Syndrome X Part 3: It’s all about lifestyle.

I’ve had numerous clients go to their physician and receive the bad news, “you have high cholesterol.” Their physicians recommend a low-fat/cholesterol diet and exercise program for the next 3-months with a follow-up lab test, if the patient has not reached their goal after 3-months, they’re put on cholesterol medication. If the client isn’t supposed to eat fats or cholesterol (animal protein), then what’s left to eat? CARBOHYDRATES! As you know from reading parts one and two about Syndrome X, high cholesterol is a symptom of too much insulin and too much insulin is secreted because of too many refined carbohydrates. So, what do you think happens after 3-months on a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet? Their cholesterol levels go up or don’t change depending on how poor their diet was to start with and may come down a little if they’ve changed their exercise program. What do you think this does to a patient that really tried to do the right thing? It discourages them and makes them feel powerless. They tell me “high cholesterol runs in my family.” Usually, what runs in families are “habits.” However, it takes about 3-months to change a habit. The following study is a great example of how good coaching and intense lifestyle changes can prevent disease development.

In the Diabetes Prevention Study¹ they took 3,234 patients with impaired glucose tolerance (blood sugar level 2 hrs. after a meal of 140mg/dL to 199mg/dL) but not yet diagnosed with diabetes and followed them for 2.8 years. They divided the patients into 3 groups, one group took medication, one group received intense lifestyle modifications (average exercise time of 150 minutes/week & advice on weight-loss), and a third group was given no treatment whatsoever and was used as controls, for comparison. The results are as follows:

The Intense Lifestyle Modification Group

• Lost on average 4% body weight
• Reduced their risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes by 58% when compared to the control group that received no treatment.

The Medication Group

• Reduced their risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes by 31% when compared to the control group that received no treatment.

The lifestyle group had almost double the risk reduction of the medication group. It would have been interesting to see a group that used both medication and lifestyle changes to see what the risk reduction would be. However, this study goes to show that the right lifestyle intervention along with some education and encouragement can go a long way in preventing disease.

What can you do?

• Read the ingredients on food labels, if you can’t pronounce it, and you’ve never heard of it, forget it.
• Avoid refined carbohydrates like white rice, potatoes, pasta, sweets, high sugar beverages, milk, and anything that contains high-fructose corn syrup.
• Eat small amounts of high-fiber whole grain carbohydrates like brown rice, sweet potatoes, quinoa, & legumes at each meal and snack.
• Cover ½ your plate in non-starchy veggies like leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.
• Eat clean, lean protein at each meal and snack. Fish, chicken, turkey, lean grass fed beef, low-fat cottage cheese, low-moisture part-skim cheeses, and whey protein.
• Eat small amounts of healthy fats from olive oil, macadamia nut oil, olives, nuts, avocados, & seeds, at each meal and snack. Avoid damaged fats which are anything fried or partially hydrogenated.
• Hire a personal trainer to get you started on a strength-training program using free weights to gain muscle. Increasing your muscle mass will give you places to store carbohydrate and help you burn fat for fuel.

Pick one or two of these to work-on and when you’ve got one down work on another one. Get your metabolism tested to learn your starting point, send us an e-mail at info@desertwomenshealth.com to get tested.

By Regina Basterrechea, MS, CNC

¹ The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. New England Journal of Medicine 2002; 346: 393-403.l