Metabolic Syndrome - We Can Help!

One of the great things about practicing Direct Primary Care is we have more time to spend with our patients to focus on their health. We can actually discuss what's wrong, provide recommendations for improving health problems, and even have regular follow up to ensure things are getting better! Metabolic syndrome offers a great example of how this works.

What is Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that together increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. It's important to recognize that it's present because we can work to improve it and reduce your risk! We diagnose metabolic syndrome if you have at least three of the following:

1. Central obesity. This is excess fat around the waist generally indicated by a waist circumference of over 40 inches in men or 35 inches in women.

2. High blood pressure. This is a blood pressure consistently above 130/85.

3. High blood sugar. This is detected by an elevated Hemoglobin A1c (3 month average blood sugar) of 5.7 to 6.4, or a fasting blood sugar above 100 mg/dL and indicates the presence of insulin resistance or prediabetes.

4. High triglycerides. Fasting triglycerides above 150 mg/dL show presence of elevated fats dissolved in the blood.

5. Low HDL cholesterol. HDL levels below 40 mg/dL in men or 50 mg/dL in women show insufficient “good” cholesterol.

Metabolic syndrome often develops due to a combination of genetic factors, poor diet, lack of exercise, and excess weight, especially around the abdomen. These factors contribute to insulin resistance, where the body's cells don’t respond effectively to insulin, leading to higher blood sugar levels. Over time, this can cause damage to blood vessels and organs.

What Can We Do About It?

So what are we to do? In our former “big box medicine” lives, we would simply say “healthy diet, regular exercise, try to lose weight, and we’ll follow up in a year” - because we didn’t have time to actually focus on these goals. But at Health Matters Direct Primary Care, we make the time to focus on what’s important to you. We can work with you to create a plan to focus on lifestyle changes (and perhaps medications in some situations) that can help improve these aspects of your health to prevent worsening problems down the road. We can be your partner in health rather than just the person hurriedly saying “...and please work on weight loss” as we walk out of the room.

Addressing metabolic syndrome early is important - because doing so can significantly reduce your risk of developing serious health problems, like diabetes and heart disease. Even more importantly, instituting appropriate changes will help you feel better as a whole! Lifestyle changes that we might work on introducing, to address metabolic syndrome, might include:

1. Healthy diet. A diet that emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein, while limiting sugars and refined carbohydrates, as well as saturated fats.

2. Regular exercise. Physical activity does not require a gym! You can get your recommended exercise at home or around the neighborhood with some creativity and insight.

3. Weight management. The goal of a healthy diet and regular exercise is to get to and stay at a healthy weight.

4. Regular monitoring. This is the easy part for us - it’s important to have regular evaluations to monitor blood pressure, weight, and blood tests like hemoglobin A1c and cholesterol.

If you are ready to take control of your health, start by scheduling a free 15 minute meet & greet appointment with Dr. Anand, or with me, Dr. Heikens, to learn more about our practice. As always, we can’t wait to meet you and see how we can help!