You Are What You Eat: Triglycerides and Diet
I must confess that I am a Steve Martin fan. Like me he studiedphilosophy in his earlier days. He plays a banjo like I wish Icould. And he is funny. In 1987 he was in a movie entitled"Roxanne". He played a small town fire chief with an enor...
...mousnose who fell in love with a beautiful astronomer played byDaryl Hannah. The only problem was she had an eye for a youngerfireman with a relatively normal nose. C.D. Bales (SteveMartin), having a poetic command of the English language, agreedto coach the younger and much more awkward man in his pursuit ofthe educated astronomer. It is a hilarious twist on an oldstory. In one of the more sober scenes C.D.'s friend Trixieencourages him to pursue the young maiden for himself since hewas obviously in love with her. She makes her point by sayingthe truth "is as plain as the nose on your face." Well said. Many people today are concerned about their triglyceride levels.And rightly so. High triglycerides have been marked as anindependent risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). But inall the scramble to reduce our triglycerides many doctors havebeen trying to tell us that the truth is as plain as the nose onour collective face.Triglycerides are a form of fat. In fact they are the mostprevalent form of fat in our bodies. Our bodies maketriglycerides and we consume them in our diets. Even though welive in culture where 'thin is in', fat is a good thing.Triglycerides in particular are good because they are the formof fat our bodies use for energy. But like many things more isnot necessarily better. Triglycerides truly represent an exampleof the maxim, 'too much of a good thing'. In this case too muchcan contribute to serious health side effects especially inrelation to heart health. So if your triglycerides are too highget them down. But how? How do we get them down? To answer this question it isfirst helpful to understand what causes our triglycerides torise. There are several causes which we will only mention inpassing because they do not compose the main subject of thisessay. There are certain medical conditions that elevatetriglyceride levels such as hypothyroidism, kidney disease,liver disease, familial hypertriglyceridemia and pregnancy. Andof course medical conditions are often accompanied bymedications that negatively impact triglycerides. Among theseare oral contraceptives, estrogen replacement therapy, certainsteroids, diuretics, beta-blockers, newer classes ofantipsychotic medications, cyclosporine, glucocorticoids,progesterone, retinoids and tamoxifen to mention a handful. The above mentioned factors can contribute to a rise in serumtriglycerides. But they are by no means the most common. Formost of us our problems lie elsewhere. Diabetes is a commoncause of high triglycerides. Unfortunately diabetes is atwo-pronged fork. Not only does it affect triglyceride levelsbut diabetics are more susceptible to the damage that resultsfrom factors such as high triglycerides. Obesity, whatever the reason, causes higher levels oftriglycerides to hang around in the blood. As our nation getsprogressively heavier higher cholesterol and triglycerides, aswell as the heart damage that accompanies them, will become morecommon. Now for the rest of us. For most of us our triglycerides arehigh for one reason. The truth is as plain as the nose on C.D.'sface. We are what we eat. Doctors, though themselves seldom theepitome of health, have been telling us for years to watch whatwe eat. With all the medical advances over the past severaldecades diet and exercise are still the primary and mosteffective methods for promoting heart health, especially inrelation to cholesterol and triglycerides and the damage theycan cause.I have only this to say about exercise. Get some! But concerningdiet we need a bit more detail. Let's begin where it hurts themost. Alcohol, though good for your heart in many ways, iseasily converted to triglycerides. If yours are too high stayaway from alcohol. Next in line, and this hurts me even more, is sugar. Simple, andespecially highly processed carbohydrates, cause triglyceridesto rise perhaps even more than alcohol. The American diet is nostranger to sugar and highly processed foods. Such foods aredoing more than making us fat. They are causing the incidence ofheart disease to escalate with amazing speed. When it comes tohigh triglycerides, sugar is your worst enemy.Fruits are questionable. Eliminating fruits is not the place tostart. Whole fruits, and the sugars they contain, do not convertto triglycerides as readily as their processed cousins. However,if you have done all you can in other areas of your diet youmight consider reducing fruit intake. But before you do thismake sure you have eliminated the juices that are more sugar andjuice than they are fruit. And avoid canned fruits that arepacked in syrup. Since triglycerides are fat it makes sense to avoid fatty foods.I have in mind especially saturated animal fats. Foods such asbacon, sausage, fatty fowl like duck or goose and fatty beefshould be restricted in your diet. Hotdogs and hamburgers? Irealize they are the core of the American diet. But do I reallyneed to comment on these? Now for the surprise. Some fatty foods actually causetriglycerides to fall. Can you believe it? There is a silverlining behind every dark cloud. Cold water fatty fish likesalmon, mackerel and tuna, not the canned varieties, are high inomega-3 fatty acids which are well documented to reducetriglycerides. When is the last time you heard about an Eskimohaving bypass surgery? Perhaps that is because Eskimos know thatthe American Heart Association has recommended two to four gramsof omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources for people with hightriglycerides. That is a lot of omega-3 but such quantities arewell proven to lower triglycerides as well as offer a whole listof heart health benefits. Though it is difficult to eat thatmuch fish and there is the risk of mercury poisoning, there is asafe way to get enough omega-3 to effectively lowertriglycerides. You can take fish oils supplements. Pleasepurchase them from a trusted source.So, as you can see, the epidemic of rising triglycerides is anunnecessary danger. For most of us the solution rests in thethings we eat and the exercise we need to get. It sounds all toosimple. But I am a simple guy. I think it is nice to know thatthe solution to rising triglycerides is as plain as the nose onC.D.'s face.For more information on causes of high triglycerides andtriglyceride lower diets please use the links below: Triglyceride Causes Triglyceride Reducing Diets Triglycerides
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