Are There Any Diets For High Cholesterol And Diabetes
Yes, when you have high cholesterol you should follow a heart healthy diet. You should increase your good cholesterol intake, and decrease your bad cholesterol intake. Remember, the good cholesterol carries the bad cholesterol out of your body by way of the liver, so you will want to know how to increase those oils and foods that contain HDL-C, and decrease the foods that contain LDL-C.
Treatment And Lifestyle Changes
These are important for managing your blood sugar levels and preventing complications.
- Changes to diet these are important for anyone with diabetes. Changes to your diet can include anything from following a generally healthy diet to having to carefully restrict your intake of certain types of food. Speak to your GP or dietitian about this and services available in your area.
- Physical activity keeping active can help to stabilise your blood sugar and lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. It can also help you lose weight if you’re overweight.
- Losing weight if you are overweight this is very important for managing diabetes.
- Medications many people will eventually need medication to control their blood sugar levels. Diabetes UK have more information.
- Insulin some people will need insulin to control their blood sugar levels even for Type 2 diabetes. Learn more from Diabetes UK.
How Sugar Affects Cholesterol
“Sugar can increase your cholesterol and your risk for cardiovascular disease, but it depends on the type of sugar,” explains Kevin Boblick, MD, a Chicago-area internal medicine doctor specializing in cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes at the Loyola University Medical Center.
“The sugar that you want to avoid is refined and added sugar, not healthy, complex sugars found in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.”
As the Cleveland Clinic explains it, when you eat too much sugar, your body uses the hormone insulin to move sugar out of your blood and into your cells. If you eat more sugar than you can use for energy, the sugar gets stored as fat. A sugar-filled diet also causes your liver to make more low-density protein cholesterol, the bad type, and less high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the good kind, says Cleveland Clinic.
Not all sugars have the same effect, however. According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the worst offender is what’s known as simple sugar, or refined sugar the type you use to sweeten food or drink. Because it’s easy to digest, it can cause your blood sugar to rise very quickly.
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A Word About Artificial Sweeteners
If sugar can harm your heart, are artificial sweeteners the answer for a sweet tooth?
Im not a fan of artificial sweeteners. Lots of studies show that diet beverages dont help people lose weight, Dr. Ahmed says. And drinking more than two artificially sweetened beverages a day may increase your risk of heart disease.
Researchers have a few theories about this, he explains:
- Imaging studies show that eating sugar activates your brains reward centers. Artificially sweetened drinks do not activate these centers, so you may not feel satisfied and want to keep eating.
- When you drink sugary soda, your body secretes insulin, peptides and other hormones to help maintain its biological balance. When you drink diet cola, it tastes sweet to the tongue but wont restore that balance.
- When you drink diet versus regular soda, you may feel free to reward yourself for being good by eating something high in calories or carbs.
Neither artificial sweeteners nor sugar are a good idea for most people, Dr. Ahmed says. If you want to quench your thirst, its best to drink unsweetened seltzer or water. The only time an artificially sweetened beverage is better is when you have diabetes and have to prevent blood sugar spikes.
Can Sugar Affect Cholesterol Levels
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that as sugar intake increased, HDL or good cholesterol levels decreased. In addition, triglycerides fats that pose a cardiovascular risk increased.
An increased intake of refined carbohydrates and added sugars have the biggest impact on triglycerides. Low levels of HDL and high levels of triglycerides are signs of poor cholesterol levels. The study also found that women who eat more added sugar tend to have higher levels of LDL.
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How To Lower Systolic Blood Pressure
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Does Having Higher Cholesterol Levels Present A Risk Factor For Diabetes
Diabetes has actually been determined to be a coronary heart disease risk factor. So just like smoking and inactivity, diabetes predisposes you to CHD. To put this into perspective, the risk for a CHD in a diabetic patient with no previous CHD is the same as for those of people without diabetes, and no heart disease. Thats significant. Not only that, but people with diabetes are two to four times more likely to die from a coronary event, with risk of death especially greater in the first 28 days following a coronary event. Women with diabetes were even more likely to die following a coronary event. Research in this area has been replicated, and is reliable.
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Does Alcohol Raise Cholesterol Levels
You get higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides when you consume alcohol. Triglycerides can build up in the liver if your levels become high enough, causing a disease called fatty liver. Due to impaired liver function, cholesterol cannot be removed from your blood effectively, resulting in high cholesterol levels.
The Culprit Would Be Fructose
Discussing the potential mechanisms involved in this decrease in HDL levels, Welsh and colleagues noted that while current mechanisms are not fully understood, studies indicate that fructose would play an important role. Fructose is a monosaccharide found in large quantities in almost all added sugars. It has already been shown that this carbohydrate increases the production of fat in the liver, but also the production of triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins .
Although long-term clinical trials that would investigate the effect of reducing added sugars and other carbohydrates on lipid profiles are required, our data support dietary guidelines that target reduced intake of added sugars, the researchers added.
Note: fruit is also a source of fructose, but the fiber and antioxidants it contains reduce its impact on cholesterol.
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Sugar And Cholesterol: The Unexplained Connection
When you hear cholesterol-lowering diet, what comes to mind?
Most people think the best diet to lower cholesterol is one that limits high-cholesterol foods like meat and eggs.
While its true that these foods may increase cholesterol in some people , the biggest offender to cholesterol and heart disease risk is often overlooked.
Sugar and cholesterol have a strong relationship!
This article will explain the connection of sugar to high-cholesterol levels, how to reduce added sugar in the diet, and what foods actually help lower cholesterol and heart disease risk.
Stay Hearty And Healthy
Behavioral changes can go a long way in keeping the cholesterol levels in check. However, if lifestyle changes fail to bring about major changes, one will be prescribed medication to bring their cholesterol levels under control.
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Sugar Substitutes Impair Function Of Good Hdl Cholesterol
Sugar substitutes have now shown in a recent study a new danger not previously considered. Substitutes for sugar, long known to contribute to health concerns because of toxicity levels, have now shown to affect the function of good cholesterol . Most people think about the level of good cholesterol present in their cholesterol test, but not about whether the HDL has the ability to do its job.
The above video by Dr. Jeff Bland, PhD in Biochemistry provides a great explanation to understand this new study even further.
Sugar substitutes such as aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame K and saccharin have long been a topic of controversy. Substitutes for sugar have been thought to be toxic because they are artificial and mostly affect neurological function. Sugar substitutes can also adversely affect other parts of the body and cause a myriad of symptoms.
A new study about sugar substitutes suggests a problem not previously considered. Sugar substitutes proved to affect the functionnot the level ofHDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol is the good type that need to be at certain levels to be cardioprotective .
We are all focused on the levels of total cholesterol, HDL, LDL when we go to our doctor. Now we have new evidence that you could have proper levels of HDL, but they are not cardioprotective because of the ingestion of sugar substitutes. The only choice is to avoid at all costs.
The following is the abstract of the study that was recently published:
Added Sugar Empty Calories
Added sugar is defined as any caloric sweetener used in processed or prepared foods. Beyond increasing calories, added sugars have no nutritional value.
In guidelines released late last summer, the American Heart Association recommended limiting added sugar in the diet to no more than 100 calories a day for most women and 150 calories for most men.
Thatâs about 6 teaspoons of sugar a day for women and 9 teaspoons for men.
To put this in perspective, the average 12-ounce can of regular soda has between 8 and 10 teaspoons of sugar. A breakfast cereal with 16 grams of sugar per serving has about 4 teaspoons.
In the newly published study, daily consumption of added sugars averaged about 360 calories a day, or 16% of total daily calories.
That is an increase of about 6% in just over three decades, researcher Miriam Vos, MD, of Atlantaâs Emory University tells WebMD.
âThis is a dramatic increase, but it is not too surprising given the proliferation of processed foods with large amounts of added sugar,â she says.
Vos and colleagues analyzed data on 6,113 adults who participated in the large, ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2006.
The lowest consumption group got less than 5% of their daily calories from added sugars, while the highest consumers got 25% or more of their daily calories from sugar.
Compared to people who ate the least sugar, people who ate the most sugar were three times more likely to have low HDL levels.
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How Does Cholesterol Affect Heart Health
One of the prevalent myths out there is that knowing the amount of cholesterol in the body helps you predict your risk of heart disease or overall cardiovascular events, but the actual story is more meaningful. The carrier proteins we spoke of earlier provide a more important picture.
When the low-density lipoproteins are damaged, they have the potential to stick to the inner lining of our blood vessels, the endothelium. These lipoproteins carrying cholesterol, which doesn’t dissolve in blood, can start to accumulate and induce concerning levels of inflammation and form clots.
Cholesterol And Healthy Eating
What we eat has an impact on our cholesterol levels and can help reduce our risk of disease. Try to eat a wide variety of foods from each of the five food groups. Not only does this help to maintain a healthy and interesting diet, but it provides essential nutrients to the body.
The Heart Foundation recommends:
- Plenty of vegetables, fruits and wholegrains.
- A variety of healthy protein sources , legumes , nuts and seeds. Smaller amounts of eggs and lean poultry can also be included in a heart healthy diet. If choosing red meat, make sure it is lean and limit to 1-3 times a week.
- Unflavoured milk, yoghurt and cheese. Those with high blood cholesterol should choose reduced fat varieties.
- Healthy fat choices nuts, seeds, avocados, olives and their oils for cooking
- Herbs and spices to flavour foods, instead of adding salt.
Also, be mindful on how much you are eating and whether you are filling up on unhealthy foods. Portion sizes have increased over time and many of us are eating more than we need which can lead to obesity and increase our risk of cardiovascular disease.
Ideally, a healthy plate would include servings of ¼ protein, ¼ carbohydrates and ½ vegetables.
Serving size can vary depending on age, gender and specific nutrition needs.
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What Drinks Are Okay To Drink If I Have Cholesterol
Your Risk Of High Cholesterol And How It Is Treated
Many people who have type 1 diabetes should be prescribed statin treatment for the primary prevention of heart disease. This means you may not have high cholesterol levels, but statins help to keep them in a healthy range and reduce the risk of heart disease.
Those people with type 1 diabetes who should be offered statins, regardless of their cholesterol levels, include:
- People older than 40 years
- Those who have had diabetes for more than 10 years
- Those with established kidney damage or other CVD risk factors
For people with type 2 diabetes, your overall CVD risk might be calculated using something called a QRISK calculator. Your healthcare team should explain what your risk of CVD is and how best to manage your blood fat levels. For primary prevention of CVD, people with type 2 diabetes who have a 10% or greater 10-year risk of developing CVD should be offered statins.
If you have high cholesterol levels, you should have a blood test to measure total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol three months after starting statin treatment, with an aim of 40% reduction in non-HDL cholesterol. Ask your healthcare team what your individual targets are for your cholesterol levels.
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How Sugar Affects Triglycerides
Triglycerides are another way that sugar can negatively affect your cholesterol and heart health.
According to the Mayo Clinic, if you consume more calories than you can use, which can happen if your diet includes a lot of high-carbohydrate foods, your body converts those calories into triglycerides, which are a type of lipid found in your blood. Simple carbs simple sugars are easily converted into triglycerides, and so is alcohol, which is high in calories and sugar, Mayo says.
If your triglyceride level gets too high, it increases your risk for heart disease. That’s because as your triglyceride level goes up, your HDL cholesterol level goes down, and it’s higher levels of HDL that help keep your risk for heart disease in line, explains Harvard Health Publishing.
Ways to reduce your triglyceride levels, advises Mayo Clinic, include avoiding refined sugar and carbs, limiting alcohol, choosing healthier fats and exercising.
Soluble Versus Insoluble Fiber
Foods such as whole wheat bread and whole grain cereal have insoluble fiber. This is great for decreasing constipation, but doesnt do much to lower cholesterol numbers. Fiber found in thinks like oats and oat products, dried peas and beans, such as lentils or chickpeas, barley, flaxseed and nuts, as well a brussel sprouts and prunes, oranges, and apples have something called soluble fiber. This kind of fiber is great to help lower LDL-C or bad cholesterol by piggy backing it out through the gut. In other words, it grabs the bad cholesterol, and moves it on out of the body.
In order to lower LDL-C with soluble fiber foods, you need to be eating between 7 and 13 grams of it in a day. The rest you should get from insoluble fiber, so that you are getting a total of 20-35 grams per day of total fiber. This could get you up to seven percent LDL-C lowering, and a two to three percent total cholesterol reduction. And thats not too shabby, so best to increase fiber in your diet when you have high cholesterol.
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