Atkins Diabetes Revolution (9 page)

High fasting blood sugar (FBS), however, is usually a fairly late development among people who have the metabolic syndrome—most people develop all the other signs first. In those with the metabolic syndrome, only about 13 percent had either elevated fasting blood sugar or were being treated for diabetes.
40

Yet Dr. Atkins found that the vast majority of his patients had evidence of abnormal insulin/blood sugar metabolism when tested with his protocols (see Chapter 6, Diagnosis: Diabetes). The FBS alone doesn’t detect this problem in many patients until late in their disease, when the damage has already begun.

If the metabolic syndrome is so closely associated with diabetes, why is high blood sugar often the last sign to develop? Because the process of inflammation, insulin resistance, and the changes in your metabolic profile begin long before blood sugar abnormalities can be easily detected by the standard recommended blood test. That’s why you only need to have three of the five signs to be diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome—and that’s why high blood sugar doesn’t have to be one of them. Dr. Atkins spent decades measuring his patients’ blood sugar and insulin levels for five hours after a glucose load and observed firsthand how long you can have a potentially dangerous imbalance of blood sugar and insulin before your fasting blood sugar goes up.

OTHER SIGNALS OF THE METABOLIC SYNDROME

High levels of an important marker for inflammation called C-reactive protein (CRP) are nearly three times as common in people who show signs of the metabolic syndrome as in people without any such signs.
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The more signs of metabolic syndrome you have, the higher your CRP level is likely to be. Because it’s now easy and inexpensive to test CRP levels in the blood, this important marker shouldn’t be overlooked, especially if you have other components of the metabolic syndrome. (We’ll discuss this marker more in Chapter 9, The Cardiac Connection.)

Another important risk factor associated with the metabolic syndrome is what doctors call the
prothrombotic
state. If you have this, your blood is more likely to form a clot inside a blood vessel. If this happens in an artery that nourishes your heart,it causes a heart attack. If it happens in an artery that nourishes your brain, you’ll have a stroke. If it happens in a leg vein, it’s called
deep venous thrombosis,
or DVT, and the clot can break off and go to your heart, lungs, or brain. We can now use blood tests to detect markers of the prothrombotic state (see Chapter 9).

YOUR CHOICE: LIFESTYLE CHANGES OR DRUGS?

You’ve probably noticed that throughout this chapter we’ve discussed two contributors to the metabolic syndrome: a high-carb diet and a lack of exercise. The standard medical advice for the metabolic syndrome is the reduced-calorie, low-fat diet based on the flawed food pyramid. (The Atkins Lifestyle Food Pyramid, which has been presented to the USDA, the Department of Health and Human Services, and White House staffers as one alternative, appears in Appendix 5, page 470.) Although portion-controlled diets such as the American Heart Association diet may work for some people, they fail for many others. Because these diets emphasize carbohydrates and frown on dietary fat, they may actually make the metabolic syndrome worse, unless one is able to lose weight on such a program.
42

Even increasing your activity level probably won’t offset the negative effects of such a diet. In fact, low-calorie, low-fat diets can actually cause you to lose both muscle and fat, while decreased dietary carbohydrates and increased protein can actually enhance muscle mass.
43
,
44

Here’s the scenario that is likely to unfold after you visit your doctor and get diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome. You follow your doctor’s conventional dietary and fitness advice to the letter, but your health fails to improve.You may even gain weight and see a worsening of other metabolic syndrome signs.

The next thing you know,your doctor is whipping out the prescription pad and showering you with samples of statin drugs and medications for high blood pressure.You find yourself swallowing four or five expensive pills several times a day. Your blood pressure and LDL cholesterol may come down a bit, but your weight stubbornly stays the same or even climbs. Your triglycerides and HDL cholesterol hardly budge. But there’s more. All those drugs, plus the carbohydrates in your diet,make you feel tired and weak,so you don’t have the energy or even the inclination to exercise.

However, because your blood pressure is down and your LDL cholesterol is slightly better, your doctor is pleased. Unfortunately, you probably aren’t. You feel worse—and because you’re not dealing with the underlying problem, you’re getting worse. Your conventional high-carb, low-fat diet, along with medications, is simply
not
the path to good health.

THE ATKINS WAY

A surprisingly small step can be enough to slow the progression of the metabolic syndrome. A very modest amount of fat loss—as little as 7 to 10 percent of your body weight—can bring about significant improvement. Changing your metabolism from fat storage to fat burn ing can stop the progressive damage to your body. Add in just 30 to 60 minutes a day of moderate exercise, and you’re likely to step even farther away from that downward spiral.

How can you make this happen? As we’ve said, the metabolic syndrome can be stopped or reversed through a controlled-carbohydrate program combined with exercise: the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program. This program has been specifically designed to combat the metabolic syndrome and its predictable outcomes. If you have already crossed the diabetes threshold,the program can help you stop the otherwise inevitable descent into heart disease, stroke, and other problems—and bring you back to better health.

DO YOU HAVE THE METABOLIC SYNDROME?

Agree or disagree with the following statements to determine if you have the metabolic syndrome.

1. My waist is greater than 40 inches
(men) or 35 inches (women).

a. Yes

b. No

2. My triglycerides are 150 mg/dL or more.

a. Yes

b. No

3. My HDL cholesterol is 40 mg/dL or less
(men) or 50 mg/dL or less (women).

a. Yes

b. No

4. My blood pressure is 130/85 or more.

a. Yes

b. No

5. My fasting blood sugar is 110 mg/dL or more.

a. Yes

b. No

If you answered yes three or more times, you may well have the metabolic syndrome. Please read on in this book for more information to discuss with your doctor.

A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IS MUSIC TO HIS EARS

No other man in his family has made it past the age of 50. So when it comes to praising the Atkins Nutritional Approach, 51-year-old deejay Ralph Drake gives his listeners an earful: Atkins helped him lose 100 pounds and take back his life.

My father died of a heart attack when he was 49, and with my history of obesity and severe asthma,
I know I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Dr. Atkins.

Since committing to the Atkins lifestyle on April 1, 2000, I have never been in better health. Finally, after years of being sickly and severely overweight, I found out why low-fat diets don’t work! On Atkins I lost a total of 105 pounds and my asthma, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations simply disappeared.

In my job as a deejay at WDVR-FM in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, I play a song for Dr. Atkins during my show. My listeners know my story and I get enormous pleasure from teaching people how to adopt the Atkins lifestyle. I wish everyone with weight and health problems would take the same path.

I first became aware of Dr. Atkins in 1977. I was 25, working as a hospital food service director, and I weighed between 295 and 300 pounds. When I saw a picture of myself, I looked like I was 40! Then I thought about my father and headed to my doctor, who put me on a calorie- restricted diet.

My limit was 1,800 calories a day, and I almost went out of my mind. I cheated all the time. The more I cheated, the angrier I got with myself for being weak and out of control. Then one day, I saw Dr. Atkins on television talking about how controlling carbohydrates was the key to good health and a normal weight. This was at a time when nobody believed what he was saying. But it made sense to me, so I bought a carbohydrate gram counter, limited myself to 30 grams of carbs a day, and lost 5 pounds the first week. I still hadn’t read Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, but I cut myself down to 15 grams of carbs daily. Then I lost ten pounds a week. Finally, I bought the book so I could follow the program exactly. I was breathing normally for the first time in my life.

BEFORE AFTER

N
AME
: Ralph Drake

A
GE
:51

H
EIGHT
: 6 feet 1 inch

W
EIGHT
B
EFORE
:

    
280 pounds

W
EIGHT
A
FTER
:

    
175 pounds

B
LOOD
P
RESSURE
B
EFORE
: 110/70

B
LOOD
P
RESSURE
A
FTER
: 92/56

B
LOOD
S
UGAR
B
EFORE
:88

B
LOOD
S
UGAR
A
FTER
:84

T
OTAL
C
HOLESTEROL
B
EFORE
: 230

T
OTAL
C
HOLESTEROL
A
FTER
: 172

LDL C
HOLESTEROL
B
EFORE
: 170

LDL C
HOLESTEROL
A
FTER
: 118

HDL C
HOLESTEROL
B
EFORE
:39

HDL C
HOLESTEROL
A
FTER
:43

T
RIGLYCERIDES
B
EFORE
: 232

T
RIGLYCERIDES
A
FTER
:69

Then in 1981, I got divorced and went to work as a chef at a resort that focused on macrobiotic food. With its reliance on organic vegetables, grains, and soy products, a macrobiotic diet seemed to be a healthy way to eat. Before I knew it, though, I had gained 10 pounds, and then 20.When I noticed my weight gain, I went back to a controlled-carb lifestyle and lost a few pounds. But I seesawed back and forth for years afterward. In 1991, I suffered a severe asthma attack. I was in intensive care for four days. The only way to control my breathing was through steroids, which increased my appetite. Four years later, my weight was up to 280 pounds. By 2000, I was waking up in the night short of breath and with heart palpitations. I thought I was going to die.

Getting remarried in 2000 gave me the impetus to buy
Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution.
On April 1, 2000, I announced to my listeners that
I was going back to doing Atkins. (Before starting, I went to see my doctor to get my lipids, blood sugar, and blood pressure checked.) Three days later, my cravings vanished. I lost 30 pounds in the first 45 days on Induction. I remained in the Induction phase for almost a year, and had my lab tests repeated several times. As the weight fell off, I felt like a jerk for letting myself slide.