Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeLowHow To Lower Triglycerides With Diet

How To Lower Triglycerides With Diet

Is It Possible To Lower Triglycerides Naturally

Lowering Triglycerides – Mayo Clinic

Similar to cholesterol, triglycerides come from the food we eat and our liver. When levels are normal, triglycerides are used for energy. The problems arise when levels are high, explains Dr. Nissen. When we make more triglycerides than we use, the rest are stored as fat. Thats why many people who are overweight or have type 2 diabetes have high levels.

Poor diabetes control is a major factor in causing high triglyceride levels, Dr. Nissen says. He stresses the importance of watching your carbohydrate consumption. Eating a low-carb diet and getting plenty of exercise are often effective in lowering triglyceride levels.

/11lower Your Carb Intake

Just like the added sugar, extra carbs in your diet also get converted into triglycerides. Low carb diet has been linked to lower triglyceride levels.

Studies have found that people getting a lower number of calories from carbs had lower triglyceride levels as compared to people who received more calories from carbs.

People who were kept on a low carb diet for one year lost more weight and had lower triglyceride levels as compared to people who had a high carb diet, finds a study.

Address Underlying Health Issues

Remember, although triglycerides can be high due to bad lifestyle and dietary choices, they can also be high due to an underlying health condition. The most important thing is to work with your doctor to find out whats causing your high triglyceride levels and to treat any underlying conditions!

For example, triglycerides can be high due to liver disease, infections, underactive thyroid , autoimmune disease, or some genetic disorders just to name a few .

In these cases, simply changing your diet or lifestyle wont help address the underlying issue and may actually be harmful!

In addition, high triglyceride levels can be dangerous for your body. If necessary, your doctor will prescribe triglyceride-lowering medication.

Thats why, if your triglycerides are elevated, you should discuss the lifestyle and dietary changes listed below with your doctor. None of these strategies should ever be done in place of what your doctor recommends or prescribes!

Read Also: What Should My Triglycerides Be For My Age

Don’t Miss: Is Cheese Bad If You Have High Cholesterol

Drink Apple Cider Vinegar With Honey

Apple cider vinegar also helps reduce triglycerides and cholesterol levels.

A 2008 study published in the Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences found that apple cider vinegar helped improve serum lipid profile in both normal and diabetic rats by decreasing triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins while raising HDL levels.

  • Mix 1 teaspoon of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar in a glass of water.
  • Add a little raw honey to it.
  • Drink this solution twice daily for at least a couple of months.
  • You can also mix apple cider vinegar with fresh orange, apple, grape, or other fruit juices.

    Note: Some people may experience side effects after consuming apple cider vinegar. Side effects may include tooth erosion, blood thinning, throat irritation, and a decreased potassium level in the body.

    How Is Triglyceride Different From Cholesterol

    Lifestyle and Dietary Choices that can Help Lower Triglyceride Levels ...

    While triglycerides and cholesterol are both fatty substances known as lipids, there is a significant difference in both. Triglycerides, primarily, are fats while cholesterol is odourless, waxy substances produced by the liver.

    There is also an underlying difference in the functions of both substances. Triglycerides store unused and excess calories that are used by your body for energy formation. Cholesterol is responsible for building certain cells and hormones.

    You May Like: Why Is My Ldl Cholesterol High

    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.

    Increase Fibre Quantity In Your Diet

    High-fibre foods are also rich in carbohydrates, however, they are more complex to break down and are gradually absorbed by the body. Dietary fibre also helps you feel full without having consumed excess calories. Therefore, it directly lowers your triglyceride levels.

    Choose healthy fats

    The main source of triglycerides is fats, themselves. Thereby, a reduction in the fat content that you consume can help you achieve good triglyceride levels. However, fat is also an essential component of your body. There are both healthy and unhealthy fats. In order to reduce triglycerides, you should aim to consume more healthy fats and decrease your intake of unhealthy, saturated fats. Healthy fats include omega-3 fatty acids that are found in oily fish, olive oil and other supplements.

    You May Like: Can You Eat Eggs With High Cholesterol

    When To See A Doctor

    Keeping regular tabs on your triglyceride levels goes a long way in preventing other associated maladies. Thus, it is imperative to get regular screenings done.

    For adults above the age of 20, it is recommended to get a lipid profile every 46 years. As for children, it is well advised to get a lipid profile done once between the ages of 9 and 11 and then once more between 11 and 20.

    If you have high triglycerides, you can reduce your level with lifestyle changes, a proper diet, and some simple home remedies. At the same time, you must continue to take the medicines prescribed by your doctor.

    Stay Wary Of Trans Fats

    Nutrition Tips : Diet to Lower Triglycerides

    Another category of unhealthy fats include trans fats which increase the levels of LDL in your body. A variety of food products that you pick from the shelf are rich in trans fat and is labelled hydrogenated oil. This type of oil is made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils in an effort to increase the shelf life of the product.

    It is thus important that you read the labels of the products you buy and avoid the ones that contain trans fat.

    Also Check: Are Eggs Good Or Bad Cholesterol

    Putting It All Together

    Improving triglyceride levels is simple. From a dietary perspective, all you have to do is two things: eat fewer carbs and eat more marine-derived omega 3s.

    The best way to do this is by implementing a Mediterranean-style ketogenic diet. To follow this diet correctly, you must:

    • Restrict carbohydrate
    • Eat plenty of nuts, olives/olive oil, low-carb vegetables, and fatty fish like sardines and salmon

    To enhance your results, you can also:

    • Restrict calories to lose weight
    • Implement a sleep schedule and improve sleep quality
    • Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day
    • Supplement with marine-derived omega 3s, curcumin, niacin, and/or garlic extract
    • Eat more MCTs from coconut oil or an MCT oil supplement
    • Avoid alcohol, trans fats, and added sugar

    However, even if you implement these triglyceride lowering suggestions flawlessly, you will only know if they worked by getting a blood test.

    Saturated And Trans Fats

    Saturated fats can raise triglyceride levels. They can be found in fried foods, red meat, chicken skin, egg yolks, high-fat dairy, butter, lard, shortening, margarine, and fast food. Alternatives include:

    • Lean proteins such as skinless white chicken meat and fish
    • Olive oil, canola oil, and peanut oil

    Trans fats are hydrogenated fats that can be found in some packaged and fried foods. Trans fats have been banned, with exceptions, from the food supply in the U.S.

    Recommended Reading: Does High Cholesterol Make You Feel Bad

    Read Also: How To Lower Cholesterol Through Diet

    Coriander Seed Powder Can Be Beneficial

    Coriander seeds are a popular traditional treatment for high triglycerides.

    According to a 2008 study published in the Journal of Environmental Biology, feeding coriander seeds to animals resulted in a significant decrease in their triglyceride and cholesterol levels. This was traced back to the significant hypolipidemic action of coriander seeds on the metabolism of lipids.

    How to consume:

  • Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of coriander seed powder to 1 cup of water.
  • Boil the water, strain it, and allow it to cool.
  • Drink this solution once or twice daily for a few months.
  • Add More Fiber To Your Diet

    Medi

    Fiber is the part of your food that isnt digested, and its important because it helps you feel full. According to a study published in February 2019 in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition, dietary fiber can reduce the risk of high triglycerides in young to middle-aged adults who are overweight or obese. In general, fiber-rich foods also have carbohydrate content that is more complex and can lead to more gradual absorption by the body, which can also help temper the triglyceride increase that occurs after meals, says Michael Wesley Milks, MD, a cardiologist and assistant professor of clinical medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. Fiber is found in whole grains and nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables.

    Don’t Miss: Can High Cholesterol Be Reversed

    How Quickly Can I Lower My Cholesterol

    Your cholesterol levels may lower as quickly as a few weeks to a few months, depending on your treatment plan.

    If your levels are very high, your healthcare provider may recommend taking medications at the start of your treatment plan. This may help lower your cholesterol levels more quickly. The sooner you can lower your bad cholesterol levels, the sooner you can lower your risk for plaques to form.

    You can also lower your cholesterol through lifestyle and diet changes alone, but it may take three to six months to see results. Talk with your healthcare provider to figure out the best treatment plan for you.

    What Other Lifestyle Changes Help Lower Triglycerides

    Lifestyle strategies are a way to lower triglycerides naturally.

    Weight loss has a positive effect on triglycerides. For every 5% to 10% weight reduction, triglycerides may be lowered by 20%. Another way to look at this: For every kilogram lost, triglycerides may be reduced by 2%.

    Increasing physical activity lowers triglycerides.

    • Aerobic activity of any kind, especially when done after a meal, uses up triglycerides that are in the blood ready to be used as fuel. This not only lowers triglycerides but also helps with abdominal obesity.
    • Exercise is most effective for lowering triglycerides when they are very elevated. If triglycerides are optimal , exercise will not further lower the level.

    All together, intensive lifestyle strategies can reduce triglycerides by 50% or more over a year. Lifestyle strategies can enable people to effectively reduce triglycerides without medicine or drugs, plus there are many other positive effects on other aspects of health and well-being. This is the recommended approach of the American Heart Association for anyone with triglycerides greater than optimal .

    Recommended Reading: How Quickly Does Oatmeal Lower Cholesterol

    You May Like: Can You Reduce Cholesterol In 3 Months

    Eat A Mediterranean Diet

    If youre looking for an overall diet plan that will lower triglycerides, the Mediterranean style may be the way to go it is, after all, one of the best diets for heart health. It encompasses all of the TG-lowering foods weve talked about. A diet that promotes eating more fatty fish, healthy plant-based oils, and nuts and seeds like the Mediterranean diet may be beneficial to reducing TG levels and improving heart health, Palinski-Wade says.

    Weight Loss And Triglyceride Levels

    High Triglycerides? How to Lower Triglycerides (NATURALLY!)

    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.

    Recommended Reading: What Foods Give You High Cholesterol

    Eat More Protein & Unsaturated Fats

    Compared to a diet high in carbs, diets rich in protein and unsaturated fat reduced triglycerides by about 10 mg/dL in a study of 164 people with high blood pressure .

    Diets high in monounsaturated fats, found in olive oil and avocados, decreased triglyceride levels better than a high-carb diet over 7-weeks in 85 people with an increased risk of heart disease. An olive-oil-rich diet also decreased the buildup of triglycerides in the liver .

    A diet high in monounsaturated fats and omega-3s decreased triglyceride levels in 17 men with moderately increased triglycerides .

    How Can I Lower Cholesterol With Diet

    Heart-healthy lifestyle changes include a diet to lower your cholesterol. The DASH eating plan is one example. Another is the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet, which recommends that you

    Choose healthier fats.You should limit both total fat and saturated fat. No more than 25 to 35% of your daily calories should come from dietary fats, and less than 7% of your daily calories should come from saturated fat. Depending upon how many calories you eat per day, here are the maximum amounts of fats that you should eat:

    Calories per Day
    69-97 grams 17 grams

    Saturated fat is a bad fat because it raises your LDL level more than anything else in your diet. It is found in some meats, dairy products, chocolate, baked goods, and deep-fried and processed foods.

    Trans fat is another bad fat it can raise your LDL and lower you HDL . Trans fat is mostly in foods made with hydrogenated oils and fats, such as stick margarine, crackers, and french fries.

    Instead of these bad fats, try healthier fats, such as lean meat, nuts, and unsaturated oils like canola, olive, and safflower oils.

    Limit foods with cholesterol. If you are trying to lower your cholesterol, you should have less than 200 mg a day of cholesterol. Cholesterol is in foods of animal origin, such as liver and other organ meats, egg yolks, shrimp, and whole milk dairy products.

    Eat plenty of soluble fiber. Foods high in soluble fiber help prevent your digestive tract from absorbing cholesterol. These foods include:

    Read Also: What Is The Best Supplement To Lower Cholesterol

    Why Lowering Your Triglycerides Matter

    Lower triglyceride levels are one of the many indicators for better health, while high triglycerides are associated with several health conditions, including the following:

    It may be worrisome at first because of all issues that are associated with high triglyceride levels, but it is nothing to go to the hospital over. As with other biomarkers, your blood triglyceride results should only be interpreted along with a multitude of other validated measures for an accurate assessment of your overall health.

    Our triglyceride levels do, however, provide us with important clues. The relatively strong association between triglycerides, blood sugar, cholesterol, and many of the conditions listed above give us a clearer picture of what causes high triglyceride levels and how to optimize them.

    Know The Dangers Of Trans Fats

    List of healthy foods to lower triglycerides levels in your body

    Trans fats are dangerous for your heart, because they raise low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The chief culprit youll see on product labels is partially hydrogenated oil. Trans fats are the result of adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to increase shelf life. This may make some baked and fried foods taste better, but trans fats are very unhealthy, particularly for people with high triglycerides. In fact, trans fats should make up less than 1 percent of your total calories, according to the World Health Organization. Check your food labels: If a food contains trans fats or hydrogenated oils, leave it on the shelf.

    Also Check: Why Is Shrimp High In Cholesterol

    The Best Diet For Lowering Triglycerides: A Mediterranean

    Throughout the research on lowering triglycerides, two trends emerge. The first is that limiting carbohydrates and increasing fat consumption leads to lower triglyceride levels. The second is that polyunsaturated fats decrease triglycerides more than any other fat.

    If we combine these two trends together, we come out with a Mediterranean-style ketogenic diet that restricts carbohydrates more than any other diet and places emphasis on omega-3 rich fish like sardines and salmon and polyunsaturated fat rich nuts and olive oil.

    The Mediterranean-style Ketogenic Diet will also provide a healthier amount of vegetables, fiber, and protein than a typical Americans diet, which further improves triglyceride levels.

    Not sure what a Mediterranean-style Ketogenic meal would look like? Here are some delicious examples:

    Or have a can of sardines on a delicious Oven Roasted Caprese Salad.

    Putting Together Your Own Meals

    Fit in with your favorite meals by following these basics to lower your triglycerides.

    • Plan for a âmoderateâ amount of whole-grain carbohydrates. Use portion sizes on packages as a guide. Another way to estimate a healthy amount is to visually divide your plate into 4 equal parts. Fill half of it with fruits and vegetables, and fill a quarter of it with a whole grain. Fill the last quarter with a low-fat protein.
    • Limit âwhiteâ carbs and sugars. Keep foods made with white flour, desserts, candy, juices, and fruit drinks to a minimum.
    • Serve healthy fats because they can help lower your triglyceride levels. They are the unsaturated fats, especially omega-3s found in fatty fish, flaxseed, canola oil, and walnuts.
    • Donât keep around tempting, unhealthy fatssaturated fats found in red meat and baked goods and trans fats found in some packaged foods. If a food label says hydrogenated oil, donât even open the bag.
    • Choose low-fat proteins, including chicken, fish, seafood, lean meats, and tofu.
    • Pour low or nonfat milk and choose low or nonfat dairy — yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese.
    • Limit how much alcohol you have each day. Thatâs 1 drink if youâre female and 2 if you are male. But even a small amount of alcohol may raise triglycerides in some people, so ask your doctor whatâs right for you.

    Show Sources

    Read Also: What Fish Oil Is Best For Lowering Triglycerides

    RELATED ARTICLES

    Most Popular