🌱 Listening to Your Body: When to Ask for a Free NHS Health Check🌱

How understanding your blood test results can support better nutrition decisions

We often hear about counting calories and tracking carbs, fats, and protein — but nutrition is about so much more. How you feel each day depends on more than just energy intake; vitamins, minerals, stress levels, sleep quality, and physical activity all play a key role in your overall health.

Blood test results can provide valuable insight into these areas, helping to highlight where your body may benefit from additional support. When health markers are considered alongside how your body feels, nutrition decisions can become more informed and intentional, rather than based on guesswork alone.

Listening to Your Body: Recognising Early Warning Signs

Many people eat the same familiar foods day after day. If they feel “fine,” it’s easy to assume everything is working as it should. However, the body often provides early warning signs when something isn’t quite right.

Feeling more tired than usual, changes in mood, frequent illness, headaches, or reduced motivation can all be subtle indicators that your body may need additional support. These signs don’t always point to a medical condition, but they are worth paying attention to.

Sometimes, supporting health can be as simple as remembering a vitamin D supplement during the winter months, improving hydration, or making small adjustments to food choices. The key is recognising when something feels different from your normal and responding appropriately.

My experience with annual blood testing.

Recently, I noticed that I felt more tired than usual — not fatigued, but lacking my typical energy levels. I like to take a snapshot of my health each year through blood testing, and my last set of tests was in January 2025. So I requested a health check via my GP (NHS) to assess my general health and nutritional status.

The markers checked included vitamin B12, vitamin D, ferritin, folate, sodium, potassium, urea, creatinine, calcium, phosphate, and albumin, alongside liver function, thyroid function, cholesterol, and a full blood count. I also had my HbA1c measured (measures average blood sugar) to assess diabetes risk — a very good health overview.

All results came back within the normal range, except for one.

Iron deficiency without anaemia — what that means

My ferritin level was borderline low, indicating depleted iron stores. However, my full blood count, including haemoglobin, was completely normal. This is known as iron deficiency without anaemia — meaning iron levels in circulation are currently adequate, but stored iron is lower than ideal.

This distinction is important. Iron deficiency does not begin with anaemia; it develops gradually. Identifying and addressing low iron stores early can help prevent more significant issues from developing later.

Although iron deficiency can be a risk for plant-based eaters, I have eaten this way for many years and my blood results have consistently been within normal ranges. My diet has not changed significantly, which highlights an important point: nutrient needs and absorption can change over time, even when habits remain the same. Additionally, for women who are still having menstrual cycles, iron levels are not solely influenced by diet, regular blood loss can also play a significant role, making it even more important to stay aware of changes in how you feel.

What matters most is awareness and appropriate response. In my case, this means placing greater emphasis on iron-rich foods alongside a short-term iron supplement.

The NHS Health Check and listening to your body

From the age of 40, adults in England are eligible for a free NHS Health Check every five years, yet many people I speak with are unaware of this. This check is designed to assess your risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, often before symptoms are obvious.

As part of the process, blood tests are commonly used to assess markers such as cholesterol and blood glucose. Additional tests may be recommended depending on results, medical history, or symptoms discussed with a GP.

This is where listening to your body becomes particularly important.

If you’ve noticed changes such as reduced energy, poor concentration, frequent illness, changes in mood, or disrupted sleep, these are worth mentioning during health discussions. Even gradual or seemingly minor changes can provide useful context and may influence whether further investigation is appropriate.

If you’re under 40 but have concerns about your health, it’s still worth speaking with your GP. While the NHS Health Check is offered from age 40, investigations can be requested at any age where there is a clinical reason. I’m under 40 myself, and my GP was very accommodating when I raised concerns about my energy levels.

Blood tests offer a snapshot of what’s happening internally and can sometimes highlight concerns before more obvious symptoms develop.

Why this matters for nutrition

Blood test results help move nutrition away from guesswork and towards more targeted support. They provide context — not just for what you eat, but for how your body is responding to your current habits and lifestyle.

When nutrition decisions are informed by health markers and personal experience, they become more purposeful. Rather than making broad or unnecessary changes, the focus can remain on supporting what your body actually needs, at the right time.

Update 18/3: Responding Early and Seeing Progress

Since writing this, I’ve had follow-up blood tests which show that my iron levels have now returned to within the normal range.

This highlights how effective small, targeted changes can be when you respond early. It also reinforces the value of paying attention to subtle changes in how you feel, even when initial results don’t appear significantly outside of normal ranges.

While this is a positive step, there is still work to be done. My personal aim is to continue building my iron stores so that they sit more comfortably towards the higher end of the range, rather than the lower end.

How I can support you

If you’ve had blood tests through your GP or an NHS Health Check and are unsure what the results mean for your nutrition, targeted support can be helpful.

As a degree-qualified nutritionist, I often work alongside clients’ GPs to help interpret blood test results and develop nutrition plans tailored to their health needs.

If you haven’t had a health check in a while, it may be worth asking your GP whether you’re eligible. You can find more information here: NHS Health Check - NHS