A Shortcut to Gaining Weight and Getting Sick? Metabolic Syndrome, Complications Invited by Your Cravings

Modern medicine explains the concept of food stagnation from Donguibogam using the terms metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. Frequent late-night snacks, overeating, and irregular meals constantly place our body in a state of excess nutrition. Every time this happens, the pancreas continuously secretes a hormone called insulin to lower blood glucose. Even insulin, which worked well at first, causes our body’s cells to gradually become insensitive when it is secreted excessively on an ongoing basis, just like tuning out nagging heard too often. This is precisely what is called insulin resistance. When insulin resistance develops, even if there is enough insulin, cells cannot properly absorb glucose, leaving an excess of sugar in the bloodstream. The pancreas pumps out even more insulin in an attempt to somehow lower blood glucose, and the pancreas also becomes exhausted in this process. Furthermore, leftover glucose turns into triglycerides, accumulating in the liver to cause fatty liver, and elevating fat levels in the blood, which leads to hyperlipidemia. In particular, visceral fat accumulating in the abdomen continuously secretes inflammatory substances, raising blood pressure, damaging blood vessels, and creating a vicious cycle that worsens insulin resistance once again. Everything becomes entangled like a spiderweb. If this state persists, one is diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, where hypertension, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and abdominal obesity arrive all at once, raising the risk of progressing to cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes mellitus by three to four times. It is not simply an obesity issue; it is a warning bell that all metabolic systems in our body are gradually breaking down. Even so, there is no need to worry excessively. It is a problem that can be fully overcome and prevented with just small changes in what and how we eat, and how we live our daily lives. From now on, let us find ways to care for our bodies again together.