Otherwise known as Metabolic Syndrome, and previously known as Syndrome X, it includes hypertension (high blood pressure), hypertryglyceridemia (high cholesterol), obesity, hyperinsulinemia (high insulin, insulin resistance), and low HDL.
Having one component of metabolic syndrome means you’re more likely to have others. And the more components you have, the greater are the risks to your health.
Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X
Doctors are paying more attention to the so-called “metabolic syndrome,” saying it could indicate higher risks of diabetes or heart attacks for some people. The fear among medical specialists is that most people who have the syndrome feel perfectly healthy and show only the most minimal signs of disease. NPR Story on Metabolic Syndrome
More information on Metabolic Syndrome Information from Mayo Clinic website.
Recommended book: Eat, Drink, Be Healthy: Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, Walter Willet MD DrPH Harvard University
Recommended book: Thyroid Power, Richard Shames MD
Recommended book: The Insulin Resistance Diet
Mediterranean Diet for Heart Disease
The Mediterranean diet is a heart healthy eating plan that has been scientifically shown to reduce cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons. It favors primarily plant based foods (whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruit), fish, poultry, healthy oils, nuts, and some wine in moderation.
More information on Mediterrean Diet from the Mayo Clinic.
DASH Diet for Heart Disease
DASH is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and is a diet plan primarily concerned with controlling high blood pressure by limiting salt intake.
DASH diet booklet from National Institutes of Health (NIH) (free)
DASH Healty Eating Site from National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Other Seminal Articles
New England Journal of Medicine DASH article (pdf format)
Lyon Diet Heart Study from American Heart Association
Circulation Final Report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study (pdf format)
More articles from Circulation
Framingham Heart Study and Alcohol Consumption
Role of Vascular Biology, Nutrition and Nutriceuticals in the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension, Mark Houston MD, Professor Vanderbilt Medical School, Director Hypertension Institute and Vascular Biology, 1-800-228-0622
Glycemic Index vs. Glycemic Load
The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers—the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A list of carbohydrates with their glycemic values is shown below. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.
The glycemic load (GL) is a relatively new way to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption that takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a fuller picture than does glycemic index alone. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It doesn’t tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand a food’s effect on blood sugar. That is where glycemic load comes in. The carbohydrate in watermelon, for example, has a high GI. But there isn’t a lot of it, so watermelon’s glycemic load is relatively low. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.
Mendosa.com for more information on GL of different foods and help with a low GL diet.
Diabetes Basics from About.com
Hypercholesterolemia (High Cholesterol)
This condition is a very common complaint in my patients. The first thing I do is to explore your diet and life style. The following should be instituted:
Exercise
Regular exercise, as this has been shown to lower cholesterol.
Avoid Saturated Fats
Avoid saturated fats like regular red meat. By this I mean red meat, and dairy that comes from cows that are not free range, the reason being that grain fed cows’ red meat is full of saturated fat, much more so than the grass fed. Saturated fat raises cholesterol in your body. So, if you like red meat, I recommend you eat only free range red meat available from the health food store and in moderation. This meat contains omega 3 fatty acids, which actually can help lower cholesterol and stabilize the plaque in the coronary arteries. Other sources of saturated fat include cheese, milk, yogurt and ice cream.
Avoid Hydrogenated Oils
By 2006 the food industry will be mandated to list on every packaged item the exact amount of hydrogenated oil otherwise known as a trans-fat, or margarine. These are artificial fats, essentially foreign to the human body, created by the food industry to increase the shelf life of packaged foods like Twinkies, chocolate chip cookies and even that protein bar that you thought was good for you. Fourty years after their introduction to the human diet, we now know that trans-fats or hydrogenated oils actually increase cholesterol and your risk of heart disease.
Avoid Refined Carbohydrates
Avoid refined carbohydrates like pasta, white flour products such as muffins, bagels, doughnuts etc. Too much alcohol can also raise cholesterol. There is now evidence that diets high in refined carbohydrates not only can raise cholesterol but also your risk for heart disease. In fact in my office I have begun to test those with heart disease for glucose intolerance otherwise known as pre-diabetes.
Eat Complex Carbohydrates
Eat foods high in complex carbohydrate, fiber and soy. Examples include lots of green vegetables like spinach, kale, collard greens, tofu, tempeh or miso. Flax seed (2 tablespoons a day fresh ground in the coffee blender) is not only a good source of fiber which is excellent for cholesterol lowering, but also a very high source of alpha linolenic acid which has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease. Mix in water or juice and down it every morning (it can help those with constipation as well).
Supplements
Other supplements I find useful in my practice is Phoschol which comes from soy lecithin, which again has been found to lower cholesterol. Red Rice Yeast has also been shown to lower cholesterol naturally without the side effects of statin drugs. In fact, the drug company Merck is claiming that this naturally occuring substance documented 1200 years ago in China infringes on their patent for Mevacor! Plant sterols can also help prevent intestinal absorption of cholesterol from the diet. With all supplements, make sure you are using a high quality brand that meets is label claims by third party verification, or by the clinical results of your health care provider.
NPR Story: Red Rice Yeast Helps Cut Bad Cholesterol
Drug Free Approaches to Cholesterol Video
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CM7Rb-JdnY[tube]Remember, that lowering cholesterol is not the only answer to preventing heart disease which is the number one killer of Americans today. There are a large number of people who die of heart disease every day who do not even have elevated cholesterol. Evidence is now pointing to inflammation in the body. So I usually check a comprehensive cardiovascular profile test by blood in my office to evaluate not just cholesterol but also markers of inflammation such as CRP, homocysteine, and ferritin.
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