Doctors are still treating people with metabolic syndrome "diseases" as though they have six different medical problems. Prof. Gerald Reaven, makes the point that there is one problem, your diet. The Banting Diet, promoted by this site and The Real Meal Revolution, is a solution to how you should change your diet. Start slowly if you like.
Obesity
It's well known, that in older people at least, it's very hard to lose weight on the recommended low-fat diet. Apparently over time, when high daily carbohydrate supply is good (excessive?), our metabolism changes and we become carbohydrate intolerant.
When you have insulin as the dominant hormone, any excess glucose (or carbohydrate that is turned into glucose) will be converted into stored fat. Your control over insulin, is in choosing what to eat. No sugar, and no carbohydrate in the diet, turns off the demand for insulin.