Embarking on a quest for holistic health can lead us down fascinating paths, ones I've personally tread with a touch of trepidation and a heap of curiosity. My recent foray into the world of health diagnostics brought me face-to-face with the DEXA scan, a tool capable of peeling back the layers to reveal our body's deepest secrets. Within this episode, I, Dr. Damaris Maria Grossman, invite you to join me on a journey of discovery as I recount my experience with this advanced imaging technique and the revelations it brought about my body composition, bone density, and potential fracture risks. It's an honest look at what it means to confront our health head-on, and the insights gained might just steer you toward a path of informed wellness and disease prevention.
The conversation doesn't stop at the DEXA scan; we also navigate the intricacies of VO2 max testing, a metric of endurance that probes the limits of our aerobic capabilities. Despite my own history with asthma and previous injuries, I share the surprising results and what they mean for someone not exactly in the elite athlete bracket. This episode is not just about the numbers; it's about understanding our bodies, working with our unique health narratives, and striving for improvement. So, if you're keen on learning how to interpret the signs your body is giving you and transform that knowledge into action, tune in for an episode rich with personal exploration and science-backed insights.
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Hi, how are you? This is Damaris Maria Grossman, dr Grossman from Mindfully Integrative Health, and I am talking about the discussion of. I am very lucky to be able to go and do a DEXA scan and I'm going to be going to my local DEXA fit scan and I will be getting a bone density scan. So what is a DEXA scan? And what it is is a dual energy absorption that accurate the body. It basically is a way of getting your body's composition and it's also helps measure the bone density, mineral density within the body. So most of the time the scan has been used to check for your stage of osteoporosis in the body and that's the original use. Now it has been shown to have great results for individuals on their movement, on their body's skeletal muscle versus body composition. It is included on a way of seeing if you have any risk of fractures in the body and how your long-term skeletal muscle versus fat and lean body mass are. It's a really amazing test and I'm quite excited to be able to get one for myself and just to really kind of see even though I have lost a lot of weight and I've started to improve my health and physical goals am I really fully healthy or could I be better, and that will give me a gauge of that. So I'm going to be doing a DEXA scan, which is an FDA-approved scan that will help with detecting your lean versus your fat, versus your bone mass and your visceral fat, which is kind of that belly fat or the fat that surrounds your organs, and this kind of gives you an idea if you have more morbidity issues or chronic disease like obesity, diabetes, chronic illnesses, cardiac illness or even peripheral terrestrial disease. So there's many things that may come up, that may show, and I want to kind of do this testing to get a gauge of where that it is for me today. So the reason why it's pretty cool is that the test is available for everyone to go do on their own. Granted, I would recommend my clients will be able to get a code called I'll have that at the end of the show notes, but it's code mindful and they'll be able to get a discount on the scan. So you can go in and get this kind of scan and just see how you're doing. Now, if you go and get the scan anywhere else in the outside of this company I think that they have it it's like around $1,500, since your lens is covering it doesn't charge us. And now it's like you can get it because it's cleared for about I'd say I think it's around $400. And then with the discount it's even cheaper.
Speaker 1:
The other reason I'm in very big fan of this is that it's a diagnostic tool. It's a way of finding out where you stand right now and then are you going to make actionable steps. So I'm going to go and see how I do in this scan and I will send results in part two and where I am. Now, additionally to this DEXA scan, I'm going to be doing a VO testing and what that is is that it's the maximum rate of oxygen consumption during incremental exercise. Now, I'm not a big crazy exerciser because I used to have a back injury and I never really exercised very strenuous like I used to. But the V stands for volume, the O2 stands for oxygen and the max means that you're at your maximum rate of oxygen consumption during aerobic exercise. So what this is gonna do for me is gonna give me a gauge of what my aerobic power is, what's my body's ability to get through that exercise and how long can I last with my oxygen that I'm able to consume.
Speaker 1:
Or is there an irregularity there? What this does? It lets me know what my cardio vascular and my lungs, my respiratory system, is doing in the fitness, and has it been improved or do I have some irregularities? Do I have endurance or do I not? I would say I'm maybe, probably average. I'm not a elite athlete, I'm not a pro athlete, I'm not even really athletic, not like I used to be. So I really kind of would like to know where I stand, and do I have any sort of adorns? Or am I really really struggling? I did have a series of asthma when I was a kid and I wonder if that will come up in this as my cardio respiratory health, and how can I improve it. So, as a provider too, and as a functional medicine integrated functional medicine provider, I really think this is important as a diagnostic tool because it lets me know is there an inflammatory process here? Is there something that we can improve in a person's exercise and ability so that they can actually circulate more oxygen throughout the body? What can we do?
Speaker 1:
And then the last test that I'll be doing is a full body scan to check for fat and visceral fat again. In addition, I'll be doing a RMR, which is RMR and a BMR. So you got the basal metabolic rate and then you've got the resting metabolic rate. So I'll be doing a resting metabolic rate, which is that I had to fast at least five hours before the test and I will be checking what my actual metabolic rate for my body is.
Speaker 1:
So you may have heard about metabolic basal metabolic rate, which is the minimum number of calories we need for rest. What's our basic, essential function? Can we pump the blood through the body and breathing, digestion and our body Like? What's the basics that you need, very bare minimum. Now, what's your resting metabolic rate? What does that mean? Like at low effort, low walking, eating, go into the bathroom, walking short periods of time, shivering, eating, consuming caffeine, regular things what does effort? Is that for you? So think of it even as when someone checks your pulse and if you're, or your blood pressure, that bottom number is that resting rate or your resting number.
Speaker 1:
But in this occasion I'm looking at what's my overall body's use of that effort and how can it be measured.
Speaker 1:
And the difference between this versus the basal metabolic is that the BMR is usually slightly lower and the RMR is a little bit higher because you're doing a little bit more functions in your day to day. So it's gonna try to check to see how I'm doing and I think the five hour fasting is part of that equation. So usually when you're testing a basal metabolic rate, that's usually without a fast. So this one is kind of seeing how am I doing now. So I will do a part two of what my scores are from these tests and see how it's been and if there is any improvement. So stay tuned for part two and stay tuned for being able to do this test on your own and maybe, if I work with you, at some point I'll send you to one of these centers to get your test done and we can get a better picture of where you are and where you wanna be and see where your transformative self is. So make sure you find a mindful way each and every day and have a wonderful blessed day.