#39 - How Using BIOMARKERS Can Help Increase Your Motivation

HI THERE!

Super excited to tell you about one of Thriving Lifestyles new partnerships with Valeo and reason why I am so excited to welcome them aboard, is because it is so important to use measurable  BIOMARKERS on your health journey to increase motivation and take out some of the guess work.

Previously I have talked about how  you can boost your motivation by tracking your progress.  (READ MORE)

But a super short summary of that is that we measure we can improve.

Many of our goals like getting stronger, and more flexible or weight loss we can measure in KG, circumference, distance, time  ect. But as you know on our health and fitness journeys, not everything can be measured by external markers, and we often need to do biomarker testing to find out what is actually going on inside our bodies so that we can make informed decisions.

This is why I have been on the hunt for a good solution to help making tests like this more affordable and a part of the coaching process at Thriving Lifestyles where that is relevant. Full disclosure, I do get affiliate payments when you use my code EIK15 at the time of your booking, this way you support me in covering topics like this and you get a better price.

WIN WIN for everyone.

Lets dive in:

Short background, Valeo is a health tech company that offers super convenient solutions for residents in the UAE to get affordable testing in the comfort of their own house. Their very efficient process makes it affordable and easy to get your biomarkers tested, consult with specialists and elevate your health literally from the click of a button.

Reason why I am so excited to partner with VALEO is that sneak peaking under the hood, seeing what is going on inside is such an important part of a health journey, regardless if you are trying to get healthy, lose weight or optimize your performance. By testing biomarkers you will get straight forward answer where YOU need to set your focus, and when it comes to making informed healthy habit changes, based of what is actually going on inside your body.

This means that instead of implementing 100 healthy habits picked out randomly by feel like eating more oranges for vitamin C, 30 min sun exposure for vitamin d, drink more, get more sleep, stay away from red meat, eat more intestine and liver for vitamins and minirals and do ice baths for lower inflammation..... I mean sure all of these are good advice, but we only have 24 hours in the day, and I doubt you have time/energy to implementing them all and then just hoping one of them is right and brings you results.

The more preferred option if your budget allows it, is to regularly (every 3-12 monthts) do a biomarker test  to figure out what is relevant for YOU individually, where you can make a change that will move your health needle forward and is not just a general advice.

You can get tested, literally from a click of a button

In the process of preparing for this review, I tested out their services to see what the process was like, and I can only say I am impressed.

Using their very intuitive application, you go through the following steps:

1. You pick a relevant blood test / health test for your goals, make sure to use the code EIK15 for a 15% discount when you book the through their application selecting a convenient time and location for your test (note some of the test you need to be 8-10 hours fasting beforehand)

2. On the day you selected a nurse shows up at your doorstep to collect the samples, it takes about 10-15 min.

3. Your results will be ready in 3-5 days and you can keep track of the process of your results on the application. Once the results are ready you can access a "Highlights" &  super easy read full version with all details on the app or download it as a medical report on a PDF format.

4. About 1-2 working days after your results are ready, a specialist will review your results and give you a written summary of what they mean.

5. You also have the availability to book in for a complimentary consultation with the specialist to further go over your medical history and possibilities to implement / treatment options.

6. From there you just need implement the recommendation, treatment or habits. This is where a health coach like myself can be useful, if you need further help with braking the advice down into actionable steps you can track.

7. Back to step 1, retest and see how you are doing on your biomarkers and if your healthy habits are delivering the results intended.

How it helps with motivation:

I know you are probably like me, and when you get science backed advice that shows black on white what you need too do, or in this case thanks to a very visual application red instead of green results I find it so much more empowering to make the given change. 

This round of tests highlighted elevated liver and kidney levels that indicated I was dehydrated you probably have not seen me without my water bottle by my side, I have also been more deliberate in my food choices and taking my cooldown more seriously to improve my overall health. All while stop worrying as much about other habits such as sun exposure, since my vitamin D levels were absolutely fine - now I just fit it in when I can.

How to go from here?

I do hope you find this useful if you are in the process of contemplating IF YOU SHOULD use biomarker testing as a part of your fitness journey. If you want to have a peak into what is going on inside your body, with the googles of health and performance first, not neccisseraly looking for illness or things that is wrong. Make sure to consider using VALEO’s services. Here is the link to Valeo health and last time use EIK15 for a 15% discount of your testing.

Let me know in comments what you think about using biomarkers as bench mark for your healthy habits.