What Are the 8 Tests Your Doctor Overlooks That Predict More About Your Health Than Your Standard Labs?

What if your annual physical is missing the tests that matter most? Most standard lab panels were built to catch disease, not to tell you where your health is heading. On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through eight blind spots in the typical yearly checkup, four blood markers your doctor can add to your next requisition, and four simple physical assessments you can do at home in under five minutes.I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, board-certified lifestyle medicine physician, and these are the tests I think every adult should know about. We’ll talk about why fasting insulin and HOMA-IR can flag insulin resistance years before fasting glucose ever moves out of normal range. Why ApoB is a more accurate measure of heart disease risk than the LDL cholesterol on your standard lipid panel. Why Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), only needs to be tested once in your entire life but rarely is. And why hsCRP, a marker of chronic inflammation, may help explain the half of heart attacks that happen in people with normal cholesterol.Then we’ll cover the at-home assessments most doctors never do. Grip strength, single-leg balance, walking speed, and the chair sit-to-stand test. Each one is linked to long-term mortality risk in large studies, and each one gets better with practice.What you’ll learn in this episode:* The fasting insulin and HOMA-IR test that detects early insulin resistance* Why ApoB is a better predictor of cardiovascular disease than LDL cholesterol* How a one-time Lp(a) blood test can change your heart disease risk picture* What hsCRP reveals about chronic inflammation and heart attack risk* Four at-home longevity tests, including grip strength and gait speed, that predict healthy aging* How to talk to your doctor about adding these markers to your next physicalCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/aboutDr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-are-the-8-tests-your-doctor Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe