Your Body Library
Understand what may be happening inside your body
Health information can be confusing.
You may have symptoms that seem unrelated, blood results you don't fully understand, or questions about hormones, metabolism, digestion or energy that never seem to have a simple answer.
Your Body Library is designed to help you connect the dots.
Here you'll find clear, evidence-informed explanations of the systems, markers and changes that can influence how you feel — without unnecessary jargon, fear or one-size-fits-all advice.
Because understanding your body is often the first step towards knowing what is actually worth changing.
Start with what you want to understand
Women's health & hormones
Hormonal change can influence much more than periods.
Through perimenopause and menopause, changes in ovarian hormones can coincide with changes in sleep, body composition, appetite, muscle, mood and metabolic health.
But not every symptom in midlife is caused by hormones.
Explore how hormonal change fits into the wider picture.
Explore women's health & hormones →
- Perimenopause and metabolism
- Why body composition can change during menopause
- Protein and muscle through midlife
- Sleep, hormones and appetite
- Understanding oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone
- Thyroid health in women
Metabolic health
Metabolism is not simply how quickly you “burn calories”.
It describes the many processes that allow your body to use, store and produce energy.
Blood glucose, insulin, muscle, liver health, sleep, activity, genetics and body composition can all play a role.
Explore metabolic health →
- What is insulin resistance?
- Understanding blood glucose
- What is visceral fat?
- What does HbA1c tell you?
- Muscle and metabolic health
- Why walking after meals can influence glucose
- Sleep and blood sugar
- Cholesterol and triglycerides in midlife
Gut & digestive health
Digestive symptoms can have many possible explanations.
Food intake, fibre, digestive function, medication, stress, infection, bowel habits and the gut microbiome may all contribute.
The aim should not be to chase a “perfect microbiome”, but to understand which factors are relevant in your case.
Explore gut & digestive health →
- Understanding bloating
- What does the gut microbiome do?
- Fibre and gut health
- Constipation and bowel regularity
- IBS: what can nutrition support?
- When might stool testing be useful?
Thyroid, energy & nutrient status
Fatigue is not a diagnosis.
Low energy can be influenced by sleep, nutrition, iron status, B vitamins, thyroid function, blood glucose, stress, medication and many other factors.
This section helps explain some of the markers and systems that may be considered when investigating persistent fatigue or changes in wellbeing.
Explore thyroid, energy & nutrient status →
- Understanding thyroid blood tests
- What does ferritin tell us?
- Vitamin B12 and folate
- Vitamin D
- Why am I tired all the time?
- Blood glucose and energy
Not sure which information applies to you?
The purpose of Your Body Library is education.
It can help you understand the possibilities, but it cannot tell you why your symptoms are happening.
If you would like personalised support, we can look at your health history, nutrition, lifestyle and relevant results together and decide whether any further investigation would genuinely be useful.
The information in Your Body Library is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Where symptoms or results require medical assessment, I will recommend appropriate input from your GP or other healthcare professional.
Understanding your health through testing
Tests can provide useful information — but only when they answer a meaningful question.
More data does not automatically mean better care.
Before recommending a test, I prefer to ask:
What are we trying to understand?
Is there already useful information available from your GP or existing results?
Will this test add something meaningful?
Would the result change what we do next?
Testing should support clinical reasoning, not replace it.
Different tests answer different questions
Blood tests
Blood tests are often the most useful place to start.
They can provide information about established health markers such as:
- blood glucose
- HbA1c
- cholesterol and triglycerides
- full blood count
- iron status
- thyroid function
- liver and kidney markers
- vitamin B12 and folate
Existing NHS or GP results may already provide valuable information, so I will often review these before suggesting anything additional.
Learn more about understanding blood tests →
DUTCH hormone testing
The DUTCH test — Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones — measures a range of hormones and hormone metabolites using dried urine samples.
Depending on the test selected, it may provide information about sex hormones and their metabolites as well as cortisol patterns.
It can sometimes be useful when there is a specific clinical question that cannot be answered adequately from history and standard testing alone.
It is not automatically necessary for every woman experiencing hormonal symptoms, and results should always be interpreted alongside symptoms, medical history, medication and other relevant investigations.
Learn more about DUTCH testing →
GI Effects comprehensive stool testing
The GI Effects Comprehensive Stool Profile is a laboratory stool test that looks at several aspects of gastrointestinal function.
The test includes markers relating to:
- digestion and absorption
- inflammation and immune activity
- the gut microbiome
It may be considered when ongoing digestive symptoms warrant a deeper look at gastrointestinal function.
A stool test does not diagnose every cause of bloating, pain or altered bowel habits, and results need to be interpreted in the context of the individual.
Learn more about GI Effects testing →
Continuous glucose monitoring
A continuous glucose monitor — or CGM — measures glucose repeatedly throughout the day and night via a small sensor.
It can show how glucose changes after meals, during sleep, after exercise or at different times of the day.
CGM has an established role in diabetes care, particularly for people using insulin.
Outside that setting, short-term use can sometimes provide educational insight into individual glucose patterns, but it should not be treated as a diagnosis in itself.
A glucose rise after eating is normal.
The useful question is not whether glucose ever rises, but whether a pattern is clinically meaningful when considered alongside symptoms, diet, activity and established metabolic markers.
Learn more about continuous glucose monitoring →
Nutrigenomic testing
Your DNA is part of the instruction manual you were born with — but it is not your destiny.
Nutrigenomic testing looks at selected genetic variations that may influence the way your body interacts with nutrients, lifestyle and other environmental factors. This can sometimes provide another layer of information when we are trying to understand why two people may respond differently to the same diet or health strategy.
Depending on the test, areas explored may include nutrient metabolism, methylation pathways, inflammation, antioxidant defence, cardiovascular or metabolic tendencies and the way certain nutrients are processed.
The aim is not to label you as genetically “good” or “bad”, or to predict that you will develop a particular condition.
Instead, I use genetic information as one piece of the wider health picture — alongside your symptoms, health history, diet, lifestyle, blood results and other relevant information.
Used thoughtfully, it can help us ask more personalised questions about where your nutritional and lifestyle focus may be most useful.
Learn more about nutrigenomic testing→
