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Melissa's question about beeturia got me thinking about how we can use indicators at home to track our health.

Stool quality is a good one, following the bristol stool scale and noting color, frequency, timing, etc. As a person with celiac disease with IBS-type symptoms, my gut is very quick to let me know if I've eaten something wrong. Here's a related PH question about stool.

Stool timing may potentially be an indicator of cortisol levels. Since many people experience a bowel movement in the morning, coordinated with high cortisol levels, then stool timing could potentially be a way to track cortisol levels.

Beeturia may be a good metric for sufficient stomach acid and/or leaky gut.

I have asthma, and I use my frequency of albuterol usage as an indicator of inflammation, all else being equal.

Other measures may be sleep quality, mood, exercise performance, mental clarity, and weight changes. Dr. Kruse has a related post up about things to look for at home on his blog.

What indicators do you use to track general health, or progress towards a health goal?

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 I have no asthma symptoms as long as my D level stays up above 80 ng/ml. – Dragonfly Dec 7 2011 at 2:18

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1) If I have any sense that I've improved or slipped, I check my BP, pulse and BG.

I'm going through an n=1 experiment right now and, sadly, I came out on the losing end. I mentioned in other threads that I used my water kefir to create sourdough starter and made a very slow-rise sourdough bread that was reputed to drastically reduce the gluten content.

I can proudly report that the process resulted in beautiful and tasty bread; my still-partly-SAD grandson like it. I also had some to see how I'd react since I have known issues with commercial wheat products; I had one slice yesterday evening and 2 slices this morning.

I didn't get the immediate GI discomfort I was used to, so I was pretty excited, but I am now at 24 hours since the first slice and it's clear the bread will not work even as an occasional treat.

I have moderate swelling in my hands and feet which also translated to a 20-point increase in my systolic BP and about 10 on the diastolic. My pulse was 64, which I think is fine for an ancient crone. I also noticed some bright pink flushing on my cheeks earlier today, which I why I took my BP when I noticed the hand/foot swelling.

OH BOTHER!!!

2) I occasionally put a tape measure on my waist. As a postmenopausal woman, I had accumulated an apple profile which is rapidly transforming back to a pear. I can see the overall profile evolution without measurements, but I use the waist check to make sure I'm not gaining size as I loosen my rules a little during the holiday season.

Since waist size is so directly reflective of my health it's my gold standard.

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Nance, thanks for the update about the bread. I was really curious if the lack-of-symptoms would hold up. It's really a shame that it didn't work out. – Sara S. Dec 7 2011 at 1:48
Sorry you had such a strong reaction, Nance. It's certainly not anything I would have considered trying--I never understood how ferments are supposed to act on gluten (a protein) when fermentation is all about eating sugars.... – Dragonfly Dec 7 2011 at 2:16
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 Nancy, do you ever give a bad answer? Are you a writer by profession, or have you considered starting a Paleo blog? You should! I always find your answers helpful, informative, warm and accessible. – Renee Dec 7 2011 at 2:26
@Renee, aren't you nice! I worked for an insurance company for many years and rose through the ranks so I had a varied assortment of technical and management positions. I did quite a bit of public speaking toward the end. My favorite position was a 5-year stint in the research department, where I learned a lot about asking questions and looking at numbers (as in association vs. causation.) I'm very glad you enjoy my contributions. – Nance Dec 7 2011 at 2:31
@ Dragonfly, it's the research exposure mentioned above. I am pathologically curious and can't resist trying experiments. I won't repeat that one, though! On the other hand, if I didn't experiment I wouldn't have discovered that--thanks to the water kefir--I can now tolerate yogurt after a lifetime of it making me instantly queasy. – Nance Dec 7 2011 at 2:33
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On a day-to-day basis? I generally feel pretty good and that's that. It has become my default position to the point that I only notice when I feel less than great, and then it's usually something to do with my allergies.

I simply don't think about it and monitor it too much on a daily basis.

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