July 15, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode, Kelly Dunlap discusses the significance of understanding lab markers and how they relate to overall health, particularly for women over 35. She emphasizes the limitations of conventional lab ranges and advocates for a functional approach to interpreting lab results. The conversation covers key lab markers, their implications for health, and the importance of being proactive in health management. Kelly shares personal anecdotes and client stories to illustrate the impact of proper lab analysis on health outcomes. Takeaways Lab markers provide crucial insights into health. Conventional doctors may not always advocate for optimal health. Functional lab ranges are more indicative of health than conventional ranges. Vitamin D levels are critical for overall health and weight loss. Ferritin levels can indicate iron storage issues and overall health. Thyroid health is often overlooked in conventional testing. Blood sugar regulation is essential for managing weight and health. A1C levels provide a 90-day snapshot of blood sugar management. CBC tests can reveal underlying infections and immune system status. Liver and kidney function tests are vital for assessing overall health. Chapters 00:00 Understanding Lab Markers and Health 05:02 The Importance of Functional Lab Ranges 09:05 Key Lab Markers Explained 18:51 Blood Sugar and Its Impact on Health 23:28 Understanding CBC and Inflammation 30:16 Liver and Kidney Function Tests
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey Kelly here, I'm so excited to share today's episode with you and the topic that we aregoing to talk about is your lab markers.
Let me just say this is one of the things that really grinds my gears, especially withworking with women who are extremely frustrated.
And typically the women that I work with, they are over 35.
(00:25):
They are struggling with getting the weight off.
But more importantly than that,
I know that that's one of their biggest focal points, meaning that they're very frustratedbecause they don't like the way that they look.
But more importantly, their body is just not running optimal.
And labs can tell us a whole shit ton of information if you know how to look at themproperly.
(00:50):
All that said, I have a lot of information that I want to share with you, not a ton.
But a good amount and my goal with this new season is to keep my podcast episodes 30minutes and under because previous uh seasons were definitely about 45 to 60 minutes.
And this is just the new season that I'm in where I want to try to get to the point, giveyou the information and that you're able to run with this data, especially today and.
(01:21):
move forward with confidence when it comes to your labs especially.
So one of the biggest complaints that my clients come to me with is my doctor sayseverything looks fine.
Let me just say one thing.
Your primary care physician is not the person to go to to build your health.
Those people are doctors and I'm not speaking for everybody this is a very generalizedstatement okay because there are some doctors out there who really care.
(01:49):
But I'm always suggesting to find somebody that looks through the functional lens.
And I can say there are a lot of conventional doctors that are kind of making the switch.
People are starting to get, you know, they're being better advocates for their health andthey're catching on.
So all that said, the doctor isn't somebody that is going to give you all the answers.
(02:11):
I know for me, there was this excitement of, I'm going to get my labs done.
They're going to find something.
I just know it.
But then I would just be told everything looks fine, everything is quote unquote withinrange, and go on your merry way.
Well, that's when I didn't know what I didn't know.
And I was like, well, OK, I'm just taking the word for it.
(02:33):
But luckily, I've always been a seeker of my own health and always wanted to learn andreally not taking no for an answer when it came to a lot of things.
Like right now.
For example, I keep going back and forth with my primary care doctor who let me just say,yes, he was very helpful when I came down with pneumonia.
However, I know that things are still not completely healed and I keep requesting anotherCT scan because I want to be preventative.
(03:00):
I don't want to deal with it when it comes back.
And he's kind of fighting with me on it, but he finally said, okay, come on in and thenwe'll have to listen to your lungs.
But I know what's going to happen.
They're not gonna find anything because they didn't find anything when when I had it.
So it's just super frustrating.
Anyway, that was just a little rabbit hole that I wanted to go down.
(03:23):
So a lot of people will say the doctor says everything is fine.
You were within range, but then they're feeling stuck, frustrated, burned out, bloated.
They're gaining weight.
They do not sleep well.
They are not pooping.
Their digestion sucks.
They have no libido.
Everything is changing.
But let me just say this too.
People need to understand that the issues that you are now dealing with in your matureage, and I'm just being fair and honest, and you you might not like what I had to say, but
(03:53):
when you get into this phase, because you lose hormones, your bad habits are now showingup, meaning that all of the things that you have repeated over and over and over again,
that your hormones are basically kind of taking one for the team with, meaning like theywere offsetting your bad choices.
(04:14):
You are now reaping these poor consequences of the same habits, but you don't have thatline of defense anymore.
So now you are like seeing things for truly what your bad habits have uh created anddeveloped over time.
And that's why I call perimenopause and menopause your gift, because it exposeseverything.
(04:37):
that exposes everything than you now know exactly.
Not exactly, but most of the things that you need to work on, and most people need to workon their blood sugar regulation, their stress management, they need to go to fucking sleep
at night, they need to start to heal their traumas, and all those things.
So, all right.
Like I said, I wanna try to keep this under 30 minutes.
(04:58):
So, let me just also say this.
Most conventional lab ranges are designed to detect disease, not.
to catch the dysfunction before it turns into disease.
That's number one.
Number two, most people do not know this, that conventional lab ranges are also based onstatistics, not optimal health, and labs create their reference ranges by averaging
(05:26):
results from the general population in that specific region.
So,
regardless of whether those individuals are vibrant and thriving, or dealing with chronicdisease, fatigue, inflammation, obesity, etc., etc., or hormone imbalance.
Do you see?
So that's why I always say these lab reference ranges.
(05:52):
It's like comparing yourself to the walking wounded.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be compared with the walking wounded.
I want to know what is optimal, and that is why I always talk about the functional rangeswhich are considered optimal.
Okay, so we're going to talk about some common markers.
So grab your labs if you can.
(06:13):
If not, then just take some notes.
And I'm super excited because let me just plug this in here.
My...
functional blood chemistry analysis offer is almost ready and I know I talked about thatlast week in my previous episode.
Super excited for that offer and included in that offer I have put together this beautifulguide and it explains what each lab marker is and what it's for and how to talk to your
(06:39):
doctor and also a wish list to give to your doctor and why and that I'm requesting it sothey don't feel
insecure asking for it because a lot of times doctors will make them feel like what dowant this for?
You know like okay you know no I'm not giving this to you and they still might say no butI'm able to give you you know those who do the functional blood chemistry analysis with me
(07:09):
I'm able to give this as a guide so to speak so that you can attend your
appointment with confidence and get the lab that you want.
Now the other side of the token is this.
I do also have the ability to order labs except there is a problem in New York and NewHampshire.
(07:29):
There's like three different states, two or three different states that are difficult andI would not be able to order in those states.
So just a side note on that.
Regardless this guide is not just about your doctor's appointment.
It's also about teaching you what the lab marker is and why you want it so So many timespeople say I don't know what that is.
(07:51):
What is ALT?
What is AST?
What does that mean?
What is free t3?
You know, what what is homocysteine?
What is ferritin?
I don't know what these things mean, but when you know what they mean You will have a muchdifferent Viewpoint when it comes to looking at your labs
Because you'd be like, oh, that marker actually tells me how my body is processingprotein.
(08:17):
that's actually telling me how optimal my kidneys are functioning.
You know, I mean, so there's a lot of different insight, you know, because I know for mewhen I used to look at labs too, I'd be like, I don't know what the hell this is.
I'll just leave it up to them.
Well, leaving it up to somebody else isn't going to lead you to optimal health.
So you need to know your shit, period, end of story.
OK.
So.
(08:37):
We're going to talk about common lab ranges.
There are a ton of other lab ranges that I don't say a ton.
Okay, let's just say several more lab ranges that I always request from my clients to getfrom their doctor.
Hence also to oh those of you that opt in for my functional blood chemistry analysis,which I can't wait to to do that.
(09:00):
I just have a few more things that I have to put together and it's just been a little bitslower process.
um Anyway, so let's get going.
Alright, let's talk about vitamin D.
This is really, really, really, really important.
And so many people are like, well, I've always had low vitamin D and that's how it'salways going to be.
And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
You have no idea how important vitamin D is.
(09:20):
If you can't lose weight, chances are you probably have very low vitamin D.
I mean, it is responsible for so many things and there is a receptor on every single cellin your body.
Okay, when it comes to vitamin D, huge.
When I saw how low my vitamin D was before I came down with pneumonia, I was like, holyfuck, holy fuck.
(09:42):
Right?
Like that is a hugely important marker.
Most doctors would say that you're okay at 30 and that is not okay.
So when I saw that I was at 36, I think it was, I was like, my God, I'm in trouble.
You, I ideally want that to be around 50 to 80.
(10:02):
Now usually a lot of my clients do have low vitamin D levels and I think that we all tellourself a story, at least those of us who live in the Midwest like, you know, we live in
the Midwest, it is what it is, it's common, but it doesn't have to be.
For example, I have a new client and I was like, oh my gosh, I've never seen a vitamin Dso high, which I was like very impressed, but hers was like 85 or something.
(10:27):
I was like, wow, I've never seen that.
Usually I see it very low.
But I'm always aiming for at least 50.
so vitamin D aim for at least 50.
All right, now I'm just gonna these are in no specific order, because I could go in orderof like, okay, let's go over blood glucose and like your blood sugar and insulin markers,
(10:49):
like I'm not gonna do that.
I'm just gonna go over some very common markers that you are probably familiar with andthat you can recognize so that you can
get a good understanding at least of these basic markers and also you know really kind ofget an idea as to where you are.
Okay so ferritin you can be within range quote unquote at 20 and still lose hair okay youcan feel weak have a low thyroid function but optimally we want to be between 70 and 100.
(11:27):
Do you see what a huge difference that is?
So let's say your ferritin level comes back at 20 and the doctor says, you're fine.
What?
No.
That is like 50 points different from the low end of the optimal.
Ridiculous.
(11:49):
Absolutely ridiculous.
So this is why I am so passionate about sharing this information because you're
your job could be on the floor right now going wait a second i mean today's episodehonestly could really change your life it really could you might be like okay enough is
enough i'm over this you know and now now i have a little more information you know uh...
(12:15):
and i can go to my doctor and and have a uh...
more better educated conversation you might be also say what what what is the ferretonlevel four
Well that is your iron storage tank.
If it's low, fatigue, poor oxygenation.
If it's high, that means that you have inflammation issues or your liver is overloaded.
(12:43):
So really really important key points.
Now let's talk about TSH.
And I'm going to talk about this for a second here because when it comes to the thyroidthis is another one that really grinds my gears.
Most actors will only test TSH and T4.
Why?
Why can't we get the full picture?
(13:05):
you know, let me just say this.
You will probably be told that your TSH is fine at 4.0.
That is not fine.
That is not fine.
Anything that is 2.0 or higher needs further investigation.
Okay, so let me just say this.
It makes me insanely crazy when it comes to the thyroid because your thyroid is soincredibly important.
(13:28):
It is a very demanding organ.
And it makes me crazy because women have a lot of endocrine issues.
And then guess what?
Let's just say the doctor says, okay, you know, I'm hearing you that you don't feel fine.
So I'll send you over to the endocrinologist.
(13:48):
You go to the endocrinologist.
And they're still doing the same shit, just like mine.
Right?
Like my endocrinologist, he only does the TSH and T4.
And I'm like, listen, doctor, which I really like him.
Let me just say this.
I do like him.
But I know, like I could just tell right off the bat, let me just say this in preface, Iknow that I could only go so far with him.
(14:11):
And there was one appointment that I really felt like I got through to him.
And he said, OK, you're looking
for more optimal and I'm like, yes, yes, why yes I am.
I mean, I didn't respond like that, but I was like, my God, he's hearing me, holy shit.
I'm like, yes.
So he actually adjusted some things and I felt so good about that.
(14:31):
But once again, he's always on me too about making sure that you are taking your vitamin Dbecause it is really, really important.
But anyway, regardless, so your TSA, let me just say this.
That's just one of many markers.
That's that is one of my biggest gripes when it comes to the thyroid so let me justactually tell you what some of the other markers are That should be considered.
(15:01):
Okay, so hear me out here We're not going to go over all of these markers, but you heardme say that the doctor tests what TSH and t4?
However in my opinion he he or they should be testing for TSH
Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3.
(15:23):
And if there is any suspicion whatsoever of Hashimoto's, then that's where antibodies needto be tested.
my god, that leads me to another story I want to tell you.
So, I had a client.
We were doing a lot of work on just, I mean, her energy level was in the dumpster.
(15:43):
I mean, it was just terrible.
And she was a healthcare provider herself who was, know, views things to the functionaland she knew that she was burning out.
We were working very, very intently on her gut and her microbiome and just making sure hernutrition was on point.
We got very, very clear on some foods that were not working well for her body anymore.
(16:07):
I mean, we really covered a lot of ground and we, made a lot of progress, but there wasstill this, this thing that kept showing up.
with her aura ring by the way and it was her temperature and I'm like okay so at first Iwas like alright that's down the stream a little bit so let's just kind of see what we can
regulate first and I have the proof of this as a matter of fact in the show notes I willshare her testimony and I will also share the image that she sent me because guess what
(16:37):
well let me just say this I'll share everything that she shared with me and I will
never stop talking about this story because her doctor did a huge disservice because Itold her I said okay we need a full panel done on that thyroid.
Luckily the doctor agreed.
Her TSH was like 2.48 or something okay and I said I'm still not good enough I mean yourtemperature there's an issue there I mean just all these things were adding up.
(17:06):
So she goes to the doctor he agrees he does the full panel
Guess what?
She had Hashimoto's.
Now that was one of the biggest eye-opening moments for me that you don't, you just don'tstop until you get the answers that you are looking for.
(17:31):
She was like, holy shit.
And she even says in her testimony about how, um,
You know, because she did see an endocrinologist and I advised her to.
said, you know, go through all the steps, go through everything.
But she really didn't want to go on medication and I didn't want her go on medicationeither because when you go on medication, you have to stay on it.
So.
She ended up, you know, going through the rigmarole with what they were, you know, wantingto look for and sharing with her.
(17:56):
And then we put her on.
She and I agreed.
I put her on what's called thyrosal from Metagenix.
Metagenix is.
my go-to supplement because they are rigorously tested, they're third-party tested, batchtested, the whole thing.
And we did that for solid three months.
Guess what?
We reversed it and we have the proof.
(18:17):
She, um it was like amazing because she sent me the image that showed that the antibodieswere gone, like lowered, you know, that she was out of that whole, you know, window,
however you want to say.
And she said,
Even when my endocrinologist told me that it was impossible, we did it.
(18:38):
So isn't that amazing?
So this is the thing, don't ever take no for an answer.
Because when the symptoms are there, you do not stop.
You find the person that is willing to hear you.
oh All right.
Now, where was I at?
Because I just kind of went down a little rabbit hole there.
All right.
So the TSH is just one marker.
(18:58):
It's a very important marker, mind you.
um But let's move on.
So let's talk about fasting glucose.
Fasting glucose is what your doctor will always want to test.
And I'm going to tell you another story.
So they will say, OK, let's see what your fasting glucose is.
And let's just say it's 99.
(19:20):
They'll be like, oh, everything is fine.
But then I'm looking at other markers, and I'm like, mm-mm.
There's something not right here.
This is an anana.
Fasting glucose in the optimal range should be 75 to 86.
86, okay?
But meanwhile, in the conventional world, 65 to 99 is considered normal.
(19:43):
It's not okay.
So, let me just tell you.
Here's the deal.
I had a client who went to her doctor, the whole, you know, same story, rigmarole, but Iknew a whole lot of stuff that her
doctor probably didn't even you know bother to ask.
I knew stress was extremely elevated, extremely elevated.
(20:05):
She also just had heart surgery and I knew what her eating habits were and I knew what hersleeping habits were.
So I'm looking at all of those things and I just knew from certain symptoms like this ladyhas blood sugar dysregulation.
I know just from the symptoms but I was waiting for the labs.
She came back and
(20:25):
The fasting bug glucose was somewhere, I want to say it wasn't terrible, but I was like,this still isn't adding up.
So I said, please call them back.
See if you can get an A1C.
Well, she called them.
She got the A1C a couple of days later and guess what?
She was pre-diabetic.
Her A1C was 5.7.
(20:47):
Now you might be saying, okay, well what is A1C?
So your A1C is, well let me go back up.
Your fasting glucose is
snapshot right then and there in time.
Your A1c look at that is like the movie.
That is a 90-day average of your daily blood glucose.
(21:09):
Okay so I said well there it is that right there is one of our biggest problems that weneed to target ASAP because that is the thing that is upstream that needs to be targeted
to help you with everything
that is dysregulated downstream.
So the conventional ranges, you know, when it comes to your A1C, they'll say anythingbelow 5.7 is fine.
(21:41):
Not in my book and not in the conventional or excuse me, not in the functional world.
Functionally, we are looking for ranges between 4.6 and 5.2.
So, let me say this, cortisol has so much to do with blood sugar dysregulation.
It's not eating donuts and eating garbage food.
(22:02):
It's lack of sleep, high stress, high cortisol.
It's over-exercising, not prioritizing your recovery.
It's those things that impact your blood sugar way more than you realize.
Also, let me say this.
after having pneumonia, had asked to get my A1C because I knew it was going to be on thehigher side, like not crazy high, but my average was about 5.1.
(22:32):
And I knew what I had asked for the A1C after being sick because it captures what 90 days.
My illness was inside of that and it came back at 5.3.
So I was like, okay, that makes sense because I was sick, right?
So just
Pay attention, your A1C is hugely important.
(22:53):
one of the biggest, um one of the most common, let me rephrase that, one of the first andmost common questions I ask is, do you know what your A1C is?
And most of the time people will say, I don't even know what that is.
Well, now you know.
Pay attention to it.
That is a hugely important number for you.
(23:13):
I think I say hugely important all the time, don't I?
Okay.
So.
Let me just say this, functionally again we look for 4.6 to 5.2 because even a small risecan signal that blood sugar is impacting your inflammation, your weight, and your hormone
balance.
So that's why I always, always, always, always look at and control and manage my clientsblood sugar.
(23:41):
Okay, so let me just be clear here also, let me just say this again.
your blood glucose it controls everything everything okay it impacts your energy itimpacts your metabolism your sleep inflammation i just cannot tell you how important this
is i think i said it 3000 times anyway okay now let's move on um onto the next okay like isaid i have i have a few pieces of paper that i'm referring to by the way just so
(24:15):
In case you hear in the background.
Okay, the other thing that I want to talk about is CBC with differential This when Ilearned this I was so fascinated by this Because wow, I mean who who knew that these
marker I mean all these years who knew that these markers were there?
(24:36):
And they could tell you if you had possible
virus, virus, parasites, know, things like that.
It is often brushed off as just a basic test, but it really isn't.
It reveals a lot.
It reveals bacterial stress.
(24:57):
I mean, so much.
So let me go over these um that fall underneath that.
for example, the neutrophils often rise with inflammation.
bacterial stress.
Lymphocytes can dip when the immune system is depleted or under chronic stress.
(25:22):
Monocytes they tend to climb when there is lingering immune activation like after a viralload or during periods of ongoing internal stress.
I went back to my labs and I talk about actually I talk about my labs and I show my reportin my functional blood chemistry analysis offer there's a video that I put together
(25:48):
because I always like to put a video and just kind of explain and it shows us beautifulreport and it shows you it paints the picture of how incredibly sick I was and the things
that were going on underneath so
These patterns, they don't give you a diagnosis, but they do offer clues, especially whenyou are dealing with fatigue and poor recovery and you just kind of don't know what's
(26:10):
going on.
You're like, I just don't feel like myself.
Like what the heck is happening with me?
So I just wanted to share these things with you so that you have some insight so that youcan actually see like, OK, I'm not going crazy because you get gaslit by your physician so
often and then you feel alone.
and you feel like you have nowhere to turn, you feel like you're spinning your wheels, butthis is such an amazing way for you to look under the hood just by your basic labs.
(26:41):
And you can get these just from your primary care physician.
Again, they might be a little bit not as understanding as you would like them to be, butagain, if you go in and you say, listen, these are the symptoms.
This is what I see to my
past blood work, know, maybe after listening to this episode, you might say, okay, youknow what, I see that all of these things are not optimal, so I need help to like decode
(27:11):
everything that is happening and I know that things are just not right.
So, or you could always just come to me and say, hey, you know, can we do a functionalblood chemistry um analysis?
And I would be happy to do that because...
By the time you listen to this episode, I'm sure the offer will be all put together.
So I'm just going to talk about a few other lab markers.
(27:31):
For example, like your cardio metabolic panel and inflammation, for example.
So when you get like a lipid panel and make sure that you go fasted to get these labsdone, but things like your total cholesterol should be between 160 and 199.
However, let me just say that as a
uh You know a functional you know practitioner and uh hormonal health You know some let mejust say this when it comes to your total cholesterol You really should be looking at
(28:03):
particle size.
So when it comes to women's health I don't mind when I see a healthy cholesterol meaningwhat it's made up of when it's over 200 So that's just a side note your LDL between 80 and
100
the HDL between 55 and 93 and triglycerides 70 to 80.
(28:27):
Now also to a side note, I often notice that when your blood sugar is dysregulated andit's on that higher side, that hand in hand your cholesterol is going to be all messed up.
If somebody says, I have high cholesterol, I automatically know that they have high bloodglucose.
I already know that.
(28:47):
And if they don't, um I know that they are already down the line of cardiovascularunwellness and that the body has already started to do some compensation.
That's a whole other conversation.
um Some other areas that I want to just cover really quickly that I think are worthmentioning would be the liver, kidney and detoxification.
(29:13):
This panel is really important and I get very disappointed when I don't see this insomebody's labs because it tells us how well your liver is functioning and detoxifying and
also the stress if you know how how stressful things are because let me just say this theAST the ALT GGT ALP and Billy Rubin and LDH these show how well your liver is functioning
(29:40):
and detoxifying.
So elevated levels means that there is a lot of stress overload going on.
The bun, the crantening, and the EGFR, these are really important as well because theseassess kidney filtration and hydration and early shifts can show up before we have major
kidney issues.
So for example, your EGFR, I like to see that 90 and higher.
(30:05):
anything lower I'm very concerned, not very concerned, but if I have somebody that's likein the sixties or something I'm going to be like okay we've got a lot of things going on
here.
Typically when you have kidney issues you have liver issues.
um So those are really important.
Again like I said I don't often see them.
most of the time I see them on people's labs but when I don't see them I'm like why?
(30:29):
Why?
Where are they?
This is missing very important information and typically
Knowing the client's history and and what their current gripes are I'm like, why did theynot test this?
So it gets you know again one of the reasons why I became certified in the functionalblood chemistry and uh Analysis, okay all that said that's a wrap for this episode and
(30:56):
guess what?
my god.
It's just over 31 minutes.
It didn't turn out to be 60 minutes long uh But I wanted to get this information out toyou.
I will make sure that I put
the information in the show notes as promised with regard to the testimony, because Ithink you will find that really, really fascinating, that really changed her life.
(31:17):
mean, could you imagine if that continued to be shoved under the rug and the doctor didn'ttest any further and just kept going off the TSH?
She was, I mean, every time I talked to her, she was so frustrated thinking something isnot right, something is being overlooked.
And you know what?
I'm just going to toot my own horn and say, know, thank God she partnered with me becauseI will not rest until we find out those answers.
(31:40):
anyway, if this sounds like something that you think that you would like more informationabout, or maybe you're like, my gosh, now I've, you know, really got my radar up and this
is some more information that I would like to learn more about.
You know, please feel free to email me at kelly at kellydunlapwellness.com.
We can have a conversation.
(32:01):
We could always set up a discovery call as well.
And we can talk more about what you have going on.
And then also too, like I said, I will have the offer put together for the blood chemistryanalysis.
And that provides a beautiful report.
mean, one that is just so incredibly fascinating.
So thank you so much for tuning in.
(32:24):
I hope that you found this episode valuable.
And I look forward to seeing you in the next one.
Bye.
Hey Kelly here, I'm so excited to share today's episode with you and the topic that we aregoing to talk about is your lab markers.
Let me just say this is one of the things that really grinds my gears, especially withworking with women who are extremely frustrated.
And typically the women that I work with, they are over 35.
(00:25):
They are struggling with getting the weight off.
But more importantly than that,
I know that that's one of their biggest focal points, meaning that they're very frustratedbecause they don't like the way that they look.
But more importantly, their body is just not running optimal.
And labs can tell us a whole shit ton of information if you know how to look at themproperly.
(00:50):
All that said, I have a lot of information that I want to share with you, not a ton.
But a good amount and my goal with this new season is to keep my podcast episodes 30minutes and under because previous uh seasons were definitely about 45 to 60 minutes.
And this is just the new season that I'm in where I want to try to get to the point, giveyou the information and that you're able to run with this data, especially today and.
(01:21):
move forward with confidence when it comes to your labs especially.
So one of the biggest complaints that my clients come to me with is my doctor sayseverything looks fine.
Let me just say one thing.
Your primary care physician is not the person to go to to build your health.
Those people are doctors and I'm not speaking for everybody this is a very generalizedstatement okay because there are some doctors out there who really care.
(01:49):
But I'm always suggesting to find somebody that looks through the functional lens.
And I can say there are a lot of conventional doctors that are kind of making the switch.
People are starting to get, you know, they're being better advocates for their health andthey're catching on.
So all that said, the doctor isn't somebody that is going to give you all the answers.
(02:11):
I know for me, there was this excitement of, I'm going to get my labs done.
They're going to find something.
I just know it.
But then I would just be told everything looks fine, everything is quote unquote withinrange, and go on your merry way.
Well, that's when I didn't know what I didn't know.
And I was like, well, OK, I'm just taking the word for it.
(02:33):
But luckily, I've always been a seeker of my own health and always wanted to learn andreally not taking no for an answer when it came to a lot of things.
Like right now.
For example, I keep going back and forth with my primary care doctor who let me just say,yes, he was very helpful when I came down with pneumonia.
However, I know that things are still not completely healed and I keep requesting anotherCT scan because I want to be preventative.
(03:00):
I don't want to deal with it when it comes back.
And he's kind of fighting with me on it, but he finally said, okay, come on in and thenwe'll have to listen to your lungs.
But I know what's going to happen.
They're not gonna find anything because they didn't find anything when when I had it.
So it's just super frustrating.
Anyway, that was just a little rabbit hole that I wanted to go down.
(03:23):
So a lot of people will say the doctor says everything is fine.
You were within range, but then they're feeling stuck, frustrated, burned out, bloated.
They're gaining weight.
They do not sleep well.
They are not pooping.
Their digestion sucks.
They have no libido.
Everything is changing.
But let me just say this too.
People need to understand that the issues that you are now dealing with in your matureage, and I'm just being fair and honest, and you you might not like what I had to say, but
(03:53):
when you get into this phase, because you lose hormones, your bad habits are now showingup, meaning that all of the things that you have repeated over and over and over again,
that your hormones are basically kind of taking one for the team with, meaning like theywere offsetting your bad choices.
(04:14):
You are now reaping these poor consequences of the same habits, but you don't have thatline of defense anymore.
So now you are like seeing things for truly what your bad habits have uh created anddeveloped over time.
And that's why I call perimenopause and menopause your gift, because it exposeseverything.
(04:37):
that exposes everything than you now know exactly.
Not exactly, but most of the things that you need to work on, and most people need to workon their blood sugar regulation, their stress management, they need to go to fucking sleep
at night, they need to start to heal their traumas, and all those things.
So, all right.
Like I said, I wanna try to keep this under 30 minutes.
(04:58):
So, let me just also say this.
Most conventional lab ranges are designed to detect disease, not.
to catch the dysfunction before it turns into disease.
That's number one.
Number two, most people do not know this, that conventional lab ranges are also based onstatistics, not optimal health, and labs create their reference ranges by averaging
(05:26):
results from the general population in that specific region.
So,
regardless of whether those individuals are vibrant and thriving, or dealing with chronicdisease, fatigue, inflammation, obesity, etc., etc., or hormone imbalance.
Do you see?
So that's why I always say these lab reference ranges.
(05:52):
It's like comparing yourself to the walking wounded.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be compared with the walking wounded.
I want to know what is optimal, and that is why I always talk about the functional rangeswhich are considered optimal.
Okay, so we're going to talk about some common markers.
So grab your labs if you can.
(06:13):
If not, then just take some notes.
And I'm super excited because let me just plug this in here.
My...
functional blood chemistry analysis offer is almost ready and I know I talked about thatlast week in my previous episode.
Super excited for that offer and included in that offer I have put together this beautifulguide and it explains what each lab marker is and what it's for and how to talk to your
(06:39):
doctor and also a wish list to give to your doctor and why and that I'm requesting it sothey don't feel
insecure asking for it because a lot of times doctors will make them feel like what dowant this for?
You know like okay you know no I'm not giving this to you and they still might say no butI'm able to give you you know those who do the functional blood chemistry analysis with me
(07:09):
I'm able to give this as a guide so to speak so that you can attend your
appointment with confidence and get the lab that you want.
Now the other side of the token is this.
I do also have the ability to order labs except there is a problem in New York and NewHampshire.
(07:29):
There's like three different states, two or three different states that are difficult andI would not be able to order in those states.
So just a side note on that.
Regardless this guide is not just about your doctor's appointment.
It's also about teaching you what the lab marker is and why you want it so So many timespeople say I don't know what that is.
(07:51):
What is ALT?
What is AST?
What does that mean?
What is free t3?
You know, what what is homocysteine?
What is ferritin?
I don't know what these things mean, but when you know what they mean You will have a muchdifferent Viewpoint when it comes to looking at your labs
Because you'd be like, oh, that marker actually tells me how my body is processingprotein.
(08:17):
that's actually telling me how optimal my kidneys are functioning.
You know, I mean, so there's a lot of different insight, you know, because I know for mewhen I used to look at labs too, I'd be like, I don't know what the hell this is.
I'll just leave it up to them.
Well, leaving it up to somebody else isn't going to lead you to optimal health.
So you need to know your shit, period, end of story.
OK.
So.
(08:37):
We're going to talk about common lab ranges.
There are a ton of other lab ranges that I don't say a ton.
Okay, let's just say several more lab ranges that I always request from my clients to getfrom their doctor.
Hence also to oh those of you that opt in for my functional blood chemistry analysis,which I can't wait to to do that.
(09:00):
I just have a few more things that I have to put together and it's just been a little bitslower process.
um Anyway, so let's get going.
Alright, let's talk about vitamin D.
This is really, really, really, really important.
And so many people are like, well, I've always had low vitamin D and that's how it'salways going to be.
And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
You have no idea how important vitamin D is.
(09:20):
If you can't lose weight, chances are you probably have very low vitamin D.
I mean, it is responsible for so many things and there is a receptor on every single cellin your body.
Okay, when it comes to vitamin D, huge.
When I saw how low my vitamin D was before I came down with pneumonia, I was like, holyfuck, holy fuck.
(09:42):
Right?
Like that is a hugely important marker.
Most doctors would say that you're okay at 30 and that is not okay.
So when I saw that I was at 36, I think it was, I was like, my God, I'm in trouble.
You, I ideally want that to be around 50 to 80.
(10:02):
Now usually a lot of my clients do have low vitamin D levels and I think that we all tellourself a story, at least those of us who live in the Midwest like, you know, we live in
the Midwest, it is what it is, it's common, but it doesn't have to be.
For example, I have a new client and I was like, oh my gosh, I've never seen a vitamin Dso high, which I was like very impressed, but hers was like 85 or something.
(10:27):
I was like, wow, I've never seen that.
Usually I see it very low.
But I'm always aiming for at least 50.
so vitamin D aim for at least 50.
All right, now I'm just gonna these are in no specific order, because I could go in orderof like, okay, let's go over blood glucose and like your blood sugar and insulin markers,
(10:49):
like I'm not gonna do that.
I'm just gonna go over some very common markers that you are probably familiar with andthat you can recognize so that you can
get a good understanding at least of these basic markers and also you know really kind ofget an idea as to where you are.
Okay so ferritin you can be within range quote unquote at 20 and still lose hair okay youcan feel weak have a low thyroid function but optimally we want to be between 70 and 100.
(11:27):
Do you see what a huge difference that is?
So let's say your ferritin level comes back at 20 and the doctor says, you're fine.
What?
No.
That is like 50 points different from the low end of the optimal.
Ridiculous.
(11:49):
Absolutely ridiculous.
So this is why I am so passionate about sharing this information because you're
your job could be on the floor right now going wait a second i mean today's episodehonestly could really change your life it really could you might be like okay enough is
enough i'm over this you know and now now i have a little more information you know uh...
(12:15):
and i can go to my doctor and and have a uh...
more better educated conversation you might be also say what what what is the ferretonlevel four
Well that is your iron storage tank.
If it's low, fatigue, poor oxygenation.
If it's high, that means that you have inflammation issues or your liver is overloaded.
(12:43):
So really really important key points.
Now let's talk about TSH.
And I'm going to talk about this for a second here because when it comes to the thyroidthis is another one that really grinds my gears.
Most actors will only test TSH and T4.
Why?
Why can't we get the full picture?
(13:05):
you know, let me just say this.
You will probably be told that your TSH is fine at 4.0.
That is not fine.
That is not fine.
Anything that is 2.0 or higher needs further investigation.
Okay, so let me just say this.
It makes me insanely crazy when it comes to the thyroid because your thyroid is soincredibly important.
(13:28):
It is a very demanding organ.
And it makes me crazy because women have a lot of endocrine issues.
And then guess what?
Let's just say the doctor says, okay, you know, I'm hearing you that you don't feel fine.
So I'll send you over to the endocrinologist.
(13:48):
You go to the endocrinologist.
And they're still doing the same shit, just like mine.
Right?
Like my endocrinologist, he only does the TSH and T4.
And I'm like, listen, doctor, which I really like him.
Let me just say this.
I do like him.
But I know, like I could just tell right off the bat, let me just say this in preface, Iknow that I could only go so far with him.
(14:11):
And there was one appointment that I really felt like I got through to him.
And he said, OK, you're looking
for more optimal and I'm like, yes, yes, why yes I am.
I mean, I didn't respond like that, but I was like, my God, he's hearing me, holy shit.
I'm like, yes.
So he actually adjusted some things and I felt so good about that.
(14:31):
But once again, he's always on me too about making sure that you are taking your vitamin Dbecause it is really, really important.
But anyway, regardless, so your TSA, let me just say this.
That's just one of many markers.
That's that is one of my biggest gripes when it comes to the thyroid so let me justactually tell you what some of the other markers are That should be considered.
(15:01):
Okay, so hear me out here We're not going to go over all of these markers, but you heardme say that the doctor tests what TSH and t4?
However in my opinion he he or they should be testing for TSH
Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3.
(15:23):
And if there is any suspicion whatsoever of Hashimoto's, then that's where antibodies needto be tested.
my god, that leads me to another story I want to tell you.
So, I had a client.
We were doing a lot of work on just, I mean, her energy level was in the dumpster.
(15:43):
I mean, it was just terrible.
And she was a healthcare provider herself who was, know, views things to the functionaland she knew that she was burning out.
We were working very, very intently on her gut and her microbiome and just making sure hernutrition was on point.
We got very, very clear on some foods that were not working well for her body anymore.
(16:07):
I mean, we really covered a lot of ground and we, made a lot of progress, but there wasstill this, this thing that kept showing up.
with her aura ring by the way and it was her temperature and I'm like okay so at first Iwas like alright that's down the stream a little bit so let's just kind of see what we can
regulate first and I have the proof of this as a matter of fact in the show notes I willshare her testimony and I will also share the image that she sent me because guess what
(16:37):
well let me just say this I'll share everything that she shared with me and I will
never stop talking about this story because her doctor did a huge disservice because Itold her I said okay we need a full panel done on that thyroid.
Luckily the doctor agreed.
Her TSH was like 2.48 or something okay and I said I'm still not good enough I mean yourtemperature there's an issue there I mean just all these things were adding up.
(17:06):
So she goes to the doctor he agrees he does the full panel
Guess what?
She had Hashimoto's.
Now that was one of the biggest eye-opening moments for me that you don't, you just don'tstop until you get the answers that you are looking for.
(17:31):
She was like, holy shit.
And she even says in her testimony about how, um,
You know, because she did see an endocrinologist and I advised her to.
said, you know, go through all the steps, go through everything.
But she really didn't want to go on medication and I didn't want her go on medicationeither because when you go on medication, you have to stay on it.
So.
She ended up, you know, going through the rigmarole with what they were, you know, wantingto look for and sharing with her.
(17:56):
And then we put her on.
She and I agreed.
I put her on what's called thyrosal from Metagenix.
Metagenix is.
my go-to supplement because they are rigorously tested, they're third-party tested, batchtested, the whole thing.
And we did that for solid three months.
Guess what?
We reversed it and we have the proof.
(18:17):
She, um it was like amazing because she sent me the image that showed that the antibodieswere gone, like lowered, you know, that she was out of that whole, you know, window,
however you want to say.
And she said,
Even when my endocrinologist told me that it was impossible, we did it.
(18:38):
So isn't that amazing?
So this is the thing, don't ever take no for an answer.
Because when the symptoms are there, you do not stop.
You find the person that is willing to hear you.
oh All right.
Now, where was I at?
Because I just kind of went down a little rabbit hole there.
All right.
So the TSH is just one marker.
(18:58):
It's a very important marker, mind you.
um But let's move on.
So let's talk about fasting glucose.
Fasting glucose is what your doctor will always want to test.
And I'm going to tell you another story.
So they will say, OK, let's see what your fasting glucose is.
And let's just say it's 99.
(19:20):
They'll be like, oh, everything is fine.
But then I'm looking at other markers, and I'm like, mm-mm.
There's something not right here.
This is an anana.
Fasting glucose in the optimal range should be 75 to 86.
86, okay?
But meanwhile, in the conventional world, 65 to 99 is considered normal.
(19:43):
It's not okay.
So, let me just tell you.
Here's the deal.
I had a client who went to her doctor, the whole, you know, same story, rigmarole, but Iknew a whole lot of stuff that her
doctor probably didn't even you know bother to ask.
I knew stress was extremely elevated, extremely elevated.
(20:05):
She also just had heart surgery and I knew what her eating habits were and I knew what hersleeping habits were.
So I'm looking at all of those things and I just knew from certain symptoms like this ladyhas blood sugar dysregulation.
I know just from the symptoms but I was waiting for the labs.
She came back and
(20:25):
The fasting bug glucose was somewhere, I want to say it wasn't terrible, but I was like,this still isn't adding up.
So I said, please call them back.
See if you can get an A1C.
Well, she called them.
She got the A1C a couple of days later and guess what?
She was pre-diabetic.
Her A1C was 5.7.
(20:47):
Now you might be saying, okay, well what is A1C?
So your A1C is, well let me go back up.
Your fasting glucose is
snapshot right then and there in time.
Your A1c look at that is like the movie.
That is a 90-day average of your daily blood glucose.
(21:09):
Okay so I said well there it is that right there is one of our biggest problems that weneed to target ASAP because that is the thing that is upstream that needs to be targeted
to help you with everything
that is dysregulated downstream.
So the conventional ranges, you know, when it comes to your A1C, they'll say anythingbelow 5.7 is fine.
(21:41):
Not in my book and not in the conventional or excuse me, not in the functional world.
Functionally, we are looking for ranges between 4.6 and 5.2.
So, let me say this, cortisol has so much to do with blood sugar dysregulation.
It's not eating donuts and eating garbage food.
(22:02):
It's lack of sleep, high stress, high cortisol.
It's over-exercising, not prioritizing your recovery.
It's those things that impact your blood sugar way more than you realize.
Also, let me say this.
after having pneumonia, had asked to get my A1C because I knew it was going to be on thehigher side, like not crazy high, but my average was about 5.1.
(22:32):
And I knew what I had asked for the A1C after being sick because it captures what 90 days.
My illness was inside of that and it came back at 5.3.
So I was like, okay, that makes sense because I was sick, right?
So just
Pay attention, your A1C is hugely important.
(22:53):
one of the biggest, um one of the most common, let me rephrase that, one of the first andmost common questions I ask is, do you know what your A1C is?
And most of the time people will say, I don't even know what that is.
Well, now you know.
Pay attention to it.
That is a hugely important number for you.
(23:13):
I think I say hugely important all the time, don't I?
Okay.
So.
Let me just say this, functionally again we look for 4.6 to 5.2 because even a small risecan signal that blood sugar is impacting your inflammation, your weight, and your hormone
balance.
So that's why I always, always, always, always look at and control and manage my clientsblood sugar.
(23:41):
Okay, so let me just be clear here also, let me just say this again.
your blood glucose it controls everything everything okay it impacts your energy itimpacts your metabolism your sleep inflammation i just cannot tell you how important this
is i think i said it 3000 times anyway okay now let's move on um onto the next okay like isaid i have i have a few pieces of paper that i'm referring to by the way just so
(24:15):
In case you hear in the background.
Okay, the other thing that I want to talk about is CBC with differential This when Ilearned this I was so fascinated by this Because wow, I mean who who knew that these
marker I mean all these years who knew that these markers were there?
(24:36):
And they could tell you if you had possible
virus, virus, parasites, know, things like that.
It is often brushed off as just a basic test, but it really isn't.
It reveals a lot.
It reveals bacterial stress.
(24:57):
I mean, so much.
So let me go over these um that fall underneath that.
for example, the neutrophils often rise with inflammation.
bacterial stress.
Lymphocytes can dip when the immune system is depleted or under chronic stress.
(25:22):
Monocytes they tend to climb when there is lingering immune activation like after a viralload or during periods of ongoing internal stress.
I went back to my labs and I talk about actually I talk about my labs and I show my reportin my functional blood chemistry analysis offer there's a video that I put together
(25:48):
because I always like to put a video and just kind of explain and it shows us beautifulreport and it shows you it paints the picture of how incredibly sick I was and the things
that were going on underneath so
These patterns, they don't give you a diagnosis, but they do offer clues, especially whenyou are dealing with fatigue and poor recovery and you just kind of don't know what's
(26:10):
going on.
You're like, I just don't feel like myself.
Like what the heck is happening with me?
So I just wanted to share these things with you so that you have some insight so that youcan actually see like, OK, I'm not going crazy because you get gaslit by your physician so
often and then you feel alone.
and you feel like you have nowhere to turn, you feel like you're spinning your wheels, butthis is such an amazing way for you to look under the hood just by your basic labs.
(26:41):
And you can get these just from your primary care physician.
Again, they might be a little bit not as understanding as you would like them to be, butagain, if you go in and you say, listen, these are the symptoms.
This is what I see to my
past blood work, know, maybe after listening to this episode, you might say, okay, youknow what, I see that all of these things are not optimal, so I need help to like decode
(27:11):
everything that is happening and I know that things are just not right.
So, or you could always just come to me and say, hey, you know, can we do a functionalblood chemistry um analysis?
And I would be happy to do that because...
By the time you listen to this episode, I'm sure the offer will be all put together.
So I'm just going to talk about a few other lab markers.
(27:31):
For example, like your cardio metabolic panel and inflammation, for example.
So when you get like a lipid panel and make sure that you go fasted to get these labsdone, but things like your total cholesterol should be between 160 and 199.
However, let me just say that as a
uh You know a functional you know practitioner and uh hormonal health You know some let mejust say this when it comes to your total cholesterol You really should be looking at
(28:03):
particle size.
So when it comes to women's health I don't mind when I see a healthy cholesterol meaningwhat it's made up of when it's over 200 So that's just a side note your LDL between 80 and
100
the HDL between 55 and 93 and triglycerides 70 to 80.
(28:27):
Now also to a side note, I often notice that when your blood sugar is dysregulated andit's on that higher side, that hand in hand your cholesterol is going to be all messed up.
If somebody says, I have high cholesterol, I automatically know that they have high bloodglucose.
I already know that.
(28:47):
And if they don't, um I know that they are already down the line of cardiovascularunwellness and that the body has already started to do some compensation.
That's a whole other conversation.
um Some other areas that I want to just cover really quickly that I think are worthmentioning would be the liver, kidney and detoxification.
(29:13):
This panel is really important and I get very disappointed when I don't see this insomebody's labs because it tells us how well your liver is functioning and detoxifying and
also the stress if you know how how stressful things are because let me just say this theAST the ALT GGT ALP and Billy Rubin and LDH these show how well your liver is functioning
(29:40):
and detoxifying.
So elevated levels means that there is a lot of stress overload going on.
The bun, the crantening, and the EGFR, these are really important as well because theseassess kidney filtration and hydration and early shifts can show up before we have major
kidney issues.
So for example, your EGFR, I like to see that 90 and higher.
(30:05):
anything lower I'm very concerned, not very concerned, but if I have somebody that's likein the sixties or something I'm going to be like okay we've got a lot of things going on
here.
Typically when you have kidney issues you have liver issues.
um So those are really important.
Again like I said I don't often see them.
most of the time I see them on people's labs but when I don't see them I'm like why?
(30:29):
Why?
Where are they?
This is missing very important information and typically
Knowing the client's history and and what their current gripes are I'm like, why did theynot test this?
So it gets you know again one of the reasons why I became certified in the functionalblood chemistry and uh Analysis, okay all that said that's a wrap for this episode and
(30:56):
guess what?
my god.
It's just over 31 minutes.
It didn't turn out to be 60 minutes long uh But I wanted to get this information out toyou.
I will make sure that I put
the information in the show notes as promised with regard to the testimony, because Ithink you will find that really, really fascinating, that really changed her life.
(31:17):
mean, could you imagine if that continued to be shoved under the rug and the doctor didn'ttest any further and just kept going off the TSH?
She was, I mean, every time I talked to her, she was so frustrated thinking something isnot right, something is being overlooked.
And you know what?
I'm just going to toot my own horn and say, know, thank God she partnered with me becauseI will not rest until we find out those answers.
(31:40):
anyway, if this sounds like something that you think that you would like more informationabout, or maybe you're like, my gosh, now I've, you know, really got my radar up and this
is some more information that I would like to learn more about.
You know, please feel free to email me at kelly at kellydunlapwellness.com.
We can have a conversation.
(32:01):
We could always set up a discovery call as well.
And we can talk more about what you have going on.
And then also too, like I said, I will have the offer put together for the blood chemistryanalysis.
And that provides a beautiful report.
mean, one that is just so incredibly fascinating.
So thank you so much for tuning in.
(32:24):
I hope that you found this episode valuable.
And I look forward to seeing you in the next one.
Bye.
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