Your likelihood of suffering a heart attack or stroke depends on a number of factors, including your age, gender and family history. Medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure increase your risk, as do lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking and remaining inactive. Low levels of triglycerides and low-density cholesterol, two types of artery-clogging substances, can help protect you against cardiovascular disease.
Triglyceride Levels
Triglyceride levels higher than 500 mg/dL, or milligrams per deciliter of blood, put you at very high risk for heart disease. Numbers between 200 and 499 mg/dL put you at high risk. You're at borderline risk if your numbers fall between 150 and 199 mg/dL. Numbers below 150 mg/dL generally are considered appropriate or safe, but in April 2011, the American Heart Association lowered its healthiest triglyceride levels to 100 mg/dL or less. The recommendation, based on a review of 500 scientific studies, accompanies a statement that you can reduce your triglycerides by 50 percent through diet and exercise.
American Heart Association Guidelines
AHA advice about exercise aligns with the oft-quoted standard of 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five days a week. The low-fat, low-sugar diet recommended by the AHA looks similar, although somewhat more stringent, than standard triglyceride-lowering regimens. The basics of the diet include limiting your saturated fat intake to 16 g daily, limiting trans fat to 2 g daily, limiting calories from sugar-added foods and drinks to 100 to 150 calories per day and limiting fructose to 50 g to 100 g daily. You also should limit alcohol consumption, especially if your triglycerides measure higher than 500 mg/dL.
Healthy Choices
The recommended diet does not prohibit you from enjoying most of your favorite foods, but you may need to limit some of them. You could accommodate a quarter-pound cheeseburger into the AHA diet plan if you ate little or no animal products the rest of the day. You can continue to drink regular soda, but aim for three cans a week rather than several per day. If you want to eat a cookie in the afternoon, don't eat a muffin in the morning or a piece of cake at night. Before you eat any high-fat, high-sugar foods, fill up on healthy, guilt-free choices such as beans, vegetables, whole grains and fruits.
Sample Menu
A sample menu that keeps you safely within AHA guidelines might include the following: whole fiber cereal with non-fat milk and a sliced banana for breakfast; a handful of almonds for a mid-morning snack; for lunch, a spinach salad topped with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, carrots, sprouts and slices of grilled, skinless chicken breast in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing; non-fat yogurt and mixed berries for an afternoon snack; grilled halibut served with a medley of vegetables and wild rice for dinner, and plain, air-popped popcorn for a mid-evening snack.
