In other words, like one in five American guys, he has the metabolic syndrome, the condition also known as Syndrome X or insulin resistance syndrome, namely, the collection of health risks that will increase his chance of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Although this guy knows that he is at increased risk - he figures he has time.

Fast-forward 10 years. Our guy has:

• ignored his elevated blood lipids
• ignored high blood pressure
• put on even more weight, and
• had a full-blown stroke.

He survived the stroke, but he may be at higher risk of developing other health problems, including Alzheimer's that can destroy his brain.

It can damage many of the body systems leading to such serious medical complications as

• heart disease (heart attack, stroke) - the most common consequence
• cataracts and/or glaucoma, leading to blindness (due to retinopathy)
• kidney damage
• erectal impotence in men
• amputations from gangrene and/or from damage to nerves (neuropathy).

Among the urologic complications of diabetes mellitus, the most common form of organic sexual dysfunction in male diabetics is erectile impotence (up to 75 percent of male patients who had diabetes for 15 - 20 years suffer from this).

Approximately 25 percent of over 18 million diabetics in the United States will develop foot problems and 6 to 10 percent will undergo amputation.

Diabetics spend more time in the hospital for foot complications than for all other aspects of their disease combined.

PLEASE NOTE:
If your 8-hour fasting blood sugar level is between 110 mg/dL and 125 mg/dL you are considered pre-diabetic (current medical standards state that diabetes is formally diagnosed at 126 mg/dL).

Some clinics, however, as a biomarker of coronary heart disease, risk use a fasting blood sugar of 90 mg/dL or higher.

HbA1c test is used primarily to monitor the overall blood glucose (sugar) control of diabetics for the past two to three months. Periodic determinations of glycated hemoglobin provide an accurate time-averaged reflection of patient glucose levels and the effectiveness of the control of diabetes.

This test was introduced as a routine test in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It measures how much glucose is spontaneously attached to hemoglobin A cells - the primary form of hemoglobin in adults and the part of the blood carrying oxygen in the red blood cells. As the hemoglobin floats around in the blood, it picks up glucose in about the same proportion as the glucose that exists in the bloodstream. This combination of glucose and hemoglobin A is called HbA1c, or glycohemoglobin. HbA1c levels do not change quickly but will shift as older red blood cells die and younger ones take their place. Since the red blood cells have a 120-day life span in the body before they are recycled, the "glucose coating" of a sample of hemoglobin can be measured.

The HbA1c test results are generally expressed as a percentage of total hemoglobin. For people without diabetes, the normal range is between 4 and 6 percent. For most people with diabetes the HbA1c goal should be less than 7 percent, according to the American Diabetes Association. In other words, if the HbA1c number is less than 7, blood glucose control is “good.” An HbA1c number higher than 8, or between 7 and 9, means that your glucose control is “average” so you need to take action as you are at a greater risk of developing eye disease, kidney disease, or nerve damage.

A number greater than 9 means your diabetes control is “poor,” meaning that your blood glucose is too high and you are at serious risk of developing the long-term diabetes complications. In other words, the closer a diabetic can keep the HbA1c to 6 percent, the better his or her diabetes is in control. The poorer the glucose control, the higher the HbA1c result will be. Therefore, lowering the HbA1c number – by any amount – can improve the chances of staying healthy.

Frequency of HbA1c testing depends on 1) the type of diabetes, 2) how well diabetes is controlled, and 3) on a doctor. The American Diabetes Association recommends testing HbA1c:

• 4 times each year - if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and use insulin, or
• 2 times each year – if you have type 2 diabetes and do not use insulin, or
• more frequently – if your diabetes control is not good.

Because HbA1c test measures average glycemia it will not reflect temporary, acute blood glucose increases or decreases in someone with “brittle diabetes,” also known as “unstable diabetes,” or “labile diabetes” - when a blood sugar level often swings quickly from high to low and from low to high. It can result in some individuals only achieving their treatment goal at the expense of a poor quality of life, as a result of frequent, disabling, and unpredictable hypoglycemia.

It should be also noted that there are many factors which may falsely lower HbA1c results, such as anemia, uremia, alcoholism, high levels of blood lipids, and nutritional supplements.

Why is the apple figure risky?

Fat cells located in the abdomen release fat into the blood more easily than fat cells found elsewhere. Release of fat begins 3 to 4 hours after the last meal compared to many more hours for other fat cells.

This easy release shows up as higher triglyceride and free fatty acid levels. Free fatty acids themselves cause insulin resistance.

It is estimated that one out of every four people in the U.S., or 80 million Americans, have insulin resistance and they are more prone to heart disease, even though they may never actually develop diabetes.

To find out whether you have an apple figure, determine your waist-to-hip ratio:

• Take your waist measurement with a tape measure around your waist an inch above the navel.
• Then take your hip measurement by measuring your hips at their widest point.
• Determine your waist-to-hip ratio by dividing your waist measurement by your hip measurement.

The ratio between waist girth and height indicates the degree to which fat has accumulated around the waist. Typically, it is a male pattern of fat distribution, but females do exhibit this also!

A waist-to-height ratio under 50 percent is generally considered "normal." Tthe greater your abdominal girth relative to your height, the fatter you are, and, consequently, the greater your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Also the WHtR gives a more accurate assesment of health for serious athletes, especially body builders, who have a higher percentage of muscle and a lower percentage of body fat, and for women who have a "pear" rather than an "apple" shape.

Insurance companies are good at making money because their actuaries are very knowledgeable in determining risks.

Why do you think they insist on knowing your height and waist measurements as part of your insurance physical?

As you already know, increased abdominal girth is a strong (and useful) indicator of:

“Hundreds of studies have led to the conclusion that any fat [in excess] can be problematic, but it’s much, much more dangerous when it’s accumulated in the abdomen,” said Dr Jeffrey Flier, researcher at the prestigious Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

How big is big?

Unfortunately beer bellies usually come with their close relatives - love handles. Those wobbly stubborn pieces of fat on the sides of the waist. No matter what you do, they don’t seem to go away.

However, the fat that women accumulate on hips and thighs is not dangerous to health—but it’s almost impossible to lose. The fat that men accumulate on stomachs is much more dangerous to health—but easier to get rid off.

How? A beer belly could have a lot to do with beer, which - like most alcohol - is oozing with calories. But that’s only part of the story. Researchers have found that apart from adding calories to the diet, alcohol also prevents the burning of fat.

According to a Swiss study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, booze in the blood stream can slow down fat metabolism more than 30 percent. Plus, beer drinkers don’t just drink beer - they have it with chips and peanuts, all nibbling their way into the belly, making it bigger and bigger.

Obesity has not been hyped. In fact, it should be defined as a disease - a real public health crisis.

Middle-aged people who are obese - or grossly overweight - are over 40 percent more likely than normal-weight people to die of heart disease. They are also four times as likely to be hospitalized for heart disease.

As pointed out by researchers and obesity experts, fat tissue is not like an inert storage depot. It is a very dynamic organ that is actually producing hormones and chemical messengers. And even without elevating blood pressure or cholesterol, these substances can

• damage blood vessels
• increase the risk of blood clots and
• cause insulin resistance that makes people prone to diabetes.

In other words, being too fat causes cardiovascular problems and excess weight alone is an independent risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and diabetes.

If you are a diabetic, seriously concerned about your health, you should consider the nutritional approach. It may help you prevent and avoid serious multiple complications of this degenerative disease.

At Full of Health, we know that this simple method - so simple that, at first, its simplicity makes you difficult to believe - will do as much for you as it has done for our clients and customers.

Nutritional factors are naturally occurring substances, not drugs whose substances are foreign to the body. And, according to orthomolecular nutrition, if the right building blocks (nutrients) are present in the body - in the right amounts and at the right time - the body will do the rest.

In other words, Triglyceride Reduction TGs Formula has been designed to bring the triglycerides down to normal by providing optimal concentrations of all necessary vitamins, anti-oxidants, lipotropic factors, chelated minerals, trace minerals, and digestive enzymes.