Adjust Your Diet
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O.K. I admit that it isn’t entirely that simple. However triglyceride levels and the development of coronary heart disease are strongly tied to diet for many of us. That means if we adhere to a diet to lower triglycerides we can discourage the development of a deadly disease.
In another section we considered what
foods to avoid to lower triglycerides.
Here we turn our attention toward the positive. What is…
A Good Diet To Lower Triglycerides
Changing one’s diet to lower triglycerides is not merely a matter of what to give up. It is also a matter of what to eat.
Contrary to how it may seem there are many foods not on the "Avoid" list. Humanity somehow survived millennia without ice cream, cakes, margarine and other trans-fatty products.
Many of the foods listed below do more than just not raise triglycerides. They all provide nutritional benefits and many help reduce triglycerides.
So what does a diet to lower triglycerides look like?
Fruit
In the "foods to avoid" section we learned that sugar is a major enemy. But we can have some sugar in our diets. People respond differently to triglyceride conversion. But by replacing refined sugar with whole fruit we not only remove an easy target of triglyceride conversion but we gain fiber and phytonutrients essential to good health.
If we can acquire organically grown fruits which have been recently picked - preferably from our own garden - we gain an abundance of vitamins far superior to those sitting in the store after being shipped for days or weeks. Of course even the grocery store version is far superior to that tempting candy bar. And the locally grown organic fruit is superior to both.
Eat fruit. If you are restricting your diet faithfully and still need to reduce triglycerides you may want to limit your fruit intake to two or three servings a day.
Carbohydrates
Yes, carbohydrates can be in a good diet to lower triglycerides. We need carbohydrates. But not the simple kind. For example: bread. White bread is stripped of most of its nutrition. That is why it is "fortified". But bread made from a variety of whole grains is a different story.
It is high in fiber and nutrition and is not so quickly turned into triglycerides.If possible buy whole grain flours and use a quality bread machine to make your own. Why not? Or go nuts. Buy the whole grains and grind them yourself just prior to making the bread. Flour tends to lose its nutritious value quickly once ground. Who grains have a longer shelf-life.
The same goes for rice and pastas. Not that you buy a rice making machine. But don’t shy away from these completely. Just stay away from the white varieties. There are many varieties of non-white rice and whole grain pastas available. If they are difficult to find in the local store they can be found in health food stores.
Fiber
We have mentioned fruits and whole grains. But there are other high fiber foods we should eat such as…
- Dried beans
- Flaxseed (high in omega-3)
- Rice and oat bran
- A variety of vegetables.
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This latter group (fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, etc) is sadly left out of most diets. It is possible to get too many fruits when you have a problem with triglycerides. But my guess is it is rather rare. The problems usually lie elsewhere in our diets.
Five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables per day in lieu of the sugary-fatty things already in the average diet would be a vast improvement. Eat lots of vegetables.
Get rid of the sugary Twinkie-type things before reducing your fruit intake.
Meat
They say you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Actually we are not going to eat cake at all. But meat can be in a good diet to lower triglycerides. For many of us meat is a necessity.
When choosing red meats select the leanest cuts.A little extra work in preparing them will produce a fine meal. Just don’t eat too much. Six ounces should be plenty.
White meat is lower in fat than red meat, especially when the skin is removed. Frying is the least preferable method of cooking since it usually involves the addition of oils and the process can create some trans-fats.
There is also the other white meat, except it often is not so white. And it isn’t pork. It is fish.
I grew up in Florida and caught my own. Of course we usually fried it. Those were great days. Now I am land-locked and have to buy my fish. I know relatively few fish lovers. But I still like it and my family strives to eat a sufficient amount of it.
I love the white meat of the warm water reef varieties like grouper and snapper. But the best varieties are the fattier cold-water ones. These would include...
- Salmon
- Mackerel
- Tuna
- Anchovies
Some feel salmon is the healthiest food on the planet. If not it is near the top of the list.
It is however very important for a diet to lower triglycerides.My wife loves it. I eat it.
The reason certain fish are better than others is because of the high levels of omega-3 fatty acids which have been shown in numerous trials to provide a wide array of health benefits including heart health.
Omega-3 fatty acids also have been shown to reduce triglycerides significantly.Cold water fish must be a part of your diet. Salmon, herring and blue fin tuna (not the canned varieties) are very high in omega-3. Atlantic mackerel is next in line but may have higher mercury levels. Cod, catfish, canned tuna and orange roughy have significantly lower levels of omega-3.
You Simple Must Get Enough Omega-3
When putting together a good diet to lower triglycerides make sure you choose foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.
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Heart Health Note:
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for optimal heart health. High Omega-3 intakes are associated with …
High potency Omega-3 supplement at a very good price. Omega-3 and Triglycerides Omega-3 and Coronary Heart Disease Omega-3 and Heart Attack |
Populations having diets rich in Omega-3 statistically have much lower incidence of heart disease. This of course goes beyond our present concern of lowering triglycerides. Omega-3 does lower triglycerides significantly. But it does much more.
The short of it is this… If you want to have a good diet to lower triglycerides you simply must get plenty of Omega-3. If you don’t want to eat salmon and tuna every day then take a good fish oil supplement.
Just get plenty.
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