A1c tells you what glucose is doing. Fasting insulin tells you what it cost to get there. You can have a "normal" fasting glucose only because your pancreas is working overtime to hold the line — and that strain shows up in insulin long before it shows up anywhere else.
Lab "normal" often runs up to 25 µIU/mL. That is a diagnostic ceiling, not a health target. Metabolically healthy people sit in the single digits. Your Radar scores every marker 0–100 on the same four-band continuum you see on your report: Fit (90+), Well (50–89), Short of well (26–49), Sick (25 and under). A score of 25 is the diagnosable line at any age. The values below are the age-40 reference — the bands shift with your age and sex, so use the calculator underneath for your own numbers.
Insulin's job is to move glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells. When cells stop responding — the first sign of insulin resistance — the pancreas compensates by producing more. Blood sugar stays in range, but the price has gone up.
This is why a person can have a perfectly normal A1c and a perfectly normal fasting glucose and still be metabolically compromised. The system is still producing the right output. It's just costing more hormonally to do it. You only see that cost if you measure the hormone.
Fasting insulin is the earliest lab marker to move when the Regulate Energy capacity begins to strain. Years before A1c drifts upward, insulin is already climbing. That lead time is what makes it one of the most valuable coaching signals you can have.
The education above is open to everyone. The specific levers — what to actually do to move this marker — are part of the coaching program. Enter your coach password to unlock, or get in touch about becoming a coach.
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