Metabolic Syndrome is a condition that involves weight gain, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and elevated blood sugar. At the end of this continuum you have diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. It is a condition that is a combination of Insulin Resistance and Estrogen dominance.
Weight gain that occurs between our hips and elbows is called central adiposity. We now believe that this is caused by insulin called insulin resistance, which in turn may be caused by a hormone imbalance called estrogen dominance. When you stop having regular periods, you are not producing as much progesterone as you need. You may also not be producing as much testosterone as you need. Progesterone and testosterone are called androgens. When you have more estrogen than androgens, the way you use insulin changes. Click here to learn more.
I believe that a excess of Estrone contributes to the fat building in our mid-section. Estrone is dominant in menopausal women and in men as they age, which is about the same time we begin to gain weight in the middle. There is no research to support this since allopathic medicine does not pay attention to Estrone.
Symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome:
- High Blood Pressure. HBP is a blood pressure greater than 150/90 taken outside of a practitioner’s office. If your B/P is above 140/80 you have borderline hypertension. Both need to be treated.
- High Cholesterol. Cholesterol is how your body circulates fat for energy, nutrition and the production of hormones. Elevated cholesterol is associated with vascular disease. In and of itself cholesterol is not the only culprit. Inflammation, genetic damage, lack of exercise, elevated serum glucose or homocystine, and obesity all contribute. Vascular disease causes heart attacks, problems with circulation to our legs, erectile dysfunction and dementia. Since your vessels carry blood to all parts of your body, vascular disease affects your entire body, not just your heart. Cholesterol breaks down into three categories. Triglycerides are available in your blood as fuel. HDL removes plaque from your vessels and LDL puts plaque onto your vessels. LDL also carries energy to your brain cells. LDL is oxidized by sugar and becomes the form of LDL that does damage. We are interested in your total cholesterol; however the ratio of these three forms is more important that the total level. If you have elevated LDL we will want to look at what makes up your LDL with a test called a VAP-LDL. Particle size determines the damage that LDL can do.
- Elevated Blood Sugar. Elevated blood sugar causes damage to your vessels.
We evaluate blood glucose in three ways.
- Serum glucose tells us what your level is the moment we draw your blood. This is usually done as a fasting test.It can also be done after you are given a measured amount of sugar or you eat a meal, and the test is timed after the meal.
- HgbA1C is a blood test that tells us the average of your blood glucose over three months regardless of what you ate at the time of the test. This is a more accurate evaluation of your glucose status than one fasting test.
- Urine Glucose reveals whether your kidneys are releasing sugar because of elevated blood glucose. This is usually included in every urine analysis or dip test done as a part of your practitioner visit.
WHAT DO I DO IF I HAVE THESE SYMPTOMS?
- Research low glycemic diets. This is a diet of foods, such as protein and vegetables, that converts to sugar slowly. Some fruits have a low glycemic index (convert slowly) and others have very high glycemic index. By eating foods with a low index you are less likely to develop high glucose levels in your blood.
- Do not eat a low fat diet. Fat tells you that you have eaten enough food and quiets your appetite.
- Eat small meals more frequently. Eat a protein with fruit or vegetables every 2-3 hours.
- Exercise.
- Aerobic exercise is the important form of exercise if you have Metabolic Syndrome. You need at least twenty minutes three times a week of dancing, walking, or any movement that is fun and gets your pulse rate up to around 100 beats per minute. You can measure your pulse at your wrist below your thumb, or on either side of your neck next to your wind pipe. Most of us forget what fun exercise can be. Please find a way to make this fun. You don’t need a GYM if you don’t like Gyms. You can simply put on music in your home and dance. Weight resistance exercise builds muscle. Improving muscle and reducing fat will improve your metabolism and help balance blood sugar.
- Correct your cholesterol through diet and exercise.
- We all know that cholesterol diet avoidi fatty meats, fried foods and eggs. The key to cholesterol is actually the combination of fat and sugar. Pastries are worse for raising cholesterol than steak and eggs. Fried foods followed by desert gives you the combination of fat and sugar. It is important to limit fat and sugar. Very simply, I suggest you eat whatever flesh you choose in small portions (4 oz. or about the size of the palm of your hand). The rest of your meal should be vegetables. The best are red yellow and green non-starchy. Eat fruits that are low glycemic such as apples and pears. Avoid tropical fruits, dried fruit and fruit juices. The best exercise for cholesterol is aerobic exercise as discussed above.
Supplements for lowering cholesterol and helping with blood glucose.
I could fill pages with supplements that are reported to lower cholesterol. Most common are fish oils, mixed fish, flax and borage oils, niacin, pantothene, plant sterols, inositol, guggul and my favorite, Red Yeast Rice( a natural statin).
All statins need to be taken with CoQ10 because they use it up. You need about 100 mg CoQ10 with each dose of any statin, natural or pharmeceutical. You need to recheck cholesterol levels three months into using this therapy to see what results you are getting. Depending on your levels, the dose can be adjusted.
Glucose can be assisted with mixed supplements designed by good supplement companies such as Metagenics, Thorne, and Biotics Research. Metagenics has a product called Glycogenics. Biotics Research has a product called Glucobalance. These are the products I have used with good results. There are many others.
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