Your Greatest Wealth

Welcome to the first edition of “Your Greatest Wealth” Newsletter. I have used that title based on a quote from the Greek Poet Virgil (70 B.C. – 19 B.C.), “The greatest wealth is health.”

Wikipedia notes Virgil suffered from poor health for most of his life. Since I started studying health extensively 12 years ago, I have noticed that many thought leaders have conquered their own health issues first.

I am referring to people such as Robb Wolf, Jimmy Moore, Josh Lajaunie and ?Dr. Terry Wahls. They have all written informative books and have very different views on what constitutes the ideal diet and exercise program.

As Michael Pollan observed in his book Defense of Food, “[Humans] … can thrive on an extraordinary range of different diets, but the Western diet, however you define it, does not seem to be one of them.”

My goal in this newsletter is not to proscribe the ideal diet or exercise regimen because there is none. My goal is to help you discover which healthy lifestyle works best for you. Unfortunately, what works or worked in your 20s and 30s may not work later in life. We change over time and need to adapt our lifestyle to these changes.

A 2018, University of North Carolina study found that only 12% of Americans are metabolically healthy. What this study found is that 7 of 8 Americans have at least one symptom of Metabolic Syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome is associated with higher rates of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, arthritis, mental disorders, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. The five medical conditions of Metabolic Syndrome as defined by the American Heart Association are:

1.????Abdominal Obesity: Waist size greater than 40” for men and 35” for women.

2.????High Blood Pressure: Resting blood pressure above 130 / 85.

3.????High Blood Sugar: A fasted blood sugar over 100 is considered pre-diabetes.

4.????High Serum Triglycerides. This is defined as having triglycerides above 150.

5.????Low High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL): Defined as HDL below 40 or men and 50 for women.

To be diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome you need to have 3 of these 5 conditions. It is estimated that over 1/3 of Americans have Metabolic Syndrome. And as stated earlier 88% of Americans have at least one of these conditions putting them at risk for Metabolic Syndrome and premature death.

It should come as no surprise that Metabolic Syndrome has been associated with an increased risk of infection and worse outcomes from Covid-19.

If you do have any of the symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome or are concerned about your health, then doing what you have been doing is likely not going to work. You will need to make changes. In future editions of this newsletter, I will discuss some of the changes I have made or have seen other people make that have been helpful.

I will look at four key areas of health: diet, exercise, stress management and mental and social stimulation.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or feedback, please drop me a line: [email protected]

Dave Beruh

Grand Strand Health Coaching