin to clear excess blood sugar. Like high fasting blood glucose, elevated fasting insulin levels can help your doctor determine insulin resistance and other hallmarks of metabolic syndrome.
Normal range: 4.8–5.4%
Ideal: 5.0 or less
High: 5.5% and up
Sugar is sticky. Among other things, it clings to your red blood cells, which have a 3-month life span. A hemoglobin A1C test measures how much sugar has been sticking to those red blood cells in the prior 3 months, so this test becomes a “bigger-picture” scenario of how well your body metabolizes and utilizes sugar.
Low 40 ng/ml or less
Ideal: 50-80 ng/ml
This is the most accurate test to determine how much vitamin D is in your body. You can ask your doctor for this inexpensive blood test or get an at-home test (https://vitamindcouncil.zrtlab.com). You can also earn more from Lab Tests Online (labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/vitamin-d/tab/test).
If you fall below this range (most people do), supplement 5,000–10,000 IUs per day (a holistic practitioner can best determine your levels) and retest a few months later. Among its many roles in your body, vitamin D is essential for good blood sugar metabolism and insulin regulation.
Ideal: <100
Borderline high: 150–199
High: 200 and up
Triglycerides (TG) are the main type of fat in your body. A standard blood test would typically include a TG test, since high levels signify increased risk for heart disease. High TG levels are also a key indicator of metabolic syndrome.
5 or above: problematic
3–4: good
2 or lower: optimal
High-density lipoproteins (HDL) are made up of fats and proteins. HDL transports cholesterol in your body. Once classified as “good cholesterol,” researchers have learned there’s actually a subtype of HDL that signifies your risk for heart disease and other problems. In other words, it’s more complicated than just “good” or “bad” cholesterol. According to Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a board-certified cardiologist with an integrative approach, your triglyceride-to-HDL ratio is a far better predictor of heart disease than cholesterol. The math is easy: let’s say your triglycerides are 150 and your HDL is 50. You’ll have a ratio of 3 (150:50). The lower your number, the better protection you have.
Normal: 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL)
Impaired glucose tolerance: 7.8–11.1 mmol/L (140–200 mg/dL)
Diabetic: above 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL)
Demand this test! Doctors administer a glucose load and determine how well your body utilizes that glucose. They begin with a baseline (initial) blood measure, give you 75 grams of glucose to consume, then measure glucose and insulin levels at 1-and 2-hour intervals. Even when fasting glucose and insulin markers are in the normal range, you can still have early signs for insulin resistance. The glucose and insulin tolerance test can provide an early indication of insulin resistance and other health problems. Fasting insulin should be <5 and then <30 IU/dL at the 1-and 2-hour mark. Fasting blood glucose should be less than 90 to start and <120 mg/dL at the 1-and 2-hour mark.
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hs-CRP, a marker for overall inflammation, can determine your risk for cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke. The American Heart Association and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorize risk as follows:
Ideal: 3.4–7.2 mg/dL (200–430 mmol/L) for men,
2.4–6.1 mg/dL (140–360 mmol/L) for women
Your body creates uric acid when it breaks down purines, found in certain foods like peas and beer. While meat sometimes gets the blame for excessive uric acid, fructose is a primary culprit.
Once it dissolves in your blood, most uric acid goes to your kidneys, which excretes it in urine. If you produce excessive uric acid or your body can’t effectively excrete it, it builds up in your blood as a condition called hyperuricemia.
Uric acid can act as an antioxidant, but in excessive amounts it can become a precursor for gout and other problems like cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Your doctor can determine if you have excess uric acid with a blood test or a 24-hour urine sample.
Stress can stall metabolism, make you sick, and create weight-loss resistance. The Adrenal Stress Plus Profile from Metametrix (www.metametrix.com/test-menu/profiles/hormones/adrenal-stress-plus) uses a noninvasive salivary procedure to monitor the activity of your adrenal cortex and its ability to react to stress. An increased cortisol level, a decreased DHEA-S level, or a decrease in the DHEA-S–cortisol ratio can indicate a chronically stressful physical or mental condition.
Celiac is the most extreme form of gluten intolerance. It is estimated that 30% of the population is mildly to moderately gluten-sensitive and that gluten has some negative antinutrients that aren’t healthy for anyone. The Celiac Test (www.metametrix.com/test-menu/profiles/immune-function/celiac) measures IgA-tTG, serum IgA, and IgA-AGA. When IgA-tTG and IgA-AGA are positive, there is a high degree of certainty a person has celiac disease. When IgA-tTG is positive with normal IgA-AGA, the person could have celiac disease but may have been following a gluten-free diet, reducing their IgA-AGA. Individuals with moderate to strong positives should follow up with a biopsy.
Poor digestion and malabsorption can lead to immune dysfunction, nutritional insufficiencies, mental and emotional disorders, and autoimmune diseases. The GI Effects Profile (www.metametrix.com/test-menu/profiles/gastrointestinal-function/dna-stool-analysis-gi-effects) uses a single stool sample culture to identify gastrointestinal disorders. It also uses microbial DNA analysis to identify both aerobes and anaerobes. You simply place the specimen in a special fixative tube that stops microbial growth. Your test will reveal a highly accurate snapshot of the microbial balance in your gut. This is one of my favorite tests, because you get so much amazing information you can act on.
Do you experience delayed reactions to certain foods, like wheat and dairy? Test, don’t guess, with Metametrix’s IgG Antibody Test (www.metametrix.com/test-menu/profiles/immune-function/allergix-igg4-food-antibodies-90), which measures 30 common foods for potential mild, moderate, or severe reactions. I have clients who overcame weight-loss resistance, fatigue, bad skin, and all kinds of other health problems using this test.
Are you unsure about the best diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices for you? A simple saliva collection kit—just spit and mail—can provide all of your answers. The Pathway FIT test (https://www.pathway.com/dna-reports/pathway-fit) analyzes over 100 genetic markers based on your unique DNA so you can understand your metabolism, your eating behaviors, your response to exercise, and the best ways to reach and maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.
Candida Albicans, or Candida, is a systemic fungal infection that feeds on sugar. Candida makes you crave sugar and zaps energy, which only makes you want more sugar! Many people suffering with symptoms of Candida have no idea they’ve got it. According to some estimates, as many as 60% of women will deal with Candida at some point in their lives (Candida mostly affects females between 15 and 50 years old). It can develop into chronic Candidiasis, which is a serious systemic condition, so it’s really important for you to treat it if you have it.
| US | Metric |
| ¼ teaspoon | 1.25 milliliters (ml) |
| ½ teaspoon | 2.5 ml |
| ¾ teaspoon | 3.75 ml |
| 1 teaspoon | 5 ml |
| 1 tablespoon | 15 ml |
| ¼ cup | 62.5 ml |
| ½ cup | 125 ml |
| ¾ cup | 187.5 ml |
| 1 cup | 250 ml |
| US | Metric |
| 1 ounce | 28.4 grams (g) |
| 8 ounces | 227.5 g |
| 16 ounces (1 pound) | 455 g |
| Celsius/Centigrade | F = (C x 1.8) + 32 |
| Fahrenheit | C = (F–32) x 0.5555 |
Zero degrees Celsius and 100°C are arbitrarily placed at the melting and boiling points of water, while Fahrenheit establishes 0°F as the stabilized temperature when equal amounts of ice, water, and salt are mixed. So, for example, if you are baking at 350°F and want to know that temperature in Celsius, the following calculation will provide it: C = (350–32) x 0.5555=176.66°C.