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Is Syndrome X Shortening Your Life?
You may be suffering from Syndrome X if you…
- Feel sluggish after eating
- Gain a pound here and there and have trouble losing it
- Are still hungry after a meal
- Feel tired and sluggish regardless of how much you sleep
-
Crave sweets, breads, or other carbohydrates
America is getting fatter… and it's due to Syndrome X
The American waistline has been a hot topic lately. It's been all over the news. For instance, a recent article1 in the Sacramento Bee (California) discussed a study that predicted obesity caused by poor diet and lack of physical activity would soon surpass tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death.
Stanford medical researcher Dr. Gerald Reaven coined the name Syndrome X in 1988. He used it to describe a group of symptoms that consist of insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides, low levels of "good" lipoproteins, and the spare tire that may be forming around your middle. (Doctors and medical researchers call this condition "abdominal obesity.")4 Other symptoms of Syndrome X include low metabolic levels of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone, an important male hormone), antioxidant vitamins, and high levels of cortisol (the "stress hormone").56
Syndrome X adds pounds to your body and inches to your waistline. And far, far worse, it takes years off your life.
Your weight gain may be a natural consequence of our "unnatural" lifestyle
It used to be our recent ancestors ate far more whole grains. A soda was a once or twice a week treat. They didn't super-size their orders. And, our forebears spent a substantial part of their day doing physical work. Their lives were simpler, more physical, and less stressed. They didn't have to make the choice of going to the health club or finally slowing down and relaxing at the end of the day.
Not so for us. You rush out of the house in the morning gulping down a cup of coffee and a toasted bagel. Not many calories there, so what's the harm? Then at the end of a busy, stressful day, you might not have the time for the visit to the gym. So you go home and throw together an easy, quick, low-fat microwaveable meal. There's just a little bit of rice in it, so where are the carbs?
Well, many prepared meals have tons of hidden carbohydrates. A single serving (a miniscule one at that) will have 30 to 50% or more of your recommended daily allowance.
So the carb count adds up…and so does the slight bulge around your middle. It's all part of middle age, right?
Yes, it is. Syndrome X can start very early in many people, but its effects usually start showing up in middle age. It may take as long as 40 years until detectable symptoms result. By that time, though, it is crucial to act before the symptoms become life threatening. Some doctors estimate that as many as two-thirds of Americans may be suffering from the consequences of Syndrome X.
Insulin holds the key: Health and longevity…or getting Syndrome X
When you eat a whole grain wheat, bagel, French fries, ice cream, or any other carbohydrate, your digestive system converts the starches and complex sugars into glucose, a simple sugar your body uses for energy. (Glucose is used as the energy for every metabolic process.)
The glucose is absorbed into your bloodstream. With the rise in your "blood sugar," your pancreas then begins releasing insulin into your bloodstream. Insulin is an amazing hormone that regulates the metabolism and storage of blood sugar. Excess glucose not immediately needed for running your cells is turned into a sugar polymer called glycogen that's stored in your liver and muscle tissue. Glycogen is your body's spare fuel. It's quickly converted back into usable glucose when those levels drop. The resulting glucose circulates in your bloodstream to be used as needed.
This is a beautiful, balanced feedback system when it works properly and the pancreas secretes the correct amount of insulin. This system regulates your appetite, growth hormone, cholesterol ("good" and "bad" levels), and fluid levels. When it's working properly, the pancreatic/insulin system keeps everything in good balance. When it isn't…
When your pancreas gets overloaded… Syndrome X takes control of your life
A diet even moderately high in refined carbohydrates and sugars triggers Syndrome X. These foods trigger a rapid increase in blood sugar levels. Your pancreas responds by secreting increasingly higher levels of insulin. The more carbs you eat, the more your body pumps out insulin to deal with the high blood sugar.
After a while, your body starts responding more slowly to the overwhelming insulin levels. Glucose is not carried into cells when it's needed. Instead it gets shuffled into the long-term energy storage system where it is converted into fat.
To make matters worse, high insulin levels cause your hypothalamus (the master gland) to send you hunger pangs!7 This slow response builds into a full-fledged insulin resistance, which is the core problem behind Syndrome X.
Stop starving yourself into obesity
Syndrome X puts you into a hamster's wheel of frustration. Renowned naturopath David Shefrin, N.D. states, "Many cases of obesity are due to an imbalance of the hormone insulin. If insulin is not rapidly cleared from the bloodstream after a meal, it will cause an individual to feel hungry. Usually, high insulin will signal the body to stop eating, but if a person has chronically elevated glucose levels due to inefficient insulin, he may eat more."8
The more refined carbohydrates you eat, the hungrier you get and the less effective your metabolism is in dealing with the carbs. You can be starving yourself on as few as 800 calories a day, and you will still gain weight!9 Unchecked, Syndrome X may lead to adult onset diabetes. Syndrome X also leads to extremely high levels of free radicals, which damage cells and can cause premature aging. There is stunning research evidence that an out of control pancreatic system and Syndrome X can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease and some types of cancers.10
High insulin levels make you age prematurely
Syndrome X (insulin resistance) does more than make you fat. It makes you grow older faster…and it can kill you.
For almost thirty years, biologist Anthony Cerami has been studying what happens physiologically when elevated blood sugar levels stay high. He discovered that chronically high blood glucose is the major trigger in a chemical process that produces what are called "advanced glycosylation end products" or AGEs.11 In this process, glucose cross-links with more complicated molecules like lipids and proteins.
The production of AGEs, which normally increases with age, eventually leads to damaging responses within your body. This cross-linking inflicts serious damage to cell membranes and collagen fibers.
AGEs lead to the stiffening of connective tissue (which translates to sore, stiff joints and joint pain), reduced flexibility and permeability of tissues and cells, and a breakdown of cellular communications and repair processes. Eventually, your body tissues become irreversibly transformed. Put simply, the inevitable result is disease, aging, and finally death.
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