by Steve Solomon
TriVita
TriVita
Most people don’t need to be reminded to keep track of their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. However, there’s something else you should be monitoring: your triglycerides. Having a high level of triglycerides can increase your risk of heart disease.
What are triglycerides?
Triglycerides are a type of fat (lipid) found in your blood. After eating, your body converts any calories it doesn’t need to use right away into triglycerides. These triglycerides are stored in your fat cells and they are eventually released for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides.
The danger of high triglycerides.
High triglycerides may contribute to hardening of the arteries or thickening of the artery walls (atherosclerosis), which increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart disease.
High triglycerides are often a sign of other serious conditions including obesity and metabolic syndrome, a variety of conditions that includes too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and abnormal cholesterol levels. Elevated triglycerides may also be a consequence of other disease, such as untreated diabetes, low levels of thyroid hormones, liver or kidney disease.
What’s considered normal?
A simple blood test can indicate whether your triglycerides fall into the healthy range. The National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines for triglycerides are:
- Normal - Less than 150 mg/Dl (milligrams per deciliter)
- Borderline high - 150 to 199 mg/dL
- High - 200 to 499 mg/dL
- Very high - 500 mg/dL or higher
How to lower triglycerides
Here are suggested lifestyle changes that can help bring down triglyceride levels:
- If you are overweight, cut down on calories to reach your ideal body weight.
- Reduce the saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol content of your diet. Trade saturated fat found in meats for healthier monounsaturated fat found in plants such as olive, peanut and canola oils. Substitute fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as mackerel and salmon, for red meat.
- Reduce your intake of alcohol. Alcohol is high in calories and sugar and has a very potent effect on triglycerides.
- Eat more fruits, vegetables and nonfat or low-fat dairy products.
- Get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on five or more days each week.
This is outdated thinking.
ReplyDeleteI do the exact opposite of point 2 under How to lower triglycerides. I eat red meat, bacon, eggs & butter daily.
On my last blood test, my TG were .57 mmol/L. The reference range is .45-2.29 mmol/L. All other markers were within the reference range. I should add that other than leisurely walking my dogs, I did no additional exercise.
Saturated fats are not the demon they've been made out to be, in fact quite the opposite is true. The "foods" that should be demonized are the processed ones. Processed carbohydrate & vegetable oils are culprits in the contribution to CVD.
For anyone interested in learning more about the truth about saturated fats, instead of being misled by the same old dogma, I'd recommend checking out, The Daily Lipid blog, the Weston Price website, and the documentary The Oiling of America, for starters.