Did you know that you have ten times the amount of bacterial cells than your own human cells in your body?

This collection of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, archaea, and protists, whose cells account for 10-fold more than our own cells, are what defines our microbiome.

What if I tell you that you may have a completely different glucose response to a cookie than your friend has, and this high or low response is dependent on the type of microbes YOU have. Would you begin to eat differently?

The bacteria living in our bodies are critical to our wellbeing - interacting with virtually all human cells. They influence many factors, such as the development of our immune system and how much energy we extract from the foods we eat. They make vitamins and minerals for us, they determine how high (or low) our blood glucose is after a meal, and they even decide whether we are happy or sad (10). There is much much more to their contribution, which we will discuss below and in future posts.

DEXA scan is notoriously hard to find, partly because it has been originally used for diagnosing bone density. As a result, it is often vastly unused by the general population.

The easiest way to locate and book a DEXA scan, especially for body composition, is through this DEXA scan locator.

My journey into nutrition began quite early. I was born and raised in a small coastal town in Poland called Gdansk, and I initially became fascinated with food, and all that encompasses growing, cooking, and eating, from my grandparents. My parents immigrated to the US when my sister and I were young (my dad came here when I was a year and a half, and mom came when I was 6 years old) and so we spent quite a bit of time with our grandparents before we joined our parents in the US in 1989. I was 7 and my sister was 6 at the time.

Learning from my grandparents was the foundation of my curiosity about food and health.

A DEXA scan is a high-precision type of X-ray that provides a comprehensive picture of your body composition. This includes body fat percentage, breakdown of fat mass vs fat-free mass, body fat distribution (incl. visceral fat), bone density, comparison with healthy ranges and population data (percentile, Z-score).

If your body fat percentage is higher than normal for your age, you should aim to decrease your fat mass, while maintaining or increasing your fat-free mass. If your bone density is lower than normal for your age, it indicates a risk for bone fractures. DEXA stands for dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Body fat percentage chart for Women:

Under 15%: Low Body Fat Risk.

15%-18%: Ultra Lean.

18%-22%: Lean.

22%-30%: Moderately Lean.

30%-40%: Excess Fat.

Above 40%: High Body Fat Risk.

Understanding the physiology of the body and how food is utilized within the body, can give you the tools to improve your metabolism properly and sustainably. It isn’t rocket science. Mostly, it’s about going back to the basics of health. It’s about focusing on your sleep, eating regularly, eating more whole foods, eating less packaged foods, reducing stress, and moving your body.

What is the difference between the BOD POD and the DEXA?

The BOD POD test will provide you with your total body fat and fat-free mass measurements. The BOD POD does not provide body fat levels by body part. The DEXA body composition measurement technology provides far more complete and precise information than any other weight and body fat assessment tool. The DEXA Scan provides data on total body fat percentage, total fat mass and fat-free mass, regional body fat results (trunk, arms, legs, pelvis and android/gynoid regions), along with bone density.

Ignore the naysayers, overcome the resistance, and equip yourself with accurate information about the condition of your body. While everyone’s body is different and everyone’s path to weight loss success will be unique to them, counting calories and keeping yourself accountable is a great start. The science of health and fitness has never been so available, effective, and energizing and there is no better time to dive in!

Most people have no idea what body composition really means or how understanding things like how they, personally, store fat and where, can help them make better health and wellness choices.

Think of body composition as a blueprint for your health that you can use to better understand your own way around your body. It’s a breakdown of all of the elements of your body and how they fit together to make you who you are: bones, muscles, fat, organs etc.

We’re exciting. to introduce our newest assessment: The The Seca mBCA Body Composition test. Results include: Fat Mass/Fat-Free Mass. Skeletal Muscle Mass. Visceral Fat. Body Composition Chart. Total Body Water/Extracellular Water and much more. The seca mBCA 515 is a medical Body Composition Analyzer, which is ideally adapted to the working conditions in hospitals and medical practices. A faster and simpler way to ascertain body composition, e.g., body fat and water, also has to be ensured. For another, the measurement results have to be reproducible under normal clinical working conditions. These exact considerations went into the development of the seca mBCA 515.

This article was originally published by SportTechie.

SportTechie’s Startups series looks at companies and founders who are innovating in the fields of athlete performance, fan engagement, team/league operations and other high-impact areas in sports.

Elevator Pitch: “We’re an aggregator of lab tests and a platform that helps you get results you can understand and apply.”

Body fat percentage chart for Women:

Under 15%: Low Body Fat Risk.

15%-18%: Ultra Lean.

18%-22%: Lean.

22%-30%: Moderately Lean.

30%-40%: Excess Fat.

Above 40%: High Body Fat Risk.

Abdominal, or visceral, fat is of particular concern because it's a key player in a variety of health problems — much more so than subcutaneous fat, the kind you can grasp with your hand. Visceral fat, on the other hand, lies out of reach, deep within the abdominal cavity, where it pads the spaces between our abdominal organs.

Visceral Fat: How to Measure It

DEXA Scan: It is well-established that both the distribution and volume of fat, especially visceral adipose tissue (VAT), is a predictor of future health.

The Resting Metabolic Rate or RMR is the minimum number of calories you need to perform basic functions, such as maintaining heart rate and body heat, breathing and keeping up brain activity. You will need this minimum amount of energy each day, even if you are not moving around.

The RMR measures how many calories you burn at rest, if you were to do nothing more than sitting all day.

The quarantine that followed the COVID-19 outbreak has forced most of us to become more sedentary, making it harder to maintain or lose weight. At-home exercise —whether it’s through virtual classes with your favorite trainer or with a new at-home exercise equipment— is a great way to stay active. However, it is also crucial that you adapt your nutrition to this new lifestyle if you would like to maintain or lose weight effectively.

Everything You Need to Know on How to Complete your At-Home Blood Test with Fitnescity. We highly recommend you watch the short video below before beginning and/or while completing your at-home blood test.

Make sure you are in a fasted state. The best time to complete the test is the morning.

Drink plenty of water before performing your screening. Being hydrated will help with blood flow.

Fill out all of the required personal information on the Test Requisition Form.

As the number of coronavirus infections approaches 100,000 people worldwide, researchers are racing to understand what makes it spread so easily. In the immediate term, there are a few steps everyone can take to help strengthen their immune system. Physical activity and sleep come first. Other steps include a general health check: Vitamin D testing, Test for inflammation: Hs-CRP, Blood glucose testing: HbA1c, Full Lipid panel testing: Cholesterol.

Having a well balanced diet is not just desirable but critical for anyone looking to stay healthy and perform well. One the of most common signs of nutritional deficiencies —whether it’s Vitamin D, Iron, Magnesium, Vitamin B12 or Zinc— is reduced energy and increased perception of effort in training. As an athlete, you may feel like that you need longer to recover between sessions.

A wealth of measurable variables of task-specific performance, training load, physiology, health and wellness exist to facilitate this, which can be used to guide coaches and athletes. In many cases this now includes blood profiling and monitoring […] For example, a high testosterone-to-cortisol ratio suggests greater anabolic drive and has been strongly associated with positive training and performance outcomes [3]; chronically low energy

Body composition testing — also called body fat testing — has long played a role in medical research and weight-loss studies. But over the last decade or so, biohackers, athletes and science-minded fitness buffs have begun to test their own body makeup, determining what percentage of their volume comes from fat, versus muscle, bone, blood and other matter. Now, I was doing the same — frozen still inside the vessel as the machine measured the amount of air displaced by my mostly-bare body. I held perfectly in place for two 30-second measurements, then breathed a big sigh of relief as the machine unsealed itself.