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Remember, India is already diabetes capital of the world. We are even moving from frying pan to fire. It has been predicted that, in a few years, India alone will have highest number of diabetes patients in the world.
“The WHO also estimates that 80 % of diabetes deaths occur in low and middle-income countries and projects that such deaths will double between 2016 and 2030.”
Read the Times of India report for more:
India is the diabetes capital of the world!
Before further ado, let me introduce this condition.
central obesity
insulin resistance
dyslipidemia
hypertension
(Reaven 1988).
This also increases chance of cardiovascular diseases much more than general people
Abdominal Obesity Waist
Circumference
Men >35 inch (>90 cm)
Women >27 inch (>68.5 cm)
Triglycerides >150 mg/dl
HDL-Cholesterol
Men <35 mg/dl
Women <38 mg/dl
Blood Pressure >130/>85 mm of Hg
Fasting Glucose >110 mg/dl
Read this for more information : The Metabolic Syndrome— Health and … – The Association of Physicians of India
The Metabolic Syndrome begins right before a baby is born. The genes are responsible, even during fetal stage, to make an Indian prone towards this. “Thrifty gene hypothesis” has been mentioned to establish the fact. What does it mean? Let us get deeper…
“Small Indian babies have small abdominal viscera and low muscle mass, but preserve body fat during their intrauterine development. This body composition may persist postnatally and predispose to an insulin-resistant state.”
“According to the thrifty genotype hypothesis, the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and obesity is a consequence of genetic variants that have undergone positive selection during historical periods of erratic food supply.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12586996/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2723682/
Please read the amazing story of Raj and ‘Getindiafit’ (Raj and Simran are both doctors. It is not the DDLJ story, by the way!) In this story, development of metabolic has been explained right from the word go. It also shows the path of fighting it back.
India is on the verge of such metabolic syndrome disaster. Look around you, from villages to cities and from rich to poor… Everybody around seems to carry belly fat. That is the sign of insulin resistance. That is the first step in the world of metabolic syndrome. People spend lazy and slow lives, eat lots of junks and alcohol, exercise is being forgotten, and stress is all over. Combine it with the genetic predisposition and India is nearing its disaster.
Studies were done in several parts of India to get more knowledge. In apparently healthy adult population of Mumbai, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 40%. It increases the chance of coronary heart disease by 2 fold and diabetes by 5 folds. Just imagine where our nation is heading towards.
Read this to know more:
Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Mumbai City
The story does not end here. The rural to urban migration is contributing even more. For years, the undernourished population is getting overfeeding. Their body is trying to cling to the extra energy in form of visceral fat. This is the fat in the central body, in the belly area. This fat is the most dangerous one rather than the subcutaneous fat.
Lots of sugar, processed food, fast food habits and unhealthy fats are causing insult to injury. The dietary pattern of the Indians have become more skewed towards simple carb rich food.
Our lifestyle is a big spoilsport. Stress is everywhere, starting from family life to professional life. Even dieting and small lifestyle changes can change stress. The cortisol hormone, secreted during stress makes things worse.
Add to that high uric acid, arthritis, fatty liver, PCOS etc. These can only make metabolic syndrome worse. Now a days these have become extremely common.
People have forgotten to move. Cars, motorcycles and ample public transportation have made us really lazy. When several people of the West are now trying to use bicycles or even walk, we are choosing the vertically opposite path. Just put a pedometer or a movement tracker. You will be shocked to see how less an average urban Indian guy moves.
The rural people have hardly chance to engage in the hard labour jobs they engaged few decades ago. In towns and cities this is a forgotten art! Perhaps the only time he uses genuine muscle strength is when he gets inspired and hits a gym.
Mobiles, TV, computer have made us sit or lie on our butts for prolonged time. Over last 2 decades, these machines and gadgets have driven the final nail in the coffin. An average young Indian spend huge time in front of screen. Sitting or lying makes your metabolism slow down to almost a halt. This adds to the metabolic syndrome development.
Me doing bench press in my home gym. To read the story of my fight against metabolic syndrome, click on the image.
Start moving and change sedentary lifestyle – Now is the time to move. We must kick-start by walking, swimming, jogging, cycling. Even taking a morning or evening walk, using stairs instead of elevators, diminish the use of cars, motors etc. can do wonders. Try to move around in the office or workplace. Prefer standing over sitting. An electronic tracker can do wonders to record your activity pattern.
Aerobic exercise – Any good aerobic exercise that you can think of. But we need to do it regularly. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. Exercises can be done by 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (five days per week) or 20-60 minutes of high-intensity exercise (three days per week).
Weight training – At least 2 to 3 times weight training sessions are great to reverse metabolic syndrome. This is a sure but often ignored path. Several myths are associated with it. Ignore them but keep the proper intensity. Start by reading my post on beginners workout for fat loss.
Start correcting your diet – Before starting a tailor-made diet from any consultant, correct your habits. Try to follow the principles throughout life however tough it seems:
Avoid all sugar and sweet items. Added sugar, high fructose corn sugar are strict no no. Fresh whole fruits are okay for the sweet tooth.
Avoid drinking anything except water, coffee or tea. Avoid all juices, soft drinks, colas.
Stop alcohol and smoking. These two can undermine all your efforts in reversing metabolic syndrome. Stress is a very big contributor. Try exercises and de-stressing for dopamine rich feel good rather than addiction. (This need to be elaborated later, elsewhere.)
Avoid all processed food. Try taking mostly complex carbs as carb source and simple carbs only after exercise or at breakfast.
Make it a habit to check all the food labels before buying them. Also weigh all the raw food items before cooking them. Beware of the hidden calories of spices, dressings etc.
Avoid all trans fat. Even cookies, margarine, deep-fried items and snacks contain loads of trans fat. Avoid them like plague.
Don’t forget the pills. The medical science has progressed a lot. These can keep metabolic syndrome in check to some extent. But without proper diet, lifestyle modifications and exercises, you can’t reverse it.
Try to register under a knowledgeable and experienced diet cum fitness consultant. If he is a health professional, the better. Do all the tests at the initial stage to know your body, talk to him thoroughly and give all your health related data and preferences. Follow his or her advice fully and thoroughly. Read the model of doing it at my page on getIndiafit.
As you already know about metabolic syndrome and its implications, you must act. Don’t just wait and watch. Let us all start by getting rid of all those habits and make all the lifestyle changes. Start eating healthy and do all the necessary exercises.
Together, let us enrich and share the knowledge about metabolic syndrome and it’s fate. We can strive hard to look forward to a healthier and smarter India in near future.
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