InsideTracker Review - Optimizing Biomarkers to Help Reach Your Goals
When I decided to get blood work done last month, I went to the InsideTracker site to get a list of tests I should consider taking. I was already thinking of using their DIY testing option - you get the tests done through your health insurance or primary doctor and then upload the results to their site after you receive them. They also have options where you don’t have to deal with your doctor at all, order the tests you want, and just head to your nearest Quest Diagnostics site for the blood work and it all gets loaded directly into their system. The downside with doing it through my doctor was the waiting time. The upside was that my insurance covered quite a bit of it. You definitely have some options when it comes to what plan you choose and how you get it done.
Back to the test list - there were several tests I hadn’t been tested for in a few years (including B12) along with some that wouldn’t normally be tested by my doctor who doesn’t specialize in working with endurance athletes (like Creatine Kinase). When my doctor got the results, he was initially concerned with my B12 and D3 levels and recommended supplementing for those. My Creatine Kinase was high, but I did my blood work the day after a speed workout which affected this reading. If you’re unfamiliar, Creatine Kinase is a signal for muscle or heart damage (hence why it would be higher after a hard workout = muscle damage), but continuously high levels or high levels when you aren’t in training could signal over training among other things. My doctor confirmed my levels were ok given that I’d just done a workout. Everything else he was fine with.
I still wanted to consider and use the recommendations from InsideTracker, so I purchased the DIY Advanced Test. The first thing InsideTracker has you do is answer questions about your current diet, supplementation, exercise level, and goals (i.e. build strength, build endurance, prevent injury, improve metabolism, etc - I chose build endurance as my goal), and then you load in your test results or enter them in manually. Super easy.
Ranking System - Red, Yellow, Green
The biggest perk to InsideTracker is that while you may show up in what is considered a “normal” range, your body may not be optimized for your goals. They also rank things with red (at risk), yellow (needs work), and green (optimized) to help you focus on those areas that are hindering your health/performance the most. Items are grouped together - for example, there is the Liver Enzyme Group made up of Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), and Albumin. My ALT was ranked as yellow (needs work), AST was high and ranked red (at risk), and my Albumin was green or optimized. This put my liver group in the yellow category and something I need to work on as a whole.
Let’s talk a bit more about the Red Groups or At Risk groups. These were the ones I really needed to pay attention too ASAP. I had two red groups- Testosterone and B12. As I’ve already shared, I immediately started supplementing with B12 at the advise of my doctor to fix that and I saw improvements within 2 weeks of supplementing regularly. Let’s go into the Testosterone group because this was really interesting to me and I want you to see what InsideTracker provides you:
Testosterone:
Made up of 3 biomarkers: Testosterone, SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin) and DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate). My Testosterone was optimized, but my SHBG was high and my DHEAS was low. Optimal levels of these 3 are important for normal hormone function. High SHBG can negatively affect your sex drive, memory, and overall energy level. Low levels of DHEAS can cause weakness and fatigue.
This is the reading for my entire Testosterone group.
InsideTracker includes recommendations for you that are all ranked on a scale of 1-5 stars, with 5 being the strongest. All recommendations are based off of scientific articles that you can reference. The strongest recommendation under my hormone group was that “the use of hormonal contraceptives (including any past use!) is associated with lower levels of B12, DHEAS, higher levels of SHBG, creatine kinase.” Literally all of my levels were exactly that - low B12, DHEAS and high SHBG and CK. I took birth control for 12 years and only got off of it 1.5 years ago. This could still be affecting my levels.
This is my Testosterone reading. You can see the rating system and how to apply some of the recommendations.
This is my SHBG reading. Inside Tracker provides the science behind what you’re looking at.
You can see the hormonal recommendation that showed up on each individual biomarker in my Testosterone group is rated 4 stars so I would take that recommendation for my levels seriously.
While a biomarker may be red (like my AST), it may not make the entire group red. That’s why it’s important to look at the Red and Yellow groups and focus on the red and yellow biomarkers and the specific recommendations.
Nutrition Recommendations
InsideTracker offers you nutrition recommendations that are specifically targeted towards improving each group of biomarkers. The food recommendations can seem a bit overwhelming at first. For example, under the inflammation group, it recommends eating pecans and almonds to improve this group, with the recommended serving showing 1 cup, 7 days/week. That’s a lot of nuts to consume each day!
Once you click on the little question mark in the top right of each box though, it gives you a more complete explanation of the recommendation. For almonds (shown below) it recommends a one ounce serving, 4 times/week. It also gives you a recipe you can click on that includes this ingredient. The recipe usually combines many of the foods recommended to you and will tell you what biomarkers it improves. The Almond Oat Bars are something I should definitely consider making because it improves the Testosterone Group, Liver Enzyme Group, Inflammation Group, Lipid Group, and DHEAS which are all red or yellow groups/biomarkers for me.
I focused on finding the recipes that hit a lot of my biomarkers or things that showed up in each group as a recommendation to incorporate into my diet. One of the things that showed up in almost every red or yellow group of mine was wheat germ. I’d never heard of it, but it was only $3 for a bag of it, so I picked some up. It’s flaky and InsideTracker tells you what it’s good for - iron, folate (a B vitamin), Vitamin E, and magnesium. I’ve been adding a tablespoon to my yogurt, oatmeal, or smoothie each day and that was a quick easy change I could make to get in a nutrient dense food.
InsideTracker has an awesome Food Basket tool that you can use when thinking of what to buy each week. You can click the main things you want to focus on fixing. It also allows you to go through different food preferences for what you do or don’t like in different categories (i.e. meat, beans, startches, dairy, vegetables) or check off a specific dietary preference (paleo, keto, etc) and it then creates a food basket recommendation based on that along with a recipe. For example, I wanted to focus on my AST, B12, Creatine Kinase and Ferritin, so I checked those off and it gave me the below based on my food and dietary preferences. You can also get a calorie recommendation for your activity level which is also taken into account:
I also worked with a Registered Dietitian to fine tune my diet. We were working together prior to my InsideTracker results and she helped me figure out how to get more protein in my diet (which I was not getting enough of at all). Once I got the InsideTracker results, she’s made a point to help me get more B12 in my diet through food and recommended safe supplements to use since I needed those to get my B12 up.
Other Helpful Tools
Some other perks to the InsideTracker system are the Daily Actions and Reminders because accountability is everything isn’t it? Daily Actions are a few things you can check in on each day to make sure you are on track and complying with important things that will help your biomarkers. You can see the actions and check ins for these below:
Daily Actions allow me to check in and ensure I’m sticking to the biggest things that will help me reach my goals.
The other helpful tool for me was the Reminders. You can set up daily email or text reminders to check in on your Daily Actions or take your supplements. The reminder to take supplements is so helpful for me. I haven’t slipped up yet because I get the daily text to take them and the consistency of that is key to ensuring I remain stable with my B12, D and iron levels.
InsideTracker also offers great blog posts, research articles, and daily recipes for you to further your knowledge about how food affects our body and how to optimize our bodies for our goals.
Highly Recommend
I don’t even think I’m fully using all of the things that InsideTracker can do or offer, but I’m excited to continue using it as I progress in my running to get a clear picture of how I can fully optimize my body for the marathon and just to feel good. For those several weeks where my B12 deficiency was heavily affecting not just my running but my life in general, it made it clear to me how much I need to take my health into my own hands and Inside Tracker has helped me do that. I will likely update this blog post in the future as I continue to use Inside Tracker and all of their amazing features.
InsideTracker also offered a discount code for you to use when purchasing your first test! Code SUGARRUNS gets you a discount on any of their tests, including the DIY test that I used. If you use InsideTracker, please let me know how it helps you (because I know it will)!
Have you used Inside Tracker before?
J
