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Posts Tagged ‘diet for triglycerides’

From more than a decade we have been told that high cholesterol can cause serious heart problems and can block the arteries but from back few years there is another risky element floating in your blood stream that is also an excuse to cause some sort of problem to your heart. These are the blood triglycerides that are also dangerous to some extent for your health if not as dangerous as the cholesterol. The triglyceride reading is also done through lipid tests. For an optimal health, you should maintain your blood triglycerides below 150 mg/dl because after that they can prove to be bad for your heart and other parts of body.

If you have the triglycerides ranging between 150 to 199 mg/dl then you are at borderline high level. Anything between 200 to 499 mg/dl and above 500 mg/dl specifies high triglycerides level and very high triglycerides levels respectively.

The blood triglycerides are present in the form of fats in your body. Over 95% of the fats present in your food are triglycerides that you in take. Moreover, the human body also releases these molecules inside your liver. These molecules are composed of 1 unit of glycerol plus 3 units of the fatty acids. There is no doubt that these molecules are required for energy to work but they are stored in your body as fats if are unutilized.

The blood triglycerides also travel via the heart arteries similar to other heart molecules in order to provide required supplements to the body. This medical fact signifies that these molecules are highly dangerous for your health and heart.

How the small triglycerides run through the arteries? These molecules run with the support of lipoprotein carriers that are LDL and VLDL. They are capable enough to damage the polished and placid internal lining of the heart arteries in order to promote the arterial plaque. Once this arterial plaque gets created, the risk of critical health problems like stroke, coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis gets incremented. If the blood triglycerides are really high in amount, it may also be connected with the pancreas inflammation problem.

What can you do to decrease the high triglycerides?

The Blood triglycerides are highly convincible in relation to diet. In order to decrease the high triglycerides you must consume 7% less calories from the saturated fats. Try to limit the complete fat in take up to 25%. Eat up to 30 grams of fiber daily and eat limited amount of polyunsaturated fats that can be consumed through cold water fatty fish.

Triglycerides are simple fatty acid that is formed inside your body. Triglycerides are a major energy reserve inside our body. If a human being takes more calories than the usual amount of calories, triglyceride converts it into fats and stores it in the energy cells. The body breaks down the triglycerides and the stored energy packets are used by the body in doing work.

Having high triglyceride level results in circulation of triglyceride in your blood and increases the viscosity of blood. This increase in viscosity clogs up the arteries and results in damage to pancreas. Triglyceride levels are normal if the level is below 150. If the levels of triglyceride are above 200, then it is really high and indicates that you are exposed to high amount of risk.

The risk factors associated with high level of triglyceride are numerous. The most important factor in this is high level of obesity. Diabetes, thyroid problems or kidney diseases also expose you to high triglyceride levels. There are some forms of high level of triglyceride that are inherited. These forms are due to a number of medications, estrogens, birth control pills, water pills and steroids. Too much intake of sugar and foods that contain fats or alcohol also expose you to risk of high levels of triglyceride.

Maintaining a proper diet and performing exercise regularly reduces the risk of getting high levels of triglyceride and it also helps if you are currently having high triglyceride levels. They should be used as the first hope of reducing the triglyceride levels and if you are unable of getting better only then you should use triglyceride-lowering medications. The number of calories you take daily should be decreased and your daily activity should be increased. If you want to lower your triglyceride level, you should increase your activity and use energy more than what you take.

Foods that contain sweet, sugar and carbohydrates that are processed should be avoided. Complex carbohydrates are not dangerous so there is no problem if you take them. The biggest thing that is dangerous to use if you have high triglyceride level is white sugar. White sugar acts as a poison on high levels of triglyceride. White sugar immediately converts into triglyceride and same is the effect of usage of Corn Syrup and Corn Sugars. They should also be avoided in the same way as you should avoid white sugar.

Carbohydrates should be taken in a calculated amount and lean meat, fruits, vegetables and dairy products with low fat should be the major portion of your diet. Drinking is the most injurious thing that you can do at a time when you are having high triglyceride levels. Alcohol gives rise to triglyceride levels rapidly and elimination of alcohol is necessary if you wish to control the triglyceride levels. The type of fat and the amount of fat in your diet should be checked. Saturated and trans fats should be avoided and olive oil and canola oil should be taken in a controlled amount.