Foods to avoid for high triglycerides
Triglycerides are fatty substances that circulate within the bloodstream of the human body. Triglycerides are similar to fat, and like fat, the body needs triglycerides for energy. Triglycerides are especially necessary by the heart muscles (also known as cardiac muscles) in order to function properly. Although a certain amount of triglycerides is necessary for the heart to function properly, high levels of triglycerides can increase the risk of certain health conditions such as heart disease, stroke or even pancreatitis, a condition caused by the inflammation of the pancreas.
Although in some cases when there is a metabolic disorder in the body, people with high levels of triglycerides can do nothing about it, however, in most other situations the amount of fat the blood contains can be controlled via taking some simple measures. Like cholesterol, the level of triglycerides in the human body can be controlled at home through a proper diet. In fact, the best way to control the amount of triglycerides in the blood is to treat it at home by natural means. Like most other diseases, there are certain dos and don’ts that must be maintained during the treatment of high triglycerides in the blood.
Firstly, a healthy balanced diet must be maintained. ‘Balanced’, in this case, means a diet that is low in fat. Lowering the amount of fat in the diet is, perhaps, the best way to reduce the levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream. The intake of food like saturated and processed fat, butter, meats processed with high levels of fat should be reduced if not avoided completely. Having a low-fat diet is the first step one must try towards attaining lower levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream. Among the kinds of fatty food are food with saturated fat and those with trans-fat. Examples of saturated fat are butter, cheese, whole milk and fried food. Tran’s fat, on the other hand, are food that have been processed and packaged. Food that has been processed and has hydrogenated oil in it as one of its ingredients is likely to have trans-fat.
Apart from saturated and trans fat, a person with high levels of triglyceride must also avoid food with high sugar content. Sugary food such as pastries, ice cream, candies, sodas, etc. increase the amount of sugar in the blood, thereby, increasing the amount of triglyceride in the blood.
Alcohol is another substance that must be entirely avoided by people with high levels of triglyceride in their blood. This is because some of the compounds that alcohol contains further increase the amount of triglyceride in the bloodstream. Although alcohol intake does not cause much increase of blood fat, it does converts itself into triglycerides in the liver. Therefore, all kinds of alcoholic beverages like wine, and liquor, and even those with low alcohol content such as beer, must be avoided in order to control the levels of triglyceride in the body. Besides alcohol, one should also avoid fruit juices as well as fruit smoothies.
People wishing to keep the amount of triglyceride in their blood at a minimal level should completely avoid food with high cholesterol. This means that they can only limit their cholesterol intake to about 200 mg each day avoiding eggs, fat-rich dairy products, and fatty meats. However, there are certain kinds of fat such as those contained in fish oil that helps lowering the blood fat. Patients are, therefore, recommended to take omega-3 fatty acids that can be found in fish to lower the amount of blood fat.
The amount of triglycerides in the blood increases because of obesity and poorly controlled diabetes. For this reason, the levels of triglyceride can only be kept in control if one has a low-fat and low-sugar balanced diet avoiding all food items that help increase the amount of triglyceride in the blood.
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