Ixcela Gut Health Results
You all know by now that I am obsessed with gut health. After years of trying to "doctor" myself, it wasn't until I had a GI MAP test and got rid of some nasty pathogens that I finally started to feel better.
Fast forward 1.5 years and some Functional Medicine training of my own, and I still work daily doing things to support my gut health. I was fascinated when I came across Ixcela Wellness, so I did some training with them and took a different type of gut health test. Their test measures metabolites using a simple finger prick blood test and can give you insight into how your gut is actually functioning in the whole scope of energy, immune function and cognition.
Gut health impacts digestive health, the immune system, brain health, emotional balance, and energetic efficiency. Testing your gut provides critical insight into how your lifestyle choices and habits are affecting your internal health.
"Intestinal metabolites participate in various physiological processes, including energy metabolism, cell-to-cell communication, and host immunity. These metabolites mainly originate from gut microbiota and hosts. Although many host metabolites are dominant in intestines, such as free fatty acids, amino acids and vitamins, the metabolites derived from gut microbiota are also essential for intestinal homeostasis."
Ixcela provides scores in 5 areas:
- Gastrointestinal Fitness
- Immuno Fitness
- Emotional Balance
- Cognitive Acuity
- Energetic Efficiency
My overall score was 57 which puts my gut health in the "moderate" category. An overall score in the 50s reflects that your daily lifestyle choices seem to be doing a moderate job of giving your body what it needs. An average Ixcela Internal FitnessTMscore is between 45 and 65. My lowest score was in the category of Emotional Balance and highest score was in Gastrointestinal Fitness. This really wasn't too surprising to me, since I have been actively working on improving my gut health but have been fairly stressed with Covid 19, completing my year long Functional Medicine Coaching certification course and rolling right into studying for my NBHWC exam.
An example of the metabolites that were out of balance:
Below optimal levels: Indole-3-Acetic Acid, Kynurenine, Serotonin , Tyrosine, Uric Acid
Above optimal levels: 3-Methylxanthine, Total Indoxyl Sulfate
At optimal levels:Indole-3-Lactic Acid, Indole-3-Propionic Acid, Tryptophan, Xanthine
Without getting to much into the science of all these metabolites, my results indicated that basically I need to be adding more restorative exercise and mindfulness practices into my daily routine. Ixcela Wellness includes lifestyle, food, and supplement recommendations to optimize metabolite levels and gut function. This is just one tool in my toolbox, it is not a diagnostic test or a substitute for any medical advice from my Functional Medicine practitioner.
Who is this test for?
- Are you facing a weight-loss plateau, or do you constantly battle cravings?
- Are you an athlete on a quest for improved recovery and performance?
- Are you struggling with “gut stuff,” such as bloating, cramping, constipation, and other GI discomforts?
- Are you a professional who needs to be at peak cognitive ability and improve stress managment?
- Are you committed to preventative care and lifelong wellness and need a tool to track your internal health?
- Are you seeking a natural way to manage anxiety, depression, or poor sleep?
- Are you a biohacker investigating every possible path to optimal vitality?
I know... I know... gut health can be an embarrassing topic at a dinner party, but almost everyone I know has dealt with or is currently dealing with some health symptoms that can be improved by focusing on gut health.
The Ixcela results provide a TON of information about how to optimize my health and I love how user friendly and detailed their client portal is laid out. If you are interested in learning more about this type of gut health testing, reach out, I would love to chat about it.
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