Metabolic sydrome [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

rodeosweetheart

8-20-13, 2:40pm

I have been diagnosed with "metabolic syndrom." Does anyone else have this, and has anyone else been able to get rid of it and lose the weight? What did you do?

JaneV2.0

8-20-13, 7:29pm

Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of symptoms such as weight gain, high blood pressure, "pre-diabetes," and high triglycerides. A low-carbohydrate diet will reduce your insulin output, and put you on the right track. (Didn't your doctor explain it to you? Irresponsible.)

rodeosweetheart

8-20-13, 8:32pm

Thank you, Jane, I appreciate the input.

reader99

8-20-13, 9:30pm

You might benefit from the book "The Inflammation Zone" by Dr. Barry Sears

Edited to The ANTI-Inflammation Zone"

Duh

SteveinMN

8-20-13, 9:48pm

*raises hand*

I haven't been too successful losing the weight, but I'm just not active enough (vicious circle; it's hard to become used to activity because I'm used to inactivity). My doctor has said that losing weight is best, but maintaining a steady weight is better than letting one's weight go up and down like a rollercoaster. I do eat a relatively low-carb diet: limited portions of "whole carbs" (that is, a small baked potato, not mounds of mashed; open-faced sandwiches made with multigrain breads, not slabs of white bread [or, better, the same ingredients on a salad or in a lettuce wrap]; no cereal for breakfast; etc.), very little white sugar, almost nothing deep-fried. Triglycerides were never my problem, but deep-fried usually means something starchy or battered and I don't need either one.

I will admit it was not easy. There was some backsliding and some interesting eating habits until I slowly reduced the carbs. But now I look at them and have zero interest in high carbs and how I feel when I consume them.

I've had blood checks every six months for the last, oh, four years or so, and my blood sugar, triglycerides, etc. come in under the limit every time. The doctor is amazed that I've gone this long without oral diabetes meds. I'm just really careful about that. I don't want to get on any more meds I have to take the rest of my life. They've done enough.

rodeosweetheart

8-21-13, 7:54am

Thank you, reader, I will check out the Sears book. Steve, I hear you on the lack of desire for any more meds--it is the steroids for asthma that have gotten me here, plus my horribly sedentary job. It is a vicious cycle indeed. You are doign great, if your bloodwork has gotten down--mine is out of whack, and so I have to do something now about this, plus I can't stand how I feel and look--its like a stranger has taken over my body.

Thanks for sharing your eating changes--this is what I need to do, figure out the changes. Maybe institute one a week. I am not doing well with the total change at once approach. Do you have a number of allowable carbs a day? I did not realize, for example, that yogurt had carbs (duh, right?) Is it the sugar, or what? I think I need to pick a number and stay below that, carb-wise.

JaneV2.0

8-21-13, 9:23am

There are countless books that will get you started: The Protein Power Lifeplan, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, any paleo-centric book.

SteveinMN

8-21-13, 9:28am

Do you have a number of allowable carbs a day? I did not realize, for example, that yogurt had carbs (duh, right?) Is it the sugar, or what? I think I need to pick a number and stay below that, carb-wise.
Honestly, if I start counting to an absolute number, it feels too much like deprivation, so I don't have an "allowable amount" of carbs. What I did was begin to memorize "standard diabetic exchanges" and aim for one exchange per meal and not panic if I hit two exchanges per meal. I also try to work on a daily basis; if lunch was heavy on carbs, I try to make dinner lighter on carbs.

Some things, of course, are just off the menu: noodle dishes at the Asian restaurant; spaghetti-dinner and pancake-breakfast fundraisers;... I've learned to "cheat" a lot. I'll substitute eggplant slices for noodles in lasagna and shirataki noodles or zucchini shreds for egg noodles in soup. If pizza is the meal, I'll try to have a salad or raw-veggies-and-dip on the side so I'm not tempted to eat too many slices of pizza or the breadsticks/whatever that come with it. I switched to unsweetened almond milk, partially because of the carbs in cow milk and partially because I could not get through cow milk fast enough to keep it from spoiling. I don't count the carbs in most veggies because they're loaded with fiber and nutrients; I just try not to go overboard with peas, carrots, beets, winter squash, etc.

Some of it is behavior modification. I'll take the less-interesting piece of bread off a sandwich, eating it open-faced and dealing with whatever odd glances I get. I'll push aside the croutons in a salad (if I don't ask to have them removed before serving). I've never had much of a sweet tooth, but some treats do look interesting. So maybe DW and I will order one dessert and two forks. I'll have a couple of bites and I'll be done. Or I'll cut a couple-bite piece and have that. Or take one item and leave/toss the rest of it. That last took some doing: I'm wasting food. But I figure wasting that little bit is better than the ecological mess of alcohol wipes and disposable syringes, so....

rodeosweetheart, it took a while. Like forming any new habit, I made mistakes. But now I don't crave the carbs. And that helps a lot. You can do this!

JaneV2.0

8-21-13, 9:46am

It's an ongoing process. Along the way, I've dropped glutens and most grains, except for occasional rice products, and rarely eat sugar. I've lost 25 pounds, but I have no idea what my lab values are. I buy plain whole milk yogurt (hard to find), and eat it with heavy cream.

ETA: Last time I kept track of stats, I was eating between 60 and 75 carbs a day, in line with Dr. Lutz in Life Without Bread.

It sounds counter-intuitive, but I've found changing to a healthier diet pretty interesting. I'm forced to cook more, which isn't exactly fun, but it's a challenge to come up with food that has maximum flavor and nutrition and minimum carbohydrates. There's no end to books, web sites, Facebook groups, and cookbooks that are there to help. An added bonus is not being hungry.

The Storyteller

8-21-13, 1:33pm

Here are a couple of article abstracts from pubmed.gov. You may want to interlibrary loan the articles through your local library.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17332784

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23943309

And here is an article on treating it with diet by Mayo Clinic:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolic%20syndrome/DS00522/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

Personally, I'm skeptical of paleo and other low carb, high fat diets and believe a balanced approach (limiting both high calorie dense carbs and bad fats, with lots of fruits and veggies) is best. But I'm not a True Believer in any particular diet. Just research all of your options to see what makes most sense to you rather than jumping on a diet just because it is currently popular.

Whatever you choose, it should be a lifetime lifestyle thing, rather than temporary.

rodeosweetheart

8-21-13, 2:45pm

Steve and Jane, thank you SO MUCH! I really appreciate the information, the wisdom, and the encouragement. I feel like I can do this, now that I have a better idea of what I need to do. I hear you about deprivation, Steve--that really derails me, so I like your way of eating. Jane, thanks for telling me those numbers, too, as while I know that is not how you work it, I could not figure out what low-carb meant, since vegetables and yoghurt and fruits are carbs. This information is so helpful! I don't really eat much meat but maybe I need to rethink that.
The allergy doctor told me I need to drop wheat since I am allergic to it. This will put me along the lines of what you are saying, Jane.
IT's hard to change everything at once, sigh.

rodeosweetheart

8-21-13, 2:52pm

Thank you so much, Storyteller! I will start with the Mayo Clinic one because those are so accessible . You are absolutely right about the lifetime lifestyle thing, which is why I dropped the diet doc that prescribed pills-they were keeping me up all nut, and there is no way that is going to work with my asthma. So I need a lifestyle makeover I can live with.

Rosemary

8-21-13, 3:43pm

Focus on what you can eat, not what you can't. It makes it feel like you have many more options.
Eat lots of veggies - that's where the nutrients are; they are naturally low-carb, too. Veggies at every meal!

JaneV2.0

8-21-13, 5:26pm

Evidence is piling up in favor of carb-restricted diets, especially for insulin-resistant people, but as Max Planck said "Science progresses one funeral at a time," and food manufacturers resist a plan that has you shopping the perimeter of the store. But Storyteller is right to tell you to do your own research.

I've experimented with many diets--including vegetarianism for six years, where I was constantly hungry and gained forty pounds, and this works well for me.

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2012-rst/7128.html (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio)

This way of eating--in some form--is as old as man, and was famous as "banting" in the 1800s. It's never gone away. A few doctors with blogs:http://authoritynutrition.com/17-low-carb-paleo-doctors-with-blogs/

Also, I recommend Tom Naughton's movie Fat Head, Dr. Peter Attia's YouTube video, and Dr. William Davis' Wheat Belly book, blog, and web page. That should get you started.

SteveinMN

8-21-13, 5:45pm

Focus on what you can eat, not what you can't. It makes it feel like you have many more options.
Excellent advice, Rosemary! That's one reason I don't approach diet absolutely. It's far easier to make it work when you realize you can be a bit naughty on one meal if you can take care of it at the next or -- better -- take care of it during the previous meal.

JaneV2.0

8-21-13, 5:58pm

My hands are pretty loose on the reins, too--I had a big bowl of Pho recently--but I'm pretty judicious about it. I rarely eat sugar, and I think I've kicked wheat to the curb, but I'll eat mangos and durian and the occasional high-fat ice cream. But it's taken a long time to get to the point where that doesn't derail me, and I don't do it often.

Aside from the kitchen drudgery, this is a very workable system. You have plenty of tasty options: here's one www.djfoodie.com.

The Storyteller

8-21-13, 7:47pm

Rodeosweetheart, I'm still investigating this stuff myself. I found the below this afternoon. It is an article describing, comparing, and rating various diet plans by a panel of experts. I couldn't find a list (let alone bios) of these experts, so like everything I take it with a grain of salt. But it at least gives some ideas for further research on my part. You may find it useful, as well.

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-overall-diets

I did notice that it notes when a particular diet is good for a particular concern, like cardiovascular disease in my case, and pre-diabetes for a friend of mine. I found that especially useful.

JaneV2, I'm mostly judging the caveman diet by bits and pieces I have read and two docs I saw on Netflix ("Fat Head" and "The Perfect Human Diet"), neither of which impressed me. Today I placed reserves on two books on it by some of the better known proponents and will give a closer look.

Jim

JaneV2.0

8-21-13, 9:08pm

Fathead didn't start out at all to support a LC diet, but it turned out that way. The seminal part of the movie for me was the animation in the middle that explains how insulin works in the body.

I like Mark's Daily Apple website, and I mean to read Nora Gedgaudas' Primal Body, Primal Mind. Various proponents emphasize different amounts of fat, dairy or non-dairy, grass-fed and organic or not, types of exercise...No authority has the right answer for every person--no matter how dogmatic they may be--but for me, this is the right direction. I'm looking forward to Denise Minger's book coming out in January--Death by Food Pyramid--I'm in awe of her mind, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she had to say.

It's worth noting that many of the maverick doctors supporting various forms of low-carb diet are cardiologists.

The Storyteller

8-22-13, 3:19pm

and rating various diet plans by a panel of experts. I couldn't find a list (let alone bios) of these experts, so like everything I take it with a grain of salt.

Okay, found it...

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/experts

reader99

8-22-13, 9:25pm

rodeosweetheart

8-23-13, 6:35am

Thanks for the resources, Storyteller, and Rosemary, that is really true; when I gave up wheat once before, that was how I had to think to succeed. Storyteller, I have started looking at the diet rated list and there is a lot of great info in one place.
Tomorrow is our farmer's market,so that is good. I definitely do better with an eating plan if there is something to look forward to.

The Storyteller

8-24-13, 10:35am

Farmers markets are always great for inspiration.

I found some more diet comparison articles, this time in Consumer Reports, the latest one in the February 2013 issue. One of the articles pointed out that people lost weight in all of the diets listed, that there were no bad diets among them. Just some better than others, depending on your goals. I found the following quote particularly useful:

"Eat healthfully—but sparingly. Backed
by a growing body of research, nutritionists
have come to a rough consensus
on what a truly healthful diet looks like:
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and
some lean meat and fish, healthy fats, and
whole grains. And minimize refined grains,
potatoes, full-fat dairy products,
and added sweeteners—especially in the
form of soft drinks. Studies of large populations
the world over have shown that
this diet reduces the risk of heart disease,
diabetes, and certain cancers.

"With minor variations, all the diet
books we evaluated recommended some
version of this eating plan."

Jim

rodeosweetheart

8-24-13, 8:55pm

Thank you, Jim, I am going to copy that out and put it on a notecard and look at it during the day. It is a really good reference point, and I also need to use it to plan my meals--that really helps me.

Farmers market was awesome--and I talked my husband out of buying kettlecorn, tada. Beautiful peaches, and lots and lots of great produce.

JaneV2.0

8-29-13, 11:27am

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19082851

"subjects following the CRD had consistently reduced glucose (-12%) and insulin (-50%) concentrations, insulin sensitivity (-55%), weight loss (-10%), decreased adiposity (-14%), and more favorable triacylglycerol (TAG) (-51%), HDL-C (13%) and total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio (-14%) responses. In addition to these markers for MetS, the CRD subjects showed more favorable responses to alternative indicators of cardiovascular risk: postprandial lipemia (-47%), the Apo B/Apo A-1 ratio (-16%), and LDL particle distribution."

rodeosweetheart

8-31-13, 10:36am