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Wednesday, 27 September 2006

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Antony Worrall Thompson: I beat Syndrome X

The celebrity chef had sugar problem

A couple of years ago Antony Worrall Thompson took part in a TV series called Food Junkies, for which he agreed to undergo an experiment to test his body’s ability to process sugar.

What started as an interesting, fun angle for the show became a life-changing moment for Antony when the test results suggested he had Insulin Resistance Syndrome, also known as Syndrome X – the name given to the condition generally considered to be a precursor to diabetes.

Most are unaware anything is wrong

‘When filming the show they took me up to Glasgow University Hospital where a professor has developed a method for testing how effectively your body stores sugar, a job done by the hormone insulin,’ says Antony.

‘The results suggested I was insulin resistant, which means my body wasn’t processing sugar as it should. It’s one of the main symptoms of Syndrome X, which is estimated to affect about five million people in the UK, most of whom are unaware that anything is wrong.’

Type 2 Diabetes is a disease that’s reaching epidemic proportions and testing for the early signs, or Syndrome X, could prevent it from developing. But a test like the one Antony tried is highly technical and there’s currently no way that the NHS, with all its other pressures, could possibly undertake the expense of this screening technique.

Getting diagnosed was good news

‘But there’s certainly lots you can do to pick up the symptoms yourself and get your health back on track,’ says Antony. ‘Knowing what I do now, I can see I was the obvious candidate for developing diabetes. I had the wrong waist measurement, smoked and didn’t exercise enough. I drank up to 10 cups of sugary tea or coffee a day.

At my heaviest I was about 16st, which for a short person is an awful lot. Getting diagnosed
with Syndrome X was ultimately good news for me, as I could do something about it.’

Antony immediately began researching the foods that he should and shouldn’t eat, but he wasn’t inspired. ‘Diabetic cookery books looked like afterthoughts on recycled loo paper,’ he says.

I decided to research my own book

‘I was devastated by the thought that my food life might be over, so I decided to research my own book.’ This led to his cookery books Healthy Eating For Diabetes (£12.99, Kyle Cathie) and Antony Worrall Thompson’s GI Diet (£12.99, Kyle Cathie). Most importantly, even by eating food he enjoyed, he went on to lose 2st.

‘Obviously you don’t have to be a diabetic to go on the GI diet,’ he says. ‘It’s good to eat nutritious foods that release sugar slowly in the body. My aim was to make delicious recipes that you’d choose to cook regardless.

‘As a nation we eat breakfast on the run, so by 11am we’re feeling tired and grab a chocolate bar. At lunchtime we eat the wrong kind of carbs, so our blood sugar levels shoot up. By 4pm they’ve plummeted, so we grab crisps or chocolate cake. By the time we get home we can’t face cooking a fresh meal, so we prepare a ready meal. It’s an everyday vicious cycle.

Exercise is really important

‘Now I snack on seeds and nuts. I never skip breakfast; I eat toasted Burgen Soya And Linseed Bread with grilled tomatoes or bacon occasionally. You can still eat the food you enjoy. My wife and kids love it too, which is good as it’s quite hard to get kids to eat stuff that they think is good for them.

‘I have a rule where I’m off the booze for a day a week, a week a month and a month a year. I want to lose another stone, then I’ll be happy. Exercise is really important, so I walk the dogs and work out with a trainer twice a week. I aim to be healthy – I’m not after a Gary Rhodes-style six-pack!’

Check out the symptoms of Syndrome X

If you have four or more of the following symptoms, you might be a sufferer and
should seek medical advice about how to tackle the condition:
1 A waist size in excess of 32in for a woman, 37in for a man.
2 A moon-shaped face or thick neck.
3 Puffy hands or feet.
4 Tiredness for no apparent reason.
5 Feeling mentally fuzzy – eg, what did you go into the kitchen for?
6 Bloating after eating a meal containing carbohydrates.
7 Sleepiness after a meal containing carbs.
8 Cravings for sugar, sweet food or carbohydrates.
9 Skin tags on the groin, neck or armpit.
10 Diagonal creases on the lower ear lobe.
(Taken from www.syndrome-x.co.uk)

Ali Agnew