From Supplements to Self-Awareness

In the thick of my battle to whittle down my midlife middle, I consumed every health recommendation I could get my hands (or ears) on. A lot of it centered around overall wellness—and especially the use of supplements to bring your body back into balance.

Patience has never been my strong suit, so if something sounded science-y and promised to be my magic bullet, I was clicking “Add to Cart” faster than you can say “overnight shipping.”

At the height of my supplement mania, I had full-on routines for morning, noon, and night. I even graduated to one of those “Monday through Sunday” pill organizers. Let’s just say, my nightstand started looking like a vitamin pop-up shop.

One day, an email popped into my inbox from Quest Diagnostics (you know—the place your doctor sends you when they want seven vials of your blood). But this time, it wasn’t a referral. It was an ad. Apparently, you could now order your own blood tests—no doctor needed.

They were offering a buffet of testing options. Just choose your test, pick a location near you, and voilà—information at your fingertips.

Around the same time I got that email, I happened to hear two health experts say some of the most sensible things I’d come across in a long while:

1️⃣ Supplements are only necessary if you’re actually deficient—your body already pulls what it needs from food or makes it itself

2️⃣ If a supplement is working, you should feel better. (Imagine that!)

It was like someone snapped their fingers and I woke up from a supplement-induced trance—one fueled by marketing hype and wellness “advice” that sounded legit but never quite delivered.

Off I went for my Comprehensive Women’s Health Profile, and less than two days later, I had a whole dashboard of data to obsess over. (I had stopped all supplements a week prior to get a clearer picture of my starting point.)

Turns out, I was mostly within the proper ranges for key vitamins and minerals—and didn’t need any of the supplements I’d been faithfully popping.

📌 Heads-Up Before You Order Your Own Bloodwork

🧬 Important note: Blood tests are just a snapshot—one moment in time. Our bodies are complex and always shifting. Hormones rise and fall throughout the day, so results are more of an indicator than a final answer.

💡 Still, it’s incredibly helpful to see if you’ve got any actual deficiencies—or even an overabundance of something you didn’t realize you were overdoing.

👩‍⚕️ Also good to know: If any of your results look concerning, Quest offers access to a doctor who can review your labs and give medical advice. You’re not totally flying solo—and all results can be shared with your regular doctor.

Quest isn’t the only company offering this tool. Now there are several companies popping up that don’t just aid in blood testing—they also provide diagnostic tools and personalized wellness plans. (Many of them use established labs like Quest or Labcorp to handle the actual testing.)

InsideTracker is one of several new companies helping you take your blood test results to the next level. Beyond the individual numbers, they group related biomarkers into wellness categories—like Cognition, Heart Health, and Metabolism—and offer personalized health and lifestyle recommendations to help improve anything that’s out of range. Best part? It’s all delivered through an easy-to-use app on your phone. Bonus: They’ll even come to your home to draw your blood (depending on your state—I’m in New Jersey, and yes, they showed up at my door!). That alone might be a big “draw” for some people. 😉

🔍 So, What’s the Takeaway?

Having a clear starting point—and real information about what’s actually happening in your body—can make your wellness journey a whole lot smoother. Instead of throwing spaghetti (or supplements) at the wall, you can make targeted changes that matter. It takes out the guesswork, the overwhelm, and let’s be honest… it might save you a small fortune on supplements you don’t even need.

Have you ever tried a company like InsideTracker? I’d love to hear about your experience! Use the chat feature on my website or shoot me an email at connect@mymidlifemix.com—because midlife wellness is way more fun when we swap notes.

Midlife’s a mix—thanks for being part of mine. 

💜 —Linda