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#32 Why we TEST & don’t guess
33 Plays8 days ago
The Bean Talk - Episode 32: Why we TEST & don’t guess
This week, Riannon and Jeremy dive into one of the most important pillars of naturopathic and preventative health: testing. They discuss why testing is so important for health and why at Mungbean Health, we test instead of guessing.
Riannon and Jeremy also discuss the importance of getting tests done before you notice something is wrong. Especially when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and trying to conceive.
They outline what to test for, how frequently you should test, and unpack the difference between results that are ‘within range’ vs ‘optimal’.
Connect with us on Instagram @mungbean_health or visit mungbeanhealth.com for expert support.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Bean Talk Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to The Bean Talk with me, Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother, joined by my trusted partner in life and in the mission of Mungbean Health, Jeremy. Here at Mungbean Health, we're on a mission to unlock the secrets of fertility and natural wellbeing episode at a time.
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello, welcome to another episode with Rhiannon and Jeremy, The Bean Talk, but The Mighty Beans. Welcome back, guys. We are happy to have you, as always. Yep.
00:00:35
Speaker
Our one listener. Thanks for tuning in. We love you. Amazing.
Evening Routines for Wellbeing
00:00:41
Speaker
We're back to chat about health, obviously, as we always do. But let's start with our little bean and big bean.
00:00:46
Speaker
What do you got for me, Jeremy? Exercising, drinking some tea at night. Love that. Yes. little bit of a wind down yeah situation. Yeah. What have you been drinking?
00:00:57
Speaker
mainly puka teas just like our little pukas we put in the order yeah yep amazing love to hear that I noticed that a lot of naturopaths do that now although this was my idea many years ago and you know how I know I believe that I was the first because I remember thinking I see other brands will put like lollies or chocolate like adore beauty would put tim tams in there and I was like I want to do that and I was like it took ages for me to think of it so I'm like And then there's all these other naturopaths out there putting puka in their orders, hey? Yeah. Is it puka or puka? don't know, puka, puka, but... Puka teas.
00:01:33
Speaker
It's cute. P-U-K-K-A. Yep. They're delicious. They're amazing. You get in every order with us, you get a random flavor. So please don't put it in the bin. Drink it. Make it a part of your nighttime routine.
00:01:46
Speaker
Little bean and big bean for me. I've definitely been smashing the water. Like I've been hitting my two liters every day, which... I'm definitely a better water drinker than Jeremy, I'd say, but it still can be hard in winter to get to the two liters. I've been smashing that.
00:01:58
Speaker
And what else have I been doing? What's your big bean? That's probably my big bean, to be honest with you. What bean? I have been trying to do some deep breathing.
00:02:09
Speaker
Oh, I don't know if that's big or little or what. Anyway, get outside, get your shoes off, put your feet in the grass and stare at a tree and take three. No, let's make that five. Five deep breaths.
00:02:20
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Five deep breaths.
00:02:24
Speaker
And then watch how that supports your nervous system. And stress less. I know. And if your kids are being psycho, because they do that, just inside just go outside just get outside, even if you get out with them, if they're young and go and stare at a tree and take some deep breaths, even get them to do it with you. They'll love it Might regulate this nervous system.
The Importance of Health Testing
00:02:41
Speaker
We've been pumping through the testing as we always do in clinic. And it just made us think a little bit more about how important it is that we test and we do not guess. so i thought it'd be good for us to talk a little bit more about that today. Too often, we only engage with our health, and this is like for the general public, when something feels off or wrong.
00:03:00
Speaker
But what if we approached it like we do with like our cars or our finances, if we thought about it like that? Regular servicing, tracking and optimizing before there's a problem.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. Isn't that just smart to you? Prevention is better than cure, as the old saying goes. So today we're going to dive into one of the most important pillars of naturopathic and preventional health.
00:03:26
Speaker
Testing. Why we test instead of guessing. And I see this so much in clinic where people will present in a certain way and then the testing comes back different. I'll see it all the time, like with different things.
00:03:38
Speaker
And it doesn't matter how experienced you are as a naturopath or even as a doctor, you should be testing to see what it's like because everyone presents in their own way. And there's obviously rare and random things that pop up at times. So always good to just get that back up. I think as a good practitioner, you know what you're looking for. That's why you go and order the testing.
00:03:57
Speaker
And then it's like confirming essentially. Very good. Yeah, you did the some cortisol testing. Yeah. But that was a while ago now. Now you need to just go to the GP and get some updated bloods. Yeah.
00:04:08
Speaker
The vitamin D, the B12 folate, those type of things. Here is the hard truth. Symptoms don't show up out of nowhere. And waiting for things to get bad enough or worse to show up on a blood test is not healthcare.
00:04:23
Speaker
That's damage control, unfortunately. So we want to talk about why testing is essential. We'll dive into when to test, how frequently you should test, and how to know the difference between what is within range versus what is optimal, because there is a big difference. So why is it essential?
00:04:41
Speaker
Testing allows us to catch imbalances before they snowball into a disease, right? Okay, let's use blood sugar as an example here. You may not have diabetes, but your fasting glucose or insulin is creeping up.
00:04:57
Speaker
or your HbA1c, so your long-term blood sugar levels, is edging towards the higher end of the range. That's the moment to intervene. This is when we want to come in and change some things, hence why we order the testing.
00:05:12
Speaker
Not after it turns into diabetes and you need to turn to lifelong medications or Obviously, type two diabetes is reversible, but you know, you can catch it before where you you're just like, oh, pull back on that or let's get some herbs in or change that up or let's support your body or have protein in the morning rather than being like, oh my gosh, I need to change my entire life.
00:05:33
Speaker
Little steps. Yes. Little baby steps. So what could we do instead in this case? So every single one of our clients will typically undergo blood test screening after their initial consultation.
00:05:46
Speaker
This is a way for us to utilize their symptoms as well as their results to support their health needs. Then we would take we would test quite regularly after that, depending on the case and what it looks like. For routine check-ins, we suggest every six to 12 months or whatever your practitioner does actually think is optimal. But If there is a marker that is not optimal, we might even look at it every six to 12 weeks, depending what it looks like.
00:06:14
Speaker
While we'd be using nutrition in the background, movement, stress support, and targeted supplementation to bring nutrition. everything into balance before there's the actual damage.
00:06:26
Speaker
The same applies to thyroid function, inflammatory markers, and we know inflammation is the number one cause of disease, liver health, and so much more. Another great example of optimizing our nutrient levels is and regular testing is around preconception, not pregnancy. So don't wait until you're pregnant.
00:06:48
Speaker
Understand sometimes things happen and you fall pregnant and then obviously you're going to get the nutrients into you. But if you can do something before, you're going to make sure your nutrient stores are built up, inflammation's down, everything's in working. We often discuss how important it is to optimize your nutrition levels before you fall pregnant to reduce risk of deficiencies in pregnancy and postpartum. The naturopathic pregnancies are always the best postpartum.
00:07:14
Speaker
I see it. It's amazing. Especially when I see someone who's already had a baby and they didn't do any naturopathy and then they come to us and they have a baby and like, they're like, I just feel so good this postpartum and last postpartum, I felt like an absolute so wreck. And it's because that we've done the work for them and they've been taking their supplements.
00:07:30
Speaker
then Exactly. Yes. Postpartum depletion is real. It's very common for couples to only start nutritional care either when they fall pregnant or once they have identified something is wrong.
00:07:45
Speaker
The harsh truth is that by this point, the couple is already quite desperate to fall pregnant, which is understandable. And that can make things really hard because they want it to happen yesterday. So a great thing to do in this case is once you and your partner have had the initial discussion about starting your family, go get routine screening done and start on a prenatal support as soon as you can. At the very least, 100 days before because that influences egg quality.
00:08:12
Speaker
but And for men, it's shorter, about 74-ish
Pre-Conception Health and Nutrition
00:08:15
Speaker
days. But men need to do it as well. It's not just a woman job. So four to six months is the sweet spot. I'm like six months you should be.
00:08:23
Speaker
If you want to fall pregnant in 2026, you should have already started supporting yourself. Doesn't matter if it's first pregnancy, second pregnancy, sixth pregnancy, eighth pregnancy, doesn't matter.
00:08:34
Speaker
What if your GP won't test because you haven't started to try to conceive yet? Don't they usually say 12 months? Yeah, good point. Unfortunately, it is annoying that they do that. But if your GP won't run testing, find a new one because you want a healthcare provider who supports you 110%, especially throughout your pregnancy. But while you are looking for the right GP, you can always utilize telehealth. And we as practitioners can also order any of the testing they can via like a private lab but obviously to keep costs down we do like you to obviously have that shared health as well between your GP and because you'll need a spot generally for a lot of people in the hospital when you're having your baby obviously can do home birth and everything but still have to make sure that there's the right people involved it's a nice what do you call it like combination care there's a word where it's like both care
00:09:27
Speaker
We both care. Dr. Naturopath, we care together. There's a word for that. I'm sure it'll come back to me. But yes, can absolutely utilize telehealth and find someone and do telehealth. I know that Instant Scripts actually have a great pathology bundle that can give you some routine and specialized testing all under Medicare as well.
00:09:45
Speaker
And they're quite cheap if you need to use them. Okay, so now we know why it is important to test and how often we should be testing. Let's chat about what the difference is between a marker that is within range versus optimal.
00:09:57
Speaker
So... We get this really often in clinic. i feel ABC, but my doctor says all of my levels are within range.
00:10:08
Speaker
So I guess we need to start with discussing what within range actually means. Unfortunately, they don't always cross over. When you get standard blood tests from your GP,
00:10:21
Speaker
Results are often interpreted within the general reference range. But what most people don't realize is these ranges are actually based on the average population, not the healthy population. i know it's a hard one to hear.
00:10:38
Speaker
They also include people with chronic illness, metabolic dysfunction, and inflammation. You're being compared to the average and don't always take into account things like specific age, diet, genetics, or fertility for that matter. Another big thing they do not take into account is prevention, unfortunately. What would be an example of something that might be within range, but isn't optimal?
Understanding Health Markers
00:11:03
Speaker
There are so many, but the main one we probably see is iron. The reference ranges for iron,
00:11:11
Speaker
actually this changes between clinics. I have seen it as low as 15, but generally it starts at 30. It's crazy. And let me tell you, an iron of 30 or ferritin of 30 would be leaving you feeling absolutely awful. And a 15 level, even worse.
00:11:31
Speaker
Depending on the individual, it will change the range. But let's say 30-year-old menstruating female trying to conceive, I would want her iron to be around a hundred, 15 to 30, hundred.
00:11:46
Speaker
And they also got really, really, really, really high. Again, reference range can be from like, but I've seen it 150. I've seen it 200 or 300. They actually put men and women together, which is ridiculous at one point. Cause obviously women, men's trait men don't.
00:12:01
Speaker
She's wild. Stupid. I don't know why they would even do that anyway. makes you wonder sometimes. But um we see so many times that our clients will come to us and they're actually told, my iron's fine. The GP said everything's fine.
00:12:16
Speaker
And it can be literally sitting at 31. Yeah, that's insane. It's like, they don't even tell you that, look, it's on the lower end. We'll retest in three months and see if it's lower or if it's grown from there. Eat lots of good quality meat until then.
00:12:29
Speaker
Or, you know, live... In leafy greens. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. iron rich foods. If it's really low though, it's always easier to get it up with. For sure. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, the liver is a good choice. You could do the capsules or whatever. And that's obviously a natural source of iron.
00:12:44
Speaker
So even if it's that close to being outside of the range, it won't be considered a problem, which is so upsetting. And that's inside and outside of pregnancy. Yeah, wild.
00:12:55
Speaker
It's ridiculous. Isn't it crazy? It's like literally one point. Like I've seen someone be 16 before when it was on a reference range. It was down to 15 and they were told they're fine. Like it's no problem. they're Like I don't feel fine. Yeah, I'm still tired. And then they go out thinking, oh, my gosh, I'm feeling crazy. I'm crazy. It's all in my head. Because the GP told me everything's fine. How can it all be fine? iron's very low.
00:13:15
Speaker
And then they come to us and we're like, actually, let me tell you, your iron is ah rubbish and you would be feeling this. So 10, like you can't even get out of bed. You can, i have had clients like eight and below before when their hemoglobin is tied up with it.
00:13:30
Speaker
Okay. That can be a really big problem. So hemoglobin, we want you to be around 135. If you're like mind got down after we need to like 70 or 80, 70 to 80.
00:13:42
Speaker
And like, that was like bedridden and couldn't get up. But I know people that have had 90 and feel like they are absolutely wiped. So anything close to a hundred is no good. And that's when you really struggle to get up.
00:13:53
Speaker
But yes, you'll be feeling tired. Like you'll be all day fatigue. If you're sitting at a, even a 31, you'll be like, why am I so tired? And then obviously your period comes, you bleed, maybe you've got a heavy bleed and that can also affect our iron and be affected by low iron. It's a bit of a catch 22 with that one.
00:14:11
Speaker
Plus our thyroid can be affected. And then that's obviously going to make us tired. Like so many different avenues. So if you're wanting to prevent disease, optimize your health and feel well, please don't take your everything looks fine as the only option, especially if you don't physically feel fine.
Trusting Your Health Intuition
00:14:30
Speaker
There is usually something underlying And we know our bodies best, like we know our babies and our children best. So you think something's off, use that to your advantage. And even if you just get a second opinion, even if you just come and see us as a naturopathic clinic and we look through your blood tests and support you that way and see, okay, if we can identify anything.
00:14:51
Speaker
And I'm telling you like 99% of the time, there's something coming up there, even though you've been told it's fine. We can also order for further tests as well. Like we love to do different hormone tests. We do cortisol testing, like we do full thyroid panels, which often that's a whole nother story, but often they won't do a full thyroid panel. They'll only do one thyroid hormone, which doesn't tell us the full picture.
00:15:13
Speaker
And whereas for us as naturopaths, we're always trying to find the root cause and actually get the full picture to make that call and looking at optimal reference ranges. Perfect. So I hope you've enjoyed today. Please follow us on Instagram, which is mungbean underscore health, TikTok mungbean underscore health.
00:15:31
Speaker
And visit visit our website, www.mungbeanhealth.com. And we can't wait to chat again. Thanks for tuning in. Bye.
00:15:54
Speaker
And that's a wrap on today's dose of wellness. I'm Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother. Thank you for joining us. Stay connected with us on Instagram at mungbin underscore health.