What Does Your Health Data Dashboard Include?

December 02, 2013

What Does Your Health Data Dashboard Include?  


References:  See internally 


 People ask.  Do you know your height and weight?  Your glucose?  Your cholesterol?  After that they get lost.  


Here is my summary list so that you can think about it and start to construct what I think should be your critical data. 


 1.     Love.  Did you have love in your life today?  Did you care for someone? 

 2.     Laughter.  Did you seek out the humorous, the foibles, the funny?  Laugh kindly. 

 3.     Optimism.  See the world as a glass half full.   Add 8 years to your life. ...then..... 

 4.     Height and weight.  Then you can calculate your BMI.  < 25 is good as a general rule.  Muscular men are miscalculated. 

 5.     Waist Size.  (<30 for women,  < 35 for men) 

 6.     Blood pressure.  I want under 115/60.  Higher means more trouble. 

 7.     Percent body fat.   <10 % for men,  < 15% for women.  That’s ideal 

 8.     Fasting blood glucose.   Under 86.   Every point over 86 is a 5% increased risk for developing diabetes. 

 9.     Cholesterol.   Solely for the purpose of seeing if you are elevated and have many small particles.  If so, it simply means you are overwhelming your ability to digest and process glucose.  (Carbs)  Total Chol/HDL < 3.5 

 10. Balanced hormones.  For men and women.  Gender based.  Good for bones, brains, hearts, cancers, intimacy, sleep, mood…… 

 11. Insulin.  It’s your storage hormone.  We don’t want you storing.  Normal is not 2-22, it’s < 5.  Aim to get your insulin down to < 5

 12.   HgbA1c.    Ideal is < 5.1.  Perfect is 4.8.  Not < 5.7 

 13. CRP.  C-Reactive Protein.  It’s the summary of inflammation.  < 0.8 is good. 

 14. IL-6.  Inflammatory interleukin that stimulates CRP.  ( < 12 pg) 

 15.  Uric Acid.  I want you 4.5-5.5.  Not higher.  Uric acid rises with your fructose consumption, and soaks up your nitric oxide.  Blood pressure rises. 

 16. Vitamin D. Should be at least 32, and preferably over 45.  55-75 probably ideal. 

 17. B12.  Optimal should be at least 500.  I aim for 1000.   Normal is not > 250. 

 18. Fibrinogen:  A clotting protein that is a surrogate measure for how sticky your blood is, or how viscous it is.  We like the FiF method.  (200-400) 

 19. Lp(a).  It’s genetic with no real drugs to lower it but a real risk factor.  Fish oil, exercise, maybe Niacin and lumbrokinase may help lower it.   Or Vit C with L-Lysine and L-Proline.  We want you under 16. 

 20. Homocysteine.  Real risk for heart disease.  We like 8-9 or so.  Not 15!   Means your B12 detox system isn’t working.  Easy to take B12, folate and B6 and lower it a lot. 

 21. Ferritin.  Your blood iron storage.  Too much damages your pancreas.  Too little, thyroid may not work well.  We like 80-100.  If high, give blood. 

 22.  Cardiac Calcium Scoring.  We like a score of 0.  Under 100 is still moderate but above is high risk.  We want to reduce it, if it’s over 10. 

 23. Flexibility:  Can you touch your hands behind your back?  Or reach your toes when sitting against a wall?   Hmm.   Yoga, anyone? 

 24. Strength.  Can you squeeze your hands tightly?  Lift a bag of salt?  There are age and gender adjusted tables with norms. 

 25. Balance.  Can you stand on one foot and keep your balance? (With your eyes closed) Again – tables to predict your risk 

 26. Fitness.  How many Canadian sit-ups can you do in a minute?  How many times can you stand up on an 18 inch step in 3 minutes?  How fast is your heart after you stop, and how quickly does it return to normal?  (Tables for age and gender)  Your fitness is key to keeping your brain in shape. 

 27.  Sleep.  Are you sleeping at least 7 hours a night? 

 28. Vegetables.  Are you eating at least 7 servings a day? 

 29. Bowel movements.  Your colon is your detox organ.  If you are constipated, you are not detoxing.  Your liver can be all juiced up, but…. 

 30. Fiber.  40 grams a day and many illnesses taper off dramatically.


WWW. What will work for me.  I’m trying to assemble this list for myself and my customers.  I’m happy to hear comment, support or critique as we work on this list together.  Suggestions about what to add?  Limits to change?  Not happy with the waist size?  Hmmm.   It is the time of year to consider what you will do next year.  And remember,  love first, laugh second and see the possibilities.  One, two and three come first.


  Pop Quiz 


 1.   People should dramatically reduce their cholesterol.  T or F                Answer: Nonsense. Studies from Norway show that women live longer with cholesterol over 200.    When we finally come to our sane minds, we will realize that "high cholesterol' is all about overwhelming the ability of our metabolism to process and transport carbs.  Want to lower your cholesterol naturally, go off carbs completely for two weeks and watch what happens.  I'll help if you want. 2.  We should laugh often and see the  world with an optimistic eye?  T or F                   Answer:   Dramatically true.  The Elm Grove Nun's Study shows that a lifetime of optimistic attitude leads to living 8 years longer. This is as powerful as most any other strategy.  I live in Elm Grove.  The nuns are now all in their 90s, if still alive. 

 3.   Our waist sizes should be 40 inches for men and 35 for women.  T or F                Answer:  Only if you are willing to accept the metabolic syndrome as your fate.  Our natural waist sizes should be below 30 for women and 35 for men. 

 4.  Our normal insulin should be between 2-22.  T or F                      Answer:  Only T if your believe our lab results from our hospitals.  That's what we observe as the range in our population.  The problem: our whole population is in trouble  You want less than 5.  One of your most important Vital Signs. 

 5.   Normal fiber intake should be 14 grams for each 100 pounds of weight.   T or F                 Answer:  Only if you believe the ADA.  Even that would raise our average total of 14 grams.  But pretty good studies suggest that getting to 40 grams a day will make heart disease plummet. 

 6.   Being physically fit is more important that being skinny.  T or F                  Answer:  TRUE.  Being fit is Magic Potion # 2.  (MP # 1 is Love)  The benefits of fitness are so huge, there is no threshold below which you can't measure a benefit.  Taking one flight of stairs extra each day is enough to be better for you. 

7.   I get along with 5 hours of sleep.  Is that enough?                   Answer:  Nope. 8 is best. 

8.   I want a blood sugar of 124 or less.                        Answer:  You must never have read this column before.  The Whitehall Study from England, so huge and so comprehensive, not likely to ever be duplicated, showed that for every point over 86, you increase your risk of diabetes by 5%.  And with diabetes you get Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, kidney failure - you choose. 

 9.   If you got this far, #1 is? Love, laugh and see half full.   


This column was written by John E Whitcomb, MD, Brookfield Longevity, Brookfield, WI.

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