The Metabolic Syndrome: Time Bomb is Ticking.
by Tom Venuto
Burn the Fat
"Big Billie," as we call him at the gym, just got the bad news. His doctor told him: "You have diabetes." He's been feeling depressed ever since. He never thought it could happen to him.
Billie is a 43 year old powerlifter I've known for years. He's a mountain of a man with a 545 pound bench press. At 5' 9" tall and 265 pounds, he has muscle on top of muscle, but NOT all of that weight is lean mass. Billie is overweight.
Billie does zero cardiovascular exercise and for years, he has defiantly eaten anything he wanted. He even used to crack jokes about his "big gut" all the time.
His strength and muscle mass didn't protect him from diabetes. For the first time in his life, fortunately, he came around asking what he should eat to lose fat and get healthy again.
Dr. John Kovacs, a long time 'Burn the Fat' newsletter reader and M.D., sent me an email just yesterday, coincidentally, that left me aghast:
"Tom, I just came back from a Kaiser Permanente Annual Diabetes Conference here in LA today and some of the findings are unnerving. Here are a few facts for you to think about as you write your newsletters."
- Currently 1/3 of people with diabetes are also depressed.
- 47 million Americans have what is called Metabolic Syndrome, due to obesity.
- 40 million additional Americans have Pre-Diabetes, with abnormal glucose tolerance.
- 20 million Americans are diabetic.
- 60 million Americans are obese, with BMI over 30.
- There were 195 million diabetics in the world in 1995.
- There were 200 million diabetics in the world in 2000.
- By 2030 there will be 366 million diabetics in the world.
Death rate from complications of diabetes has increased by 45% since 1947. Depression precedes diabetes. Depression precedes metabolic syndrome. Depression precedes obesity.
Medical Doctors can impact only about 10% of the people regarding premature death from all causes, and 90% are out of control of healthcare systems and doctors.
Smoking causes 435,000 premature deaths per year in the USA. Half of all smokers carry some mental illness diagnosis.
58% of diabetes is directly caused by obesity. 14% of diabetes is directly due to physical inactivity.
365,000 premature deaths are caused directly by obesity and inactivity.
Researchers with a great idea for a new medication to treat or prevent diabetes have only about a 2% chance that their idea will ever reach the market, due to the regulations and constraints on such development.
From time of idea, to time of marketing for a new medication is currently around 20 years. We don't have enough time to wait for the magic bullet. 50% of all drugs given to patients do not work for the patients that they are given to. That is the nature of genetic variability.
Every 10 seconds one diabetic person dies in the USA. But in the same 10 seconds two new diabetics are diagnosed with the disease.
Absolutely no intervention tested is effective in slowing or stopping the progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes. The only thing that appears to make any difference at all is to reduce body fat and stabilize the function of the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
"As I said above, it was a very interesting conference, and outlined the fact that at current rates of diabetes appearance we will never impact that in the healthcare industry. We must do something to CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR OF PEOPLE. In the 1960s we did that with seatbelts. In the 1950's 50% of Americans were smokers, and now only 25% are. We still have a long way to go."
"I tell my patients that it is not a disease, but a condition that requires management. If you ignore it, other bad things will happen."
Special thanks to Dr. Kovac for sending me these statistics to share with all my readers.
Now take a look at this list:
1. Abdominal obesity (waist circumference greater than 40 inches/ 102 cm in men, or 35 inches/ 88 cm in women
2. High triglycerides: greater than 150 mg/dl
3. Reduced HDL cholesterol: lower than 40 mg/dl
4. elevated blood pressure: greater than 130/85
5. elevated fasting glucose: greater than 110 mg/dl
This is a list of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. If you have three or more of these symptoms, you have metabolic syndrome and you are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease as well as type 2 diabetes.
A randomized controlled clinical trial at Brown Medical School just published in September said that one third of overweight subjects had metabolic syndrome and that males and people over age 44 were at even higher risk.
The good news is, the research also showed that even small losses in bodyweight markedly reduced the risk. For each 1 kg of weight lost, the odds of metabolic syndrome were reduced by 8%
If you have a friend or loved one who is at risk, please share this information. You can always give someone a friendly, caring nudge, although I realize that sometimes, a "slap in the face" wake up call is needed.
If you are carrying excess body weight yourself, then I'm giving you a nudge, or consider this your wake up call.
Whether you use my program (www.burnthefat.com), another program, or you just do it completely on your own, I'm urging you not to wait.
Begin to change your behaviors today. Begin to clean up your eating habits right now. It doesn't matter that it's the holidays. In fact, with this being a stressful season with many temptations,
there couldn't be a better time to start.
I also urge you to include exercise, not just diet.
Results of an Austrian study were just released a week ago which said that "fat loss depends on the energy deficit only and not the method for weight loss." It was the second study of its kind this year and the media and anti-exercise bandwagon jumped all over it and started shouting "see! You don't need exercise after all. Just diet."
"A caloric deficit from food reduction causes the same amount of body mass lost as an equal caloric deficit from aerobic exercise???" No kidding Einstein! It's called the law of energy balance.
As Dr. John Berardi recently said, "not exercising is a fool's choice."
People who exercise, especially when they do both weight training and cardio, usually have outstanding glycemic control and fewer problems with blood sugar management, not to mention all the other health and fitness benefits.
They not only weigh less, they are stronger, fitter and have more attractive physiques.
Any energy deficit will make you lose body mass. But what is your "lighter" body going to look like after losing body mass from diet alone? A smaller version of your current body maybe? Or maybe just a "skinny fat person." what more would you expect with no exercise?
Exercise is the chisel you use to sculpt your body.
Yes, losing weight with diet alone will improve your health and reduce risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. But no amount of food restriction will get you fit and strong or give you a nice physique. Here you have the simple 1-2-3 formula which is the optimum way to improve your body composition, get healthier, get fitter, AND get stronger.
(1) Healthy food choices with mild caloric deficit
+
(2) Cardiovascular exercise
+
(3) Weight training
If you're not using this formula, then read those statistics again, especially the ones about inactivity. I hope they serve as a wake up call to millions and I hope the message is clear:
Do not ignore this "twin epidemic." Change your behavior. Start with yourself, then help others.
Post your thoughts, comments or feedback at: Burn the Fat
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and
conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer
(CPT). Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat,"
which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements
using methods of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models.
Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism
naturally by visiting: Burn the Fat
posted by Diet & Body at
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