in pictures and a few words
What it is and why it matters
The four most common problems — with the gut, blood sugar, the thyroid, and the heart and blood vessels — start long before any complaints and give no sign for many years.
- That’s why prevention is not a list of supplements but a habit of looking
- Each system has one inexpensive check
- It makes an invisible problem visible
Gut: what changes quietly
The gut rarely hurts until things have gone far. For years people put the changes down to “something I ate”.
- First the stool changes, bloating by evening, heaviness after usual food
- Iron and vitamin B12 drop first, then energy, hair, focus
- Later people go to treat those, not the cause
Gut: how to see it and what to do
With bloating, irregular stool or discomfort after meals — a breath test. Plus two blood tests: for iron stores and for vitamin B12.
- 3–4 hours between meals without snacks: this lets the gut start its “cleaning” wave
- Fiber from food, not only from a jar: vegetables, legumes, whole grains
- Colostrum — in courses; bacteria — in courses and thoughtfully, not as a constant background
Important. Bacteria are not automatically good for you: if overgrowth is already there, they can make bloating worse. Look first, then take them.
Sugar: years before the diagnosis
Between “all is well” and “you have diabetes” 10–15 years pass. All this time fasting tests stay normal.
- The body keeps morning sugar normal at the cost of more and more insulin
- This excess insulin stores fat, raises blood pressure and damages blood vessels
- A person sees they have gained weight but not why
Sugar: two weeks with a sensor
A glucose sensor is put on at home for two weeks once every year or year and a half. A phone reads it, and it shows what your usual food does to your sugar, not just one point in the morning.
- You see which porridge raises sugar, what a late dinner does, how a walk affects it
- Twenty minutes of walking after a meal cut the peak better than any supplement
- Once a year — fasting insulin: it often rises years before sugar
Important. The sensor doesn’t make a diagnosis and doesn’t replace tests. It shows which food raises sugar in you specifically.
Thyroid: seeing it early
The most common cause of problems is inflammation in which the body attacks its own thyroid. For years it goes unnoticed: tiredness, weight, hair, feeling cold are put down to something else.
- Once a year — the hormone used to check the thyroid, and antibodies to it
- Antibodies appear long before the hormone goes outside the normal range
- Check vitamin D and keep it up; selenium and iodine — only by tests, excess harms
Heart: a plaque doesn’t hurt
In half of people the first sign of vascular disease is the heart attack itself. Before it — no pain, no breathlessness, not a single signal.
- A plaque grows for decades and doesn’t hurt: there is nothing in it to hurt
- A “usual” blood pressure of 145 isn’t felt, yet it wears out vessels and kidneys every day
- A home blood pressure monitor tells more in a week than a doctor’s visit once a year
Heart: how to see it
One blood test counts not the amount of cholesterol but the number of particles that can get stuck in the vessel wall. That’s why it is more accurate than the usual “bad cholesterol”.
- This test — once a year: it can be high even with normal cholesterol
- A week of home blood pressure readings — every six months, written down
- Waist size is the cheapest measure and one of the most honest
Who should see a doctor first
Which tests you need, how often and what to do with the result is decided at an appointment, taking into account your history and condition.
- Thyroid disease in the family — check it more often than once a year
- Pregnancy and the year after birth — a separate reason to check the thyroid
- The limit for cholesterol and blood pressure is individual — go over the result with a doctor
Important. Raised thyroid antibodies on their own are not a disease and not a reason for treatment. They are a reason to watch and not miss the moment when help is needed.
In one sentence
The four checks take less time than one doctor’s visit about something that has already happened. Their point is one: to see the process while it hasn’t broken anything yet.
In brief
| System | How to see it | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Digestion | A hydrogen breath test | if symptoms call for it |
| Blood sugar | A glucose sensor, worn for two weeks | every year or so |
| Thyroid | One blood draw: TSH and TPO antibodies | once a year |
| Heart and vessels | Apolipoprotein B | once a year |
All four of the conditions people come with most often share one trait: they begin long before any complaint and give nothing away for years.
So prevention is not a list of supplements. It is the habit of looking.
Each system has one inexpensive check that moves the problem from invisible to visible.
01 · Digestion
What breaks quietly
The gut rarely hurts until things have gone far. First the stool changes, bloating arrives in the evening, ordinary food sits heavily — and it gets blamed on «something I ate». For years.
Meanwhile absorption fails: iron and B12 go first, and energy, hair and concentration follow. Those are what people come to treat, not the cause.
How to see it
A hydrogen breath test — if there is bloating, irregular stool, discomfort after eating.
Plus two blood tests: ferritin and vitamin B12. A gut that absorbs badly drops those first, long before anything else goes out of range.
What to do routinely
- Gaps between meals. The small intestine needs 3–4 hours without food to run its clearing wave. Constant snacking cancels it.
- Colostrum (Colostrononi) in courses — support for the mucosal barrier.
- Bacteria in courses and with a reason, not as a permanent background.
- Fibre from food, not only from a jar: vegetables, pulses, whole grains.
- Cobra Gut — for an irritated stomach and gut.
An important caveat about bacteria: they are not automatically good. Where overgrowth already exists, adding bacteria can worsen the bloating rather than relieve it. Hence the order — look first, take second.
02 · Blood sugar
What breaks quietly
Between «all fine» and «you have diabetes» lie 10 to 15 years in which fasting tests stay normal.
The body holds the morning number down at the cost of ever more insulin. That excess is what stores fat, raises blood pressure and damages vessels.
The person sees the weight. They do not see why.
How to see it
Plus fasting insulin with the HOMA index — it rises before sugar does, often by years.
What to do routinely
- Two weeks with a sensor every year or so. Not «when something hurts» — as a review.
- Your own triggers into habit. Two or three findings usually remove half the spikes.
- Movement after eating, not before. Twenty minutes of walking cuts the peak better than any supplement.
- Insulin and HOMA once a year — even with perfect fasting glucose.
- FreeStyle Libre 3+ or Sibionics SiBio — applied at home, read by phone.
A sensor does not diagnose and does not replace blood tests. Its value is different: it turns the abstract «eat properly» into the concrete «this food raises your sugar».
03 · Thyroid
What breaks quietly
The commonest cause is autoimmune thyroiditis. It runs for years without a single symptom anyone would connect to the thyroid.
Tiredness is blamed on work, weight on age, hair loss on the water, feeling cold on character.
The gland is slowly destroyed, and the moment when help was simple passes unnoticed.
How to see it
One blood draw: TSH and TPO antibodies.
TSH shows whether the gland is coping now. Antibodies show whether a process is running that will one day stop it coping.
For prevention the second matters more: antibodies appear long before TSH leaves the reference range.
What to do routinely
- TSH and TPO antibodies once a year. More often with thyroid disease in the family.
- Ferritin in working range: with iron deficiency thyroid hormones work worse.
- Vitamin D — measured and maintained, not taken blind.
- Selenium and iodine — only on results. Both harm in excess exactly what they are taken for.
- Pregnancy and the year after — a reason to check on its own.
Raised antibodies are not in themselves a disease and not a reason to treat. They are a reason to watch — to know the process is running and not to miss the moment help is needed.
04 · Heart and vessels
What breaks quietly
For half of people the first sign of vascular disease is the heart attack itself. Before it — no pain, no breathlessness, no signal at all.
Plaque grows for decades and does not hurt, because there is nothing in it to hurt.
Blood pressure behaves the same way: a «usual» 145 feels like nothing while it wears out vessels and kidneys every day.
How to see it
Apolipoprotein B — one blood test. It counts not the amount of cholesterol but the number of particles able to lodge in a vessel wall, which makes it sharper than ordinary «bad cholesterol».
Plus a home monitor: three readings morning and evening across a week say more than a yearly visit.
What to do routinely
- ApoB once a year. It can be high even when the standard lipid panel looks fine — that is the case it is measured for.
- A week of home readings every six months, written down.
- Omega-3 — where there is little fish in the diet.
- Magnesium and Q10 — with exertion, arrhythmia, statin use.
- Waist circumference — the cheapest measure there is and one of the most honest.
The numbers at which to act depend on the rest of the risk: age, smoking, blood pressure, sugar, family history. There is no single threshold for everyone — which is why a result is discussed with a doctor, not compared with the range on the form.
Download the guide
The same guide as a single file, laid out for a phone screen — swipe through it or send it to whoever needs it more: download the PDF.
What of this we carry
Below are the items from our catalogue the text refers to. They are not the obligatory part: the checks in this guide work on their own, and supplements make sense once a check has shown something.
- Cobra Gut — digestion
- FreeStyle Libre 3+ — blood sugar
- Sibionics SiBio GSM1 — blood sugar
- Sibionics SiBio Keto — blood sugar
- SiderAL Forte — thyroid
- KRILIFE omega-3 — heart and vessels
- Magnesium citrate + CoQ10 — heart and vessels
In short
Four checks a year: a breath test if symptoms call for it, two weeks with a sensor, TSH with antibodies, ApoB with a week of home readings.
That is less time than one appointment about something that has already happened.
All four have the same point: to see the process while it has broken nothing yet.
This material is for information and does not replace a consultation. Which tests you need, how often, and what to do with the result is decided at an appointment, in the light of your history and current state.
Key facts
- The gut rarely hurts until things have gone far. First the stool changes, bloating arrives in the evening, ordinary food sits heavily — and it gets blamed on «something I ate». For years.
- Between «all fine» and «you have diabetes» lie 10 to 15 years in which fasting tests stay normal.
- The commonest cause is autoimmune thyroiditis. It runs for years without a single symptom anyone would connect to the thyroid.
- For half of people the first sign of vascular disease is the heart attack itself. Before it — no pain, no breathlessness, no signal at all.
- Each system has one inexpensive check that moves the problem from invisible to visible.
