Many people go on a diet for cosmetic reasons. The most trivial is that they don’t like each other when they see themselves in the mirror.

But if we want to do things right and lose weight right, it’s worth doing some blood tests to check your metabolism.

This is to understand if there are any situations that need to be corrected and above all in what way.

Today we see the tests to be done to understand our metabolic health status.

WHAT TESTS TO DO TO CHECK METABOLISM

Ratio of good cholesterol and triglycerides.

In blood tests we can ask for four values.

The first value is that of total cholesterol. The second value is that of HDL cholesterol (defined as good). The third value is that of LDL or bad cholesterol. The fourth value is that of triglycerides.

With these values ​​we can obtain two important information about our metabolism.

• The first relates to cardiovascular risk.

  By dividing the value of Total Cholesterol and that of HDL cholesterol, we must obtain as a result no more than 5 if we are men and no more than 4.5 if we are women.

• The other value we can get is that of the HDL and triglycerides ratio .

  If the ratio is 1: 1 (essentially the same values) or with HDL cholesterol higher than triglycerides, we don’t have to worry too much.

  If, on the other hand, the triglycerides are more than the good cholesterol, we are sure that something is wrong at the metabolic level.

  The causes can be, from a dietary point of view: an excess of sugary drinks combined with an excess of alcohol (the mix of fructose + alcohol increases triglycerides.

  This can also happen for meals that are too high in fructose, but generally you never get there by eating fruit, but with sugary drinks or with an excess of packaged sweets. Or a diet that is too high in fat.
  A low-fat diet with no packaged drinks or snacks is your best bet.

Blood pressure test.

Getting your blood pressure checked by your doctor or pharmacy is another important thing.

There are many reasons why you can suffer from high blood pressure: hereditary factors, but also bad habits such as smoking or alcohol, foods with too much added salt (it should be a chronic consumption, for example we are used to eating chips or nuts salted on the surface) , extra pounds, stress. The latter alone already affects blood pressure a lot.

If in combination with the first data, the cardiovascular risk becomes high, and therefore we must absolutely go to the doctor for a diet.

Correcting bad habits, for example, abuse of exciting substances, a sedentary lifestyle, eating too salty foods, having irregular hours, alcohol, and reducing stress with walks, more hours of sleep, yoga or meditation are the first steps to take.

Fasting blood sugar.

To do this test it is necessary to abstain from food for at least 8/10 hours, including drinks apart from water.

The measurement can also be done in pharmacies and it is good to do it every now and then because maybe a single altered value is not predictive.
If fasting blood sugar constantly exceeds or is similar to 100 mg / dl we are in a risky situation.
We need to review our lifestyle.
Stress has a great influence on blood sugar taken in the morning, and in particular having high cortisol. This has a hyper-glycemic effect, opposite to insulin.