125- What Information You Really Want to Know From Your Labs with Jenn Malecha

Bryan Carroll: [00:00:15] Have you ever looked at your blood work results and wondered what all the different markers actually mean? Well, there is a good chance of the blood work you got. Isn't really telling the story about your health anyways.

And there are more important markers for you to pay attention to what's up everyone. I'm Bryan Carroll and I'm here to help people move more, eat well and be adventurous. And today Jen Malecha is here to help us sort out confusing information around blood work. She will be sharing what lab tests are actually important and what to do with the information you receive about your health.

So let's jump into my conversation with Jen. Jen Malecha supports busy health minded professionals and taking back control of their health by giving access to the right lab tests and resources. So they can find the missing pieces of their health puzzle, and actually fix what is wrong and get back to feeling like themselves.

Again, thank you for coming onto the show, Jen. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:01:09] Thanks for having me, Bryan, I'm excited to be here, 

Bryan Carroll: [00:01:11] of course. And I know that you, you know, you are a trainer for a long time and then you got into functional diagnostic nutrition and all that stuff. So can you give us, just a brief background about yourself?

What got you into the industry and what got you so excited about diving deeper into health? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:01:27] Sure. I've always kind of been fascinated with, like, I would say fitness and how, like I was the kid that was out playing baseball and bike riding in the middle of the street until the sun went down, growing up.

So always super active and, you know, went into college thinking I was going to become a sport psychologist, which kind of led me down this road of personal training. Cause you get your undergraduate in kinesiology and then you move on to get a master's in sports psychology and about. Halfway through my undergraduate.

I just decided that athletic training and pre-physical therapy, wasn't really where I wanted to go. And maybe sports psychology wasn't that pursuit either, which led me to personal training. And I did that for quite some time, like ransom, bigger box gyms and. Through that whole time period, like, especially in college is when I really started to notice that I was accumulating, like what I would call health issues.

Now back then, I kind of wrote them off as just being in my twenties and being run down and drinking too much or eating crappy food. And when I look back on it, it was really the beginning stages of, you know, my body kind of starting to talk to me and tell me that there was some dysfunction. That was happening.

So I started suffering from seasonal allergies that I had never had before, and having moved from Northern California, where there's a lot more pollen and crops to Southern California that didn't really compute in my mind either. And then when I was. Around the age of 24, I was diagnosed with skin cancer and here I was like a personal trainer practicing everything that I learned in college about, you know, calories in versus calories out, eating healthy, exercising all the time.

And I was slapped with a skin cancer diagnosis and there is not, I'm a avid like Sunbather or suntan or anything like that. I didn't have any family history of cancer in my family. that would have related to this at all. So that really inspired me to explore, like what was going on with my body internally on top of that, I was feeling exhausted all the time.

Like I would go get a double Americano from Starbucks and the afternoon and be struggling to keep my eyes awake when I was training my clients. And I was like, there's just something that's not right here. And I started noticing these things about my training clients as well. You know, they were.

Counting their calories like crazy. They were doing extra cardio and they weren't losing weight. Like the whole equation was supposed to equate to. And they were often feeling fatigued and, and sick and getting injured. And I just really started everything that I learned and randomly. Landed across a webinar that Reed Davis did.

And he's the founder of functional diagnostic nutrition, which is in the program that I eventually went through to do the work that I do now. And when I heard it, we can talk about, you know, the actual physiological aspect. Sex of health and adrenal dysfunction and bacterial overgrowth in the intestines and liver congestion and hormone imbalances.

It was like the light bulb went on. And I just knew that these were probably a lot of the missing pieces that I had been looking for because. I was the picture of perfect health. According to my doctors, like I would go into my annual physicals and my blood work would always look perfect on paper. And they would like give me a Pat on the back for being such a like avid exerciser and doing all those things.

But I didn't feel that way. And when I went through this program and did this training, you do some of the lab testing on yourself. I definitely found that I had adrenal dysfunction going on. I had H pylori bacteria. I'm overgrowth in my gut, my liver was congested. I had really high oxidative stress. So putting all of those pieces of the puzzle together, it made sense.

I was like cultivating cancer in my body. And why was feeling the way that I was feeling. So working through that program, I resolved all of those health issues. And then that's it. Basically, what I help people do now is get their hands on those functional lab tests and find those missing pieces as well.

And then strategically help them make lifestyle changes that are actually going to support the health outcomes that they're, that they truly desire. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:05:24] It's interesting that you brought up that the blood work that you were getting before it looked perfect on paper. which definitely leads into the, this entire conversation, because we're going to be talking about how some of the blood work that is typically run might not be the best blood work.

And then also the ranges there can be issues with the ranges. So can you start talking about, Why the common blood tests that are run might not be the best options for people to actually, you know, figure out health. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:05:52] So, first of all, when we go and get blood work done, especially at your annual physical, they're running a very like minimal panel, maybe something that's looking at the Lippard profiles.

So like total cholesterol, right? HDL, LDL, triglycerides. Occasionally you might get some glucose numbers on there. You really don't get a full blood chemistry panel. And most of your annual physicals, you're just getting this snapshot of some of those markers. And those markers are really used to evaluate, clinical conditions.

You know, like when we have higher, higher cholesterol numbers or blood pressure, for example, like the doctors are looking for clinical. Conditions like heart disease risk, for example, or heart attack risk or something like that, that they're not necessarily looking for. Where do you feel at your optimum?

And so that is the shift in perspective that we want to take initially is, you know, there are on any tests that you run out there. There's going to be these lab reference ranges, or what they call normal reference ranges and normal reference ranges are never assessed based on. Optimal levels necessarily, like where are you going to feel?

Optimally, they're usually evaluated based on the average and lows that are coming into the lab and oftentimes evaluated based on six sick people's blood results. So I kind of just intermingled some information there, going back to, you know, the typical blood tests that you're getting. Even if you get something that's expanded in a blood panel, now you're getting like maybe your hormones tested.

you're getting other markers tested, like HBA, one C or C reactive protein to look at inflammation. Again, those are typically used to look for a clinic they're looking for clinicals signs and clinical diagnosis. It's not necessarily used to it valuate your overall health. So I'll use a CRPC reactive protein.

As an example, they use C reactive protein to evaluate inflammation. So. If we see C reactive protein is elevated, that indicates that there's inflammation happening, but we don't know exactly why it's happening. So what would happen in a lot of those cases is a doctor might say, well, let's put you on an anti inflammatory without asking the question of.

Where is it coming from it? Can we isolate it to somewhere? And is it chronic or is it actually just acute and circumstantial? So something like C reactive protein could be acute in circumstantial versus when we do something like I love to use a saliva or a urine test to evaluate. cortisol levels, then we can look at chronic stress and inflammation.

So that gives us a broader picture of like, how long has this been going on for what is the depth of dysfunction that's happening here? And then when we pair that with maybe something like I do a GI, it's called the GI map. So sample tests from diagnostic solutions that measures calprotectin, which is an inflammatory marker for the intestinal lining.

Now we've now we've been able to isolate inflammation to actually a specific location. And then we can start to investigate a little bit more clearly, or what's contributing to the inflammation in the intestinal lining. Is it food sensitivities? Is it bacteria, parasite, yeast overgrowth. And then we can more clearly address the health issues by implementing strategies to clear those things up.

So whenever I run, you know, sometimes clients will come to me and, and they'll have a CBC panel, which is a short for blood chemistry panel, comprehensive blood chemistry. You know, they'll run that with a doctor, other blood tests. we're occasionally I might run one myself because I am curious about HBA one C and glucose, specifically to look at like insulin resistance factors, whatever clues are gleaned off of some of those blood tests, always point back to.

Let's now run some functional lab tests to understand why the blood markers look that way. Right? What is causing them to be out of balance? another differentiator is with hormones. So cortisol has a rhythm throughout the day. And I've often heard people say, well, I got my car all tested and it ends up that it was through a blood test.

And because cortisol has a rhythm throughout the day, measuring it at one point in time is not giving you the full picture in order to really see the full picture of cortisol. Rhythm which relates to your circadian rhythm and the natural rhythm of the body. We want to do at least a four point test throughout the day to see what it looks like when you wake up a couple hours after waking, when it looks like in the afternoon, and then what it looks like in the evening time.

So you're obviously not going to do a blood test four times a day. You're not going to sit in a lab all day and get your blood drawn. Every point in time that's where are doing like a saliva or urine test is much more realistic. And on top of that, The saliva or the urine samples actually show us real time values versus a blood test is like the byproduct.

So it's like, you know, what's leftover and what's already used, it's not their real time value. So we want that urine test, in there. And then similarly for testosterone, estrogen and progesterone levels, the, The type of hormone that you're looking at on a blood test is usually bound hormone. So it's not necessarily like available for use versus when we test hormones using saliva or a urine, we're able to see active, available hormones, which can give us a whole other insight as, so what is the physiology of the body and those aspects collectively working together basically.

Bryan Carroll: [00:11:25] So if, if someone's coming to you and they've never. Or they don't have any recent blood work. Do you do like a, a basic amount of blood work first, just to kind of get an idea of which direction to start taking them? Or do you start throwing the stool samples, the saliva, urine samples, all that stuff right off the.

Right out of the Gates. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:11:47] I definitely start with the functional testing. And mostly because like I said, the blood work usually just directly relates back to, okay, we need to run these functional tests now to understand on a physiological level what's happening. And so if they have blood work that they bring to me, that's great.

But in the training that I've received, You know, we've been taught how to form an impression about somebody. So you kind of do this, like in depth history, taking you have a different way of looking at disease and how you assess somebody. So you start to understand the workings of the physiological aspects and you, I mean, I can, a lot of times predict like, Oh, you're going to have high cholesterol.

Cause there's so much inflammation and dysfunction that's going on from these functional tests. It doesn't surprise me. To see that information necessarily. So in order to, to quickly get to like the core of the problem, I think go direct to those functional lab tests so that we can actually start working on the healing opportunities.

Bryan Carroll: [00:12:44] Right. That makes sense. So, Kind of like what you were mentioning, the difference between taking a saliva samples for hormones throughout the day and taking, and just one blood sample. So if I had my blood work done today and it's just taking a snapshot at that moment in time, could my blood work be different tomorrow?

Jenn Malecha: [00:13:04] Totally. Your thyroid values can actually change by the minute. Wow. Yeah. So one of the other approaches that I use that I've been trained on is actually to not treat the test results, treat the person. And so sometimes we get test results that look terrible, but the person actually feels fine. Right. So.

Do we want to go chasing rabbit holes and spending money on supplements and therapies and all that stuff, if they're actually feeling okay, like maybe it was just a bad day for testing. And then on the other side of that is what I think most period people experience is that their test results will come back looking normal and they feel terrible.

And so we don't want to just take that piece of paper for what it is. You were what it says, you know, like it's word we want to continue to explore. And some examples of this would be like, I'm actually an example of this when I. Test my cortisol levels. My metabolized cortisol is pretty low, but my 24 hour free cortisol, like the way that I utilize cortisol throughout the day is actually really healthy.

And so, you know, ideally we want metabolized cortisol in this like optimal range. And I can tell you that even with low metabolized cortisol, I feel better than that I've ever felt in my entire life. Like I joke with the clinical consultants about this. Sometimes I'm like, if I actually had normal levels of metabolized cortisol, I feel like I would be bouncing off the walls because I already have so much energy.

You know, with just low metabolized cartels, I can't even imagine. And what that would be like. And then another example would be like, I've, I've done stool sample tests on clients. And you know, these, I had a client, she was having a lot of digestive issues, bloating, stuff that was just going on that would, that made us highly suspect that there was some kind of parasites, bacteria, yeast, overgrowth that was going on.

And we did one stool sample tests that actually came back fairly clean. So I was like, okay, it looks clean. Let's go ahead and get you started on. Just a general cleansing protocol for the gut. And within 10 days of doing that, she started having even more severe kind of symptoms that like kind of strongly correlated with is H pylori bacteria that I mentioned earlier.

And so we ran a different type of stool sample test and sure enough, we picked up that H pylori. So, and the difference in the stool sample test was like, it was one was a microscopic test and one was like a PCR test for the listeners out there. That might be curious what I'm talking about. But that just goes to show that like, what one test might tell you, you don't want to necessarily like rule out for that based on how they're feeling, and maybe you need to continue your investigation based upon what they're telling you, you know?

Bryan Carroll: [00:15:51] Right. Yeah. If, if it was just based off of lab tests and you wouldn't be where you are, because you felt good or you didn't, you didn't feel good, but your lab tests said that you should be good. Right. But you not feeling good as what led you to diving deeper and deeper and trying to figure all this out.

Jenn Malecha: [00:16:07] Yeah, exactly. And I would say that so many of the people that I work with, like they have that innate knowing also where they're like. Something just isn't right. You know, like I say that, you know, your body better than any doctor or book or whatever else you're, you know, researching out there. And if there's this innate knowing that there's just something that's not right, or that's wrong, you want to continue to pursue that.

And it just might be a matter of finding the right person or they're like, right. Lab tests or resources to finally figure out what that is, but we know ourselves best and. You know, I didn't finish telling the second half of my health story, but there was after I got myself better into this place of feeling really good.

We unknowingly had toxic mold in our home. And so my health started actually declining again, really slowly over a period of time, I started putting on weight and having all these hormone issues. And I was in my early thirties and a lot of people just kept telling me, well, like, maybe it's your hormone shifting you're in your thirties now.

And I was like, this is, I know my body like this just. Isn't right. You know, and I even, I went to one of the top women's health specialists here in San Diego and she had the audacity to say like, well, maybe you just put on 15 pounds of muscle. And I was like, Do you know how hard it is for women to put on muscle?

I mean, I used to be a fitness competitor. I was like lucky to gain two pounds of muscle after six weeks of intense training. Like it's not easy for us, like it is for guys. but it's that innate knowing, like, I was just, I knew something wasn't right with my body and I wasn't going to accept that it was just a factor of aging.

Cause I could just tell that that wasn't what it was, you know? Right. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:17:51] And you talked a little bit about, you know, the standard ranges of tests and how, you know, it's encompassing sick people and healthy people. And that standard range doesn't really tell you much, except for when you get to the extreme.

So then it's like, Oh, now we have big problems, right? So, and then you mentioned more of an optimal range. How are those optimal ranges? Figure it out? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:18:15] Yeah, so the optimal ranges are really looking at where, where are the ranges when people are functioning at their best. So, we'll take like thyroid hormone, for example.

So oftentimes when you're getting your thyroid assessed, what they're testing is TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone. So conventional ranges are really wide. It's like 0.5 all the way to 4.5. So again, they're looking at that, like when is it get to that clinical diagnosis of hypo or hyper thyroid versus comparatively functional range?

Like that optimal range is between one and two. That's a huge difference, right? And so when you go, if you were to go work with a naturopathic doctor or a functional medicine doctor, they're going to be more looking, looking more closely at that functional range of TSH. And when you start to cross that line of, you know, to, for your TSH and along with the other picture, the bigger picture what's going on with the rest of the hormones, then they would actually consider you hypothyroidism and, Antibodies or auto-immunity is another really great example of this.

So what most people don't know is that there's actually an autoimmune scale. And on the lower end of the scale, the definition of that is like you have one symptom that occurs like one to two times a week or something like that. And then as you move up the scale, it's an accumulation of symptoms that start to happen more frequently.

Well, in conventional this, you know, Work. They're not going to diagnose you until you're on the extreme of the scale. So how does that relate to reference ranges? So in functional reference ranges, let's take thyroid antibody again, like we evaluate, thyroid peroxidase or TGA B. You know, we're looking at reference ranges that are like somewhere around zero to 20 or zero to like 40 on conventional standards.

They're looking for antibody siren antibodies to be over in the hundreds before they would clinically diagnose. That's a huge difference. Right? So that's where you can see that you're, you could be on the spectrum. Like you could have maybe 20 antibodies that are hanging out over here that are. Like letting the signal, like letting the new, know that there's an auto immune process.

That's starting to cultivate that you can get under control right now. And this could be something that's producing. Some of those, like in kind of infrequent or mild symptoms that you're having versus, you know, clinical diagnosis would be full on, like antibodies are in the hundred. I feel terrible. It's hard for me to get through the day.

Like I, you know, I feel like crap all the time. Well, we want to be, we want to be in that optimal stage. Like we really don't want any antibodies if possible. And so those are some of the examples of just differences in those reference ranges to be looking for. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:21:06] And it's great cause you catch stuff earlier, right?

If you're waiting until the antibodies are in the hundreds and they're feeling completely terrible by that point, if you can catch that early, when it's at 20 or 40 or somewhere in that range, then you can help them out so much better. Instead of having that long treatment recovery process of them. Once they get to that clinical diagnosis phase.

Jenn Malecha: [00:21:29] Yeah, exactly. It's like more in tangling that you have to do to reverse the dysfunction that's been happening for a period of time. And the body, you know, is it's the body. It's very fascinating. Like the best way to describe it is practice makes perfect. Right? So when you learn how to ride a bike or, you know, learn how to hit a baseball, the more that you practice, the more that you perfected at our body does that too, because it's always looking for the path of least resistance.

And, but it can get stuck like that in a disease say also where it's just, it's easier to be on the attack and inflamed all the time. And then it's like having PTSD essentially. So. You know, when we're like with thyroid antibodies, gluten is one of the triggers for thyroid antibodies. So maybe initially it started by you eating gluten and then the body got so, overwhelmed and on the attack.

Now, anything that looks like remotely resembles gluten like corn or rice or those other things that start attack, it starts attacking those things. And then when you, like, you can like remove those things out. But if you come in contact with them again, it's like PTSD. Everybody's like, wait, what is that thing?

It's back in here. And it just re triggers the response, you know? So it is true that once, if you can catch it sooner for really evaluating these more functional ranges, we can catch things quicker and reverse them quicker, which was kind of the scenario with me. This. This whole mold thing actually triggered Hashimoto's for me and thyroid antibodies.

And I was able to reverse that in six months. And I've been in remission ever since, because I caught it so early on, like my antibodies were around that 20 and 40 Mark for the different ones. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:23:08] So that's, that's interesting right there. So, if you go into like, A moldy place or hotel or anything that's had any type of mold.

Are you a Canary? Are you able to like start picking up that stuff or you've gotten yourself so good that you don't have those symptoms anymore? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:23:25] Well, and part of that is that, you know, according to like dr. Ritchie shoemaker's work that of approximately 25% of the population has that. gene mutation, the AGLR HD LAR gene mutation.

That makes sense that Canary in the coal mine scenario, like, there's a great book that I read by a naturopathic doctor that's called like, is it mold? And she's one of those people, like she tells a story about stepping off a plane in the Portland airport and there was mold and she instantly started reacting.

I was never that way. It was more of a slow build for me. And what happened is that the. Consistent daily exposure to it eventually to start, yeah. To wear down my system, like it clogged my liver. Mold toxins turn into, they mimic estrogen in the body. So elevated my estrogen's really high. So it was estrogen dominant and that was causing the weight gain and all the other things to happen triggered Hashimoto's and those types of thing as well.

So it was a slow build over. From two, at least two years from what I can account. Cause I had started it all kind of came crashing down about two years after I started working from home and I was working in our guestroom, which is like two feet away from where the mold was basically. And I have no idea how long it was there for, but that's kind of the timeframe that I can pinpoint it to.

Bryan Carroll: [00:24:44] Is a, is it mold? Is that from dr. Jill Chrissa? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:24:48] Yes or no. It's Karen actually. Dr. Karen writes Karen, 

Bryan Carroll: [00:24:52] right? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:24:52] Yeah. Perfect. And for the book in here, I tucked away. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:24:57] Yeah. We had a dr. Jill, Chris on episode one Oh seven, that she talked a lot about Malden, which was really good information for anyone that wants to look more into that.

so now one of the things you've mentioned is, working on people's guts now, you've also. Given some hints that there's some blood markers that could give ideas about gut health. Do you, can you share what some of those markers might be? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:25:23] Lymphocytes, monocytes and leukocytes are things that you can get tested on a, comprehensive blood panel.

And those can be indications for, parasites and bacteria overgrowth. If they're elevated. Also, there are some correlations with other, markers as well. Well, on there that might indicate things. Yeah. Like hyperchloremia or poor digestive health, or essentially. So we're seeing a downregulation and digestion, our digestive capabilities.

And that can be also a clue that there's probably some type of pathogen or gut bug that's impacting that as well. Perfect. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:26:03] and then let's see, is there any other things that you really want to touch on and make sure that we go over when it comes to running blood tests? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:26:12] I would just say we're just 

Bryan Carroll: [00:26:13] testing it.

Jenn Malecha: [00:26:13] Yeah. I mean, I just say that we have to be our own best advocates. And just going back to the concept that I was talking about earlier is that, you know, if you're, if you're running tests and you're being told that everything looks perfect, I would want either question that type of test that you're running, like, is it really giving you.

All the clues, you know, Reed Davis, the founder of FDM, like he explained it so well once he's like, think of like being a health detective, you know, what a detective go into a house, a crime scene, and like research the addict in the basement, but not looking at the living room. So think of testing and that kind of way is that there are a variety of tests that you can do.

And they're all going to give you a different angle on the crime scene. And maybe you just need more clues to help you figure out what's going on. So one, like. You know, question the type of testing that you're doing and is it giving you all the clues and to question the interpretation of it as well. as we talked about, like with the difference in the functional ranges that can make a big difference is how you're reading the test results and how you're utilizing that information then to evaluate your health status.

Bryan Carroll: [00:27:17] Perfect. And then, Do you have any specific markers that you absolutely love that provide the most information for you? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:27:25] So, one of my absolute favorite tests is called the Dutch test. Dutch stands for dried urine, total comprehensive test, and it is a urine test that is used to evaluate, cortisol.

Like we talked about earlier. So you get to look at metabolized, cortisol, cortisol, rhythm, some of the other steroid hormones like DHAs and testosterone. It also looks at progesterone and it looks at estrogen, but it looks at three different estrogens. So on a blood test, you typically only get two estrogens.

This one, you get three. And then on top of that, it looks at estrogen metabolism and methylation. so with that, you can gleam a lot of information all from one test. So. You know, if you were to ask me, what is the one test you would run with every client? It would always be a Dutch test. And if I got to pick two, it would be a stool sample test to go along with that from a Dutch test, we can get indicators about thyroid function, insulin resistance, the hormone balance, or Katy and rhythms sleep issues.

The Dutch tests, you know, based on what's going on in the cortisol rhythm, that can also give us clues about gut bugs. Like if cortisol is elevated at night time specifically, that's a really strong correlation with that. So there's like such a big picture that we can get from there. And then with that test, they also.

Run some other nutritional markers like B12 B six and glutathione, as well as looking at a couple of the neurotransmitters and then melatonin and oxygen have stress. So with those, we can get even more insights about digestion specifically in digestive health that can lead us back to again, running that stool sample test.

But also areas of opportunity to support the body. If they're deficient in some of those really essential vitamins and minerals and nutrients, especially glutathione, which is a mantra, a master antioxidant. So that would be like my number one, like Primo test that I would say everybody pretty much probably should run.

And then my 

Bryan Carroll: [00:29:22] final question for you is there, is, is there anything that you do every single day to just improve your overall 

Jenn Malecha: [00:29:29] wellness? Does it have to be one thing, 

Bryan Carroll: [00:29:33] it can be whatever routine you follow. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:29:36] I mean, over time I've really have established a very supportive like daily routine. And this is what I help clients work to work to get to also, and this has been a.

A work in progress, right? So there are some things within my routine that I would say are pretty critical. one is definitely making sure that I get some type of physical activity, particularly outside fresh air, physical activity in the morning time, doing your exercise activity in the morning time.

And if you can. partner that with also like some type of sun or light exposure that helps to balance your circadian rhythm, then that's going to help you to sleep and just feel better throughout the day. meditation is been really crucial in my healing process as well too. It's something that I resisted really hard and, and now I actually meditate.

Once a day, if not twice a day, most days, it's like emptying out the trash every single day from your brain and just what's been going on with the day. And I could talk about food and all those things, but I think, you know, people know those things. So the other thing that I think is a little bit nuance that is like so near and dear to me is my sleep like being asleep by 10:00 PM is a game changer.

And people don't really recognize this, but according to our circadian rhythm and the sun and the moon cycle, this literally like, if you're not doing this right now, It will make you feel leaps and bounds better, in your health. And so I am very protective about my sleep. Like my, I wear the, I do the aura ring.

I don't know if anybody's at aura ring fan, but. my aura ring will start telling me at like six 45. I have that. I need to start preparing for bed because I just, it recognizes that I do better when I go to sleep earlier. So I'm definitely Emily asleep by 10:00 PM. I would say every single night of the week.

sometimes it's as early as like nine or nine 30. And you know, of course we all have those special occasions, like a celebration. So. I love to go to Vegas at least once a year. So sometimes I stay out late dancing, but I feel wrecks the next day. And sometimes I sacrifice my sleep for those good times.

But other than that, like straight sleep is so critical. And I tell people that I think we need to learn to value sleep more than we value diet and exercise, because if you're not sleeping well, then it's basically canceling out your diet and exercise efforts. And so you really need to get a handle on that and it'll help you just, you know, move forward, whether it's performance based or healing based, whatever you're trying to achieve.

Bryan Carroll: [00:32:13] So if you're getting the sleep by 10, what time are you waking up? Or how many hours typically do you get asleep? 

Jenn Malecha: [00:32:18] so I typically wake up routinely quarter to six, like during the week for getting my Workday done. And on the weekends, when I quote unquote, let myself sleep in, it's like six 30. So I'm, that's one of the interesting things is that when you actually start sleeping, according to your circadian rhythm and the sun and the moon cycles, Your body's meant to wake up when the sun rises.

So when the sun rises and light and temperature increases, that actually signals your body to release cortisol, which is what gives you energy to get up in the morning. So I, if the sun is up Ima and it doesn't matter what time zone I'm in, like my body gets. So in tune with that sun cycle, that's going on.

The only time that I ever could probably sleep in past the sunrise is if I'm like. In a Vegas hotel room with like those really intense, like, you know, blackout curtains that they have, or you just don't even know that the sun exists. Right. Cause you're out dancing too late, but, Yeah. Otherwise, if it's light outside, I'm up pretty much.

Bryan Carroll: [00:33:21] So, yeah. That's a little easier to do down where you are up here in the winter time. You know, the sun won't come out till like nine o'clock in the morning or something like that. So it's harder to, you know, just stick with the sun cycles during that period. But, when we do backpacking trips, We're up when the sun comes up and were asleep once the sun goes down.

So it's amazing to feel great doing that 

Jenn Malecha: [00:33:46] for the people in like the more Northern Heather's Sierra like you. cause we get that kind of happens in the winter time for me too, when the days are just shorter. I have a little salt lamp that sits next to my bed and I have like a timer, plug on it. So I actually set the timer.

So the salt lamp will turn on. A few minutes before I set my alarm to go up. So it gives me some of that light exposure and kind of tricks my body into thinking that the sun is up and that makes it a little bit easier. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:34:13] Oh, that's a good way to do it. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:34:14] I like that. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:34:16] Yeah. Perfect. And then with the aura ring, I know this is off topic, but, I've always wondered wearing that with exercise.

Be aware it during exercise and does I'm using weights and stuff, beat it up. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:34:28] so I tend to take it off when I'm lifting. Cause I do a lot of kettlebells work, so kettlebell swings. It just like, it does grind into my Palm and I don't want to break it. It's a little bit of an expensive. Device to replace, you know, so I do take it off, but I wear it when I run, I wear like swimming or anything like that, that I'm doing.

If I'm doing body weight exercises, of course I wear it. If I'm doing more TRX work, it's just direct, you know, like barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, contact with it, which is where I usually take it off. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:34:58] Right. Perfect. well, people can find out more about [email protected]. Can you talk about what they'll find and, what type of stuff are you talking about over there?

Jenn Malecha: [00:35:08] So I've got a great blog over there. I tend to put out a blog every Thursday with all kinds of tips and resources and information, like what we've been talking about today. I also have a free 21 day program to explore why you might be feeling fat, sacred. Sick and tired all the time. So in week one, we dive a little bit more into like macronutrient balance.

Like, what are your ratios of protein, carbs and fats look like, and how do you perfect that for your body? And then week two, it's diving into the, some of the sleep concepts that we talked about today. And week three is doing some self assessments to see. If gut bugs, parasites and bacteria, nice overgrowth might be getting in the way of you feeling like your best self, with some tips and resources for next steps with that too.

And then I'm also super active over on Instagram at holistic health boss. so that's another great way to connect with me and find me, or even on Facebook. I'm at holistic health boss too. Perfect. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:36:04] Well, thank you Jen so much for coming on and talking about lab tests. I know a lot of people, they have questions about them, which is why this is perfect because.

I mean, we covered a lot, so thank you so much. 

Jenn Malecha: [00:36:15] Yeah. Thanks for having me, Bryan. It's great to chat with you. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:36:17] Yeah. As you can see, there is much more to lab work than what is typically tested. And there is a big difference between a clinical diagnosis and feeling optimal. Hopefully this information will help you out to find deeper solutions to any health issues you may be experiencing.

And if this show is helpful, then please drop us a quick rating on your podcast player. It really helps to keep the show alive. Next week. I have Jonathan  on the show. So let's go learn who he is. I am here with Jonathan . Hey, Jonathan. One is one unique thing about you that most people don't know.

Jonathan: [00:36:54] I'd say that I'm a, I'm an Eagle scout, and that really has shaped my, my career in my life.

And what will we be learning about in our interview together? 

Are we talking about, the national park service, and why our national parks are around and how to minimize our impacts when you visit national parks? 

Bryan Carroll: [00:37:16] And what is one of your favorite foods that you can find when you're exploring the outdoors?

Jonathan: [00:37:24] Oh, huckleberries for sure. Those are nature's candy. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:37:29] They're super tasty. So good. And can you share, what is one of your favorite backpacking experiences that you've ever had? 

Jonathan: [00:37:40] Oh, man. There's so many. well this one's not backpacking, but, I did a six day, rafting trip with my friends and the river of no return, the middle fork of the salmon river in Idaho.

And that was just a blast. There is. Like a hot spring and some really fun Rapids. 

And 

I didn't have to carry any of my equipment on my back. I was like, why do I backpack when I can just be boating and floating with all of my gear? But that was super special. That was a lot of fun 

Bryan Carroll: [00:38:10] for those who like to get out into the outdoors next week's episode will be a good one for you.

So until then keep climbing to the peak of your health.