How To Lower Your Cholesterol And Triglycerides Levels With No Medications
Heart disease becomes very common when it comes to aging. But getting one in young age is a thing no one wants to happen. Still, there are diseases that cause this and there are ways to prevent them. One of these diseases is a lipid disorder, the one that happens when you have high blood levels of Low Density Lipoprotein cholesterol or fats that are called Triglycerides, or both. Lets see how to deal with it and how to lower triglycerides and cholesterol levels.
Why Do You Have High Triglycerides
However, one big problem arises if we live in westernized societies there is an over abundance of food at all time. If you are reading this right now, you probably live in an area where many different varieties of food are always available. In this kind of food environment, our emotional and instinctual desires override all logical sense, so most of us eat more calories and carbohydrates than we need.
In response to this influx in calories, the cells become stuffed with so much energy that they reject the signal to take more energy in that they receive from insulin . This is otherwise known as insulin resistance, and this causes a cascade of hormonal changes that increase blood sugar and triglyceride levels.
On top of that, carbohydrate consumption stimulates hepatic lipogenesis independent of insulin signaling.
What all of this means is that eating excess calories increases your chances of having high triglycerides levels and eating excess carbohydrates increases triglyceride levels, especially if those carbohydrates are coming from fructose and other processed sugars.
Hold on. What about the fat?
We are talking about triglycerides a type of fat. How could I talk about calories and carbohydrates and neglect to mention fat as a contributor to high triglyceride levels as well? Well, there is a good reason for that.
Tips To Reduce Fat In The Diet:
- Try steaming, poaching, boiling or grilling instead of roasting and frying. If you do fry, use a non-stick pan and you may not need to use any fat or oil at all. Spray oils are a good way of reducing the amount of fat needed.
- Buy lean meats and avoid processed meats . Take the skin off poultry and remove visible fat from the meat before you start cooking.
- Use low-fat/fat-free products where available e.g. skimmed rather than semi-skimmed or whole milk 0% fat yoghurts, low-fat spreads rather than margarine or butter .
- Avoid all cheese with the exception of extra low fat cream cheese and cottage cheese. There is also a 3% fat hard cheese available in supermarkets which can be used.
- Avoid or choose much smaller portion sizes of fatty foods such as crisps, nuts, pastry, cakes, biscuits, cream, tinned meats, Yorkshire puddings, dumplings and gravy made with meat juices.
- When having potatoes choose boiled, mashed or jacket rather than roast or chipped.
| Food group | |
|---|---|
| Higher fat Lemon curd, peanut butter | Lower fat options Sugar, honey, jam, golden syrup, marmalade |
For low fat recipe ideas please seewww.heartuk.org.uk
If you do not have internet access please ask your dietitian for more information.
2)Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish oils, can have a beneficial effect on reducing triglyceride levels.
| Type of Fish | |
|---|---|
| Type of Fish Mackerel, smoked | Fat per 100g 30.9 |
4) Alcohol
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My Cholesterol Is Normal But My Triglycerides Are High: Why Is That
So both your HDL and LDL levels are where they should be, but your triglycerides are still high why is that?
Triglycerides become elevated due to excess calories that do not get burned off, and in turned get stored in fat cells. Statins are medications that primarily lower LDL cholesterol, but depending on the medication dose, can lower Triglycerides from 20 to 40 percent, Sai Hanumanthu MD, with the TriHealth Heart Institute explains.
There are steps you can take to lower your triglyceride levels while promoting good cardiovascular health, including:
- Losing 5 to 10 pounds if overweight
- Avoiding alcohol
- Avoiding foods high in saturated fats
- Limiting simple carbs that have high processed sugars .
- Participating in 30 minutes of exercise per day
All these suggestions and routine follow up with a medical professional will lower you triglyceride level, even despite a low total cholesterol, Dr. Hanumanthu says.
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You Are Drinking Too Much Alcohol
While some research studies suggest that drinking alcohol, specifically red wine, may provide some health benefits, drinking alcohol excessively causes more harm than good. Alcohol has calories, and adding sweetened beverages and mixers to alcohol, like cola or syrup, can increase the calories even more. Alcohol is processed in the liver and, as with food, any excess calories consumed are stored as fat. Over time, these extra calories can also raise your triglyceride levels. Drinking too much can also put you at risk for unnecessary weight gain, heart and liver diseases, and more.
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Top 9 Tips To Lower Triglycerides Naturally
Diet and lifestyle changes are the keys to lowering triglycerides naturally.
Drugs like statins, fibrates, and high dose niacin also can lower triglycerides, but they do so pharmaceutically. Consult your medical professional for advice on this.
With that in mind, here 9 natural tips to combat high triglycerides.
Cut Your Sugar Intake
If the Standard American Diet is high in anything, its high in sugar.
Thats right. The average American eats about 152 pounds of sugar every year!.
Added sugar comes from sweetened drinks, baked goods, candy, desserts almost anything that comes in a package. That includes the purple Kool-Aid at the gas station.
And yes, added sugar in the diet means added sugar in the blood.
Your liver then turns that sugar to triglycerides. Its a safety mechanism, if you recall, to prevent dangerous hyperglycemia.
Those triglycerides, unfortunately, end up as body fat or visceral fat around your organs. They also end up in your blood, where you can measure them.
In one study, researchers found that fructose and high fructose corn syrup significantly increased triglyceride levels in young men and women for 24 hours following ingestion.
After 24 hours, however, their serum triglycerides returned to baseline. Where did all those triglycerides go? They were probably stored away.
Another study found that sugar intake was linked to higher triglyceride levels in children.
Low-carb, low-sugar diets, on the other hand, are linked to lower triglyceride levels. More on that now.
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Limit Your Added Sugar
You know that too much of the sweet stuff is bad news, and thats definitely the case here. When youre eating sugary foods, its easy to end up chowing down on more calories than your body needs.
The excess will be turned into triglycerides, which can lead to serious trouble:One 15-year study found that people who got 25 percent of their calories from sugar were twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who ate significantly less.
The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 6 teaspoons and men consume no more than 9 teaspoons of added sugar per day.
Top Foods To Help Lower Triglyceride Levels
3 ).
Diet plays a major role in the production of triglycerides in your body. Certain foods may even help lower your blood levels.
Here are 8 top foods that may help lower triglyceride levels.
5 ).
Daily intakes of at least 25 grams of soy protein were most effective at lowering these fats in the blood .
Soybeans, edamame, tofu, and tempeh are excellent sources of isoflavones, a health-promoting compound linked to reduced triglycerides, weight management, and improved menopause symptoms .
Fermented soy products like natto and tempeh have a higher nutritional value than unfermented soy. When used to replace sources of animal protein, they have a potent triglyceride-lowering effect .
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Hyperlipidemia High Cholesterol High Triglycerides How To Treat
The treatment of hyperlipidemia, high cholesterol, and high triglyceride is mainly divided into two parts: drug treatment and adjustment of daily eating habits.
If the necessity of medication is not reached, most doctors will generally recommend starting with non-medication.
Improve by adjusting the patients life and eating habits. If the blood lipids do not return to normal after 3-6 months, medical treatment should be performed.
The general treatment drugs are Statins, cholic acid-binding resin, nicotinic acid, and fibrate derivatives four kinds, to achieve control to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease caused by arteriosclerosis.
The treatment of drugs still needs to be discussed with the doctor, so in the next paragraph, I will mainly focus on the second focus of treatment, which is also the root of the daily diet and life maintenance.
Note. Taking the relevant therapeutic drugs requires taking the medicine according to the instructions of the doctor. All kinds of drugs have side effects.
You should discuss with the doctor and design a prescription label according to your own situation. Do not judge the consumption by yourself.
You Are Eating The Wrong Kind Of Fat
The low-fat diet trend of the ’90s has been replaced with just the opposite. Diets like keto and Whole30 encourage eating a lot of animal protein as well as full-fat versions of food, which might have many consumers eating more saturated fat. Overeating saturated fat is also associated with elevated triglyceride levels.
If you’re trying to lower your triglycerides, it’s best to ensure that saturated fats make up no more than 10% of your daily calories, replacing them with unsaturated fats, such as nuts and seeds, and omega-3 fats like those found in fatty fish and flax seeds.
You can also lower your saturated fat intake by choosing leaner cuts of meats and preparing your food with oils high in unsaturated fats, such as avocado oil and olive oil, instead of butter. Also try to have smaller servings of desserts and sweets, but really enjoy each bite so you feel more satisfied. Lastly, Nutrition Facts labels are a good place to check the saturated fat content of your packaged foods.
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Health Conditions Related To Triglycerides And Cholesterol
High blood lipid levels may increase your risk for plaques to develop in your arteries or thicken the walls of your arteries .
Other health conditions related to high triglycerides or cholesterol include:
- High blood sugar levels or diabetes
- Metabolic syndromea cluster of conditions that increase your risk for heart disease
- Genetic conditions
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.
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How Are Triglycerides Measured
Your doctor may give you a common test called a lipid panel. It checks for different types of cholesterol, including the levels of the “good” kind and the “bad” kind. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone 21 and older get a lipid panel at least every 5 years.
The levels are checked after an overnight fast. Fat from a recent meal can muddy the picture.
These tests are important because you rarely have any symptoms when your triglycerides are high, unlike with many other conditions.
Weight Loss And Triglyceride Levels
Weight loss is an important tool to get to a healthy triglyceride level. Because triglycerides are essentially fat stores, reducing the total amount of fat in the body will result in a lower triglyceride level in blood tests.
Even modest weight loss of 5% to 10% of total body weight helps to lower your triglyceride level. This means that going from a body weight of 300 lb to between 270 lb and 285 lb makes a big difference and lowers your risk of heart disease, stroke, and pancreatitis.
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A Promising New Treatment For High Triglycerides
- By Gregory Curfman, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Former Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Health Publishing
When you think about fat circulating in the bloodstream, you might immediately think of cholesterol. But theres another type of fat you shouldnt ignore: triglycerides. As with cholesterol, high triglycerides can also increase the risk of having a heart attack. Existing drugs for lowering triglycerides arent that good at reducing heart attack risk. Thats why a report on a new way to lower triglycerides, New England Journal of Medicine, is generating some excitement among cardiologists.
What Is A Healthy Range For Triglycerides
Your doctor can determine your triglyceride levels with a simple blood test. A normal healthy range should be less than 150 mg/dl. If your levels are between 150 and 199 mg/dl, you are in the borderline range. High triglycerides levels are designated as the 200 to 499 mg/dl range, while very high is 500 mg/dl or above.
Your doctor will check your triglyceride levels as part of a lipid panel, which checks your LDL and HDL levels as well.
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What Is A Good Tg: Hdl Ratio
A lower TG/HDL is better. In the discussion of science, studies, and treatment, there has been a tendency to go with higher ratios to show the largest impact on CV disease risk and death.
Here are the typical cut points for risk :
- In US less than 2 is ideal above 4 is too high
- In Europe less than 0.87 is ideal above 1.74 is too high
What Are Triglycerides And What Is Considered A Healthy Level
Triglycerides are sort of like cholesterol: Both are types of fat found in your blood. But while cholesterol is used to make cells and certain hormones, the job of triglycerides is to store unused calories to give your body energy between meals.
Triglycerides get stored after you eat. If you take in any calories that arent needed for energy right away, theyre converted into triglycerides and transferred to your fat cells for later use.
Eating more calories than you need on the reg can lead to high triglycerides over time, which can up your risk for heart disease. Triglycerides are usually measured along with cholesterol, and numbers over 150 mg/dL are usually considered high.
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Follow A Lower Carb Diet
Much like added sugar, extra calories from carbs in your diet are converted into triglycerides and stored in fat cells.
Not surprisingly, low carb diets have been linked to lower blood triglyceride levels .
A review of 12 randomized controlled trials found that people following reduced carb diets typically saw a reduction in triglyceride levels at 6, 12, and 24 months. Across these studies, triglyceride levels decreased the most 6 months after starting a reduced calorie diet .
A 2020 review compared low fat and low carb diets. Researchers found that 612 months after starting their relative diets, those on the low carb diet had greater decreases in triglyceride levels than those on a low fat diet .
Summary
Following a low carb diet can lead to a significant reduction in blood triglyceride levels, at least in the short term, when compared with a low fat diet.
Diagnosis Of High Triglycerides
A blood test can reveal whether or not you have high triglycerides. You may need to have two blood tests for accurate results. Dont eat anything for at least 12 hours before each blood test because food particularly fatty food can temporarily boost triglyceride levels in the blood and skew your test results.Triglycerides are measured in mmol/L. The range includes:
- Very high over 6 mmol/L
- High between2 and 6 mmol/L
- Borderline high between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L
- Normal below 1.7 mmol/L
The doctor may also test your cholesterol levels. In many cases, high triglycerides and high cholesterol go hand in hand. This condition is sometimes known as combined hyperlipidemia.
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Foods And 7 Day Diet Plan To Lower Triglycerides
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Triglycerides are a type of fat present in the blood. But in the case of excess triglycerides, it gets stored in different body parts such as the belly, hip, and arms. Normal levels of triglycerides are less than 150 mg/dl.
Increased levels of triglycerides are linked to heart diseases, especially in patients who have high levels of bad cholesterol and low levels of good cholesterol . Include healthy foods to reduce triglycerides.
Preferred amount of different fats and substances in our daily diet:
Here are top 25 foods to lower triglycerides.
The Takeaway On Triglycerides
Triglycerides are bundles of fat, perfect for energy storage. You need them to function normally.
High triglycerides, however, are correlated with increased heart disease risk.
To lower triglycerides naturally, focus on diet and lifestyle. Going low-carb, getting enough omega-3s, exercising, and limiting sugar all can help.
And the best part: These changes dont only improve your triglycerides, they also improve your health.
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