So, my cholesterol is very high (I’ve posted about this before), I am under the care of a physician, and have a physician recommended diet that I follow. I’m having a follow up blood test in 3 months.
Now, the thing is, my total cholesterol is super high, but my HDL is also huge, so it’s not a massive concern. The big concern is my triglycerides are super high. So high, that if following the Dr. perscribed diet doesn’t lower it, I may have take a drug of some sort, which I’d rather not do. Of course I will, but I would rather not.
Now - I’ve been on the Drs’ diet for 18 months and the numbers haven’t changed, so I’m hoping someone may have some purely anecdotal suggestions.
For instance “My aunts triglycerides were high and she at 5 beets a day, and they went down!” - Assuming the foods are within a normal diet, I figure I have nothing to loose by eating beets, or almonds, or chocolate cheesecake, etc.
Please consider this a totally unscientific experiment - I’m most likely going to have to take some sort of drug anyhow - I just thought in the mean time someone might have a wacky story to tell.
Not medical advice, of course, but I think that vigorous excercise sessions that last at least 40 minutes, performed 3 or 4 times a week - coupled with a low fat diet has kept my (formerly high) triglyceride levels very low. And a small bit of Lipitor helps! Good Luck…and that’s pretty smart of you to be concerned about this.
None of my anecdotes will be especially positive. My dad’s family has some hereditary problem with high triglycerides. They’re all supposed to follow a special diet for it. Even following a strict regime, none of them was ever able to make a significant dent in the problem. They’re all on Zocor now.
One of our family friends also has a similar familial problem. He took to eating Grape Nuts cereal for every single meal. I’m not exaggerating. He says that worked for him.
Sorry that that’s the only success story I ever heard. Mind you, all the people I know with a triglyceride problem have off-the-charts readings when they’re not on meds.
Well, my triglycerides were never exactly astronomical, but they were at least double the upper limit at one point.
Not wanting to have to take pills for it, I increased moderate exercise to at least 20 minutes/day M-F, cut animal protein (fish, chicken, beef, etc.) out of my diet except for maybe one meal per week, increased low-fat dairy to three servings per day, cut back on bread and then only whole grain and eat a ton of raw vegetables with two servings per day of cooked (non-canned) beans (which result in a very high fiber intake) while reducing sugar, sodium, alcohol and caffeine intake to near zero.
The triglycerides and cholesterol are in the normal range now, glucose is just below the upper end of the upper range, have lost pounds and girth and feel better, too. (deep bow)
Cecil warns that excessive fiber intake can result in vitamin depletion. At one point I estimated my fiber intake at near 100 grams per day, but have since cut back. At least I never felt starved all the time like before.
(definitely TMI): Folks make jokes about the fiber/gas connection, but it seems like after awhile the frequency, duration and intensity of the emissions decrease to pre-high fiber intake levels.
I followed a low-fat/‘good’ fat low refined sugar low starch diet, ate smaller portions more frequently, took 1 1000mg fish oil capsule at breakfast & dinner, got a decent amount of exercise, and my cholesterol, triglycerides and GGT (a liver function test) came back to normal after 4 months or so. The high end of normal, at this point, but normal, and a heck of a lot better than they were when I started.
It’s a good diet in that I didn’t have to make too many radical changes. Good-tasting diet drinks abound, I use natural peanut butter instead of skippy, eat more salmon steaks & fewer ribeye steaks, what bread and cereal I eat has to be whole grain, less fried food (I do miss that), more fruit & veggies & fiber, fewer eggs (I miss that), lo-fat cheese. Nothing too radical that I wouldn’t want to stick to it.
Low carb diets seem to have a positive effect on triglycerides, but they can be very hard to maintain. They probably work because they do reduce the carbohydrates, but also because they cause a restriction in the caloric intake. South Beach diet might be something you could look into.
My husband and one BIL have family histories with extremely elevated t levels. The BIL’s go into the thousands. Both are medicated for it.
After 3 months of low carbing and strenuous excercise, my triglycerides dropped to 1/9th or 1/10th what they were before, when they were way out of acceptable range.
My doctor opposed my low carb plan and decided to take a fairly thorough bloodwork to compare before and after, and even she had to grudgingly admit my blood lipids had dramatically improved across the board.
This was years ago… I seem to remember that the triglycerides were at around 750 of whatever unit they use to measure it, and after 3 months of dieting and working out, they were in the 80s.
My father’s triglycerides used to be so high that every time he saw a new doctor, they would tell him there was a typo in the test result. When he went on Atkins, they dropped to the normal range. Mine got exceptionally low on Atkins, but my total cholesterol went through the roof (although my ratios stayed good). YMMV. IANAD.