About this episode

The episode discusses the shortcomings of standard health markers and the importance of understanding optimal health through various tests.

Why "normal" bloodwork doesn't mean you're healthy — and what the labs are actually missing. Join me with Nick Tognietti, The Founder Of Lifestyle of Eden and the 7 Pillars of disease reversal, prevention, and longevity. Most standard lab panels are built to catch disease, not to define what optimal health looks like. In this episode, we sit down with a leading functional health coach to break down the gap between "normal" and "optimal" — and why the number of Americans who are truly metabolically healthy is likely far lower than the headline statistics suggest. Why "normal" ≠ healthy — the difference between disease-detection thresholds and true optimal ranges Blood sugar isn't the full story — why fasting glucose alone can hide insulin resistance Fasting insulin — the test almost no one gets, and why it's one of the earliest warning signs of metabolic dysfunction HOMA-IR — a simple calculation that can reveal insulin resistance even when glucose and insulin look "fine" individually Triglycerides and the TG:HDL ratio — an underused but powerful predictor of metabolic and cardiovascular risk The cholesterol myth — why two people…

People in this episode

Host: Chad Franco

Guest: Nick Tognietti

Topics covered

• health markers
• bloodwork
• metabolic health
• insulin resistance
• disease prevention
• functional health

Keywords

• normal bloodwork
• optimal health
• fasting insulin
• HOMA-IR
• cholesterol myth
• hs-CRP
• metabolically healthy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lifestyle of Eden

More episodes of The Chad Franco Podcast

• Episode 133: Daily Behaviors: The Twenty-Three Hours Nobody Is Talking About · July 7, 2026 · 30 min
• Episode 132: Recovery and Sleep: The Most Overlooked Performance Lever You Have · June 30, 2026 · 32 min
• Episode 131: Your Environment Is Either Building You or Breaking You · June 23, 2026 · 28 min
• Episode 130: Physical Capacity — The Metric That Determines Your Independence · June 16, 2026 · 24 min

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