Attached are my lab results (I've deleted some identifying information, except for date of birth). My girlfriend and I would like to make some lifestyle changes and I thought it'd be a good idea to get a baseline set of lab work done to compare against.
Background
I'm E4/4, both parents E4/4, and grandmother is E3/4 (all from 23andme). I got into reading up on health online around 2008 and have been off and on with applying what I've read since then - mostly various paleo diet principles as you'll see below, but I'm by no means "hardcore" anything. I've seen enough changes in sentiment with the "gurus" to not view things as black and white.
I'm not advocating any of this as "ideal" - this is just the way my life currently operates. Lots of room for improvement.
Lifestyle - Weekdays
Wake-up 5:30am, get cleaned up, have 1 Americano (black, nothing added)
Go to work (technical support related, 2/3 sit down job, 1/3 walking around)
I usually have black coffee or diet sodas throughout the workday
I always skip lunch, I don't snack
Get home around 4:30pm, workout every other day, do house chores (mow, work on anything broken), prep dinner
Girlfriend and I usually eat dinner while watching a show and I have a mixed drink (whiskey + diet soda)
After dinner I often get back on the computer (youtube, read blogs, pubmed, game) until bed time
Take supplements, do hygiene, go to bed at 9:30pm
Lifestyle - Weekends
Wake-up 7-7:30am, have breakfast (bacon, 4 eggs, 3 americanos), poke around the internet
Do house chores, run errands, workout, more computer
Prep/eat dinner in front of TV with a mixed drink
More computer time
Take supplements, do hygiene, go to bed around 9:30pm
Typical Meals
Weekdays - 1 meal a day and it's dinner, no snacking, any drinks are zero calorie/sugar
Weekends - breakfast is always bacon and 4 eggs with black coffee, then dinner, usually not hungry for lunch
Dinners - Paleo/Primal'ish - often baked porkchops, chicken breast, fish (white and fatty), ground beef, sometimes grilled steaks with vegetables (pan cooked in butter or olive oil, stir fry veggies, green beans, peas, brocolli and cauliflower) or salad. Starches (potato, squash, white rice) get worked in ~2-3 times / week. We generally avoid flours/breads at home.
Eating out - we eat out 0-2 / week depending on stress. Generally chips & queso, burgers, pizza
Snacks after dinner - 0-2 / week we eat a bag of chips after dinner while watching TV
Alcohol
5 times / week I'll have alcohol with and after dinner. Each night averages ~5 oz whiskey with a splash of diet soda
If we eat out and they have an extensive beer menu I'll get ~2 beers (anything not IPA)
Workouts
I have a rack/weights in the shed. I used to do mostly squat, bench, deadlift but due to time, I now do a circuit:
1 set: dumb bell curl to overhead press x 6, pushups x 15, barbell squat x 5
do 6 sets with as little rest in between as possible and keep increasing the weight as exercises get easier
I do not take protein supplements
Sleep
I sometimes (3 times / week) have a very hard time falling asleep due to my mind running in circles. Alcohol often helps with this but I pay for it the next day.
I'm in bed without electronic devices, i.e. trying to fall asleep, 8 hrs every night
Supplements/medication (all done before bed)
Resistant starch (Potato Starch): 28 grams (1 oz) in a little water
1 magnesium (250 mg) Calcium (150 mg) D3 (300 IU) Zinc (5 mg) combo pill
Folate (5-MTHF 800 mcg) B12 (methyl and adeno cobalamin 1,000 mcg) combined lozenge
1 Ibuprofen (200 mg) - I stopped taking this about 1 week before i got my bloodwork, but prior to that I was taking it nightly because I seemed to get better sleep (poor sleep likely due to the alcohol intake)
Chronic Health Issues
Canker Sores (not cold sores) - I've had these since I was a kid. Normally occur after any damage done to my mouth, e.g. hard chips, biting my lip or tongue on accident, acidic/sugary drinks or fruit juices. I've tried SLS free toothpaste, licorice extract, and Folate/B12 lozenges. The folate/B12 lozenge seems to be the only thing that helps, along with avoiding sugar and alcohol. If I get a canker sore it usually lasts ~3 weeks. I will get them every 1-2 months.
Stats
Age: 33
Gender: M
Ethnicity: White
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 152 lbs
BMI: 24.5
Select Lab Results (see attached for full report)
LDL-P: 1243 (High)
LDL-C: 147 (High)
HDL-C: 85
Total C: 247 (High)
Trigs: 74
LP-IR Score: < 25 (see report for specific subfractions)
Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy: 40.2
Lp(a): 4
CRP,hs: 1.01
Homocysteine: 11.8
Insulin: 3.95
Alkaline Phosphatase, S: 39 (Low)
TSH, T4, T3 Uptake, Free T4: all in normal ranges
Iron Bind. Cap.: 346
Iron, Serum: 38 (Low)
Iron Saturation: 11.0 (Low)
My Interpretation
LDL-P needs to get lower (as low as possible?). I assume this is caused by saturated fat (being E4/4) and maybe carb intake. I'm sure the alcohol doesn't help but I haven't seen anything about alcohol and LDL-P.
Total C, LDL-C, HDL-C, and trigs are all around what my parents' are. I'm not particularly concerned by these due to my other markers. My parents never got an NMR but as a comparison our basic lipids are:
TC / LDLC / HDLC / Trigs
Me: 247 / 147 / 85 / 74
Father: 262 / 169 / 81 / 59
Mother: 238 / 124 / 95 / 94
My trigs could be better - again, I assume it's because of bad food and alcohol. Some cardio would also likely help.
Subfractions - looks like I'm closer to the Pattern A and have higher insulin sensitivity in general
Vitamin D - I think I should get this a bit higher, maybe the 50-60 range. I wonder about the efficacy of supplemental D3 vs sun tanning
Lp(a) - yay, I guess I got lucky genetically, one less thing to worry about
CRP - not concerned with it being so close to 1, although I know as close to 0 is good
Homocysteine - This is high according to Bredesen. Need to ditch the alcohol and incorporate B6 vitamin with my folate and B12 to see try and get it down
Insulin - unsure, doesn't look bad based off the ranges I've seen from a google search but I assume lower is better
Alkaline Phosphatase, S - both my Dad's and mine is low - not sure what to make of this if anybody else has any ideas?
Iron - I guess I'm anemic, although I haven't noticed anything (possibly ridges on fingernails?). I need to do more research here. I might be better off that this is on the low side, being a male
Planned Lifestyle Changes:
- Lower alcohol intake across the board. Side note: both my grandmother and I enjoy it a little too much. My parents never drink.
- Less splurging when eating out - more salads, ditch chips & queso, pizza, etc.
- Migrate towards less saturated and more monounsaturated fats, carbohydrate intake is already pretty low
- Do some regular cardio
- Incorporate some more supplements to aid in sleep and decrease homocysteine
Tests ordered through walkinlab.com, cost was around $600.