Metabolic syndrome is not really a disease but a syndrome and what I would call a “pre-disease” or a condition that you get before you get really sick. Metabolic syndrome is also known as syndrome X, or metabolic syndrome X, or even insulin resistance syndrome.

There are four primary symptoms of metabolic syndrome: central obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia (all explained below). Having metabolic syndrome brings with it a risk for other diseases (mostly heart disease, stroke, and type-2 diabetes) and the potential for a shortened life.

The most important thing to know about metabolic syndrome, though, is that it acts like a canary in a coal mine warning you that you are at risk for much worse things to come (that is, if you don’t stop it in its tracks). The good news is that you can change what you are doing right now and avoid much of the pain that comes with having diabetes or heart disease.

Symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome

How do you know if you have metabolic syndrome? While the definitions for metabolic syndrome change from medical group to medical group, most groups agree on the following definition for the syndrome:

• Central Obesity: Central obesity (see picture on this page) is where most of the fat that you carry is about your center or stomach. The other major way to carry extra weight is considered pear shape (where excess fat surrounds the waist) and is not associated with metabolic syndrome. Waist measurements usually determine central obesity with measurements of over 40 inches (102 cm) for men or over 35 inches (88 cm) for women.

• Insulin resistance: Insulin resistance is where the cells of your body are resistant to insulin. Diabetes is a condition where the cells are very resistant to insulin, but there are all sorts of grades of insulin resistance before diabetes. Usually people start out somewhat insulin resistant and then it gets worse as times progresses. Insulin resistance can be measured by a fasting glucose more than 100 mg/dL (or you are taking blood sugar medications). Read more about insulin resistance here: Insulin Resistance

• Dyslipidemia:  Dyslipidemia is a state where your blood fats are either too high or too low. You are familiar with many of these blood fats such as cholesterol and triglycerides. Dyslipidemia in metabolic syndrome usually is defined as having high triglycerides (over 150 mg/dL) and a low HDL cholesterol (less than 40 mg/dL for men and less than 50 mg/dL for women).

• Hypertension: Hypertension or high blood pressure greater than 130 systolic (top number) and 90 diastolic (bottom number).

What Can You do About Metabolic Syndrome?

If you are wondering what you can do about metabolic syndrome, the answer is a lot! While you might be looking for a pill that you can take, that is not your answer. The only way to change metabolic syndrome is to change what you are eating and how much you are exercising.

Here is my plan for stopping metabolic syndrome:

• Stop eating sugar: Okay, I know this is easier said than done, but you have to kick your sugar habit. I have a plan for kicking sugar (and foods that act like sugar) and you can take a look at it here: 30 Sugar Free Days.

• Exercise: You need to get at least 20 minutes, but more like 40 minutes of intense exercise in a day. Pick something like biking, swimming, running or other consistent exercise and practice it every day.

• Eat More Vegetables: Every chance you get you should put something fresh into your mouth. Find a way to incorporate vegetables into every meal you eat (yes, even breakfast).

Metabolic syndrome may seem like a one-way dead end street to heart disease and diabetes, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Change what you are doing today and you can change who you are (and maybe how long you are going to live).

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Season of Sugar

It is that time of year again: The Season of Sugar.

As the weather turns colder, and the sun dips lower in the sky (except for you south of the equator), the days get darker, and we all get incredible sugar cravings. Our collective lust for sugar is only fueled by the multiple invitations to gather with friends and family and the tendency of office workers around the world to bring plates of tasty treats to share with everyone.

Too many holiday parties, too many advertisers highlighting tasty foods, too little time outside, too many temptations; it is no wonder we all wake these days feeling like we have a hangover and notice that our clothes don’t fit as well as they did the day before.

New Years

New Years is coming quicker than you might think and it is a good time to start thinking about New Year’s Resolution. The best resolution you can choose is a resolution of health and the best thing you can do for your health is to kick sugar and foods that act like sugar out of your life.

Why don’t you join us this January for 30 Sugar Free Days 2010 and give sugar the kick it deserves?

Sugar Harm

The question I always get is: Why kick sugar out of your diet?

The reason is actually pretty simple: Concentrated, pure, processed sugar is not a natural thing to put in your body. Our bodies are simply not meant to handle such a pure and addicting substance.

Take a look at what eating sugar does to you and your health:

• Sugar adds Weight: Added sugar means added weight. This happens because your body has to do something with the extra sugar that enters your blood stream. Maybe you know this, but your body is great at storing sugar as fat. This ability to store fat is unique to sugar and doesn’t happen with non-purified foods. Added weight means you are more likely to live a shorter life, get diabetes, heart disease, stroke and have certain cancers.
• Diabetes: Despite what most medical associations and your doctor might say, there is a connection between sugar and diabetes. Consistently high blood sugar develops into insulin insensitivity and eventually diabetes.
• Toxic: Sugar is toxic to blood vessels in a similar way that cigarette smoke is toxic to lungs. Sugar destroys blood vessels. The results of sugar damage are easy to see in diabetics (who have very high blood sugar) that have a much higher risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, eye disease and other conditions.

Take the 30 Day Challenge

Kicking sugar means that you will not only lose weight (if you want to), but that you are taking the first big step toward living a longer and healthier life. When you kick sugar out of your life, you decrease the chance of getting diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

Breaking the sugar habit is not easy; at every step you are going to run into your addiction. The effort to stop sugar, however, is well worth the results: you will live a longer, healthier life with sugar out of your diet.

Joining us for the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge, 2010 is a great step towards your better health. The program is free and provides you with the support you need to succeed. So many weight loss programs are designed to help you shed pounds, but often do nothing to address your health.

Why not have both good health and weight loss? Join us for the adventure!

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I got this idea from Angie Jones, who has a great web site: www.fitbusinesswoman.com , she was wondering just how much sugar was not being consumed as a result of the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge.

Here are the Numbers:

Most people eat around 1/4 to 1/2 a pound of sugar every day. If you find that number to be high, check out this YouTube video I did to show how easy it is to eat that much sugar. And remember, this is just added sugar and doesn’t include the foods that act like sugar in your body.

So, to calculate how much sugar we are keeping off the streets, we will use the lower end of the calculation: 1/4 pound times 400 people = 100 pounds of sugar every day, or 3,100 pounds for the month of January. Three thousand pounds is the weight of a car, or a small elephant. That is a lot of sugar!

I have a dream of keeping a running tally of how much sugar we have all kept off the streets on my blog, sort of like the old McDonald’s sign that would proclaim how many hamburgers they sold.

The Adventure Continues

I have had so many requests for starting the 30 Sugar Free Days program later in the month or later in the year that I have created a personalized coaching system that you can sign up to anytime. Once signed up, you will receive a series of e-mails that will guide you through the whole 30 Sugar Free Days and will start whenever you want it to start.

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The newest study in rats on sugar addiction paints a complete picture of sugar addiction, from binging, craving to alterations in brain chemistry seen in other addictions.

Read the whole article here: Study Suggests Sugar May Be Addictive.

Remember that we are starting a 30 Sugar Free Days challenge in January and we invite you to join us!

Sugarettes, the book about sugar addiction is availble on Amazon.

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Most people don’t think that they can, but a sugar free diet is a great way to give your health a boost and extend your life. If you were thinking about joining an expensive weight loss program – where you are stuck buying their food – I have a better (and healthier) option for you.

Sugar is harmful: Despite what the sugar industry and medical associations are saying, sugar is harmful. It is harmful in three ways:

• Adds Weight: As discussed above, sugar adds pounds to our bodies. This causes harm to our bodies because being obese or overweight increases a number of diseases: diabetes , stroke, heart disease, certain cancers and many more diseases. Obesity cuts life expectancy by as much as five years.
• Insulin Insensitivity: Consistently high blood sugar lead to the cells throughout the body becoming insensitive to insulin. This insulin insensitivity is at the heart of diseases such as metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Having diabetes, by the way, can clip as many as 10 years off your life and, maybe as many as 18 quality years off your life.
• Toxic: Sugar is toxic to our blood vessels, much the same way that cigarette smoke is toxic to our lungs. As sugar flows through our blood stream, it destroys the very blood vessels that carry the sugar throughout our bodies. This destruction is easily seen in people who have poor blood sugar control (like diabetics) who have high rates of eye disease (retinopathy), kidney disease, heart disease, nerve disease (neuropathy), and strokes, all caused by the destruction of blood vessels. The destruction also occurs in people who don’t have diabetes, only at a slower rate.

There are many reasons why you will want to join us on our sugar free adventure:

• Sugar is addictive: For many of you who read this blog regularly, you know just how powerful sugar addiction can be. Sugar often feels like it has the power to control us instead of the other way around. Sugar addiction shares common traits with all addictions, including: hoarding, binging, using the addiction to change moods, and many other addictive-like behaviors. Seeing sugar as an addiction explains a lot of how we act around sugar and is likely the reason why so many of us yo-yo diet. If you really don’t think sugar is addictive, try staying away from it for a few days and see; most people become acutely aware of just how addicting sugar can be when they remove it from their lives.
• You Want to Feel Better: Kicking sugar and eating a sugar free diet will be hard at first. But most people who are on the diet report that they feel better, have more energy, and even sleep better. Many people also report the almost magical disappearance of stomach problems, fatigue, depression, sinus infection, skin problems and more.
• Weight loss: Sugar has more to do with weight gain than you might have been led to believe by medical and nutritional professionals. Sugar does contain empty calories, but sugar is also special in its ability to add to your waistline. Your body has certain energy needs and once those needs are met by what you are eating, any excess sugar in your blood stream is going to be stored as fat. Excess sugar is very common when you are eating sugar and foods that act like sugar on a consistent basis. Keeping sugar out of your diet keeps your blood sugar low and, consequently, keeps your body from storing fat.
• You are curious: The last reason you may want to join us on our 30 Sugar Free Days is that you are curious to find out if sugar is addictive and can change your weight. Believe me when I say that those answers will become very clear for you if you join the 30 Day challenge.

Break the Habit, Break the Cycle

Breaking the sugar habit can be hard, but I am here to provide you with the support that you need, including meal plans, recipes, a newsletter and the ability to contact me with your questions; all at no cost.

Taking the 30 Sugar Free Days challenge is a step towards your better health. So many weight loss programs are designed to help you shed pounds, but do nothing to address your health. Why not have both good health and weight loss?

If you think you can go 30 days without sugar, please join us. You can sign up to receive our newsletter by clicking here: 30 Days Sugar Free.

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