And why you probably have no idea what this answer is
By Kevin Kolodziejski
As I wondered why the American Heart Association felt the need to coin a new medical term—cardiovascular-renal-metabolic syndrome—a strange analogy occurred to me. Eating is like professional wrestling.
The mind makes weird leaps and bounds, doesn’t it? I mean, as a young teenager, I only watched this one-on-one fight a few times because I didn’t find it entertaining at all. By my late teens, however, I began to believe that the pain and injuries caused by eating “artificial” foods—as opposed to professional wrestling—were real, and I began eating mostly vegetables to limit both.
Which worried my parents, upset a basketball coach enough to make fun of me in public, and prompted at least one potential girlfriend to say, “See you later.”
How Eating Is Like Wrestling
But if we are to draw an analogy between eating and wrestling as a team, you are both partners in the first attempt, and the one called Brains also acts as your manager. He has decided that you will perform in the ring as good guys, chooses your opponents and how often you will fight.
However, when scheduling matches against the Bad Guys, Brains quickly retreats. From the safety of the other side of the ropes, he doesn’t hesitate to give his opinion incessantly while his buddy Body gets beaten up.
But his two cents are rarely useful.
The reason for the unconventional analogy
The reason to begin with such an unconventional comparison is that too often the end result of what is considered the conventional way of eating today looks exactly like the scripted fight when the good wrestlers take on the bad guys. The first time. Invariably, in the first encounter, one of the bad guys lifts Body over his head and throws him to the ground. He climbs the top rope, does what looks like a cannonball off a diving board, falls onto Body’s chest and drives an elbow into his throat.
He then hits him in the solar plexus, grabs his hair and slams his head against the mat until the referee stops the fight.
In addition to being entertained (and I use that term loosely), you, as a spectator, are supposed to feel anger and desire for revenge—enough to pay to see or tune in to the rematch. And such intense feelings will indeed occur if you lose yourself in the moment and forget that what you are witnessing is not a real wrestling match but a scripted one.
What food “script” do you follow?
Scripted writing, my friend, can be a powerful tool. When it comes to buying and consuming food, who is the master of words for the person you follow? Is it the food companies that specialize in foods loaded with added sugars and fats to corrupt and control your taste buds?
While these questions need answers as soon as possible, another related question is equally urgent and also serves as the title of today’s topic. Could You Have Cardiovascular-Renal-Metabolic Syndrome?
If you have absolutely no idea, that’s okay. In fact, it’s expected. Because the term was only recently coined by the American Heart Association.
So what is cardiovascular-renal-metabolic syndrome?
The AHA felt the need to coin the term “because of the links” between heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and obesity that lead to “adverse health consequences.” Contrary to your likely unfamiliarity with the syndrome often abbreviated as CKM, these links are not acceptable.
Especially when a recent study published in JAMA determined that there is a 90% chance you have it.
Do you feel a little queasy about it? Or like you’ve just been punched in the solar plexus? While both of these are sensations you’d rather not experience, if they’re the result of the first stage of the syndrome, you’re in luck. In fact, Ashish Verma, MD, assistant professor of nephrology at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, would tell you to think of it as an “opportunity.”
When illness becomes an “opportunity”
Because, as she explained to Kristen Fischer in a CKM for Health article, you don’t have a really serious health problem yet. You do, however, have at least one of the precursors that lead to one, like a high BMI, a big belly, or prediabetes.
If you do nothing, there is a good chance that stage one will progress to stage two, which is currently the case according to the JAMA study for nearly half of the 90% of American adults with CKM. Stage two is manifested by one or more of the following symptoms: kidney disease, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. When the heart conditions on this list get worse, you reach stage three. Stage four is when these heart conditions progress to heart disease.
But reaching stage three could prove just as dangerous as stage four.
Step three: It’s not a good place to live
The number of deaths from heart disease has actually declined since 2000. Yet the number of deaths from “heart failure” — which, in the medical sense, simply means that your heart isn’t working as well as it should — has increased by 3% over the same period.
While I’d rather not be informed of such a surge, here’s an equally strong “not at all.” That the medical world is creating another term that’s just as likely to confuse as it is to clarify. But bluster aside, this new term is truly necessary because of what Laura Manaker, MS, RDN, LD—who is also an award-winning registered dietitian, author, speaker, and entrepreneur—explains in an article about CKM syndrome for Verywell Health.
Why is this new term necessary?
The new term “emphasizes the interdependence of cardiovascular disease, renal dysfunction, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.” It is essential to recognize this interdependence, as these diseases “coexist” and “mutually aggravate” each other.
So it makes sense that you learn this term, keep cycling and eating well so your doctor never mentions it to you.
Kevin Kolodziejski He began his writing career in 1989. Since then, he has written a weekly column on health and fitness and his articles have appeared in magazines such as MuscleMag, Ironman, Vegetarian Times, and Bicycle Guide. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from DeSales University and Kutztown University.
A competitive cyclist for over 30 years, Kevin won two Pennsylvania State Time Trial Championships in his 30s, the aptly named Pain Mountain Time Trial 4 out of 5 times in his 40s, two more state time trials in his 50s, and the Pennsylvania 40+ BAR single-season championship at age 43.
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