One of the biggest mindset shifts I encourage — especially in busy corporate crews — is this:

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👉 Don’t wait for a diagnosis to start paying attention to your health.
👉 Start measuring before things break.

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In Australia, we’re actually lucky.
Most basic blood tests are partially Medicare-covered when requested through your GP or medical centre — especially if there’s a rationale (age, fatigue, family history, weight change, metabolic risk, etc.).

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Onsite, I can assess things like BP, resting HR, waist measures, body composition, HbA1c, and lifestyle patterns.
But blood markers?
That’s where we step into next-level insight.

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Below are the key blood markers I believe are worth knowing, why they matter, and what “normal” generally looks like.

 

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The Key 6 Blood Markers (and Why I Care About Them)

 

🧪 Total & Free Testosterone

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Why it matters

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🔴 Drives muscle mass, strength, energy, recovery

🔴 Influences mood, motivation, libido, bone density

🔴 Low levels often show up as fatigue, weight gain, poor recovery, low drive

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What it tells you

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🔵 Total = how much testosterone is circulating

🔵 Free = how much is actually usable by your tissues (this is the important one)

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Typical reference ranges (men)

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🟢 Total testosterone: ~10–35 nmol/L

🟢 Free testosterone: lab-specific, but trends matter more than single numbers

📌 Important: Declining trends matter even if you’re “in range”.

 

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🧪 Estradiol (E2)

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Why it matters

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🔴 Females typically have a better understanding, but estrogen is not just a “female hormone”

🔴 Plays a role in fat distribution, cardiovascular health, libido, bone health

🔴 In men, high E2 often tracks with visceral fat and metabolic dysfunction

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What it tells you

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🔵 Hormonal balance rather than just hormone quantity

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Typical reference range

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🟢Men: ~40–160 pmol/L (lab dependent)

🟢 Women (very cycle-dependent):

~ Follicular phase: ~70–530 pmol/L

~ Ovulation peak: ~235–1,300 pmol/L

~ Luteal phase: ~200–790 pmol/L

~ Post-menopause: ~0–150 pmol/L

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📌 Important caveat:
In women, a single number means very little unless you know where you are in your cycle, whether you’re peri-menopausal, post-menopausal, or using hormonal contraception or HRT. Trends, symptoms, and timing matter far more than chasing a “perfect” value.  Best left to the experts.

📌 Balance matters more than chasing low or high numbers.

 

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🧪 ApoB (Apolipoprotein B)

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Why it matters

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🔴 One of the best predictors of cardiovascular risk

🔴 Better than total cholesterol alone

🔴 Reflects the number of atherogenic particles, not just how much cholesterol they carry

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What it tells you

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🔵How much “traffic” is flowing through your arteries

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Target ranges

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🟢 Optimal: <0.8 g/L

🟢 Elevated risk: >1.0 g/L

📌 If I had to pick ONE lipid marker — this is it.

 

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🧪 C-Reactive Protein (CRP – high sensitivity)

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Why it matters

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🔴 Marker of systemic inflammation

🔴 Chronic low-grade inflammation drives:

~ heart disease

~ insulin resistance

~ poor recovery

~ accelerated ageing

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What it tells you

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🔵 Whether your body is quietly inflamed

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Reference ranges

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🟢Low risk: <1.0 mg/L

🟢Moderate: 1–3 mg/L

🟢High: >3 mg/L

📌 Persistently elevated CRP deserves attention — not panic, but action.

 

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🧪 Ferritin (Iron Stores)

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Why it matters

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🔴 Reflects iron storage, not just iron intake

🔴 Too low = fatigue, poor exercise tolerance

🔴 Too high = oxidative stress, metabolic and cardiovascular risk

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What it tells you

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🔵 Whether your iron status is balanced

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Typical ranges

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🟢Men: ~30–300 µg/L

🟢Women: ~15–150 µg/L

📌 More is NOT better — balance is the goal.

 

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🧪 Vitamin D

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Why it matters

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🔴Immune function

🔴Muscle strength

🔴Bone health

🔴Mood and inflammation regulation

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What it tells you

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🔵Your baseline resilience — especially important for indoor workers and shift crews

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Target range

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🟢Optimal: 75–150 nmol/L

🟢Insufficient: <50 nmol/L

📌 One of the simplest things to fix — yet commonly low.

 

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Why This Matters (Big Picture)

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These markers:

✔️ Don’t wait for symptoms

✔️ Don’t require extreme testing

✔️ Give early warnings, not just diagnoses

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The Take-Home Message

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This isn’t about medicalising your life.
It’s about owning your health early, not outsourcing it until things go wrong.

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I’ll keep doing the onsite basics — BP, HR, HbA1c, waist, body comp, lifestyle audits — because they matter - CLICK HERE
But blood markers?
This is where the deeper story lives.

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Food Marketing Isn’t About Food — It’s About Your Brain

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Highly processed, mass-produced food isn’t designed to nourish you.

It’s designed to:

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🧠 Grab attention - Trigger desire - Create urgency - Override fullness

🧠 And it all starts with visuals.

🧠 Bright colours - Perfect shine - Slow-motion pours - Impossible symmetry

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Your brain reads these cues as:

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“Energy-rich. Safe. Rewarding. Eat now.”

Even when your body doesn’t need a thing.

 

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The Visual Tricks They Use (They’re Very Good at It)

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.1. Colour Manipulation

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Red and yellow dominate fast food for a reason.

🔴 Red = urgency, hunger

🟡 Yellow = comfort, familiarity

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Ever notice how real food looks muted…
While junk food screams in HD?

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Brightness = reward in the brain (dopamine central)

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2. Portion Distortion

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Food is photographed:

🍕 Bigger than real life

🍕 Taller, not wider

🍕 Up close, filling your vision

🍕 Your brain compares size, not calories.

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Big image = normal serve
Normal serve = eat more

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3. Gloss & Shine

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That burger bun?

🍔 Oiled

🍔 Lit

🍔 Digitally enhanced

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Shine signals fresh and desirable — even when reality disappoints.
The brain remembers the image, not the meal.

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4. Motion = Appetite

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🍫 Dripping chocolate.
🍫 Stretching cheese.
🍫 Pouring sauces.

Movement keeps the brain engaged and drops restraint — just like the spiral illusion.

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When food moves, appetite switches on.

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What’s Happening Upstairs?

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Visual food cues:

🧠 Light up dopamine and anticipation

🧠 Bypass fullness signals

🧠 Quiet decision-making centres

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Translation: You want food before your stomach has a say.

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That’s why:

🍘 Ads create cravings

🍘 “Just one more” happens

🍘 Late-night sugar feels logical

This isn’t weakness. It’s wiring.

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I bang on about this a lot — and for good reason.
Nutrition only works when it matches the human, the lifestyle, and the load.

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So here’s a clean, real-world comparison using two people at completely different ends of the spectrum.

🤽🏻‍♀️ Annie 🥩

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Age: 20

Life: Full-time elite athlete + part-time uni

Sport: Australian Water Polo

Training load: ~26 hrs/week (often 2 sessions/day)

Challenges:

• Recovery between sessions

• Low iron risk

• Maintaining muscle size & power

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The goal

∴ Fuel performance

∴ Recover fast

∴ Maintain muscle & power

∴ Protect iron & bone health

👉 Under-fueling is the enemy — not carbs.

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A week of eating — Annie-style

Early training fuel

• Banana + honey wrap or oats + yoghurt

Why:

∴ Muscle glycogen = performance currency

∴ Fast carbs protect intensity

Post-session (within 30–60 min)

• Protein + carbs

• Smoothie with whey, berries, oats

• Or eggs + GF toast + fruit

Why:

∴ Muscle repair window

∴ Refill glycogen for session #2

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Main meals

• Large protein serves (fish, beef, chicken, eggs)

• Rice, pasta, potatoes, wraps

• Colourful veg

Why:

∴ Muscle turnover is constant

∴ Carbs spare protein from being burnt

∴ Iron focus

∴ Red meat 4–5×/week

∴ Spinach, legumes + vitamin C pairings

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Bloods monitored

Why:

∴ Oxygen delivery = endurance

∴ Female athletes are high-risk

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Evening

• Carb-inclusive dinner

• Cottage Cheese or yoghurt before bed

Why:

∴ Supports overnight recovery

∴ Maintains lean mass

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Annie’s nutrition truth

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Food is training equipment.
Eat enough — or adapt downward.