Your triglycerides, derived from animal and vegetable fat, can accumulate in your arteries and exacerbate your chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke. Genetics can make you more susceptible to high triglycerides, but your diet plays the primary role. Your triglyceride levels quickly respond to fat, sugar and alcohol.
Triglycerides and Heart Disease Risk
Triglycerides that measure more than 200 mg/dl -- milligrams per deciliter of blood -- put you at high risk for heart disease. Triglyceride levels above 500 mg/dl put you at a very high risk. To protect your heart, maintain triglyceride levels of 150 mg/dl or less. In April 2011, the American Heart Association further reduced its recommendation for triglyceride levels to 100 mg/dl or lower. If you're overweight, the excess fat in your body could elevate your triglyceride levels. Additional factors that could escalate your risk for heart disease include high cholesterol levels, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Causes of High Triglycerides
Your triglycerides may elevate to high levels if your diet includes a lot of red meat, cheese, butter, margarine, deep-fried foods, soda, popcorn, chips, cookies and candy. Your triglycerides may also increase if you drink more than a moderate amount of alcohol and if you don't exercise regularly. Nevertheless, your triglycerides prove responsive to positive changes in your diet and activity levels. You can lower your triglycerides by up to 50 percent if you follow a low-sugar, low-fat diet and exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, according to the American Heart Association.
Reduce Sugar Consumption
To lower your triglycerides, no more than 5 to 10 percent of your daily calories should come from foods or drinks that contain added sugar. Ideally, women will limit sugar calories to 100 per day and men to 150. You should also watch the amount of fructose, found in fruit and some processed foods. The AHA recommends that you restrict fructose to 50 g to 100 g per day. If you drink soft drinks, limit your consumption of sugary soda to 36 ozs. per week. If you eat candy, cut back on the amount or switch to sugar-free varieties. You can include plenty of fruit in your diet, but limit the amount of dried fruit, watermelon and pineapple you consume.
Reduce Fat
Aim to limit saturated fat, found primarily in animal products and tropical oils, to 16 g a day. Replace mayonnaise on sandwiches with mustard. Instead of topping salads with creamy dressings, toss them with vinegar and oil or nonfat yogurt. Limit the amount of protein in your diet to about 5 oz. to 6 oz. a day and include choices low in saturated fat such as ham, beans, salmon and skinless chicken. Also limit trans fat, found in margarine and shortening, to 2 g a day. Fast-food fries and commercial baked goods usually contain unhealthy amounts of trans fat.
