Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance - Softcover

Challem, Jack; Berkson, Burton; Smith, Melissa Diane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471398586 ISBN 13: 9780471398585

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 2000

Synopsis

You can feel great again!

""Syndrome X proactively lays out a nutritious, tasty, and simple diet plan to get us back to the basics of healthy nutrition.""-Lendon H. Smith, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Feed Your Body Right

""Syndrome X is the best new book to help you understand the facts about nutrition, health, and aging. . . . It is full of new information and insights most readers have never had access to before. Everyone who values his or her health will want to read the book and then individualize the program to suit his or her needs-the authors have made this easier than ever to do.""-Richard A. Kunin, M.D., author of Mega-Nutrition

What is Syndrome X? It's a resistance to insulin-the hormone needed to burn food for energy-combined with high cholesterol or triglycerides, high blood pressure, or too much body fat. Syndrome X ages you prematurely and significantly increases your risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity, eye disease, nervous system disorders, diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer, and other age-related diseases.

Syndrome X is the first book to tell you how to fight the epidemic disorder that is derailing the health of nearly a third of North Americans. It outlines a complete three-step program-including easy-to-follow diets, light physical activity, and readily available vitamins and nutritional supplements-that will safeguard you against developing Syndrome X or reverse it if you already have it.

About this title

Review:

If you're aging prematurely, getting fatter, feeling sluggish, and watching your blood pressure and cholesterol sneak upwards, you may have "Syndrome X," claim the authors, who say that up to 60 million North Americans have it. "Syndrome X is primarily a nutritional disease caused by eating the wrong foods," they write. The mysterious-sounding "Syndrome X" refers to a group of health problems including insulin resistance ("the inability to properly deal with dietary carbohydrates such as sugars"), plus at least one additional problem, such as abnormal blood fats (elevated cholesterol or triglycerides), overweight, and/or high blood pressure. Insulin resistance is "a diet-caused hormonal logjam that interferes with your body's ability to efficiently burn the food you eat." According to the authors, you probably have this problem, and if you do, eating processed carbohydrates are the root of it. Pastries, pastas, breakfast cereals, soft drinks--these refined carbos are the enemy. The book warns you that you probably suffer from insulin resistance (please get a blood test instead of relying on the admittedly unscientific questionnaire in the book, which makes everyone suspect who eats cereal or drinks fruit juice). Then the authors jump on the high-protein, low carb bandwagon. You can eat three eggs for breakfast, roast duck for lunch, and salmon for dinner, and snack on chicken slices.

It seems odd that if the problem is refined carbs that the solution is high protein and low carbs. The authors admit that most unrefined, or complex, carbohydrates do not have the excessive glucose- and insulin-stimulating effect of refined carbs, so why not recommend high-quality, unrefined carbohydrates (which are preferred over high-protein diets by the American Dietetic Association)? Consumers can't tell the difference, the authors say. So rather than educate them to the difference, let them eat meat. Go figure.

From the Inside Flap:

You can feel great again!

For years, medical researchers have been trying and failing to explain the widespread prevalence of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and other health problems among adults of all ages. Then, just a few years ago, a handful of enterprising scientists began to connect the dots between these seemingly disparate medical problems. A frightening pattern emerged: Syndrome X. Now, in the first book to tell you how to fight the epidemic disorder that is derailing the health of nearly a third of North Americans, find out what Syndrome X is and what you can do to protect yourself against it.

What is Syndrome X? The hallmark of Syndrome X is a resistance to insulin, the hormone that enables your body to use the energy stored in the food you eat. If you have insulin resistance together with high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, or too much body fat, you have Syndrome X.

How does Syndrome X affect you? It ages you prematurely, making you look and feel older than you should. It significantly increases your risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity, eye disease, nervous system disorders, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other age-related diseases. It saps your energy, dulls your mental focus, and darkens your outlook on life, leaving you depressed or subject to mood swings.

What causes Syndrome X? Eating too many processed high-carbohydrate foods such as breads, pastas, and sweets creates an excess of glucose and cell-destroying free radicals in your system, leads to insulin overload, and deprives your body of the nutrients it needs to thrive.

How can you tell if you have Syndrome X? Signs can be as simple as a spare tire around your waist, fatigue, mental fuzziness, and elevated blood pressure or cholesterol. To get a more complete picture, read this book.

It arms you with a self-test and other valuable tools for determining whether you have or are in danger of developing Syndrome X.

What can you do to fight Syndrome X? The first big step in conquering Syndrome X is reading this book. It outlines a complete, three-step program—including easy-to-follow diets, light physical activity, and readily available vitamins and nutritional supplements—guaranteed to safeguard you against developing Syndrome X or to reverse it if you already have it.

About this edition

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0471398586
• ISBN 13: 9780471398585
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272