Metabolic syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other major health problems, such as diabetes and stroke. Metabolic syndrome is increasingly common, and up to one-third of U.S. adults have it.
What we do know is that this syndrome has several causes that act together. Some risk factors may include being overweight, sedentary lifestyle, age, diabetes, family history, stress, etc. Unfortunately, you cannot control the risk factor of growing older, but you can control most all other causes through lifestyle and dietary changes.
A lot of people don’t realize that they even have metabolic syndrome, and this is eye-opening information that you can be proactive about for your health!
Telltale signs of metabolic syndrome boil down to five criteria. If you have 3 out of the 5 risk factors, it’s time to do something about it and quickly!
Belly fat. Measure your waist and hips at the widest points. If your waist/hip ratio is over 0.8 for a woman and 0.9 for a man, then you are at risk.
High blood pressure. You want an unmedicated blood pressure of less than 130/85. If you are taking a medication to control blood pressure, you would still consider this a risk factor.
Triglycerides (dietary fat) over 100
HDL (good cholesterol) under 50
Fasting glucose over 100
Luckily, even if you do have metabolic syndrome, you’re not doomed. You can control these risk factors by ensuring you’re eating a proper diet, staying active, managing your stress levels and getting the right blood tests routinely done.
Although the exact causes of metabolic syndrome are unknown, insulin resistance is believed to play a major role. In addition to losing weight, lowering blood glucose, blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels can all be effective methods for improving the body’s sensitivity to insulin and treating metabolic syndrome. Getting to the root cause of your own risk factors and addressing your lifestyle and nutrition choices is the first step!
Kimberly Stoeger, MS, is the clinical nutritionist and owner of Nutritional Healing, LLC. Her passion lies in supporting people’s health through evidence-based medicine (risks versus benefits of medications) and healing therapies through nutrition. Kimberly has her masters of science in human nutrition degree, and experience working with clients regarding weight and fatigue issues, food sensitivities, autoimmune conditions, and general health concerns such as high blood pressure, high glucose levels, high cholesterol/triglycerides, migraines, thyroid conditions, and gut dysfunction. To learn more, call 920-358-5764 or email [email protected].
“Metabolic syndrome is increasingly common, and up to one-third of U.S. adults have it.”
