When it comes to lowering your risk for heart disease, many people are aware of the the major risk factors: obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, high cholesterol and a sedentary lifestyle. High triglycerides are another risk factor often associated with one or more of the other factors. One of the easiest ways to lower high triglycerides is to begin by eating a heart healthy diet.
Step 1
Have your blood triglycerides measured through a clinical blood test. Your doctor can order the test as part of your annual physical examination. This will serve as your baseline measurement and tell you how much your triglyceride levels need to drop to be considered normal. The normal level for adults is less than 150 mg/dl. Triglyceride levels above 500 mg/dl are considered very high.
Step 2
Eliminate alcohol from your diet. Alcohol in all forms of alcoholic beverages begins as fermented sugar. After consumption, the sugar circulates in the bloodstream as fat or is stored in the liver.
Step 3
Reduce your total caloric intake if you're overweight. Calories over your basic requirement are converted to fat. A good place to start is to limit your total caloric intake to 2000 calories a day---slightly fewer for women and slightly higher for men. Use food scales and measuring cups and spoons until you learn what represents an average serving size.
Step 4
Cut down or replace high-sugar foods such as honey, jams, pies, cakes, candies, ice cream, cookies and donuts with fruits and vegetables.
Step 5
Choose leaner cuts over marbled cuts of meats. Avoid eating sausages, pre-packaged lunch meats and deep-fried foods. Replace them with grilled fish, turkey and chicken.
Step 6
Reduce the amount of saturated and trans fats from your diet in favor of mono and polyunsaturated fats. Replace high-fat dairy products like whole milk with 2 percent or non-fat varieties. Use tub margarines instead of stick margarine. When cooking, use canola and olive oil instead of animal-based products like lard.
Step 7
Include more fish in your diet. Cold water varieties like salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel contain omega-3 fatty acids that have been shown to minimize triglycerides in the blood and elevate high density lipoproteins. If you don't care for fish, consider taking omega-3 supplements. Start by taking 1000 to 2000 mg a day.
Step 8
Get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day. Regular exercise helps to burn triglycerides, keeping them at manageable levels.
Tips and Warnings
- Begin making changes to your diet slowly. Eat a balanced diet, representing all of the major food groups. Stay within 2000 calories per day or less.
- Avoid fad diets or diet schemes that focus on only one type of food. Avoid skipping meals.
Things You'll Need
- Food scale
- Measuring cups and spoons
