The ratio of triglycerides to HDL cholesterol, taken from a standard lipid panel, is one of the most information-dense numbers in metabolic coaching. It's a proxy for insulin resistance, a proxy for lipoprotein particle size, and a first-look signal of how the liver is handling the current fuel load.
Take your fasting triglycerides and divide by your HDL. Both numbers are on almost every basic lipid panel. 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.
Triglycerides are the form fat travels in. When dietary carbohydrate exceeds what the body can burn or store as muscle glycogen, the liver converts the surplus to triglyceride and sends it out to be stored — and a lot of it gets stored in places the body didn't intend, starting with the liver itself.
HDL — high-density lipoprotein — is the cleanup crew. It carries excess cholesterol back to the liver for recycling. When triglycerides rise, HDL tends to fall, and the ratio stretches. That stretching is a physical expression of fuel regulation breaking down.
What makes TG:HDL valuable isn't any single mechanism — it's the convergence. A rising ratio usually means three things are happening at once: insulin sensitivity is declining, lipoprotein particles are becoming smaller and denser, and the liver is accumulating fuel it can't process.
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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