Think About Changing Your Exercise Routine
Check with your doctor first, but try and incorporate some high intensity interval training. A number of good research shows that this is relatively safe and can dramatically improve heart health and possibly lower blood pressure. I addressed how to go about incorporating HIIT exercise in Episode 250 of Optimal Health Daily. At the very least, mix up your routine. If you normally jog, try sprinting for a bit. If you lift weights, take a shorter rest period between sets.
Exercising To Lower Triglycerides
Summary
While nutrition probably has the most significant impact on triglycerides, exercise can also lower your levels. But not all forms of exercise produce equally promising results.
When it comes to lowering triglycerides, higher intensity exercise is best.34
There are different ways to define high-intensity exercise. The most common is achieving greater than 85% of your maximum heart rate. However, a more useful definition may be a level of exercise where you can no longer have a conversation or a level you can maintain for only a few minutes.
Resistance training, involving a moderate amount of weight and high repetitions, can also help with triglyceride levels. Lifting extra heavy weight fewer times produces less of a significant effect.35
Does this mean lower intensity exercise doesnt provide health benefits? Of course not. As we detail in our in-depth exercise guide, physical activity of any kind has multiple health benefits.
Even if you cant get to the point where exercise impacts your triglycerides, dont let that discourage you. Carry on to maintain your muscles, strengthen your bones, and build your fitness one step at a time.
The Following Steps Will Help To Reduce High Levels:
- Avoid ADDED sugars. Many processed foods contain added sugars. Regular soda, sports drinks, coffee drinks, candy, ice cream, cookies, sweetened yogurt, some cereals, granola bars, even peanut butter may have sugar added to them. Many nutrition labels now include a separate line that show added sugars to distinguish them from naturally occurring sugars, such as those found in fruit or milk. The American Heart Association recommends the following:
Women: no more than 25g of added sugars per day
Men: no more than 38g of added sugars per day.
There are approximately 40g of sugar in one 12oz can of cola.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, dont panic! Take baby steps for better success. Choose one goal, make it part of your daily routine for a few weeks or until you have mastered it, then move on to the next goal. For example, if you drink regular soda, try changing that. Replace half of your soda intake with calorie free flavored water, flavored seltzer, unsweetened iced tea, or just plain water. Once you have gotten used to that change, set a new goal. Your current habits werent formed all at once and you likely wont be able to change them in an instant either. But by making small changes, you can take steps to decrease your triglyceride level and improve your overall health.
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Manage Your Carb Intake
Your carb intake strongly influences your blood sugar levels .
Your body breaks carbs down into sugars, mainly glucose. Then, insulin helps your body use and store it for energy.
When you eat too many carbs or have insulin-function problems, this process fails, and blood glucose levels can rise.
Thats why the American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes manage their carb intake by counting carbs and being aware of how many they need .
Some studies find that this can help you plan your meals appropriately, further improving blood sugar management (
Foods that are high in fiber include:
- vegetables
- legumes
- whole grains
The recommended daily intake of fiber is about 25 grams for women and 35 grams for men. Thats about 14 grams for every 1,000 calories .
Summary
Eating plenty of fiber can aid blood sugar management. Soluble dietary fiber appears to be more effective than insoluble fiber for this purpose.
How To Lower Triglycerides With Supplements
Adopting a healthy lifestyle takes time, and will not result in instant changes in the triglyceride blood level. If you need to lower triglyceride quickly for blood test, then the use of supplements becomes necessary.
Some supplements have been shown to help lower cholesterol and triglyceride level in the blood. They popularly known ones include:
Omega-3-Fatty Acid:It is linked to lowering triglyceride level and blood pressure. There are several fish oil supplements with a rich amount of omega-3-fatty acid, and taking 3gram of such supplement daily can help lower triglyceride level.
Vitamin B3 : Its a very important nutrient because it is needed by most of the bodys metabolic processes. High dose of Vitamin B3 supplement has been shown to lower cholesterol level by up to 20% and also improve brain function. Nicotinic acid should be taken with caution at the supplemental dosage, as it can pose some side effects.
Fibrates: This refers to the class of drugs that lower blood triglyceride levels by reducing the production of VLDL and increasing the removal of triglyceride from the blood.
Supplementing with fibrate is an effective way of lowering the triglyceride levels in the blood quickly. Common examples of fibrates include gemfibrozil and lofibra. They should equally be taken with caution as they come with side effects when used abusively.
Using any of the supplements listed above can help lower triglycerides quickly for a blood test.
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Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Alcohol can increase your levels of triglycerides. Along with LDL cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides raise your risk of heart disease.
Excess alcohol consumption also increases blood pressure and can lead to obesity both additional risk factors for heart disease.
To reduce the risk of heart disease and other risks from alcohol, limit your intake to no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 drinks per day.
Researcher Finds Volanesorsen Improves Insulin Sensitivity Glucose Control For Type 2 Diabetics With High Triglycerides
- Date:
- University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
- Summary:
- Volanesorsen, an experimental lipid-lowering medication, improved insulin sensitivity and glucose control by significantly decreasing patients’ overall hemoglobin A1c — the standard clinical measurement of blood glucose levels for diabetics — in a new study.
High triglycerides — a type of fat, or lipid, in the blood — increase the risk of heart disease and perhaps type 2 diabetes. For the first time, it has been shown that profoundly lowering triglycerides in diabetics improves their insulin sensitivity over time, which helps them maintain healthy glucose — blood sugar — levels. Volanesorsen, an experimental lipid-lowering medication, improved insulin sensitivity and glucose control by significantly decreasing patients’ overall hemoglobin A1c — the standard clinical measurement of blood glucose levels for diabetics — in a new study reported by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results are published online this month in Diabetes Care.
To quantify the effects of the drug, researchers used a very sophisticated test of insulin sensitivity, the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp or “the clamp,” which is largely regarded as the gold standard in insulin sensitivity measurement. This technique infuses insulin at fixed rates, and infuses glucose at a varying rate to keep blood glucose constant, in order to determine how well a patient responds to insulin.
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How Do Foods Affect Triglyceride Levels
Eating foods high in simple sugars significantly contributes to high triglyceride levels. Follow these guidelines to limit simple sugars in your diet:
- Substitute beverages like colas, fruit drinks, iced tea, lemonade, Hi-C and Kool-Aid with artificially sweetened beverages labeled sugar-free or diet.
- Limit hard candies, chocolates, candy bars, and gummy bears.
- Avoid adding table sugar and brown sugar to cereal, drinks or foods. Instead, use an artificial or herbal sweetener or nothing at all!
- Choose sugar-free gum or mints instead of the regular versions.
- Try light or low-sugar syrups on pancakes and waffles.
- Spread breads and crackers with no-sugar-added jelly or preserves.
- Snack on whole fruit instead of fruit roll-ups and other fruit-flavored treats.
- When selecting cereals, choose those with no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.
- Try sugar-free gelatin, popsicles, yogurts, and puddings instead of the regular versions.
- Be aware that desserts labeled fat-free usually contain more sugar than the full-fat varieties and the same number of calories.
- Cut back on or avoid eating sweets and dessert foods, including cookies, cakes, pastries, pies, ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet, gelato, and flavored ices. All of these foods contain high levels of sugar.
- Read the ingredients list on food labels, and limit foods that list any of the following words in the first few ingredients:
- Sucrose
Natural sugars, when eaten in excess, can also raise your triglyceride level.
Why Lowering High Triglyceride Levels Matters
The national guidelines for fasting triglyceride levels in healthy adults are:
- Normal: Under 150 milligrams per deciliter .
- Borderline High: 151200 mg/dl.
- High: 201499 mg/dl.
- Very High: 500 mg/dl or higher.
When your triglyceride levels are high and you have a high amount of LDL cholesterol or a low amount of HDL cholesterol, all of this could contribute to the development of fatty buildups within the artery walls of the heart. The buildup can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.
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The 17 Best Foods To Lower Your Blood Sugar
For people with prediabetes, diabetes, or other conditions that affect blood sugar, diet is a major part of maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.
Although factors like body weight, activity, stress, and genetics also play a role in blood sugar maintenance, following a healthy diet is critical for blood sugar control .
While some foods, including items high in added sugar and refined carbs, can contribute to blood sugar fluctuations, others can optimize blood sugar control while promoting overall health (
Trade Processed Grains For Whole Grains
Since the body treats white rice, and baked goods, bread, and pasta made with white flour just as it does sugar, these foods are best replaced with a similar whole grain option. Whats missing from white rice and white flour is the dietary fiber, which helps to slow down food digestion and thus, keeps your blood sugar from rising quickly. Foods with dietary fiber have the added benefit of helping you to feel longer.
Theres another compelling reason to avoid processed grains: they may be the reason for your high blood cholesterol, specifically high triglycerides. By cutting out processed, refined grains, including chips, crackers, and sugar cereals.
These days, there are many versions of pasta and bread made with fiber-rich whole wheat flour and other whole grains such as spelt, barley, and oats. Better yet, there are now pastas made with chickpea flour, black bean flour, or lentil flour. All of these pasta products have the same texture and taste as you might expect from the common white pasta, but they are a great source of plant protein as well as fiber making them an easy and acceptable alternative for anyone looking to either avoid wheat and/or choose diabetes-friendlier foods.
Also, try replacing white rice with black, wild, brown, or mixed grain rice. Another favorite, if you havent tried it yet is quinoaa high protein grainwhich cooks in five minutes, as well as whole grain couscous, which are great substitutes for white rice.
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How To Lower Triglyceride Levels
There are some steps that you can take to try to lower your triglyceride levels. Here are a few ideas recommended by the American Heart Association.
- Exercise regularly.
- Eat a diet that’s low in carbohydrates, sugar, saturated fat, and trans fat.
- Include heart-healthy fats in your diet .
- Quit smoking or using tobacco products.
- Limit your alcohol intake.
- Get and keep your blood sugars within your target range.
If lifestyle changes don’t help get your triglyceride levels down, talk to your healthcare provider. You might need to take medications or supplements to help lower your triglyceride levelsespecially if they’re high because of genetics.
High Plasma Triglycerides Have Been Linked To Heart Disease Studies In Mice Suggest Inhibiting Gamma Secretase In The Liver Could Lower Plasma Triglyceride Levels And Have Parallel Benefits For Diabetes
Cholesterol is often blamed for causing heart disease, but it is not the only troublesome lipid.
Triglycerides are fats that cells use as fuel. They are transported to cells via the bloodstream, but when triglyceride levels are high, excessive numbers of the fat particles are forced into cells lining the arteries. That causes inflammation in cholesterol-laden plaques in the arteries and may explain why people with high triglyceride levels have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
But unlike cholesterol, which can be lowered with statins, drugs that reduce triglyceride levels are not very effective, and results on heart disease outcomes are mixed.
Now new research from the lab of Utpal Pajvani, MD, PhD, has revealed a possible strategy to lowering triglycerides: In mouse studies, researchers show that inhibiting an enzyme in the liver significantly reduces triglyceride levels.
The research was published online March 22 in Cell Metabolism.
Gamma Secretase Inhibitors Reduce Triglyceride Levels
The enzyme, called gamma secretase, has multiple functions throughout the body.
Previous studies by Pajvani and his colleagues demonstrated that inhibiting the enzyme with certain drugs improves blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity while reducing fat accumulation and inflammation in the liver.
Antisense Molecule Can Prevent Side Effects of Current Inhibitors
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How Long Does It Take To Lower Triglycerides
Depending on whats causing your high triglyceride levels, you may be able to lower them in just a few days. A night out drinking or eating foods high in sugar can cause a spike in your triglyceride levels. Limiting alcohol and sugar intake can bring your levels back to normal within a few days.
If you have consistently high triglycerides, it may take a few months for them to return to a healthy range. How fast they lower depends on the lifestyle changes, diet, and medications youre taking.
Foods To Help Lower Cholesterol
You can increase your HDLs through exercise, but when it comes to your diet, there are several foods that can help with LDL reduction The key here is to reduce, replace and improvise.
Soluble fiber is a gummy fiber that binds to bile and removes it with your bodys waste. For every 1 gram of soluble fiber you eat, you can lower your LDL by 1%. Replacing foods high in saturated fat with mono- and polyunsaturated fats can also help reduce LDL in your body. Its important to find small ways of building these foods into your diet, like swapping out cheese on a salad with avocado slices or replacing a creamy dressing with olive oil and vinegar.
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What Foods Can Help Lower Triglycerides
Now that you know which foods to avoid, what foods can you add into your diet that can help support healthy triglyceride levels? “Foods to emphasize are high fiber vegetables with lower sugar content, such as cruciferous vegetables,” Archibald says. “Including legumes, canned or cooked from their dried versions, will add both fiber and satiety to the plate.”
Adding healthy omega-3 fats can be helpful as well. “Among fats, seek out foods rich in omega-3 fats, which not only act as natural anti-inflammatories in the body but can also prevent the production of triglycerides and cholesterol in the liver,” says Archibald.
Here are 20 foods that can lower triglycerides.
Taking Supplements To Lower Triglycerides
The data show that diet and exercise are practical approaches for lowering triglycerides. However, for some people, lifestyle changes may not be enough. In that case, it may be worth discussing supplements with your healthcare provider.
Disclaimer:
Heres a list of possible choices.36
- Niacin: 2,000 to 3,000 mg per day37
- Berberine: 500 mg twice daily38
- Fish oil: Eicosapentaenoic acid 2 to 4 grams per day 39
- Curcumin: 80 to 100 mg daily40
- Fenugreek: 10 grams per day41
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How Your Healthcare Provider Can Help
Your healthcare provider can help you get your triglyceride levels under control by ruling out possible causes like medications, thyroid issues, unmanaged diabetes and liver or kidney disease. They can then formulate an effective management plan with you. This might include medication and lifestyle changes like losing weight and eating smaller portions.
As mentioned before, a healthy, fiber-rich diet can help in the matter. Exercising regularly can also play a huge part in managing triglyceride levels. By cleaning up your existing routine, you could see changes in your triglyceride levels within a few months.
This article was adapted from Cleveland Clinic Heart Advisor.
Consuming More Calories Than You Burn
What you eat is important, especially regarding your triglyceride levels. Consuming more calories than you burn may significantly contribute to high triglycerides. When we consume too many calories this excess energy has to be stored.
The most common storage is as fat, so the body packages it in the form of triglycerides. These are then transported in the bloodstream for storage in fat cells, causing elevated triglyceride levels. Staying aware of information like this could help you make better dietary choices and improve your health!
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Easy Ways To Lower Blood Sugar Levels Naturally
High blood sugar, also known as hyperglycemia, is associated with diabetes and prediabetes. Prediabetes is when your blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.
Your body usually manages your blood sugar levels by producing insulin, a hormone that allows your cells to use the circulating sugar in your blood. As such, insulin is the most important regulator of blood sugar levels .
However, multiple factors can impair blood sugar management and lead to hyperglycemia.
Internal causes for high blood sugar include when your liver produces too much glucose, your body makes too little insulin, or your body cant effectively use insulin. The latter is known as insulin resistance (
2 ).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 13% of U.S. adults live with diabetes and that another 34.5% have prediabetes. This means that close to 50% of all U.S. adults have diabetes or prediabetes .
Blood sugar management is especially important for people with diabetes, as chronically high blood sugar levels can lead to limb and life threatening complications (
Increased insulin sensitivity means your cells can more effectively use the available sugar in your bloodstream.
Exercise also helps your muscles use blood sugar for energy and muscle contraction .
Whats more, researchers recommend doing so-called exercise snacks to lower blood sugar and prevent the damage that sitting all day can do .