Syndrome X: The Silent Killer: The New Heart Disease Risk

The bad points about this book: It didn't tell one ifcoffee was to be avoided, nor did it discuss sodium in thediet or water. It was also very technical reading and a little "dry" On the other hand, I learned a lot about insulin and theheart. Dr. Reaven has wonderful qualifications to be writingon this subject. There is a diet section which will be veryhelpful. It's not a terribly long book, so a lot can belearned in a short time. His diet recommendations are welltested and effective. He also does not pull any punchesand makes it clear that your MUST lose weight and exerciseregularly if you are to be heart-healthy. I kind of liked that.For added incentive he well describes what a heart attack feels like and the type of permanent damage it does.

This book devotes the lion's share of information to the Syndrome X Diet and explanation. Dr. Reaven's menus present an easy eating plan with the correct proportions of protein, carbohydrate and fats (mostly monnounsaturated fat) for those who have developed the syndrome. But he points out that it's also a nutritionally complete diet for the whole family. This is an important since one member of a family having Syndrome X means that others in the family are more likely to have developed it as well. This book turns the American Heart Asssociation upside down by promoting a low carb and higher good-fat eating. But again and again, Dr. Reaven points to the irrefutable evidence of more than 35 years of research, that this is the right diet for Syndrome Xers. This is very credible advice coming from the most re-knowned research physician in the field of insulin resistance, and who was also the first to discover syndrome x and how to treat it. He maps out 30-day menu plans for weight maintenance and another 30-day plan for weight loss. There is nothing difficult to understand or follow about this diet, and if the weight loss diet of 1,200 to 1,500 calories sounds like starvation, think again, because the balance of good fats, protein and carbohydrates provide a very satisfying diet that is really a model for a lifelong eating plan.

Finally, the medical authority on preventing heart attack from causes other than cholesterol has written a book. Even other doctors who go on television and radio to talk about Syndrome X come first to Dr. Reaven for information, and that's because he was the first physician to identify and describe Syndrome X. Dr. Reaven, from Stanford University, gave the medical community this information years ago, and now he has provided the rest of us with the answers. His advice is not based on some pop fad, it comes from decades of research into Syndrome X and why insulin resistance and high insulin levels lead to half, maybe more, of all heart attacks. When I read the book and realized that just keeping my cholesterol low wasn't going to necessarily prevent a heart attack, I had myself tested for Syndrome X. I was shocked that not only I had the disorder, but so do my son and daughter. The whole family now follows the Syndrome X Diet and we've all gotten our lipid values, which were dangerously high, down to normal. Thank you Dr. Reaven. You're book is a life saver!

The evidence is accumulating: perhaps a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is not the best for everyone in order to prevent atherosclerosis and its effect on heart disease. In the popular press, there have appeared several books that challenged this approach: Dr. Atkin's New Diet, Barry Sears's The Zone, Drs. Michael & Mary Eades' Protein Power, and now Syndrome X. This last book was written by individuals with impeccable credentials, for its lead author is the Chairman of the Endocrinology Department at Stanford University's Medical School.I've read all of these books-with more than casual interest since I've had a heart attack with no previous symptoms while on a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. These books have my attention, for obvious reasons.Syndrome X does a very credible job of describing the effects insulin has on lipids, including triglycerides. The analysis presented is relatively easy to follow, even for someone like myself who does not have a degree in biochemistry or medicine. The discussions on type 2 diabetes, and the effect of alcohol on lipids, are some of the most understandable I have ever read. It reemphasizes the fact that total calories, regardless of whether they are from fat, protein, or carbohydrates, must be taken into account in any weight-loss program. It mentions that blood lipid chemistry will improve if weight loss is also occurring, regardless of the type of diet that one is on.The book presents a rather straightforward medical procedure to determine if one has what the authors have labeled as Syndrome X. It discusses the problems Syndrome X can cause. This is new information that individuals who suspect they have this condition should bring to the attention of their personal physicians.The book also presents a dietary prescription that can minimize the effects of Syndrome X, namely 15% protein, 40% fat (preferably unsaturated), and 45% carbohydrates. Unfortunately, though, the authors present none of the data leading up to this dietary recommendation, so one cannot tell what the sensitivity of these ratios are on the blood-lipid chemistry of one suffering from Syndrome X.This sensitivity is important as one tries to plan menus to implement the authors' dietary recommendations. The book does give menus, but are presented in a very clinical manner that does nothing more than show it is possible to eat foods that follow its recommendations. Most of us do not eat with a Palm Pilot in hand, keeping track of the precise percentage of nutrients in every morsel. We purchase food in grocery stores that have attractive produce, meat, dairy, and bakery sections, not protein, fat, and carbohydrate sections. This diet could be rather hard to follow, since there apparently is no easy formulary that can be used when preparing meals. For instance, a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is easy to plan for: simply utilize as little fat-and as much carbohydrate-in your meals as yo

I got a copy of Syndrome X after reading the lengthy review in "Nutrition Action." After years of nonsense about insulin from Barry Sears and the like, it's great to find a real doctor who can set the record straight.Dr. Reaven spent three decades conducting the insulin research, he's a Stanford University professor and a medical doctor who really knows how the body uses insulin, who really understands the relationship between insulin and heart disease, as well as insulin and fat.But, Dr. Reaven isn't writing a diet: it's heart disease he's concerned about. Specifically, a little-known but widespread variant called Syndrome X. If you have Syndrome X, the "good: dietary advice your doctor gives you will actually increase your risk of heart disease. (Of course, odds are you don't know if you have Syndrome X because most doctors do not know about it yet.)If you want to really learn about this "silent" type of heart disease that gives millions of people heart attacks, read this book. Why do I care so much? Because I have Syndrome X, but now, thanks to Reaven's book, my doctor and I know what to do to keep me alive.