POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Pre-HAART Long-Term Survivors => Topic started by: idee on April 19, 2012, 05:13:11 pm
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I have a high HDL count and a low LDL count. But my triglyceride level is high. So I can't eat fast food and I have to learn to cook healthier. So far today I had coffee, fruit and some water. I have quit soda cold turkey. And then I have snacked on strawberries and jello instead of a chocolate bar.
I am new to this eating healthy but I also got to cook healthier for my family as well. My Husband says we can all benefit which is what I hoped he would say. So I am doing this for all three of my family members.
If anyone here has any pointers or information on healty cooking please let me know.
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Idee,
Welcome to the club.. Good luck to you in the dietary changes, It can be tough in the beginning, but it does get easier. Hopefully you will be able to get this under control. Sounds as though you're on the right track...
Here's some additional tips. DON'T FORGET TO WALK OR EXERCISE DAILY
Lower Cholesterol & Triglycerides
Eat foods that are rich in fiber
Fiber helps to slow down the blood sugar rise. Fiber is also healthy for your heart.
Fiber-rich foods include:
§ Whole-grain breads and cereals including oats
§ Brown rice
§ Whole-wheat pasta
§ Fruits and vegetables
§ Dried beans and peas
§ Potatoes with the skin
§ Corn, whole kernel
But do not go overboard on these foods. They raise your blood sugar.
§ Eat only 1-2 pieces bread per meal
§ Eat one serving starch per meal
§ Eat one small serving fruit per meal
§ Include more non-starchy vegetables
Choose healthy protein foods
Eating protein that is low in fat can help you control your weight. It also helps keep your heart healthy. Low-fat protein foods include:
§ Lean meat with all visible fat removed
§ Poultry with the skin removed
§ Low-fat or fat free milk, cheese, and yogurt
§ Fish and seafood
§ Wild game
§ Eat 2-3 ounces meat, fish or poultry portions per meal
§ Bake, broil, boil, steam foods most often
Limit unhealthy fats
Saturated and trans fats are unhealthy for your heart. Fat is also high in calories, so it can make you gain weight. To cut down on unhealthy fats, limit these foods:
§ Sweet bakery goods such as pies, muffins, and donuts
§ Butter, lard
§ Stick margarine
§ Shortening
§ Cream, Gravies, Sauces
§ High fat Cheese
§ Bacon, Lunchmeat, Sausage
§ Ice cream
§ Add less fats to food
§ Use small amounts of oils
§ Use small amounts tub margarine with zero trans fat
Find alternate foods to manage your “sweet tooth”
Even some “sugar free” desserts can raise your blood sugar if you eat too much.
Try these suggestions:
§ Eat a small light yogurt occasionally
§ Eat 2-3 small pieces fruit daily
§ Use diet sodas, unsweetened tea, Crystal Light®, & water instead of sugared sodas, juices, or sport drinks
§ Use a small sugar-free hard candy 1-2 times per day (don’t go overboard)
Good luck---Ray
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Hey Idee,
I envy your HDL/LDL levels.
I have had pretty good success controlling the triglycerides. They are almost always a result of your diet, as Ray pointed out.
I would add a few things to his list.
Sugar will kick your triglycerides up by itself, so avoid it when possible.
Use healthy oils, such as olive oil, rather than other fats.
Oatmeal is your friend. It helps lower and regulate things. But don't get the instant stuff in the packets. It is loaded with sugar. Get the kind you have to cook, albeit minimally. The quick cooking are good, just not the packets with all the flavoring and sugar.
I also would repeat what Ray said: Exercise is key. Get out and walk, ride a bicycle, swim, whatever works for you. Exercise will show great results.
Hang in there. I think all of us are facing this in one way or another.
HUGS,
Mark
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Idee,
Here's another article that you may find informative :
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/222764.php
Dietary, Lifestyle Changes Can Significantly Reduce Triglycerides
Main Category: Preventive Medicine
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology; Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 19 Apr 2011 - 1:00 PDT
Dietary and lifestyle changes significantly reduce elevated triglycerides (a type of blood fat) - which is associated with heart, blood vessel and other diseases - according to an American Heart Association scientific statement.
Changes such as substituting healthy, unsaturated dietary fats for saturated ones, engaging in physical activity and losing excess weight can decrease triglycerides by 20 percent to 50 percent, according to the statement's authors. The statement is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
"The good news is that high triglycerides can, in large part, be reduced through major lifestyle changes," said Michael Miller, M.D., chair of the statement committee and professor of medicine in epidemiology and public health and director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
"In contrast to cholesterol, where lifestyle measures are important but may not be the solution, high triglycerides are often quite responsive to lifestyle measures that include weight loss if overweight, changes in diet and regular physical activity."
Miller and co-authors analyzed more than 500 international studies from the past 30 years to formulate the scientific statement.
Recommended dietary changes for those outside the normal range of triglycerides include limiting:
- added sugar to less than 5 percent to 10 percent of calories consumed - about 100 calories per day for women and 150 calories per day for men.
- fructose from both processed foods and naturally occurring foods - less than 50 to 100 grams per day
- saturated fat to less than 7 percent of total calories
- trans fat to- less than 1 percent of total calories; and
- alcohol, especially if triglyceride levels are higher greater than 500 mg/dL
The amount of added sugars is not listed on the Nutrition Facts Panel of packaged foods, so it is hard to know exactly how much added sugar is in food. Because the majority of added sugar consumed by Americans comes from sugar-sweetened beverages, the American Heart Association recommends drinking no more than 36 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages per week, based on a 2000-calorie-per-day diet. People with high triglycerides should also focus on eating more vegetables, fruits lower in fructose such as cantaloupe, grapefruit, strawberries, peaches, bananas, high fiber whole-grains and "healthier" unsaturated fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids found primarily in fatty fish like salmon, herring, sardines, lake trout, and albacore tuna.
All patients with triglyceride levels in the borderline to high range (150-199 mg/dL) or greater are also encouraged to incorporate physical activities of at least moderate intensity (such as brisk walking) for a total of at least 150 minutes per week, because these activities may contribute an additional 20-30 percent triglyceride-lowering effect. Combining all of these lifestyle measures is likely to have the most pronounced effect - 50 percent or greater in reducing triglyceride levels.
Triglyceride testing involves a simple blood sample, traditionally taken after a 12-hour fast. The authors suggest using non-fasting triglyceride testing as an initial screen. Although the cutoff for elevated triglycerides remains at 150 mg/dL, a new optimal level of 100 mg/dL has now been set to acknowledge the protective benefit of lifestyle in metabolic health. However, it is not a target for drug therapy because there has not been adequate study to show that drug therapy to lower triglycerides to this level is helpful. Many people can reduce their triglycerides as well as other metabolic risk factors such as blood sugar and blood pressure with diet, weight loss and increased physical activity.
"Triglycerides are an important barometer of metabolic health," said Neil J. Stone, M.D., co-chair of the statement and professor of medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. "When the clinician sees an elevated triglyceride level, there needs to be an important conversation about risk factors and the need to eat less, eat smarter, and to move more on a daily basis to improve triglycerides and the metabolic profile."
In the United States, nearly one-third (31 percent) of adults have elevated triglyceride levels (more than 150 mg/dL). The percentage varies by ethnicity, and is highest among Mexican-Americans at 36 percent. Whites have the second-highest rate at 33 percent, while blacks have the lowest at 16 percent. Of concern is that triglyceride levels continue to rise in young adults (aged 20-49) and this mirrors the increased rates of obesity and diabetes identified at earlier ages.
Co-authors are Christie Ballantyne, M.D.; Vera Bittner, M.D.; Michael H. Criqui, M.D., M.P.H.; Henry N. Ginsberg, M.D.; Anne Carol Goldberg, M.D.; William James Howard, M.D.; Marc S. Jacobson, M.D.; Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D.; Terry A. Lennie, Ph.D., R.N.; Moshe Levi, M.D.; Theodore Mazzone, M.D. and Subramanian Pennathur, M.D.
Author disclosures are on the manuscript.
Source:
American Heart Association
Ray
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Hey Idee,
One other thing I forgot, ask your doctor about adding fish oil to your day. It comes in capsules and if you are worried about burping fish, get the enteric coated ones.
It really helped lower my triglycerides.
HUGS,
Mark
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Thanks for all the information. I will definately give it a try. So far I have walked my dogs, but here in Vegas it is so hot that I think the pounds are just melting away, my jeans already fit me loser in these past coiple of days.
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Hi Idee; I'm glad that you are being successful with the walking. When I lived down south, I walked very early in the AM or late in the evening. Sometimes, because of my nasal allergies, I walked in the air conditioned mall.
If you need more help after the healthy cooking & walking, there is a medication for high triglycerides that has very few side effects. It's Fenofibrate & generic so it should not be expensive. I was born with high triglycerides & it has really helped me. Keep up the good work. Hugs, Deiby
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Hey Idee,
One other thing I forgot, ask your doctor about adding fish oil to your day. It comes in capsules and if you are worried about burping fish, get the enteric coated ones.
It really helped lower my triglycerides.
HUGS,
Mark
Hi idee :) ,
Mark is right on that fish oil does lower triglycerides.
A little over a year ago mine were off the charts !
Now mine is Normal & My LDL is 88.4 !
I rarely eat out . I love Old Fashioned OatMeal , cooked 1 minute !
I take two fish oil pills with breakfast and dinner .
The only Caveat is that Fish Oil MAY cause DEPRESSION ! BEWARE !!!!!!!
I still take fish oil daily , did have some depression issues , But knowing what was the
Cause made it easier to deal with ........ Does not seem to be an issue anymore ;)
Also moderation is the key ! I love food ....
I try and have salad as mush as I can .
Bob loves to cook beans , A good source of ??? , They are good for us :)
Hope you get you levels down ,
Carl
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The only Caveat is that Fish Oil MAY cause DEPRESSION ! BEWARE !!!!!!!
Actually Carl dear, I've read the exact opposite -- that fish oil helps (or rather may help) to treat depression. Where did you hear what you are telling us?
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Actually Carl dear, I've read the exact opposite -- that fish oil helps (or rather may help) to treat depression. Where did you hear what you are telling us?
Please GOOGLE as I do not know how to put a link on here !
My Doctor also questioned how fish oil was working on my mood .
There are many articles on fish oil causing depression , Thank you :-*
Weasel
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Actually, you can google about anything and find what it is you want to find. The telling part would be, how were the studies done, how were the participants chosen, was it biased in any way etc.
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I started taking red yeast in February and after one month my total cholesterol dropped from 262 tot 183. It is now at 172. Triglycerides are within a normal range as well.
My homeopathic doctor prescribed the red yeast to me and now even my HIV doctor wants to try it on her other patients.
Good luck.
xx Hermie