Test, Don't Guess!​

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As we take a deep dive to find out why your body is cancering, we individualize your nutrition plan based on your health history, biology, environmental exposures and DNA. In order to have a complete picture of which areas of your terrain need work, we must do extensive testing. 

 

 The types of testing we recommend are genetic testing, extensive blood marker panels which include cancer drivers and inflammation markers, as well as home glucose and ketone testing.

 

Take the Terrain Ten Quiz 

Click this link to take the Terrain Ten Quiz to see how your terrain is doing! It will ask you questions that fall into each of the terrain 10 categories you see to the left. This is one way we evaluate which areas need the most attention. We all have things to work on! 

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Genetic Testing: Nutrition Genome

I work with a specialized genetic testing company called Nutrition Genome that is different from what you may have gotten from a company like 23andMe or Ancestry.com. What makes Nutrition Genome special is that it tells us how you metabolize particular fats, sugars, carbs, grains and proteins.  This allows us to create an optimal nutrition plan for your DNA. From a lifestyle perspective, it also details how you tolerate stress which allows us to customize a stress management, exercise and lifestyle plan that complements your body's stress tolerance. Finally, they also test for how well you detoxify various chemicals, toxins, hormones, pesticides, herbicides, cancer treatments, statins, birth control, fluoride, plastics, medications, chemo agents, antibiotics, steroids and more. You can see how important this is to improving your body's terrain!

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Blood Panel

Regular extensive blood panels are key to our success in monitoring your health, cancer drivers and progress. Ask your general practitioner or licensed health care provider (not your oncologist) for a “standing order” for all these labs. Many of them will be monthly until your labs are in stable, healthy condition. These labs should be covered by insurance if you list every existing and pre-existing condition you have in addition to your family disease history. Remember, it is in your insurance company's best interest to cover these tests as you will be working on these markers making medical interventions less frequent.

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If your doctor refuses to order all of these tests, find a new doctor who is more open minded! Remember, your doctor WORKS for you. If finding a new doctor is not a possibility, we can help you order the labs. Unfortunately, in that case they would not be billable to insurance and you would pay out of pocket for them (Around $550), which adds up quickly month after month. It is an option as a last resort! 

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Note: when I first went in to ask my local health provider to order these tests for myself, I saw a nurse practitioner who was very anxious about ordering these tests because she did not know all of these markers (many are cancer drivers that are unfamiliar to conventional doctors, but they are very important!) and thus she was concerned that she would not know how to interpret the tests. I explained to her that I was working with a naturopath who would interpreting them and that her services for interpretation were not needed. She ended up ordering the tests. This could happen to you. In addition to your naturopath, I am able to analyze these tests for you as well.

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Full Blood Panel Markers (FASTING!)

• CBC with Differential (Complete Blood Count) –Whole body organ and immune system function

• CMP (Complete Metabolic Panel) with Chem 20- Whole body organ function, metabolic processes and cancer growth factors (ex: high calcium)

• LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase)- information about bone, liver, kidney, sugar, inflammation

• hs-CRP (High Sensitivity CRP)- measures inflammation (high sensitivity marker) & indicator of prognosis

• Sedimentation rate (ESR)- measures general inflammation & immune health

• Ferritin – iron storage that can feed/fuel cancer cells and inflammation.

• Iron, Total and Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) – Indicator of iron anemia, bleeding, infection & inflammation

• Vitamin D3: 25-OH (D3)- Total, Immunoassay- indicator of autoimmune issues, bone loss, endocrine health, immune health and cell differentiation

• Insulin, fasting- hormonal response to blood sugar balance

• IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor Number 1)- may indicate malnutrition, too much dairy, stress/sleep issues. Cancer growth factor.

• HbA1C (hemoglobin A1c)- blood sugar management over 2-3 months

• Complete Thyroid panel including TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Total T3, T4, Reverse T3, T3 Uptake- metabolic function, thyroid health and function, selenium status

• Thyroid Peroxidase & Thyroglobulin Antibodies- indicative of thyroid autoimmunity, even with normal TSH

• Full lipid panel – Essential for looking at triglycerides, a potential indicator of fatty liver

• Uric Acid- indicator of oxidative stress, inflammation, renal health

• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEG-F)- an angiogenesis indicator

• Copper- a cancer growth factor

• Ceruloplasmin- a cancer growth factor

• Fibrinogen – blood viscosity marker

• Homocysteine- indicative of methylation, B12 status, general inflammation

• Retinol (Vitamin A)- essential to immune function and gene regulation

• Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT)- Indicator of Biliary dysfunction, liver damage or dysfunction, glutathione deficiency or oxidative stress

• Galectin-3- angiogenesis/metastasis marker

• D-Dimer- blood viscosity marker

 

Home Glucose & Ketone Testing: Keto-Mojo

The goal of the therapeutic carbohydrate reduction for cancer is to reduce blood glucose and increase ketone production to support mitochondrial function and stop feeding cancer. It is therefore important to keep track of your glucose and ketones every day. To do this, we use a device called Keto-Mojo.

 

How it works: use the included lancet to prick your finger (it doesn't hurt), wipe away the first drop of blood (it has interstitial fluid in it that will skew the test). For the second drop of blood, you insert the glucose strip into the top of the device and let it suck up the tiny drop from your finger. In 5 seconds, you will have your glucose reading. Then, switch the glucose strip out for a ketone strip and repeat the process with a third small drop of blood. In 9 seconds, you will have your ketone reading. 

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Other Testing

Sometimes additional types of testing is helpful for bringing your body back into balance. Here are some of the other tests we offer:

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• Gut/Stool testing: GI Map

• Food sensitivity testing: MRT

• Hormone testing (including stress hormones, sex hormones, etc.): Saliva testing or DUTCH testing

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