Professional athletes like Sarah Haskins, Jarrod Shoemaker, and Ruben Sanca use InsideTracker to help keep their bodies in the best condition possible to rival other world-class competitors. However, not all of us are professional athletes! In fact, many InsideTracker customers work typical 9-5 hours, and fit in exercise whenever they can. Unfortunately, spending hours sitting in front of a computer can really take a toll on your health and fitness. Nobody knows this better than Brett Bloemendaal. He works at an investment management company by day, and typically goes to the gym after work. Does this routine sound familiar?
Despite Bloemendaal’s exercise and nutritious eating habits, the results from his first blood test showed that his levels of vitamin D were out of his optimal range. Given that some studies have linked vitamin D insufficiency to gastrointestinal distress, his stomach problems seemed potentially linked.
“I didn’t realize how much impact low vitamin D levels can have on your health,” Bloemendaal said. Aside from potentially playing a role in GI health, vitamin D increases bone health, muscle mass, and strength, among many other health benefits. Because your body actually makes most of its vitamin D from sunshine, Bloemendaal might not have been getting enough of the vitamin while he was sitting in his office all day! When he reviewed his InsideTracker nutrition recommendations, he realized that he couldn’t get enough vitamin D just from foods and chose to add supplements to his daily regimen.
Because the information that Bloemendaal learned from his first blood analysis proved to be so useful, he scheduled a follow-up test with the InsideTracker Ultimate Plan, and discovered that adhering to the recommendations paid off—his levels of vitamin D had vastly improved.
“The biggest thing that I’ve noticed after using the InsideTracker program was that my resiliency was improved, I have more energy, and recover more quickly after a workout,” he reported.
Bloemendaal found that InsideTracker’s ability to customize recommendations based on his unique physiology really helped him to understand what’s going on inside of his body. What makes InsideTracker unique is its integration of an “optimal zone” in the blood analysis—a number that is specific to each person and takes into account his or her own unique demographic information such as: age, gender, ethnicity, activity level, as well as lifestyle and performance goals. InsideTracker’s sophisticated algorithm called B.R.A.I.N (Biomarker Research Analysis Integrative Network) determines the optimal zones for each marker based on the latest peer-reviewed research. So while Bloemendaal’s physicians may not have noticed his sub-optimal levels of vitamin D because they were within the “normal” range for the general population, his levels were actually not high enough to meet his personal needs.
Bloemendaal also remarked that he appreciated how simple the InsideTracker program was to use. He said that InsideTracker doesn’t “burden you with information, and I wasn’t bogged down with information. It hit the nail on the spot!”
Does Bloemendaal have any advice for people who are looking to improve their physical performance? “The biggest thing that I’ve learned in the last year is there is a difference between healthy and fit,” he said. “Even if you go to a doctor and don’t have a disease, that doesn’t mean you can’t feel better. There is a grey area between health and fitness, and using InsideTracker helped me feel much better than I was feeling before.” Lesson learned: even if you’re exercising and eating healthfully, there is always room for improvement with help from InsideTracker!
Try Our Free Demo