My last blood test came back shockingly normal with the exception of slightly elevated triglycerides.
I didn’t get a lot of direction from my doctor beyond, “Eat a low fat diet.”
Now I’ve read a lot of nutrition books and learned that you can make just about any case for anything because the nutrition science is so squishy. I’ve particularly become skeptical of the notion that fat is uniquely unhealthy.
So what does the actual research say? What’s the best information we have? Is it true that a low-fat diet is what’s best for your arteries? What does low-fat mean, practically? Do I have to stop eating cheese?
For what it’s worth, my current diet is absolute garbage. Probably anything would be an improvement. So any practical tips would be helpful as well.
Thanks, but… I’m not asking about losing weight. I’m asking about a science-backed diet for elevated triglycerides.
ETA: I recently resumed work with a fitness trainer, mostly for functional mobility. I have Achilles tendonitis which makes doing stuff hard. PT helped but it seems to require ongoing effort. I’m not doing the optimal amount of exercise but I’m not doing nothing.
If exercise is part of this equation I’m certainly open to that.
My triglycerides are just above where recommendations and my doctor want them, and I am also working on other cholesterol numbers, and I take a statin. His advice on the triglycerides is less carbs, and more omega 3 to improve the HDL (good) cholesterol. I am active in that I walk or ride a bicycle nearly every day. I, too, struggle to plan and prepare meals that are both lower carb and higher in omega 3. My spouse does most of the meal planning and they are mostly carb-heavy, so it’s been a challenge. But anyway, my take-away relating to the OP is less carbs.
But science says if you don’t flip the script, nothing will work. If your metabolism is not working for you its working against you. Get that exercise up, reduce carbs and sugars. Healthy fats only.
People often quit listening when I say this, but here goes. Don’t drink soda.
My own bias is never substitute more frankenfoods for less real foods. E.g. never low fat or fake cheese. Eat only real cheese, just less of it. Never impossible burger. Just less 100% real beef burger. Etc.
Ideally eat nothing that has a nutrition info box. Instead eat ingredients, not pre-made packaged prepared foods.
Easy to say, harder to do. And no hope for your kid w his issues.
My doctor told me my sugars are better than most people’s, which surprised the hell out of me, given what I’ve been eating. But yes, I’d love to avoid that eventuality.
Clinical Summary: Higher-fat, lower-carbohydrate diets are associated with greater reduction in triglycerides as a response to weight loss compared with lower-fat, higher-carbohydrate diets (18). All carbohydrate-restricted diets result in significant and similar weight loss, but the reduction in triglycerides is greatest for a very-low-carbohydrate diet. Overall, evidence supports that a higher-protein diet is associated with greater weight loss and reduction in triglycerides, but there is some inconsistency in current data that may reflect the accompanying changes in carbohydrate or fat. Triglycerides are reduced with intermittent fasting in proportion to weight loss…
Specifically see Table 4. No shocks. But worth going over in detail.
This is about what I figured. Or rather, I was skeptical that low-fat was the way to go, as opposed to lower carb. I will look at this in more detail but the evidence seems to support low carb.
Now going lower carb… I can pretty easily start with the copious amount of sugar I ingest. I’m already trying to wean myself off soda (it’s rough. I’ve been very mentally foggy. Trying to replace with green tea currently, but eventually I want to avoid caffeine as much as possible.)
To briefly cover the contents of that table, for TG elevated but < 500 definitely restrict added sugar especially in beverages, limit alcohol, emphasize vegetables, legumes, nuts and peanuts, fatty fish, fiber rich whole grains, chicken “encouraged”, total fat “moderate” (30 to 35% but calculating it seems overkill to me), emphasis on unsaturated fats especially MUFAs and PUFAs, fruit fine.
Specifically re fruit:
Although fruit is a dietary source of fructose, a recent meta-analysis of 5 cross-sectional studies reported a 21% decrease in triglycerides (OR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.72-0.87) for the highest versus the lowest fruit intake category, suggesting that increasing fruit consumption is associated with a lower risk of hypertriglyceridemia (82). Added sugars, however, should be limited to <10% of calories for patients with triglycerides <500 mg/dL and to <5% of calories for patients with triglycerides ≥500 mg/dL (75). …
Really the basic Mediterranean Diet, or Nordic, or DASH, would fit the bill. Real food. Plant forward. Fatty fish. Limit red meat and really limit processed meats. Losing some body fat mass huge. Exercise.
steel cut oats instead of cereal (I just got a rice cooker with an oatmeal function… Can’t wait.)
Fish oil (I was supposed to be taking this for some other reason anyway…)
+Cooking at home
+More cardio (challenging as I have trouble walking very far due to Achilles tendonitis, but I can build up to it.)
I usually cook a lot of beans and vegetables when I cook at home. And when I cook meat, we usually have chicken or seafood rather than red meat. The when I cook being the operative part of that sentence. So really I just have to cook more.
Spice, I think of you as a very very critical thinker. An intuitive intellectual.
Don’t overthink this. It can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it.
I’m not the critical thinker you are and I manage a very complicated restrictive diet and excercise regime. And medicine routines. I do have help now that it’s become so difficult the sicker I get.
But you’re young and able to move, if maybe restricted a bit.
I don’t mean to diminish your issues as nothing, I mean you have them, so they are a thing. I know you have scheduling difficulties at the moment too.
This diet mentioned above, the Mediterranean diet, sounds perfect to me. There are many books available and web sites. I won’t bore you with my version.
You’re half-way there.
(Eta..have you thought of a meal service. I know your son has eating/feeding problems. He eats different foods. So it would have to be dinner for two, every night. I’m sure you can get the right foods.)
I stopped drinking soda many years ago and never regretted it. Once you stop the cravings cease and when you occasionally do have one (as a treat) it will taste WAY too sweet and WAY too carbonated. I have one very rarely and it has to be with some food (e.g. root beer with pizza). Dropping soda is probably one of the best things you can do for your health.
