METABOLIC HEALTH PROFILE

This profile started off as the Cardiac and Diabetes Checkup but I've since come to the understanding that these are really just two of many symptoms of general metabolic dysfunction.

It is designed to provide insight into whether or not you are already suffering from the ravages of general metabolic dysfunction - in other places known as syndrome x. It's called a 'syndrome' because the medical profession doesn't know what causes it. They've identified the symptoms - obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood glucose ... but the cause is high levels of insulin in the system, induced by a sedentary lifestyle and a reliance on flour and sugar to fuel the body. (Believe it or not, the Australian Dietary Guidelines encourage this type of eating behaviour with the recommended dosage of bread being between 8 and 24 slices a day.)

Theoretically it's blood insulin levels that we should be measuring in this profile, but it's going to take a few months before I can get my head around the sorts of scores we should expect of fit and healthy people.

In the meantime measuring some of the symptoms will have to suffice.

General metabolic dysfunction, stimulated by growing levels of insulin are triggering dysfunction in all manner of body systems. It's an underlying cause of the well known cardio-vascular dysfunctions. Simply lowering cholesterol levels with a statin, without lowering insulin levels with diet, exercise and stress management is a dangerous, gigantic medical hoax. High cholesterol is not due to a lack of Lipitor!

I highly suspect that general metabolic dysfunction is the root cause of more and more cases of depression. If you keep yourself fit and healthy the likelihood of becoming depressed is dramatically reduced. If you are depressed, then getting fit and healthy is a sure-fire pathway to getting better. That's a definite, proven fact. Depression is definitely not caused by a lack of Zoloft!

Remember, it's a big ask expecting to stay healthy without keeping yourself fit.

The general metabolic dysfunction profile is unique because it includes

1.  Stress

•    Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Profile

2.  Lifestyle habits

•    Smoking behaviour

•    Body composition

3.  Fundamental measures of health status

•    Blood pressure

•    Total blood cholesterol

•    Blood glucose

4.  Fitness

•    Aerobic fitness

The aerobic fitness test is the fundamental test of body system function. If fitness is low, then there is a high likelihood that you're on the way to falling victim to general metabolic dysfunction, the symptoms of which are obesity, high blood pressure, high blood insulin, high blood cholesterol and high blood glucose.

Not to include a measure of aerobic fitness in the mix of cardiac and diabetes tests misses the point.

SCORING

The pass-mark on each item is 7/10. It is readily achievable by people of working age who keep themselves in reasonable shape.

Add the appropriate co-efficient (based on the rating of importance of the item in an health and fitness profile) to your raw score.

													Score
1.	Age
	>75	75	70	65	60	55	50	45	40	35	<30
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2.	Body composition How close are you to your ideal weight? Scores based on percent body fat - measurable on Tanita scales.   Weight Kg ........  Percent body fat ........
M	>36	<36	<34	<32	>30	<28	<26	<24	<22	<20	<18
W	>46	<46	<44	<42	>40	<38	<36	<34	<32	<30	<28
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
3.	Aerobic fitness 20m run. How many laps can you run in 5 minute? (20m equals one lap. Down and back is 2 laps.) Not having an aerobic exercise program is inconsistent with good health behaviour. No. ....
	<22	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
4.	Aerobic training sessions a week Of at least 30 minutes duration and with heart rate over 120 Bpm
	<22		1		2		3		4		5
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
5.	Blood glucose - on-fasting - mmol/l ........... Score 0 if on medication
	>10	<10.0	<9.0	<8.5	<8.0	<7.5	<7.0	<6.5	<6.0	<5.5	<5.0
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
6.	Cholesterol - unfasted - mmol/l ........ Score 0 if on medication
	>8.5	<8.5	<8.0	<7.0	<6.5	<6.0	<5.5	<5.0	<4.6	<4.3	>4.0
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
7.	Systolic blood pressure Normal is 120 for men and 110-120 for women. Score 0 if on medication.
	>160			<160	<155	<150	<145	<140	<135	<130	<125
	0			3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
8.	Diastolic blood pressure Normal is 80 for men and 70 - 80 for women. Score 0 if on medication.
	>110			<110	<105	<100	<97	<95	<90	<87	<85
	0			3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
9.	Smoking behaviour If you smoke score zero. Smoking is inconsistent with good health behaviour.
	If you smoke score 0					If you don't smoke score 10
10.	Health Climate Survey The body is an ecosystem; all parts are connected, particularly the mind and the body. The body doesn't lie! What was your score on the Health Climate Survey?
	>120	120	100	80	70	60	50	40	30	20	<20
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10			x1
												Score/100

Attained more than 7/10 on all items   Yes  o    No   o

Attained more than 70/100                   Yes  o    No o

YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS IS ASSESSED AS: -

However, the good news is that at any score there's a fair chance the poor metabolic health is redeemable, providing you do the things that fit and healthy people do to keep themselves fit and healthy.

Keep in mind that very few people ever got fit and healthy in a surgery or a pharmacy and very few people ever got fit and healthy by someone doing something to them; sooner or later they had to do something to themselves.

GUNNADO

So what are you gunnado to get yourself back into exceptionally good shape.

Click here and go to the front page of Fit and Healthy Online. From there go to the ebook store.

Integrated Health Systems

7 Salvado Place, Stirling (Canberra) ACT 2611 Australia

61 2 6288 7703