Nick Norwitz

And if you're, you know, middle-aged or above and you have no plaque, that's a really good sign. If you have some, then you have a little bit less buffer room to wiggle with. In addition to that, we can talk about biomarkers. I think everybody should know some form of insulin resistance score. So there's like a lycoprotein insulin resistance score, an LPIR or a HOMA-IR.

And if you're, you know, middle-aged or above and you have no plaque, that's a really good sign. If you have some, then you have a little bit less buffer room to wiggle with. In addition to that, we can talk about biomarkers. I think everybody should know some form of insulin resistance score. So there's like a lycoprotein insulin resistance score, an LPIR or a HOMA-IR.

And if you're, you know, middle-aged or above and you have no plaque, that's a really good sign. If you have some, then you have a little bit less buffer room to wiggle with. In addition to that, we can talk about biomarkers. I think everybody should know some form of insulin resistance score. So there's like a lycoprotein insulin resistance score, an LPIR or a HOMA-IR.

You can also just get a fasting insulin and see if it's elevated. But generally, you want low insulin resistance scores and low fasting insulin. If you have that, that's a pretty good sign. In addition to that, you can learn a lot just from a standard lipid panel. So LDL, HDL, triglycerides. Generally, you want higher HDL. They say above like 40 for men, above 50 for women and lower triglycerides.

You can also just get a fasting insulin and see if it's elevated. But generally, you want low insulin resistance scores and low fasting insulin. If you have that, that's a pretty good sign. In addition to that, you can learn a lot just from a standard lipid panel. So LDL, HDL, triglycerides. Generally, you want higher HDL. They say above like 40 for men, above 50 for women and lower triglycerides.

You can also just get a fasting insulin and see if it's elevated. But generally, you want low insulin resistance scores and low fasting insulin. If you have that, that's a pretty good sign. In addition to that, you can learn a lot just from a standard lipid panel. So LDL, HDL, triglycerides. Generally, you want higher HDL. They say above like 40 for men, above 50 for women and lower triglycerides.

Normals below 150, I think below 100 or even below 80 is better. It's a bit of a noisy variable. It's really important to get the test fasted. About 12 hours water only fasted is best. And that'll give you a lot of information. If you want a little bit more resolution, you can get more advanced lipid testing with, you know, LDL profiles, NMR spectroscopy.

Normals below 150, I think below 100 or even below 80 is better. It's a bit of a noisy variable. It's really important to get the test fasted. About 12 hours water only fasted is best. And that'll give you a lot of information. If you want a little bit more resolution, you can get more advanced lipid testing with, you know, LDL profiles, NMR spectroscopy.

Normals below 150, I think below 100 or even below 80 is better. It's a bit of a noisy variable. It's really important to get the test fasted. About 12 hours water only fasted is best. And that'll give you a lot of information. If you want a little bit more resolution, you can get more advanced lipid testing with, you know, LDL profiles, NMR spectroscopy.

But I would say knowing your insulin resistance score, probably a blood sugar metric like an HbA1c, some marker of inflammation, like an HSCRP and then a lipid panel, you can derive a lot from that.

But I would say knowing your insulin resistance score, probably a blood sugar metric like an HbA1c, some marker of inflammation, like an HSCRP and then a lipid panel, you can derive a lot from that.

But I would say knowing your insulin resistance score, probably a blood sugar metric like an HbA1c, some marker of inflammation, like an HSCRP and then a lipid panel, you can derive a lot from that.

More or less makes sense. Yes. I mean, soft plaques can rupture and then you can get basically a local clot and that can glob off your arteries. What I would say is the literature shows that the coronary artery calcium scan is a pretty good predictor of your heart disease risk. Like if you have a CAC of zero, it's very unlikely you're going to have a heart attack in the near term.

More or less makes sense. Yes. I mean, soft plaques can rupture and then you can get basically a local clot and that can glob off your arteries. What I would say is the literature shows that the coronary artery calcium scan is a pretty good predictor of your heart disease risk. Like if you have a CAC of zero, it's very unlikely you're going to have a heart attack in the near term.

More or less makes sense. Yes. I mean, soft plaques can rupture and then you can get basically a local clot and that can glob off your arteries. What I would say is the literature shows that the coronary artery calcium scan is a pretty good predictor of your heart disease risk. Like if you have a CAC of zero, it's very unlikely you're going to have a heart attack in the near term.

And we can direct people to more resources on actual literature around that because it's pretty well studied that, you know, the CAC score does trump things like LZL as risk variables. The caveat that I'd lean into with respect to what you said about false sense of security is you want to interpret the results in the context of your current lifestyle and if anything changed drastically.

And we can direct people to more resources on actual literature around that because it's pretty well studied that, you know, the CAC score does trump things like LZL as risk variables. The caveat that I'd lean into with respect to what you said about false sense of security is you want to interpret the results in the context of your current lifestyle and if anything changed drastically.

And we can direct people to more resources on actual literature around that because it's pretty well studied that, you know, the CAC score does trump things like LZL as risk variables. The caveat that I'd lean into with respect to what you said about false sense of security is you want to interpret the results in the context of your current lifestyle and if anything changed drastically.

So I'll be more concrete with that example. If your CAC is zero and you're 50 years old and you started a ketogenic diet, you know, six months ago, after you started a ketogenic diet, your LDL went from 70 to 500. And then you get that scan. The CAC is zero. What does that actually tell you? Well, I'll tell you what it doesn't tell you.

So I'll be more concrete with that example. If your CAC is zero and you're 50 years old and you started a ketogenic diet, you know, six months ago, after you started a ketogenic diet, your LDL went from 70 to 500. And then you get that scan. The CAC is zero. What does that actually tell you? Well, I'll tell you what it doesn't tell you.