Metabolism
Researches show that nearly a third of adults age above 20 years old commonly suffer from a condition known as metabolic syndrome . The ration is much alarming among elderly, probably approaching nearly 50% among them. It is also found out that this syndrome also occurs in those who are not obese but had recently put on a lot of weight, and children who are overweight .
Main contributing factor to this syndrome is probably caused by a fundamental malfunctioning in the body’s system that works on storing and burning energy. Other factors could also be genetics, unhealthy lifestyle , in-appropriate diet especially those high in refined carbohydrates and low in fiber, smoking, high intake on saturated fats, and progressive weight gain.
Metabolic Syndrome appears to have exponentially increase the risk of various health problems, notably heart related disease, diabetes, and possibly certain type of cancer too. It’s important to note that you don’t need to be obese to suffer from this Syndrome ! Many people think that obesity is the most crucial and deciding factor in this metabolic syndrome. This is not true and it’s dangerous to carry on without any treatment for the syndrome as your risk of subsequently developing more serious illness increases as time flows.
In general, if you have three or more of the following listed then you do probably have it, and you should start now to reverse your risk with appropriate diet and exercise :-
- Waist Measure : more than 40 inches for males ; above 35 inches for females
- Blood pressure: greater than 130/85
- Serum triglycerides : greater than 15o mg/di
- High fasting glucose ( or blood sugar ), of at least Ho mg/d1 of blood
- HDLs : less than 4o mg for males and less than 5o mg for females
In general, the following steps should be taken if you have sign of suffering from metabolic syndrome :-
- Work on to start losing those excess weight.
- Increase physical activity ; Example, more exercise.
- Watch your blood pressure level. Take steps to reduce it if it goes high.
- Adopt healthy diet plan consisting more on vegetables and fruits.
- Watch your cholesterol level. Consider to take medication to control it if the level doesn’t goes right.
- Avoid a very low-fat diet ! Yes, low fats dietary is alright, but ‘very low-fat’ diet is not ! Any diet that has less than 20 percent of calories from fat could exacerbate metabolic syndrome. Usually, eating very little fat means an increase in carbohydrate consumption can cause both triglycerides and blood glucose to rise, worsening metabolic syndrome.
