Lola Priego, the founder, and CEO of Base talks with Biohacker and BulletProof Radio host Dave Asprey about how to take charge of your personal health.
As a medical student turned data engineer struggling with brain fog, Lola’s life experiences converged to inspire the creation of Base. Tired of the revolving door of doctor’s visits, co-pays, out-of-pocket costs, trips to the lab, and weeks of waiting, she decided to take her health into her own hands.
If you’ve been trying to reduce your stress, get more energy, lose weight, feel more rested, improve your sex life or resolve some other nagging health issue, below are 5 key takeaways from their discussion that can help you on your journey.
1. Give Yourself a Leg-Up with a Data-Driven Approach
If you’re low on energy because of a vitamin deficiency but aren’t aware, you might decide to do a google search and try something like a keto diet, which ultimately won’t resolve your underlying issue and can actually cause other health problems that make you feel worse.
When it comes to your health, don’t take a shot in the dark. A data-driven approach that monitors what is actually going on in your blood and body will help you to know where your leverage points are and what actions you need to take to get the results that you want.
2. Nurture Your Motivation with Rapid Feedback
Rapid feedback is essential to making life changes. If you’re working hard towards something, it can really get you off track to have to wait weeks or months to find out if it’s paying off. Regular feedback helps remind you what your goals are and allows you to consistently see the bigger picture.
With Base, knowing that you have the test results coming is not only motivating, but it helps break things down for you right then and there so you can see the fruits of your labors.
3. Focus on a Few Things to Get the Most Bang for your Buck
Have you ever gone to “Dr. Google” to try to solve an issue only to find pages upon pages of how-to articles with different advice? Base allows you to match your actual results with the latest clinical trials to determine the top 4 doable things that you can adjust in your life to maximize your positive outcomes.
If you’re busy spending 2 hours at the gym every day, when making a certain dietary change would be more effective, Base can give you this information. And it’s not static. It will refresh every few weeks as you move towards your goals.
4. Know That You Are in the Driver’s Seat
Imagine you’ve been taking CBD to reduce your stress, but it has actually caused you to develop dangerously low cortisol levels. You’re not feeling quite right but you also don’t have the time, money, or patience for another visit to your doctor just to get sent back to the lab.
You’re in luck. Gone are the days of having to wait for a permission slip from your doctor in order to test your health. With Base, you can use the fingerstick in the kit, or go into any Quest Diagnostics with the Base app and get your samples drawn there.
5. Stay on Track by Tracking Your Progress Over Time
Continuous testing is important as you learn about your body, and understand what things work for you.
When you make dietary, behavioral, or other changes, it makes sense to want to see your return on investment as soon as possible. But you also want to stick with it over the long haul so that you can really get to know yourself and understand how you operate. If you invest the upfront time to get to the root cause of your symptoms and understand the full picture, you can really optimize your health.
The Bottom Line
Both Lola and Dave agreed that having affordable access to your health information should be a given in any free society. As Base continues to advocate for consumers, you can start by using your HSA and FSA dollars to cover the costs. You absolutely deserve to live your best and healthiest life, and Base is here for that. To learn more visit get-base.com.
