3 Steps to Beating Metabolic Syndrome
- “It’s time to take my blood pressure pill.”
- “Better take my insulin before I eat.”
- “My doctor says I need medication for my high cholesterol.”
These are all common phrases that I’m sure you’ve either heard before or said yourself. It’s no surprise when 70% of Americans are on some sort of prescription drug.
But, what if I told you that you didn’t have to keep these illnesses “under control” with medications. What if there is another, better way? Would you choose the cure over the prescription bottle?
I’m sure you’re saying, “Yes, of course I would!”
Nonetheless, millions choose their pills every single day. They choose to suppress their symptoms and never regain their health. Maybe taking the steps to resolve their health issues seem time-consuming or difficult. Whatever the reason may be, the truth is you are not bound to your illness and your pills! You have the power to take back your health!
The Deadly Trio
Behind the deadly trio of diseases: diabetes, heart disease and strokes is a group of risk factors that are entirely too common. So common, in fact, that 47 million Americans have not just one, but a combination of at least 3, of these risk factors! The collection of these risk factors is called metabolic syndrome. While metabolic syndrome is not a disease itself, it is a condition that can pose some serious dangers to your health.
To be diagnosed, you must have at least 3 out of the 5 specific risk factors. Read the criteria below to find out whether you, or someone you know, may have metabolic syndrome. Knowing the primary indicators gives you the power to avoid disease and live a long, happy, and healthy life!
Risk Factors for Metabolic Syndrome:
- Central or abdominal obesity (measuredbywaist circumference):
- Men: 40 inches or above
- Women: 35 inches or above
- Triglycerides greater than or equal to 150 milligrams per deciliter of blood
- HDL cholesterol:
- Men: Less than 40 mg/dL
- Women: Less than 50 mg/dL
- Blood pressure greater than or equal to 130/85
- Fasting glucose greater than or equal to 100
Some of you might need to look over your latest lab results to know your risk factors. Chances are if you have metabolic syndrome, then your doctor has voiced his concern. He may not have labeled you with metabolic syndrome, but it’s common knowledge in the medical community that a combination of these risks spells danger.
The good news is that you can wipe out your risks and eliminate metabolic syndrome in just three steps! You’re not doomed to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or diabetes. Your health and your future are in your hands!
The Sweet Culprit
Developing metabolic syndrome results from poor choices, not genetics, 99% of the time. One of the most important choices we can make is what we eat. The most devastating food choice of all is sugar.
Consuming large amounts of sugar and carbohydrates destroys your health and acts like a slow acting poison. Over time, it breaks down your body’s systems by initiating unnatural processes.
Some of the most disturbing outcomes of sugar involve all 5 metabolic syndrome risk factors! The harmful effects of sugar include:
High Blood Sugar
Over-consumption of sugar and carbohydrates causes an increase in insulin. This overproduction of insulin leaves our cells in a non-responsive state, otherwise known as insulin resistance. Consistently high levels of insulin are associated with many harmful changes in the body long before manifesting as a disease, such as chronic inflammation and diabetes.
High Triglycerides
Sugars raise insulin levels, which raise triglycerides in the body. Triglycerides are then stored in your fat tissue for later energy use. However, some of these extra triglycerides end up in your arteries and can cling to your artery walls. This buildup, also referred to as plaque, can harden your artery walls and inhibit blood flow. Eventually, this can lead to serious complications, such as heart attack or stroke.
High Cholesterol
When you eat refined sugar, the pancreas starts to work overtime to pour out insulin. The dramatic increase in circulating insulin grabs the sugar and stores it as body fat, often in the liver. The side-effect of circulating excess insulin is that it causes the liver to actually manufacture more cholesterol.
High Blood Pressure
Eating sugars and high carbohydrate foods can create a stress response in the body. This stress response begins in the hypothalamus of the brain. The “stress” of sugar causes the brain to increase the heart rate and blood pressure. Daily consumption of sugar and high carbohydrate foods creates such a stress response in the body that chronic high blood pressure is a result.
Abdominal Obesity
Consuming excess sugar encourages the liver to store that sugar as fat. Click to Tweet.
This fat is accumulated around the abdomen. Sugar is empty calories that pulls minerals from the body during digestion. Sugar creates a hormone cascade when consumed that causes the body to crave more sugar, which increases caloric intake and leads to weight gain.
The most frightening aspect of sugar is how quickly it destroys the body. Studies have shown that sugar can cause these health issues in as few as 10 weeks!
This leads me to step one in beating metabolic syndrome.