MetaWell

25/06/2026

Getting a blood tests during the heatwave

In a world where thousands of (at-home) blood tests are sold direct to consumers, it's worth pausing before clicking "buy".

While these tests can seem like a quick and convenient way to check your health markers, there are several important factors to consider before investing in a blood test.

This is true at any time of year, but especially during a heatwave.

Here’s why...

Swipe through the slides 👆🏼👇🏼

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Lately, I've been running my comprehensive blood test a lot with many clients.

Just this week I've ordered blood tests for three clients.

Interested in getting a clearer picture of your health markers?

I’d love to support you with your health testing journey, making the process simple, comfortable and stress-free.

With a professional blood draw arranged to strict standards, you can relax knowing your sample is collected correctly and the details are taken care of — without the worry of navigating it all yourself.

If you’d like to find out more, let’s have a chat.

Comment BLOOD and I'll contact you. 👇🏼

(Image: A client's blood test results added to my 'optimal reference ranges' spreadsheet, with first result column showing what their doctor has tested previously and the second column showing all markers for iron, vitamins and thyroid from my comprehensive test - just a few of the markers that we tested.)

20/06/2026

It's very human to want a quick fix when things are not right.

A medication to fix your health issues.

An injection to lose weight.

A magic supplement that promises to give you relief from your long-standing symptoms.

A single super food that is advertised for healing every ailment in the planet.

An expensive trendy health gadget to give you a sense of doing something good for your health.

A ingenious health hack that your favourite influencer tells has helped them.

A cosmetic product/procedure for that youthful face. ..

In the quest of finding the magic cure, we often forget the basics.

The basic fundamentals that are the foundations of health are:

Nutrient-dense diet
Movement and strength training
Sleep and recovery
Stress management
Time in nature
Sunlight
Social connection
Creative and cognitive engagement
Avoiding stimulants such as alcohol

These are the high impact interventions that have the most evidence behind them.

If you just follow health trends without also working on the foundations, you are basically building the roof before the walls.

And most probably wasting money, time and effort.

Yes, the foundations are boring.

They are not as exciting and s*xy as the latest anti-ageing or weight loss supplement or the latest expensive gadget.

Always start with foundations, choose one or two changes first to avoid overwhelm and try to enjoy the journey.

When looking after your health becomes an enjoyable part of your everyday life, it's not a chore or a task that you have to do but something you want to do consistently.

Addressing one of these foundational areas doesn't just fix one thing in your health, but usually improves your health via multiple pathways.

And remember, you can never change just one health behaviour. As soon as you tip the first "domino", your mindset shifts and that leads to a ripple effect that causes other behaviours to change too.

If you need help with your health, and support with behaviour change via nutrition coaching and accountability, I would love to help.

Comment 'HEALTH' and I'll send you my Happy Gut - Happy You guide for 5 fundamental daily hacks to improve your gut and your mood.

15/06/2026

These days so much of our work is online, behind screens, on Zoom/Teams, or just on the phone, so I find it very refreshing to step out of the digital world and into the old-fashioned real life interaction and see clients face-to-face in my clinic (and have an opportunity to get out of my leggings and dress up! 😁😁).

Today I met for an in-person consultation a new client who started her 12-week personalised nutrition programme.

We are dealing with mostly gut-related issues (gallstones, abdominal pain, bloating, bowel urgency), along with skin issues.

She's had these symptoms for several years and despite many medical investigations with various doctors over the years, her symptoms are still persisting.

I'm very much looking forward to working with her over the next three months.

The main things that came up today were:
💦 Insufficient hydration
🧇 Repetitive breakfasts and lunches
🌈 Lack of/inadequate dietary variety, colourful fibre-rich foods and protein sources at breakfast and lunch
🍷Regular alcohol intake
💩 Regular use of over-the-counter anti-diarrhoea medication
💊 Several past courses of antibiotics
💥 Regular use of OTC pain killers.
🌞 Most likely insufficient (deficient?) vitamin D (this, plus other markers, we will test to know for sure)
🏃🏼‍♀️ Inadequate amount of exercise

All of the above can be contributing to her symptoms and preventing healing of the gut, so we are starting with small gradual changes in these areas that I'm convinced will give her some relief.

My clients will never get told what they have to do/eat by me; I give them a few suggestions for changes that I think can help and they can choose which one(s) they want to start with.

Then over the next 12 weeks we build more changes on those and try some very targeted supplements to speed up the healing process.

We might run a stool test (depending on client's budget) to understand what's going on in the gut.

Even when I've seen many transformations in clinic, my mind is still often blown about how quickly the changes can happen.

This client was skeptical about whether it's possible to have a life without these symptoms, but I always do my best to give them hope in first instance.

It's pretty amazing what hope and positive outlook and self-talk can do when dealing with chronic health issues.

Unfortunately, my clients often report that hope for improvements is often crushed after doing the rounds with the doctors.

If you have been suffering from chronic health issues and have not got any further with the doctors, let's have a chat.

There's always something we can do. 🥰

07/06/2026

A roundup of my great week in photos.

Looking back to what you've achieved and focusing on the good things, regardless how big or small, is an evidence-based approach to improve mood and mental health.

The more you practice positive mindset, the more those neural pathways get used and become a default setting.

Not all weeks are this good but I always aim to focus on what went well.

How's your week gone?
Tell me something positive about your week in the comments. 👇

06/06/2026

Have you heard of the protein leverage hypothesis?

The protein leverage hypothesis states that if your protein needs are not met early on in the day, your body will send you signals asking you to eat more in the hope of getting its protein requirement fulfilled.

Hence you feel hungry all the time, get cravings and can't resist food when it's in front of you.

Here's a great idea for a delicious high-protein breakfast (or lunch).

The total protein content per serving is 25g.

PIMPED UP SARDINE TOPPING (serves 1)

A couple of tinned sardines (13g protein)
1 large boiled egg (6g)
50g cottage cheese (6g)
1-2 spoons of kimchi .love
Chopped coriander
Drizzle of EVOO
Salt

In a bowl, mash together the protein sources and add all other ingredients.

Mix well.

I love this on toasted GF sourdough bread from or in a salad with greens and veg.

Comment 'EVOO' for a discount code for my favourite high-polyphenol extra virgin olive oil.

03/06/2026

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐬?

Watch this video by my mentor, The Godmother of Pharmacology Debbie Grayson Digestion With Confidence, a pharmacist, nutritional therapist and trainer and mentor to nutrition practitioners, to find out.

I'm one of Debbie's 'Reflux Revolution' practitioners and have done extensive training with her on the digestive system and gut health.

If you are suffering from constipation, diarrhoea, reflux, gut pain or any other digestive symptoms, I'd love to help.

There is a lot we can do with diet, lifestyle and mindset to support better gut health and improve symptoms.

If you would like to chat about how nutrition and lifestyle medicine can help with your health issues, send me a message or comment with a poo emoji 💩 and I'll message you for a chat.

Link to my website with more information in the comments.

"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩, 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱. 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘵, 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴. 12 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭. 𝘐 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥!!"

"Before Elvis Died, His Body Was Already Failing Him"

Hello and welcome to day 12 of the Godmother of Pharmacology on tour! I'm in Ranvers, Denmark, at Memphis Mansion, a replica of Graceland. Join me for a muse...

30/05/2026

Thank you Lingo for sending me this CGM sensor for continuous glucose monitoring.

I have family history of type 2 diabetes, and know that I have a predisposition to slightly higher than optimal blood glucose levels.

However, family history of an illness doesn't mean you will get the illness; only a small part of your risk is influenced by genetics, and your diet, lifestyle and mindset play a much bigger role on whether you develop a chronic condition or not.

Using wearables such as CGMs is a great way to get data from your body and motivate you to make changes.

I use CGMs with clients too, so if you want support with using these devices, I'd be more than happy to help.

You will also get a discount if you order Lingo as my client.

Do get in touch and let's have a chat. 🥰

This video shows how easy it is to attach the sensor and how to use the Lingo app that looks pretty good!

Will keep you posted on my progress in my stories so stay tuned.

27/05/2026

Feeling the heat?

Read my top tips for keeping well hydrated. 👆🏼

Comment 'ELECTROLYTE' for my favourite electrolyte brands.

Comment 'DRINKS' for me favourite shop-bought healthy drinks.

20/05/2026

Did you know that PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) is now called PMOS, or polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome?

Nutrition professionals have always known that PCOS is much much more than just ovarian/reproductive disorder.

It's a whole body condition and particularly closely linked to metabolic issues, such a insulin resistance and T2 diabetes, as well as inflammation, and requires an approach that considers this.

🗞️
"𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘗𝘊𝘖𝘚 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪-𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥”, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 “𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯". 𝘗𝘔𝘖𝘚 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 – 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos-new-name-polyendocrine-metabolic-ovarian-syndrome-pmos
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I've just ran and interpreted comprehensive blood test results to a PCOS client and her results clearly confirm these links - insulin resistance, inflammation, thyroid and androgenic hormone imbalances, they are all there to be seen.

The test I'm using includes 60 biomarkers of health:

🩸 Full blood count
🩸 Kidney function
🩸 Liver Function
🩸 Proteins
🩸 Lipid Profile
🩸 Inflammation (Hs-CRP and uric acid)
🩸 Diabetes (fasting glucose and Hba1c)
🩸 Iron Status (full iron panel, 5x markers)
🩸 Vitamins: Folate, active B12, vitamin D
🩸 Advanced thyroid panel (TSH, FT3, FT4, antibodies TPO, TG)
🩸 Steroid and s*x hormones: DHEAS, Cortisol, FSH, LH, Oestradiol, Testosterone, SHBG
🩸 Pituitary hormone prolactin

💉 Plus a phlebotomist visiting you for the blood draw.

This is an excellent set of markers for people with PMOS, and other hormonal issues, as well as for peri-menopausal and post-menopausal ladies who want to dig deep to address any symptoms or take a proactive approach to their health.

And I also run this test often with men. It covers so many bases.

Unfortunately your GP won't test such a wide range of markers when investigating your symptoms. And they also use much broader reference ranges than the narrower optimal functional reference ranges I use, hence often miss things that are starting to go wrong. And then patients are told 'all is fine' when they feel anything but fine!

Comment PMOS 👇 if you's like to know more about my approach to PCOS and other hormonal conditions, menopause or inflammatory conditions, and I'll message you.

Let's chat!
www.metawell.co.uk

18/05/2026

BDNF, or brain-derived neurotrophic factor, is a protein found in the brain regions of the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and cerebellum.

It’s often called “fertilizer for your brain”.

It’s involved in the development and functioning of nerve cells, drives neuroplasticity and is associated with memory and learning and increased cognitive function.

It supports a healthier brain, slow down brain ageing, and reduce mood-related issues, such as depression and anxiety.

The good news is that you can do a lot to get more of this brain fertiliser.

There are many simple lifestyle factors that can boost the levels of BDNF.

Swipe left 👆🏼 to see my top six that are easy to incorporate to your daily/weekly routine.

🫐 Eat foods rich in polyphenols and other phytochemicals

🏃🏼‍♀️ Move your body more

🍣 Increase your intake of omega-3 fish oils

👄 Chew more

🍽️ Leave longer gaps between meals

🏞️ Avoid chronic stress & get help for insomnia/sleep issues

More on the slides.

Which one is your favourite?
Is one maybe your sticking point?

Let me know in the comments. 👇🏼