Triglycerides are a form of fat found in the body. Every individual has a certain level of triglycerides, but some individuals are prone to having elevated levels of triglycerides. By understanding what triglycerides are and how they can affect your health, it will be easier to understand the changes you need to make to improve your heart health.
Identification
The American Heart Association defines triglycerides as a form of fat often carried in the bloodstream. Most of the triglycerides come from the foods that we eat, such as fats, or excess sugar or alcohol. Triglycerides are a form of lipids, like cholesterol. Unlike cholesterol, triglycerides are not produced in the body, but triglycerides are essential for moving cholesterol throughout the body.
Healthy Levels
Just like all other lipids in the body, there are ideal ranges for triglyceride levels. These levels are most accurately checked every three to six months after a period of 12 hours with nothing to eat or drink. The American Heart Association has established ranges of acceptable triglyceride levels. Normal levels of trigylcerides are any level under 150mg/dl. Once triglyceride levels increase to a range of 151 to 200mg/dl, levels are considered borderline high. Any level between 200 and 400mg/dl is considered high. If triglyceridide levels increase above 500mg/dl, levels are considered very high. Your physician can make various recommendations to improve your triglyceride levels, if the lab work shows that improvement is needed.
Reducing High Levels
Depending on your triglyceride levels, different courses of treatment may be recommended. Initially, you can reduce your triglyceride levels by following a diet that is low in sugar, fat and alcohol. If your triglyceride levels remain high, and especially if you have elevated LDL or low HDL levels, different medications will be recommended by your physician.
Prevention/Solution
To improve your triglyceride levels, it is essential to eliminate any foods that are high in simple, added sugars, according to nutrition guidelines provided by the Cleveland Clinic. These include table sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, and high fructose corn syrup. The first step in reducing simple sugars is substituting sugar substitutes, such as Sweet-n-Low, Splenda or Equal, in place of other sweeteners. This includes limiting sugar sweetened beverages, soft drinks and fruit drinks, candies, whether chocolate, hard candies or gummy candies, cakes, cookies, sugar sweetened cereals and granola bars. Items like jellies, jams and syrups come in low sugar varieties. Don't forget about foods like yogurt, salad dressings and marinades which can add excess added sugar if you don't choose lower sugar varieties.
Be sure to also reduce the excess fat consumed during the day. This includes choosing lower fat versions of items such as butter, margarine, salad dressing and mayonnaise. This also means limiting fried foods and commercially prepared foods that are higher in fat due to processing. Limit your portion size of high fat foods as well as how much fat you use to cook foods in. Choose fats that are higher in omega-3 fatty acids and lower in saturated and trans fat.
Significance
Triglycerides can affect your risk for heart disease. If you have other health problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, when your triglyceride levels are elevated, your risk for heart disease is increased even more. While not everyone with increased triglyceride levels will develop heart disease, it is hard to predict who will and who will not be affected.
