A couple of the bestest programs out there for peeps with metabolic syndrome are the
Eades' Protein Power,
Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint and
Cordain's Paleo Diet ( so long as you ignore the part on canola oil and eggs... eggs are fine, canola oil is not). Here is a
massive pile of links that take you through some of the science and ideas behind it all. Combined with regular exercise (and strength training for sure), fish oil supplementation and a regular sleep schedule, I can't think of a more thorough way to really improve your health and wellbeing. It would definitely help with the following:
1.
Reduce chronic low grade inflammation.
- Low grade inflammation is linked to coronary heart disease, insulin resistance and diabetes, and possibly cancer as well. It's baaaad stuff. And if you have Syndrome X (metabolic syndrome), you'll have low grade inflammation.
- We'd do this by removing gluten (the protein found in wheat, barley, oats, millet) and supplementing with fish oil to improve your omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid balance (omega 3's are anti-inflammatory while omega 6's are inflammatory).
2.
Improve insulin sensitivity.
- A big part of this will come from reducing low grade inflammation but also choosing low GI veggies instead of higher GI grains as your carbohydrates will support improved insulin response.
- A higher protein diet increases your body's production of glucagon. Insulin is the hormone that gets stuff (glucose) into your cells.
Glucagon is the hormone that gets stuff OUT of your cells.
- Strength training, when mixed with cardio, significantly improves insulin sensitivity in the hours post exercise.
- We're going to do MORE strength training than cardio, though, since a significant amount of endurance-stule cardiovascular activity can jack up cortisol levels, which will blunt your insulin sensitivity.
3. Get you on a regular sleep schedule.
- Being chronicly sleep deprived ALSO jacks up cortisol levels, which mess with insulin sensitivity.
- Sleep deprivation can also really exacerbate low grade inflammation.
- A great resource on this is
Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival
Hope this helps!
Syndrome -X- Any good Plans THAT WORK...WELL? 
