Section
Health Explained
The numbers behind your health, decoded one at a time. Lab values, fitness measures, and what normal means.
What a 10 Parameter Dipstick Measures
The ten pads on a standard urine test strip, what each one detects, the normal range, and the common reasons each one reads wrong.
Resting Heart Rate: What the Number Tells You
Every wearable reports it and few people know what to do with it. The normal range, what drives it up and down, why the trend matters more than the value, and when a number is worth a visit.
Kidney Health Urine Tests: Protein, Microalbumin, and uACR
Why the protein pad on a dipstick misses early kidney damage, what microalbumin and albumin to creatinine ratio tests add, and who should be testing.
VO2 Max and Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Explained
The single measurement that predicts lifespan better than blood pressure, cholesterol, or smoking status. What it is, what the ranges mean by age, how watches estimate it, and how to raise it.
Ketone Test Strips: What They Measure and When to Switch to Blood
Urine ketone strips detect acetoacetate, not the ketone your body runs on. Here is what that means for keto dieters, fasters, and people with diabetes.
The Mediterranean Diet, Explained Without the Hype
It is the most studied eating pattern in the world and the only one with a large randomized trial behind it. What it actually consists of, what the trial found, and what people get wrong about it.
Hydration: How Much Water Do You Actually Need
The eight glasses rule has no source. What the body actually requires, where it comes from, the two signs that tell you more than any target, and who needs to be careful about drinking too much.
Urine pH Test Strips: What the Number Means
What urine pH actually tracks, why the "alkaline body" claims do not hold up, and the real reasons to test it.
BMI, Waist Circumference, and Body Composition: Which Number to Trust
BMI is a population tool being used as a personal verdict. What it gets right, where it fails, the tape measure test that outperforms it, and what the newer measures add.
The Cholesterol Panel Explained
Total, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and the newer numbers on the report. What each one means and why the target depends on you.
Liver Enzymes: ALT, AST, and What an Elevated Result Means
The two enzymes on every metabolic panel, the ranges labs use, the usual causes of a high result, and what happens next.
Glucose in Urine: What a Positive Pad Means
Sugar in urine usually means blood sugar has gone above the kidney's threshold. Sometimes it means something else. What the glucose pad detects and what to do next.
Protein in Urine: Causes, the Trace Result, and When It Matters
Proteinuria is the most common abnormal finding on a urine strip. Most of it is harmless and temporary. Some of it is the first sign of kidney disease. Here is how to tell.
eGFR Explained: The Kidney Number on Your Blood Panel
Estimated glomerular filtration rate is on nearly every routine blood test. What it estimates, why it is only an estimate, the stages, and why it pairs with a urine test.
Specific Gravity: The Hydration Pad That Changes Every Other Reading
The least glamorous pad on the strip tells you how concentrated your urine is. It also tells you how much to trust the other nine results.
Ketones Plus Glucose: The Urine Strip Pattern That Is an Emergency
Ketones alone are often harmless. Glucose alone is a reason for a blood test. Both together, with feeling unwell, can mean diabetic ketoacidosis. How to recognize the pattern and what to do.
Leukocytes in Urine Without Infection: Sterile Pyuria Explained
A positive leukocyte pad with a negative culture is common and confusing. The causes, from contamination to conditions that need a workup, and how clinicians sort them.
Bilirubin and Urobilinogen: The Two Liver Pads on a Urine Strip
Most people never look at these two pads. Together they give a rough read on bile flow and red cell turnover, and one of them is a same week phone call when positive.