Obesity. High blood pressure. High cholesterol. Low HDL’s. High triglycerides. High blood sugars. Your head can start spinning to hear them all, let alone in one long sentence coming out of your doctor’s mouth. Why are all these things happening at once? And can I reverse metabolic syndrome?
The real awakening comes when your doctor starts mentioning the possibility of a heart attack, stroke or diabetes. At some point it can all start to run together in a numbing stream of “blah blah…heart disease…blah blah…diabetes…blah blah…if you don’t make changes now….”
This is a typical conversation surrounding metabolic syndrome. And it can be a real moment of reckoning for the person hearing it.
If you’ve been on the receiving end of that health analysis, you have no doubt wanted to do anything necessary to reverse metabolic syndrome. You will never forget seeing your life flash before your eyes in a moment of naked truth about the prospects for your health. And you never want to see it again.
It’s natural when you hear that you have a medical condition (or two or three) to want to know if there is a “cure.” You instinctively want whatever it is to be gone…for good.
The irony of metabolic syndrome is that it’s not a disease to be cured. It’s a cluster of metabolic disorders that increase your risk of disease — heart disease and diabetes being the biggies.
The fact that close to 50% of Americans over 40 have metabolic syndrome shouldn’t mitigate your concern. This is no beast to mess with.
Typically, if you have three or more of the following metabolic conditions, you are said to have metabolic syndrome:
- high blood pressure (systolic and/or diastolic)
- abdominal obesity
- abnormal cholesterol values, especially low HDL’s
- high triglycerides
- high fasting blood sugars
Too often, instead of devising a plan to reverse metabolic syndrome, each abnormal condition is treated pharmacologically and in isolation. Diuretics, beta blockers or ACE inhibitors may be prescribed to normalize blood pressure. Statins may be prescribed to lower cholesterol. And on and on.
So, while these medications may help you manage specific conditions, they do nothing to reverse metabolic syndrome.
Surprisingly, statins may even double your risk of getting type 2 diabetes! Recent evidence from The Ohio State University shows that efforts to medically prevent heart disease may actually cause other problems.
So, what are your choices if your wake-up call involves a long list of issues that are individually bad and collectively life-threatening?
In most cases, losing weight will lead to the changes that will reverse metabolic syndrome. And that’s because all of the other conditions are so directly related to carrying excess weight, especially around the belly.
You won’t be able to do anything about your age or genetics, but you can always do something about your diet and activity level.
You probably already know what to do and what not to do to lose weight and reverse metabolic syndrome. Unfortunately, it often takes a bad report card to make any of us pay attention to the threats to our health.
Get moving. You don’t need to register for a marathon. Just stop parking your chassis in the chair and your car in the front spot. Find activities you enjoy and make time to do them every day.
And the diet? You know what you shouldn’t be eating. But you may have no clue what to eat. Sure — fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish with healthy fats, lean proteins, lots of water. But how much? How often? And what about boredom and emotional eating?
You can’t reverse metabolic syndrome overnight. And you can’t reverse it without a plan that is doable, sustainable and supported.
The SprintSet Energizing Weight Loss System addresses all the concerns that come up when trying to lose weight. It anticipates the problem areas, guides you through all the essentials, and sets you up to succeed.
Knowing that you can reverse metabolic syndrome the natural and safe way should be a great relief. It’s imperative, however, to catch the contributing conditions early and take action before permanent damage is done.