Function Health

26/11/2025

This is probably the best advice I can give someone suffering from a health issue, or even starting to experience symptoms.

Test. Don’t guess.

There is so much info you can get from a simple blood test. But generally, doctors will order the bare minimum.

So here’s a list of blood tests you can ask for, and what they’ll tell you.

1. CBC (complete blood count). This counts the number of red and white blood cells in your body. It’s helpful with identifying issues such as anaemia (low red blood cell count) as well as the presence of certain infections.

2. CMP (comprehensive metabolic panel). The main benefits of this test are checking your kidney & liver function, plus electrolytes and protein levels.

3. HBA1c. In layman’s terms this is a 3 month average of your blood sugar levels. This is how your doctor will test for type 2 diabetes. But it doesn’t give the full story (more on this shortly..)

4. Iron studies. As the name suggests, this measures your body’s iron levels. However, if you get this done - make sure your doctor tests for not only serum iron, but also Ferritin (stored iron) and TIBC (total iron binding capacity) to measure how iron is transported. If you have low energy during the day or suffer from muscle weakness - this is a must.

5. ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). Big long name, but basically this looks at your red blood cells and helps detect inflammation and in conjunction with other tests can help detect infection, autoimmune conditions and some cancers.

6. C-Peptide & HOMR-IR. I’ve grouped these together because they both test for insulin resistance. They provide slightly different information so it’s worth getting both done. This is a must for confirming type 2 diabetes (HBA1c on it’s own is not enough. In addition, we know that things like high blood pressure, weight gain, skin tags and blurred vision can all be traced to insulin resistance.

7. Fasting insulin. The calculations from this test will work in conjunction with the tests above to get a complete picture of insulin resistance and how your pancreas is functioning.

8. HS-CRP (high sensitivity C-reactive protein). Another one with a big name. It’s a way of measuring inflammation in your body. The “HS” stands for High Sensitivity. It uses a more sensitive method than a normal CRP test and can detect smaller inflammation increases. If you’re suffering from weight gain, joint soreness, fatigue, or gut issues (constipation, bloating, or any other gut discomfort) - I’d be willing to bet inflammation is at the heart of the issue.

9. Urinalysis. Not a blood test, but very good for checking your kidney function. If you have itchy skin, nausea, get easily dehydrated or have fluid build up in the ankles - get this done. Also a good idea to get your iodine checked as part of this urine test.

10. Homocysteine. This looks at deficiencies in B vitamins (B6, B9, B12). High levels are an increased risk factor for cardiovascular issues. Chronic fatigue is the big symptom, but things like mouth sores, pins & needles, and feeling dizzy or lightheaded are also signs that your levels could be high.

11. Lipid panel. This measures your LDL & HDL cholesterol as well as your triglycerides. As we’ve discussed ad nauseam - done fall for the outdated “good” and “bad” cholesterol nonsense, but definitely pay attention to the HDL and triglycerides. They are by far the most accurate indicators of cardiovascular risk. Scroll back through this page for more info on cholesterol.

12. Lastly, test your essential minerals. Especially magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. A big portion of the population are deficient in these, and they can affect things like energy levels, vitamin D and calcium absorption, anaemia and shortness of breath.

As you know, we deal in root cause here - not band aids. Getting an accurate picture of what’s happening in your body will help you work out how to fix the issue for good.

This is just a snapshot of the tests available. If you’re having a specific issue, hit me up and I can recommend the right tests to ask for.

And if you’re on the path to taking control of your own health - I’d strongly recommend picking up a copy of a book called “Common sense labs” by Dr Ken Berry.

Lastly, if your doctor tells you that you don’t need a certain test or they outright refuse to order them - politely remind them that they work for you. If you’re convinced that a particular test will help you - then don’t take no for an answer. Too much information is always better than not enough 💪

25/11/2025

Whatever you say Doc 👌

Getting dietary advice from a doctor who received ZERO nutrition training in medical school is like coming to me for mechanical advice because I’ve driven a car before.

Note: Do NOT come to me for mechanical advice. Bad idea..🤣

17/11/2025

Wrapping up our series “Why the 🤬 am I not losing weight?”

Today, something I guarantee that you’ve never been told about as a reason for weight gain..

Vitamin & Mineral deficiencies.

It’s a looooooong list, so I’m going to summarise some of the most common.
Hopefully this will be enough to get you curious so you can then start assessing your own specific situation.

Here are some common deficiencies.

Magnesium - affects Insulin sensitivity, contributes to high blood pressure,
chronic fatigue, and cortisol levels.

Potassium - digestion problems, chronic fatigue, kidney problems, high blood pressure, reflux.

Vitamin D - immune system function, muscle soreness, bone weakness, hypothyroidism (leading to weight gain).

Copper, Zinc & Chromium - affects insulin sensitivity (leading to weight gain)

Iron - metabolism (via oxygen transport and cell energy production)

Folate (vitamin B9) - essential for amino acid metabolism.

Now this ⬆️ may just look all too confusing.
But here’s the good news.
Single ingredient, nutrient dense foods contain all this stuff.

So eat right, sleep right, and you’ll see results.

Do all this, AND hit the gym - you’ll supercharge your results.

Commit to eating real food and doing regular exercise for 90 days - you’ll be UNRECOGNISABLE 💪💪

08/11/2025

Next up in our series “Why the 🤬 am I not losing weight?”

Because you’re focussing all your energy on the gym and not enough on the frypan. 🍳

The weight loss gurus will have you believe that if you “eat less and move more” the weight will just fall off.

It’s not true.
And you know it’s not true because you’ve tried it over and over again.

Sure, you starve yourself and drop a couple of kilos, but like clockwork it always comes back. And you blame yourself for “falling off the wagon”.

In reality though, you just went back to doing what you’d always done. You never really changed anything.

You need to eat real, single ingredient food which balances your hormones and keeps your body in a continuous state of using fat as fuel.

Stop starving yourself.

Stop throwing money away on pre-workout (spoiler alert - you’re being scammed 🤦🏻‍♂️)

Stop skipping meals in favour of bu****it protein shakes.

Stop snacking on granola bars which are chock full of seed oils, preservatives and inflammatory garbage. I don’t care if the wrapper says it has 20g of Protein… it’s junk food.

And stop finishing at the gym and going out for beers and a shnitty to reward yourself for a great workout.

If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.

Your body exists in one of two states -
fat burning mode, or fat storage mode.
No amount of tricep curls will cause your body to make the switch.

It’s the food you eat which activates the hormone signalling. And it’s correct hormone signalling that is going to get the weight off - and keep it off.

That’s it.
Thats the secret that none of the gurus or gym bros are telling you.

If it has one ingredient - steak, egg, carrot, apple - then eat it.

If it has multiple ingredients that you don’t recognise - don’t eat it.

Here endeth the lesson.

Get your butt off the treadmill and into the kitchen.

You’ll see results like magic.

05/11/2025

So, lets kick off our series “Why the 🤬 am I not losing weight”?…

We’ll start with the issue that is probably the culprit for 80% of you guys, and yet you’re unlikely to have ever been told about it.

INSULIN RESISTANCE

If doctors mention it at all, they will most likely say that insulin resistance is just about blood sugar.

But here’s what they don’t tell you:

- Essentially, insulin is your fat storage hormone. If it’s always high, your body can’t access your fat stores to use as fuel.

- It also lowers progesterone, which means worse PMS, irregular cycles, and even infertility.

- It slows your thyroid conversion (T4 → T3), leaving you tired, cold, and struggling to lose weight even if your blood tests look “normal.”

- It blocks critical nutrients like magnesium, chromium, zinc, and B vitamins that you need for ovulation, energy, and blood sugar control.

- It disrupts sleep and cortisol, causing those frustrating 2–3 AM wake-ups. When cortisol is elevated, fat burning stops 🛑. No “ifs”, “ands” or “buts”.
Read this ⬆️ twice.
3 times if you need to.

- It fuels inflammation that shows up as joint pain, brain fog, and skin issues.

This is why so many people (especially women) feel like they’re doing everything right (dieting, exercising, cutting calories) and STILL can’t lose weight, balance hormones, or feel like themselves again.

Insulin resistance can be reversed. With the right labs, nutrition, and strategy, your body will finally respond.

Most people today are unknowingly Insulin resistant. And the effects go far beyond stopping weight loss.

It silently disrupts nearly every organ system in the body.

But here’s what few realize: insulin resistance is now one of the most common hidden causes of bad skin: acne, skin tags, dullness, premature aging.

When insulin levels stay high, it drives inflammation, excess oil production, and collagen breakdown. Your skin is literally showing you what’s happening inside your cells.

So anyway - with today’s focus being weight loss, what can you do about insulin resistance?

Here’s where to start.

- Eat real food. Cut out the processed junk.

- Reduce your eating window. Don’t eat before the sun comes up and don’t eat after the sun goes down.

- Cut out snacking. Eat until you’re full during your main meal times. Let your digestion system rest (and your insulin drop) in between these times.

- More protein and fat on your plate, less carbs and sugar. The less sugar your body has to deal with, the lower the insulin spike.

- Prioritise sleep - quality & quantity. Sleep allows you body to heal and repair.

If you take positive steps towards addressing insulin resistance, you’ll not only start stripping the kg, you’ll improve a stack of other health markers at the same time 💪

02/11/2025

If you have weight to lose, then it’s common to think that just eating less and going to the gym will fix everything.

If only it were that simple..

The reason you make short term gains and then the weight always seems to come back is that you haven’t addressed the root cause.

You need to look at things like;
- Insulin resistance
- Hormone imbalances
- Vitamin & mineral deficiencies
- Autoimmune diseases

None of these issues will be solved by going to the gym, doing a HIIT class or getting up at 4am to walk before work.

Let me be clear - getting stuck into exercise is a great decision and you should be applauded for it 👏
It’s a great complimentary tool for improving your overall health, but it’s a small piece of the overall puzzle.

If you want to get off the weight loss/ weight gain roundabout - you need to find out why your body is storing fat.

Oh, and by the way - weight loss doesnt necessarily equal health. Plenty of people starve themselves or flog themselves at the gym - and manage to lose some weight, but still have low energy, gut problems, aches & pains, and a range of other issues.

We’ll spend this week discussing how you can identify the root cause of your problem and actually fix it so that it never comes back.

Focussing on weight loss won’t necessarily fix your health, but focussing on health will defintely result in weight loss. 💪

29/10/2025

You’ve heard of industries being “disrupted”?
Smart people come along with new ideas and ways of doing things better.

Well, the medical profession is next on the list.

I’m critical of doctors because they have one solution to pretty much any medical issue - to put you on drugs.
They do this because it’s what they’re taught in medical school - nothing about prevention, nothing about cure.

And while they’ve been in charge of looking after us we’ve become fatter, sicker, and living shorter lives than we ever have.

It’s time for a change.

Doctors like Peter Attia are only interested in prevention and cure. Treating disease and keeping it away by looking at exercise and nutrition.
These great doctors are all around if you’re looking to actually improve your health, not just put band aids on.

I’ve said it before - if your doctor only talks about treatment and not cure, reversal and prevention - then you don’t have a doctor, you have a drug dealer. 💊 💊

22/10/2025

If you’re on Cholesterol medication (Statins) and you haven’t been told any of the following, your doctor has let you down.

- People with “high” LDL cholesterol actually live longer

- There is a dangerous form of LDL, called “VLDL” but doctors rarely test for it. They put you on drugs “just in case”.

- Statins have side effects such as muscle pain, Liver & Kidney damage, cQ10 deficiency, plus many more - and have been linked to Dementia and Alzheimers.

and the most ironic side effect of all…

- Statins increase your chance of getting Type 2 Diabetes by up to 46%

That’s right, they INCREASE the chances of you having a heart attack or stroke.- the very thing they claim to protect you from. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Hard to believe, I know. I’ll put links in the comments. Make sure you’re sitting down.

Don’t believe me?
Good. 👍
I WANT you to look into this (and anything else on this page) and decide for yourself.
That’s what your doctor should be doing - giving you ALL the info so you can make an informed choice.

Nobody is going to look after your health like you can.

17/10/2025

Let’s talk Salt. 🧂

Bad for you, right?
Wrong.

Salt is one of the most maligned minerals in history, and pretty much everything you’ve been told about it is wrong.

Lets dig in 🪏

Here’s a few of the furphies you’ve probably heard about salt.

- It causes high blood pressure.
- It causes dehydration
- It increases your risk of heart disease

I’ll summerise these ⬆️ ⬆️ quickly so we can move on.

💩 💩 💩

Now, let’s talk about the many benefits of salt.

How about this one - low salt levels can result in anything from muscle cramps, to headaches, to a complete system shutdown, coma and death.

That’s obviously extreme, but there are many reasons you need sufficient salt intake.

- Salt is essential to the removal of excess acidity from the cells, particularly the brain cells.

- Salt helps to balance blood sugar.

- Salt is needed for the absorption of food particles in your intestines.

- Chloride from salt is needed to make Hydrochloric Acid (stomach acid) so that you can digest food properly. Low salt is a big reason people get reflux.

- Salt plays an important role in fluid balance, helping the body maintain water and keep hydrated. If you’re lost in the bush for a week and they take you to hospital - what’s the first thing they do?? Put you on a saline drip - concentrated salt being pumped straight into your body.

- Salt is an essential mineral which is needed for nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction.

- Around 27% of the body’s salt is in your bones. Lack of salt is a major cause of osteoporosis.

Scroll back through this page and you’ll see posts about why salt doesn’t cause high blood pressure, and and how it can magically cure chronic headaches.

Ironically, salt will help lower your blood pressure and keep it regulated.

I had to read this twice, but apparently it’s true. More than 35% of Australians over the age of 18 are on blood pressure medication, and we spend over $1.2 BILLION annually on this stuff. No wonder they don’t want people learning the real cause…

It’s the sugar folks.
High blood pressure, Gout, Reflux, Inflamamtion, the list goes on.

We keep blaming salt for what the sugar did. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Good quality sea salts such as Celtic salt, Redmond salt, Baha Gold and Lake Deborah salt from right here in Australia (shout out to the locals 📣) contain 70-plus essential minerals including potassium and magnesium - which many people are deficient in.

Trust me - your life will be much less salty if you’re getting enough salt 😉

13/10/2025

When you have a health issue, and you choose taking a drug, as opposed to changing diet or lifestyle, you are essentially placing your faith in companies like Pfizer to look after your health.
To be clear, it’s absolutely your right to do so. There’s no doubt that taking a pill is way easier than changing habits. But it’s important that you make informed decisions.

So here’s some info about Pfizer - one of the companies that you’re trusting to keep you healthy.

Years in business: 175
Produts made: 350 plus
2024 revenue: $63.6 BILLION
CEO Salary: $25 million

Now for the intersting ones..

Fines since year 2000: $11.2 BILLION
Number of illegal activities: 107

If you’re doing the math at home, this means that on average, they break the law once every 3 months, and pay a fine of around $112 million for each offense.

Oh, one last stat…

Diseases cured in 175 years: ZERO

Do Medications have their place?
Of course they do.
Are they the long term solution? Absolutely not.
They’re band aids.

A colleague of mine recently described pharma drugs as painting a rusty car. Looks better on the surface, but the problem underneath remains.

Every single pharmaceutical drug has side effects.

Every single pharmaceutical drug depletes your body of minerals.

The majority of pharmaceutical drugs are designed for you to be on them forever.

That’s the business model - customers for life.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

If this info gets you even a little curious about a better way to look after your health - hit me up 💪

05/10/2025

Ever feel like we’re doomed?
Hopefully for convenience it will be in the same isle as the 50 packs of potato chips and the 10 litre vegetable oil. 🤦🏻‍♂️

03/10/2025

We hear these stories every day ❤️

Jeffrey dropped HbA1c from 7.2 → 5.6, lost 13 kg, trimmed 20 cm off his waist, and reclaimed his health — all through low-carb + real food.

If he can turn it around in his 70s, so can you. 💪

🔗 https://www.defeatdiabetes.com.au/success-stories/jeffrey-i/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=defeatdiabetes&utm_content=successstories