Ep. 023 - Unlocking the Secrets of Blood Testing: A Proactive Approach to Men's Health Over 40 with Dr. Carol Morley
Jul 05, 2023SHOW NOTES
Are you aware of the crucial importance of comprehensive blood testing for men over 40?
Tune into this eye-opening episode with our special guest, Dr. Carol Morley - a renowned naturopathic doctor and author - as we uncover the value of taking a proactive approach to our health journey.
Discover how an objective snapshot of our bloodwork can reveal not only nutritional deficiencies but also flag potentially serious conditions and diseases before they worsen.
Dr. Morley walks us through the different tests that should be done, the best time to get a blood panel, and how to go about getting the results. Learn about the importance of tests such as lipid profile, fasting glucose, testosterone, PSA, and inflammatory markers.
Don't miss this fascinating conversation where we create a personalized health plan based on your bloodwork and discuss the proactive approach that can lead us to a healthier lifestyle.
TRANSCRIPT
Craig Spear:
Your blood does not lie. Today, we're talking about the importance of comprehensive blood testing with special guest Dr Carol Morley. Welcome to Man in the Arena, your go-to podcast for all things related to health and weight loss for men over 40. Here we discuss strategies that will get you off the sidelines and into the game so you can achieve your optimal health. It's time to lead a legacy of longevity. My guest today is Dr Carol Morley, who is a preeminent naturopathic doctor and author who has been shaping natural health since 2003. She has also accomplished media personality, having contributed her expertise to global TV, ctv, the W network and Chun radio. As the dedicated owner of Zawada Health and asked advisor to fairing pharmaceuticals, dr Morley continues to shape industry standards and influence his countless lies every day. So, naturally, carol is the perfect guest to help us explore today's episode topic, which is the importance of blood analysis for men over 40. Dr Morley, welcome to the arena.
Dr. Carol Morley:
Thank you, Craig. Thank you very much for having me.
Craig Spear:
So I'm so excited to have you on as a guest because I know the information you're going to share with us today will influence the listeners here to take action and greatly improve their health. And I know this because I've worked with you and you've helped me, you know, analyze my blood and then really see where I was deficient, see where I was sufficient, provide different supplement recommendations, lifestyle changes, and it's made a huge difference in the way that I make choices. So I'm excited to help you guide the listeners of this podcast today. So with that, let's just jump in and start asking some questions. How does that sound?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Yeah, absolutely.
Craig Spear:
Great, Okay. So why is it important for men over 40 to get a blood panel done? Like what does our blood tell us?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Okay, You know what, Craig? I think you just spoke about your path and what we did together. I think that was perfect. I love seeing a comprehensive blood panel. Bloodwork gives us an objective snapshot of what's going on in the body. It tells us the actual health of a variety of different organs. Blood markers, of course, can show us nutritional deficiencies, like we all are aware of. You know you can see your vitamin D levels, you can see iron levels, but blood markers can also flag a number of serious conditions and diseases like cancer and diabetes, heliac disease. All of these things, And I think over 40 specifically. This comprehensive look at the health of your organs becomes more and more important as we age And it becomes important to follow up and do regularly.
Craig Spear:
Yeah, and that was something that really grabbed my attention was this like proactive approach to determining what I'm going to do to live a healthy lifestyle. You know, rather than wait for symptoms to kind of show up, that is then an indicator of oh, i have to do something. It's like, no, let's look at the blood and see where levels are, certain markers are, and then take action from there. And also, like, get that baseline, because you know, like when you start to turn 40, like these things start to degrade, certain things start to go downhill. It's like where's my baseline? And maybe that's a normal level for me. So like, for instance, like my testosterone, right. So I got to see that marker and was like, okay, like now I know, i know where it's at, whether it goes up or down, i can base my decisions off of that. So I love like that proactive approach and just getting ahead of things ultimately, Well, and I think proactive is perfect.
Dr. Carol Morley:
That is exactly how I approach healthcare And I think this is why it's very frustrating, because our healthcare system here in Canada, i think, is designed to be very reactive, right. So once a person is overweight or has high blood pressure, there is then some movement to do blood work. That's needed to kind of manage the other co-conditions in these kind of circumstances. So someone that has high blood pressure, for example, is more likely to have high cholesterol and high blood sugar levels. So then those things get checked. But then my training as an atropathic doctor is all about prevention and being proactive. So I place high value in doing regular blood work, as you said, a baseline, and then you know you have of this baseline before things happen. It's also important, i think it keeps people on track as well. You know when you have a baseline say you have a baseline done when you're 30, 25, even something like that. It's an objective measure of health And I think if a person sees these changes, you know, maybe at 25, at 30, 35, and then once you hit 40, maybe we have to take a look at doing this blood work a little bit more regularly, like every year, you know, depending on the person. But I think the idea with comprehensive blood work is we should be proactive. We should be proactive before we're pre-diabetic or diabetic, and then you know, the list of things that we can do to manage these conditions then really starts to narrow.
Craig Spear:
Well, you mentioned like getting one earlier, 25, 30, 35, and I might need to coach guys over 40, but is there like a good time or the right time to get a blood panel done? What do you recommend?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Yeah, absolutely. I think age is a very specific thing, like sometimes people have to get blood work done prior to 20 years of age, but the majority of people that I see in their 20s they've never gotten blood work done. So I think that's kind of the ideal time to get that baseline. You know, probably somewhere between 20 and 25 years of age you get an idea of what your body is like before the typical life stressors, right, really start like consistent work schedule, kids, family, all of that stuff. So then if a health concern does pop up, you know what your baseline was. And then as we get older, again, like I said, we should have check ins with blood work more frequently. So maybe you have that baseline done at you know, let's just say, 25. And then if everything checks out and there's no major family history that we have to be aware of, for example, if your family, maybe your parents and your grandparents, have diabetes or have or had cancer, maybe high cholesterol or you know, heart attack, it runs in the family, maybe earlier. So maybe we want to look at that baseline at you know 20 and then in shorter intervals.
Craig Spear:
Yeah, And if you're beyond that age, just get one done as soon as you can, basically right.
Dr. Carol Morley:
As soon as you can. exactly. And I think you know for your listeners, you know over 40, if you've I mean this is I've seen it all, and some men, some women, they haven't had blood work done even at 40. So if you haven't, you know this is where a lot of hormonal changes occur after the age of 40. So let's get that. you know it's not like a set timeline when the clock strikes, that when you turn 40 years of age, but you know you have that baseline done at 40. And then you'll start to see aging happens quicker, right? Inflammation starts to really increase in our 40s And a lot of that inflammation then really does become health conditions like diabetes and cancer.
Craig Spear:
Yeah, yeah And I'm kind of talking about blood work, not like a lot of people have had blood work done but they've actually seen the report or the results just goes right to their doctor. So it's if you've had blood work done, get a copy of that report And you know if you can go through it with your doctor a lot of doctors are almost too busy or to actually sit down and go through it with you But someone like yourself, an atrophic doctor, who can then assess that report and say like, okay, this is what these numbers mean, because a lot of it is just gibberish to the average person, right? So yeah, yeah.
Dr. Carol Morley:
No, i think that's a great point because I think, yes, we both agree there's value in doing blood work. But I think what becomes more valuable is actually the conversation that happens between me and the patient with that blood work in front of them, and when someone takes a look at that blood work, all the markers, and they actually understand what each marker means, whether it's kidney function, liver enzymes, you know, everyone sees the lipid panel. They see the cholesterol, the HDL, the good cholesterol, the LDL. What does that actually mean? Because, like you said, it is gibberish, right, and I'm kind of like a detective as well, like I try and put the pieces all together And then we get the whole picture of health. And I think that is the valuable part, the actual conversation around the blood work, even if it's all normal, even if it's all normal. you have that, you're empowered, you have that knowledge And then you can take that with you for the next year of you know your nutritional stuff, the exercise that you're doing with trainers and coaches, and then check in in a year for new blood work.
Craig Spear:
Yeah, yeah, i love when we did the blood work, how you were kind of relating different markers to eat one another, like it wasn't just like, oh, this number means this and it's independent. It's like, well, this doesn't make sense in relation to this. So you really are a detective in looking at things and what they mean. So I'm glad you brought that up. How can people because I think things are probably different right, we have listeners in the US, we have listeners in Canada. Maybe you can comment a little bit like how can someone in Canada get blood work done? and I don't know if you're familiar with what happens in the States, but can you speak to kind of what people can do or where they can go to get blood work done?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Yes, yeah, absolutely Okay. so in Canada what I would do is I would first go see your family doctor. I asked for blood work. That it's an overall check. You know I just want to check my thyroid, kidneys, liver, blood, sugar, cholesterol etc. And if you're around that 40 years of age and you've never had blood work done, your family medical doctor, you know, especially if you have a family history of, like I said, diabetes or a high cholesterol Or cancer, they should be willing to be able to do, you know, some blood work for you. Now if they are not Willing to do the blood work, then you know what? just make an appointment with me if you're in Ontario, any naturopathic doctor, we can Requisition the same blood work like your medical doctor can. It's just that oh hip doesn't pay for the blood work when I requisition it, unfortunately, but that is absolutely something that you can do. So I requisition the blood work. You go to a life labs or a dinocare and Go get your blood work done. I get the results in, you know, usually between like 48 hours and 72 hours, depending on what's been requisitioned, and Then we can have a consultation to go over the blood work. You can do that pretty much anywhere in Canada, right in the States. I can't really speak to what happens in the US, although It is similar to seeing a naturopathic doctor here, because you pay for the service, or You pay for the consultations, or you pay for your third-party Insurance or benefits package pays for it through work.
Craig Spear:
I think that makes perfect sense And I think that it's similar systems and I think the key takeaway no matter where you live, there are options available to you. You can go to your doctor first and foremost. You can go to a naturopathic doctor. It's just you're not going to get necessarily that covered by government. You know they're not going to cover the cost. You're probably gonna pay out of pocket, but you know what I paid out of pocket with you and it was money well spent. It was something that I would do over and over again, and I know there's other services as well, like so you can even look online. There's different services, but I don't know how comprehensive they are, where they said you a kick, you Give a sample and then you send it back and then I don't know what kind of analysis they gave me from there. But there are options available. So if I'm a guy over 40 and I'm listening to this podcast, what are some of the things that I want to be tested?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Okay. So, as I was saying earlier, as we get older we should be checking in more frequently And if a concern pops up then we can check in accordingly. So over 40 Men should do a basic CBC. So a CBC is a complete blood count. It's a good flag for many things, including the health of your red blood cells. So your blood, your oxygenation, which then pertains to metabolism, right, and then your immune system or your white blood cells. So that's kind of your basic big screen. I think men over 40 I mean males are an increased risk of heart attacks, heart disease, anything cardiovascular, more so than a woman. So Checking that lipid profile is key. You know cholesterol, the good and the bad, hdl and LDL and triglycerides, and remember, like earlier in our conversation, we were talking about being a detective and how markers can relate to each other. So triglycerides, or the fat in your blood, that's a great example of that, because if the triglycerides are elevated I'm concerned actually about blood sugar management and more often that does probably mean there is maybe Some non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as well. So again, it's an lipid profile, but it's gonna give me a kind of a snapshot into blood sugar levels as well, and Then I would say sugars. This is something like I see blood work so often. That just includes fasting blood glucose. That just gives us a snapshot of what's going on at the time of testing and fasting blood glucose can be normal for quite some time, even when there is insulin resistance in the person and Or pre-diabetes. You know so I've been practicing for over 20 years and The last 10 years, i would say, i've caught so many instances of insulin resistance and pre-diabetes In young, seemingly healthy males. So you know I love doing fasting glucose, yes, but you have to do fasting insulin and HBA1C as well. So the three of them really give you a better picture of blood sugar management and if we can Manage someone at that insulin resistant level with diet and exercise Again before they become pre-diabetic or diabetic, that's what true prevention and being proactive is all about. Right, that's the goal. So I think that comprehensive blood sugar look is key. And then I would say for men, testosterone PSA ratio if we're talking over 40, psa ratio for prostate health and Lastly, some kind of inflammation testing. So as we age, inflammation increases. Where that inflammation is really determines or really gives us a picture into What that person's health is like or what areas are deteriorating. So we could look at inflammatory markers like ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate for, like muscle, muscle recovery, things like that and then joint inflammation, crp or HS CRP, which is highly sensitive CRP, which gives us a great. It's the great predictor of heart disease, cardiovascular disease and even the probability of someone having heart attack.
Craig Spear:
Wow, yeah, i love how you just kind of compartmentalized all that right and then so someone's gonna get those tests done and they're gonna kind of Say, like, okay, i have no idea what this means, and then you can explain, you can kind of sort of assess and From there, this is what I love, what we did. You sort of offered up. All right, there's three kind of and correct me if I'm wrong There's kind of three avenues at this point. One is supplementation, one is lifestyle and then the other, i guess, is, if it's more serious, more medical intervention, whether through pharmaceuticals or like actual treatment. Right, is there anything I'm missing there?
Dr. Carol Morley:
No, i mean, I think, as you know, i'm not a huge fan of supplementation. I think it's important when necessary. I think some people overdo it and they self-prescribe and they're on 50 million things, honestly, and it's not necessary. It is really about individualized medicine. So I think you hit a bang on Like I want to see people do the work first, you know. So, if your comprehensive blood work is great, wonderful, let's take a look at what your risk factors are, what are your goals, your health goals moving forward, and then we look at nutrition eating well, are you sleeping well, like all the lifestyle stuff. And then, if you have like a great coach, you know, personal training, if you're seeing you, if you're seeing Craig, you know. So you have a good comprehensive plan. That's more, again, preventative, proactive. When there's health concerns, when I see there's some things we have to work on, it's still the lifestyle stuff that I want to see you know. And then we take a look at what strategies do we need to do? Do we need to be more aggressive in supplementation, you know, to get down cholesterol, to get down blood sugar levels, Because there are there's lots of tools in my tool belt as a naturopathic doctor that if you're pre-diabetic and you don't want to go down that medical route with, you know, conventional pharmaceutical drugs, then there are ways we can. You know there's beautiful herbs that I use for blood sugar management, for cholesterol management, things like that. I also know the limitations of what I do And I know the scope of my medicine And if I, you know, it's a matter of knowing that and seeing who's sitting across from me compliance, what support mechanisms they have in place to be successful And if we need to, if I need to refer them back to their medical doctor for, you know, different intervention, medical intervention then I have to do that. Or maybe my blood work just scratched the surface, which happens a lot, and you know I can't do that further work up with blood work because of the scope of my practice here in Ontario. So I have to refer them back and I may write a letter to their family doctor or an email and say you know what this is, what I'm suspecting A, b and C. Could you follow up with your patient? So lots of different avenues, depending on what that blood work shows us.
Craig Spear:
Yeah, and again, it's very personalized, obviously, what they need, where they're at and that sort of thing. So, speaking about supplementation, like, is there any common deficiencies that you see in guys over 40? that you know you see time and time, and that this isn't to say that everyone who's over 40 needs these supplements, but just some patterns that you see for guys over 40 with respect to the blood work that's coming in.
Dr. Carol Morley:
Yeah, there's definitely patterns. So first I'll just speak briefly. Vitamin D I mean, i think vitamin D because we live in Canada male, female, it doesn't matter Like I think there's so many times that I see people are deficient on blood work and not just like lower end of the reference range but actually deficient, so not even on the scale. Dissient on the scale, yeah. So I think that's a huge pattern And I think that's even more of a concern post pandemic, to be honest, because people have been spending time indoors versus outdoors. So vitamin D, i think, across the board. But then when I look at males a couple of patterns over 40 for sure, and supplementation, i love to see zinc because zinc is one of those minerals that supports testosterone. So we know there's usually a decrease in testosterone over 40. And some males are more predisposed to that, whether that's genetically or through the work they do or how they eat, whatever it might be these factors. So I would say zinc is something simple, like I will rarely recommend a multivitamin because there's so little of everything in there And I think over 40, there's so many specific things that a male could be working on. So zinc and vitamin D, even if you do those two kind of basic things, it's a pretty common pattern. And then I would say the cholesterol and the blood sugar. So the cholesterol probably the most common supplement I would see is probably coenzyme Q10, or recommend would be coenzyme Q10, because it's such a source of energy for the heart but also muscle, and so we may be doing it to be proactive from a cardiovascular perspective. But there's going to be indirect benefits with exercise and time to endurance and muscle recovery and things like that. So that would be also a typical supplement that I would see.
Craig Spear:
Great. Oftentimes I'll have guys come to me and I'll ask them what they're supplementing with or what they're taking. They'll say I'm on a multivitamin, i take this multivitamin from GNC or whatever. What are your thoughts about multivitamins?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Yeah, multivitamins I rarely recommend them because there's so little in there, like when you actually look at the milligrams, So it's just scraping the surface of everything, right. I also find multivitamins are trying to jam-pack everything in there. It's a selling feature, let's be honest. You've got all your basic vitamins. There might be a few herbs. They might try and stick a fish oil in there as well. So my approach to supplementation is let's take a look at the person. Let's look at blood work if necessary and really figure out where this person is going to benefit. Where are you going to spend your money? Don't waste your money on a multivitamin if you have insulin resistance. If you have insulin resistance, okay, let's take a look at maybe magnesium, berberus, because those two are wonderful in sensitizing the insulin receptors. So it's going to make the insulin receptors more sticky. Grab that blood sugar level. You're going to benefit from magnesium, especially as a male over 40, in flexibility of blood vessels for trying to manage or keep blood pressure under control. So there's more specific things that I think you could be doing, but this is where it comes to. You need an individualized plan, you need some guidance.
Craig Spear:
Totally Yeah, and I just wanted to highlight that, because the blood work is going to give us the answers we need to take the right approach, ultimately right. So one last thing You've offered up so much great content and insights and information. What's one last thing you want the listeners to ponder as they go on about their day? One last little golden nugget.
Dr. Carol Morley:
Golden nugget. Okay, well, i think the bottom line is individualized medicine, so everyone needs something different. Get your blood work done, be part of your health care system, and I think you need a team around you. These days, you're never going to get everything you need from one person. So surround yourself with not only positive people and positive environment, but surround yourself with the people that are going to help you get and reach your health care goals right. Get it done. Get the blood work done, get it as comprehensively as possible, get it done regularly, depending on your age, and then you know, work with me if you're in Ontario or a naturopathic doctor, to build the right nutritional and supplementation plan that works for your body and your goals.
Craig Spear:
I love that What you said was like be an active participant in your own health and your own health plan And I think that's such an important mindset for the listeners to take. Oftentimes we rely on our health care providers to tell us what we need to do, and it's usually after the fact we're symptomatic. It's like no like. Take a proactive approach, be an active part, like agent in your own health. So I love that. That's a gem. Dr CarrollI cannot thank you enough for being here and for offering all of your wisdom and your knowledge. You mentioned that you are in Ontario, but how can people connect with you? How can they find you if they do want to work with you or just find out more information?
Dr. Carol Morley:
Yeah, absolutely Well. My website is thezawadahealthcom And I'm also on Instagram. Dr Carroll Morley and D You can always message me, dm me, send me an email, carolazawadahealthcom. You'll find me and I'll get to you as quickly as I can.
Craig Spear:
Amazing. Well, thank you so much. This has been fantastic. I know that listeners are going to take a lot from this, So thank you again.
Dr. Carol Morley:
Thanks, Craig.
Craig Spear:
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