How Do You Know?

April 9, 2014

How do you know if you are healthy?

What does that even mean to you?

Is it a number on the scale? A mileage amount for the week? A time in a race? Is it how well you fit into your clothes?  How quickly you recover from a workout?  How tired you feel during the day?

Do you measure it by the absence of an obvious illness? By making it through flu season still standing?

 

Whatever your method, how do you know it’s enough? How do you know that the information you are getting is really what you need to determine what is going on inside your body?

DNA

 

Maybe it’s not even something you think about on a regular basis.  When being fit is part of our regular lives, it’s hard to separate the two and consider that we may not be in good health even though we are in great shape physically.

The good news is that there are ways you can track what is going on with your body and get more hard facts about your health.

1. Look at your skin

The skin is your largest organ of elimination, so when you have rashes, acne, outbreaks, and other irritations, it’s a sign that your internal environment is not as balanced as it could be.

2. Look in the toilet

Monitoring your bowel movements can also give you information about your health.  You should be having daily regular movements that should be uniform in size and shape.

3. Look at your blood

Getting a full panel of blood work done annually is a great tool to monitor your health from year to year. In addition to the typical numbers that you should be tracking like your cholesterol, blood glucose, and triglycerides, you will get a lot more information from a full panel.  You will be able to determine vitamin deficiencies, electrolyte levels, anemia, infection, how well your liver and kidneys are functioning, and how much systemic inflammation you have.  All of this can indicate your likelihood of more serious diseases.

 

Being fit is something we all strive for, but fit doesn’t mean a lot if there is a larger issue looming that could derail your training and lead to long term health issues.  Start tracking your numbers yearly so you are on top of it (and never surprised) if one of them starts moving in the wrong direction.

 

Feel good, do what you love,

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