Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. They are a major source of energy and the most common type of fat in your body. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn’t need to use right away into triglycerides and is stored in fat cells to be used later. The excess calories are stored as fat regardless of what kind of food you eat-fat, carbohydrate, or protein. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides.
In normal amounts, triglycerides are important to good health.Triglycerides are measured as part of a blood test that measures your cholesterol.
Normal triglyceride levels are below 150. High levels are 200 or above.
What causes high triglycerides?
Conditions that may cause high triglycerides include:
- Obesity
- Poorly controlled diabetes
- An underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
- Kidney disease
- Regularly eating more calories than you burn
- Drinking a lot of alcohol.
Diets high in carbohydrates, especially sugar, lead to increases in triglycerides. ELIMINATE or LIMIT ALL sugars such as, concentrated sweets, sugar, honey, molasses, jams, jellies, candies, pies, cakes, cookies, candy, doughnuts, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sweetened gelatine. White sugar is poison to you. It causes your blood sugar to spike and fall until you develop insulin resistance. It contains no nutrients, only energy. It converts almost immediately to triglycerides. Corn syrup and corn sugars are just as bad, and they are in everything. Read labels, and watch out for sweeteners and flavorings. Any ingredient that ends in –ose or –ol is probably some kind of sugar.
Eliminate or limit as much as you can acohol, such as beer, wine, hard liquor, liqueurs as well as other foods, like sweetened cereals, flavored yogurts, and sports or energy bars.Reduce your intake of alcohol considerably. Even small amounts of alcohol can lead to large changes in plasma triglyceride levels.
Diet and exercise are the best way to lower your triglycerides. If you cannot get your triglyceride levels low enough with diet and exercise, you may need to take triglyceride-lowering medications.
Count carbs and don’t eat a lot of high calorie, high carbohydrate foods. Lean meat, fruits and vegetables, and low fat dairy products should make up the bulk of what you eat. If you’re overweight, cut down on calories to reach your ideal body weight.
People with high triglycerides may need to substitute monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats —such as those found in canola oil, olive oil or liquid margarine — for saturated fats. Reduce the saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol content of your diet. Substitute fish high in omega-3 fatty acids instead of meats high in saturated fat like hamburger. Fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Hi Sanjana,
thank you for this writing. i had been waiting for this. i have a question. should i avoid white sugar i add to coffee also?. are sugar substitutes like splenda good for me?. i have high triglicerides [450+] since past 2 yrs and also hypothroid. I am marginally overweight and follow a veg diet.
I am trying to eat oatmeal for breakfast with ground flaxseeds , walnuts or almonds + raisins. and i eat mixed grain roti for lunch/ dinner. i also excercise alternate days.is this good enough?.
And my doc says to avoid all fruits also. should i really stop eating fruits like banana, orange, peach, plum, apricot,mango,apples?
thanks
You dont need to stop eating them. You just need to eat them at right time. Preferably eat fruits on an empty stomach or after exercise. There are no “bad fruits”. All fruits have their need in the world.
So you do not need to stop eating fruits. Completely avoid juices and simple sugars such as sugar, honey and jaggery. My post on triglycerides will help you.
Do not take sugar substitutes, they may be satisfying but are not good. Exercise daily otherwise you will be not seeing the difference in your weight.
hello madam,
my lipid profile report revealed that ldl=135, hdl=50 and trig-200 iam vegetarian what diet to follow to lower my trig valu pl. inform
Hi Sanjana,
I have 310tririglycerides,HDL 39,VDLD 62mg in my lipid test. Iam a vegetarian. Should I avoid both rice and roties? how much per day should I maintain every day?
Pls suggest. what kind of diet can increase good cholesterol in my body.
hi madam i am new to your collumn. a few months ago diagnosed with fatty liver. my try glicerides little high like 180. how can i redused the level of try glicerides.