Patient Journey · All Audiences

Your Valens MD journey,
step by step

No guesswork, no vague next steps. Here is exactly what happens from the moment you book to the moment you leave with a plan built around your biology.

Before You Arrive

Once you book, you receive a pre-visit intake package: a detailed symptom survey, a health history form, and preparation instructions for your labs. Most of the metabolic panel requires a 12-hour fast, so we schedule morning appointments and provide clear instructions on what you can and cannot consume beforehand.

We also ask you to bring any labs you have had in the past two years. Even standard panels — lipids, glucose, HbA1c — provide useful baseline data that we incorporate into your interpretation.

What to Bring

Any recent labs, a list of current medications and supplements, and a 3-day food log if you have one. The food log is optional but often illuminating — meal timing and composition patterns frequently explain biomarker findings that look puzzling in isolation.

Your Visit — What Happens in Order

1
Arrival · 15 min

Check-in and Intake Review

Your symptom survey and health history are reviewed before the physician enters the room. This means your appointment time is spent on interpretation and conversation — not paperwork.

2
Lab Draw · 10 min

Metabolic Panel — Fasting Blood Draw

A single blood draw captures the full Valens MD metabolic panel: fasting insulin, fasting glucose, HbA1c, complete lipids, TG:HDL ratio, and TyG Index. Results are processed and available for same-visit interpretation.

3
Assessment · 20 min

Body Composition and Functional Testing

InBody 770 bioelectrical impedance analysis provides a precise breakdown of muscle mass, fat mass, visceral fat level, and phase angle. Grip strength testing provides a validated proxy for metabolic reserve and systemic insulin sensitivity.

4
Exercise Testing · 30 min

Lactate Threshold Testing (Tier 2–4 Patients)

For patients in Tiers 2 through 4, a staged lactate protocol on a calibrated ergometer identifies your actual Zone 2 ceiling, FatMax, and lactate threshold 2 — replacing every formula-based heart rate estimate with a measured, individual number.

5
Interpretation · 45 min

Physician Consultation — Your Results, In Full

Dr. Peñate reviews your complete picture: lab results, body composition, functional testing, and symptom history together. You are placed on the metabolic tier framework with a precise, documented rationale. Every finding is explained in plain language.

6
Deliverable · Same Visit

Your Personalized Plan of Care

You receive a written Plan of Care before you leave: a structured document covering your metabolic tier, your specific biomarker findings, and a protocol across four domains — nutrition, exercise, sleep, and supplementation. Every recommendation is tied to a specific finding.

After Your Visit

Follow-up is built into the protocol, not tacked on. Tier 1 patients return at 6 months for a panel recheck. Tiers 2 through 4 have structured 90-day follow-up visits with repeat biomarkers to track response and adjust the protocol. Progress is measured, not assumed.

One Thing That Doesn't Happen

You will not be told your labs are "fine" and sent home with no actionable information. If your fasting insulin is 14, you will know it is 14, what that means, what caused it, and what changes it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Plan for approximately two to two-and-a-half hours. The visit covers blood draw, body composition, functional testing, lactate testing (Tiers 2–4), and physician consultation. This is intentional — the depth of evaluation is what makes the output meaningful.

Yes — a 12-hour fast is required for the metabolic panel. Water is fine. Black coffee is not recommended as it affects cortisol and can subtly influence insulin readings. We schedule morning appointments specifically to make fasting practical.

Valens MD operates as a cash-pay practice. We do not bill insurance — insurance reimbursement determines what is ordered, how long the visit is, and what is discussed. We provide a superbill upon request for potential out-of-network reimbursement.

Yes — and you may be the most valuable patient we see. People who do the right things and still cannot move their markers are almost always dealing with an unidentified variable: gut axis dysfunction, cortisol dysregulation, exercise prescribed to the wrong intensity zone, or a specific nutritional gap. The evaluation finds it.

Normal range and optimal are not the same thing. A fasting insulin of 9 µIU/mL is within the laboratory normal range. It also indicates early insulin resistance. We interpret your results against optimal targets — not against a reference range designed to catch disease, not dysfunction.

Please do. Labs from the past two years — even standard panels — add context that makes interpretation more precise. Trends matter as much as single values.

Ready to Start?

See what your metabolism is actually doing.

Morning appointments · full panel · same-visit results.

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