Chapter 9: The Gut Health Tests No One Told Me About (And How I Took Control of My Data)
This post is part of my ongoing Gut Healing Journey series, where I’ve been sharing – chapter by chapter – how I went from chronic reflux, bloating, and constant discomfort to finally finding relief through food, mindset shifts, and a lot of trial and error. Along the way, I explored conventional medicine, functional medicine, elimination diets, and the Plant Paradox approach that ultimately changed my trajectory. But one of the biggest breakthroughs wasn’t just what I ate; it was how I started to understand what was happening inside my body. In this chapter, I want to pull back the curtain on testing: what I learned about lab work, the markers most doctors don’t always check, and how I began connecting the dots to uncover the root cause of my symptoms.
Don’t Just Guess… Test
If you’ve been dealing with ongoing health issues, you’ve probably already experienced this:
Test after test… appointment after appointment… waiting for results… hoping for answers.
I certainly did.
And while many of those tests are important – and helped rule out serious conditions! – there came a point when I felt… weary of tests. Even a little cynical. Because despite all the testing, I still didn’t feel like I understood why my symptoms were happening.
That’s when a new question started forming in my mind:
👉 What if we’re not looking at all the right data points?
Not because doctors are doing anything wrong – but because conventional medicine is designed to look for certain things… and not always others.
That question opened a new door for me.
As I went deeper into the functional medicine world, I started hearing the same message over and over again:
“Don’t just guess… test.”
And I was definitely barraged with tests in the early stages of my illness. No one could fully identify where the reflux and shortness of breath was coming from. What was the root cause? So I was subjected to lipid panel blood tests, EKGs, a stress test for my heart, pulmonary tests for my lungs, a barium swallow, an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, multiple CT scans, multiple ultrasounds, stool tests, thyroid tests, HIDA scans, hormone tests. So many tests.
At first, I just let these tests “happen to me.” I waited for the doctors to make meaning out of them. But once I started taking responsibility for exploring alternate paths of healing, I began to hear about other kinds of tests. There were a whole set of biomarkers that kept coming up in the books I was reading and the podcasts I was listening to.
These tests weren’t part of my annual physical work-up, and they seemed important.
I wondered, “Can I ask my doctor to request these tests, too?”
I also started to hear about how these bio-markers changed once people started on the Plant Paradox diet (ie removed lectins from their food). And it made me wonder if I was looking at the “right” tests in combination as I tried to improve my gut health and increase my quality of life.
For example, one of the main data points that came up was this one:
1. Insulin Resistance Score
Honestly? I had never even heard the term insulin resistance before my healing journey. It wasn’t part of my vocabulary. It wasn’t something any of my doctors had ever talked about. And yet… it turns out to be one of the most important markers on your entire health dashboard.
Your insulin resistance score (called HOMA-IR) is calculated by taking:
(Fasting Insulin × Fasting Glucose) ÷ 405
An optimal score is typically under 1.5.
Here’s what surprised me: most doctors will check your fasting glucose (your blood sugar) during a routine physical – but they don’t usually check your fasting insulin at the same time. But they should, because these two markers together tell a much deeper story.
You can have a “normal” blood sugar… and still have a problem.
If your insulin is elevated, it means your body is working overtime behind the scenes to keep things stable. And when insulin stays elevated over time, it starts to create inflammation inside the body – often hidden!
That was the piece I didn’t understand at first.
Insulin isn’t just about sugar and diabetes! It’s also a signaling hormone. And when it’s high, it tells your body to go to war and shift into a more inflammatory state. It’s not the kind of inflammation you feel with pain, but more like a low-grade, constant “background fire” happening in your system.
And here’s where it connects to gut health: that inflammation can start to weaken the lining of your gut.
Your gut is supposed to be a tight barrier – selective about what gets through. But when inflammation is present, those tight junctions begin to loosen. The lining becomes more permeable. Things slip through that shouldn’t. This is what people call “leaky gut” or intestinal permeability.
And once that gut lining barrier is compromised, your immune system gets activated as foreign food particles get into your bloodstream! Then your digestion becomes less efficient, and symptoms like bloating, burping, and reflux can start to show up.
So when I learned about insulin resistance and its tie to inflammation, it changed how I thought about my symptoms. Instead of just asking:
“Why do I have reflux?”
I started asking:
“Do I have leaky gut? Is my body in a state that’s making it harder for my gut to heal?”
And that’s where this became exciting for me. Because HOMA-IR was a number I could actually track… and influence. As I started the Plant Paradox diet and made changes, I watched this number improve quickly – within 4 weeks – along with my symptoms!
And it made me wonder:
👉 Was shifting this number part of why my symptoms were getting better?
I can’t say it was the only reason – but I don’t think it was a coincidence.
You can see now why I was so excited to learn how to “interpret” one of my bio-markers. I wanted to learn what other key markers I could be looking at? How do they play off each other? Would I see a cascade effect on my health if I focused on that small list of key bio-markers?!…
For reference, these numbers are something every American should actively monitor:
- Fasting Glucose (optimal): ~70–85
- Fasting Insulin (optimal): ideally under 5–8
- HOMA-IR <1.5 – if it’s not, then change your diet for 4 weeks and retest!… until your number is within range
Once I started understanding insulin resistance, I realized it wasn’t the only marker I had misunderstood. Cholesterol was next.
2. Cholesterol: It’s More Than Just “High LDL”
I remember sitting in my gynecologist’s office as she reviewed my labs before starting hormone therapy. She paused and said: “You’ll want to follow up with your doctor about your high cholesterol.”
My LDL was technically high.
A year earlier, that would have sent me into a spiral. I would have assumed something was wrong… that I needed medication… that I had somehow made things worse. But this time was different. Because I had learned enough to know: That number didn’t tell the whole story.
So I rebutted: “Hold on. Can we look at the rest of my labs?”
I pulled them up in MyChart and pointed them out:
- My triglycerides were low
- My HDL (the “good” cholesterol) was strong
- My ApoB was excellent
- My Lipoprotein(a) was normal
She paused, looked again, and said:
“Oh… you’re right.” Suddenly the alarms bells were silenced, and we moved on.
That interaction is yet another example of how important it is to be informed and know how to interpret your own lab results in context.
For years, I thought cholesterol was just one number: LDL—the “bad cholesterol.” And if it was high, that meant something was wrong.
But cholesterol is a pattern—not a single number.
And the tricky part? Most standard blood tests only give you part of that picture.
A basic lipid panel usually includes:
- LDL
- HDL
- Triglycerides
But there are other important markers — like ApoB, particle size, and Lipoprotein(a) — that aren’t always included unless you ask for them. And those markers can completely change how you interpret your results.
Why This Matters
When doctors see a high LDL, it can raise a flag — and for good reason. In many cases, it does correlate with risk (because let’s face it… most Americans are eating a standard American diet high in processed foods and sugars).
But context matters. Because a high LDL alongside:
- high triglycerides
- low HDL
- elevated ApoB
👉 tells a very different story than a high LDL with everything else looking strong.
In my case, I had:
- improved my diet
- reduced inflammation
- and strengthened the rest of my markers
Yes, my LDL had gone up—but the pattern suggested something very different than what that single number implied.
The Big Takeaway
Don’t let one number define your health story.
If there’s one thing I want you to walk away with, it’s this:
Make sure you’re seeing the full picture.
That may mean asking for additional markers… or digging a little deeper into your labs… or simply understanding how the numbers relate to each other.
What became really fascinating to me is that as I changed my diet – especially when I went all-in on the Plant Paradox protocol – these numbers started to shift.
My triglycerides improved.
My inflammation markers came down.
My insulin resistance score improved.
And as those numbers moved in the right direction… my symptoms began to ease.
I can’t prove a perfect cause-and-effect relationship. But it certainly made me wonder:
👉 Was changing my food the thing that helped move these biomarkers… and in turn, helped my gut heal?
How I Started Tracking My Own Numbers
Once I started learning about how these biomarkers inter-relate, I had a new problem:
How do I actually get these tests done?
Because when I went to my regular doctor, not all of these were included in the standard panel. And when I asked about some of them, I could tell they just weren’t part of the normal workflow.
That’s when I realized something that honestly surprised me:
You don’t have to wait for your doctor to order these tests.
If you’re willing to pay out of pocket, you can request many of them yourself.
There are websites like requestatest.com where you can literally go online, select the test you want, pay for it, and then go into a local lab in Toledo like LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics to get your blood drawn. A few days later, you get your results.
That blew my mind. (I always thought you needed a doctor’s permission for everything).
And while insurance may not cover it if you go this route, many of these tests are actually pretty affordable. For example, I’ve checked my vitamin D levels for around $15.
Now some tests may still require a doctor’s request. For example, I requested a DXA bone density scan from my gynecologist when I started menopause. She pushed back and informed me that I didn’t need it yet, that insurance wouldn’t pay for it until I turned 65, etc. But I simply insisted that I wanted to have a baseline taken now, not wait until it may be too late at age 65, and that I was willing to pay for it. (It cost me around $150). She eventually wrote me a doctor’s order for it, but only because I stood up for myself and asked for it.
One option to be aware of is something called Function Health, an annual membership designed to put you back in the driver’s seat of your health, by giving you access to the right data that matters. With Function Health, I pay an annual fee of $365, and it includes:
- A very comprehensive panel of blood tests (including many of the ones I just mentioned that aren’t usually tested by conventional docs)
- Testing twice a year, so I can track progress over time
- A dashboard of results that shows trends and changes
- And most importantly, interpretation, helping me understand what the numbers actually mean
What I love most is that it turned my health into something I could track.
Instead of guessing, I can now see:
- “Oh, my omega-3 levels are low. I should work on that by eating more Omega-3 foods every week.”
- “My insulin resistance score looks great; keep doing what I’m doing.”
- “My LDL number went up over the last 6 months. Let me try a few things that lower LDL naturally like reducing coconut products, red meat, saturated fats. Then test myself in 3 months to see if it’s helping.”
It gave me a feedback loop.
👉 Test → adjust → retest → refine
And that has been incredibly empowering. It also forced me to learn. I no longer just glance at my results and move on. I take the time to understand what each number means and how it connects to the bigger picture of my health.
Plus I’ve found myself advocating for myself more confidently in conversations with doctors. It feels more like a partnership now.
You Have More Power Than You Think
If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this section, it’s this:
- You are allowed to be curious about your own health.
- You are allowed to ask for more information.
- And in many cases, you can go get that information yourself.
You don’t have to wait.
You don’t have to accept “everything looks normal” if you still don’t feel well.
There are more tools available to you than you might realize.
And sometimes, getting the right data is the first step toward finding your answers.
What I began to realize is this: my symptoms weren’t random. They were signals! My body was trying to tell me something. These biomarkers were actually clues.
Using AI as a “Second Set of Eyes”
One of the unexpected tools that helped me along this journey was something you might not even think to use for your health:
👉 ChatGPT.
In the early stages, I was overwhelmed by information. I had lab results, symptom logs, food journals… and I didn’t know how to connect the dots.
So I started using ChatGPT as a kind of second set of eyes.
I would upload my test results and ask:
“What patterns do you see here?”
“How do these numbers relate to each other?”
“What might a functional medicine doctor notice that I’m missing?”
And it helped me start to see the bigger picture.
For example, one time ChatGPT suggested that I stop drinking alkaline water – something I had been using to try to help my reflux. It pointed out that raising the pH of my stomach might actually be making digestion harder. I stopped almost immediately… and noticed a difference.
Another time, I shared my food journal and asked it to analyze my “Plant Paradox diet” meals alongside my symptoms. I couldn’t figure out why I was still having occasional bloating. But it pointed out a pattern I hadn’t seen:
I was stacking too many fats and fibers in the same meal, so I would get bloated, and digestion would take longer..
I made a simple adjustment in how I combined my foods, and saw a noticeable shift right away.
That was a breakthrough moment.
And it wasn’t just about data. There were days when I felt discouraged, and I remember asking for help reframing my progress. ChatGPT reflected back all the improvements I had already made – things I had overlooked – and gave me the encouragement to keep going.
Sometimes you’re too close to your own situation to see clearly. AI can:
- help you spot patterns across your data
- help you interpret lab results in context
- help you brainstorm possible explanations or solutions to try
It doesn’t replace a doctor. But it can absolutely help you become a more informed, more empowered patient.
If You Want to Try Using ChatGPT Yourself
If you’re navigating your own health journey, you could try things like:
- “Here are my lab results… (then feed them in to the prompt). Now what patterns do you notice?”
- “How do these biomarkers relate to each other?”
- “What questions should I ask my doctor about this?”
- “Create 7 different daily meal plans that are Plant Paradox compliant, so I can rotate them interchangeably. Be sure to include 100 g of protein per day and watch the stacking of fiber, fat, and carbs to minimize bloating.”
- “Analyze this food log alongside my symptoms; see any patterns?”
- “What would a functional medicine doctor like Dr. Mark Hyman look for here?”
I share this because it was such a helpful tool for me, and it might be for you, too.
Sometimes you just need another perspective to help you see what’s been right in front of you all along.
Wrap-Up
What I want you to take away from all of this is simple:
You are not powerless in your health journey.
There are clues waiting to be discovered — and you are invited to become the detective. In fact, you are uniquely qualified to find your solution, because you are the one living inside your body and experiencing the symptoms.
As you begin to understand how to read your body’s signals, you’ll start to notice the breadcrumbs.
You stop guessing.
You start testing.
You start learning.
And little by little… things begin to make sense.
You start to see progress.
You start to feel hope again.
And eventually — you find your breakthrough.