Elevated Triglycerides: Heed Obesity's Warning Sign

If you are obese, you probably have elevated triglycerides. While you may want to lose weight for vanity purposes, it's more important to become fit because elevated triglycerides put you at risk for heart disease. In short, triglycerides are fats that course through your bloodstream. Your doctor can measure your triglycerides by checking your LDL cholesterol. If your triglycerides are 150 to 200 or less you are not at risk for heart disease. People who are overweight and those with diabetes often have readings higher than 200. Researchers have linked elevated triglycerides not just with heart disease, but also with strokes. They found people with triglycerides of more than 200 are 30 percent more likely to have a stroke than people with normal levels.

Wipe out the whites

• The first, and most important step, is to change your eating habits to a low-fat diet. Increase your intake of fruits, vegetables and herbs to improve digestion.
• Eliminate the whites from your diet such as white flour, white sugar, white rice and white breads. A diet high in sugar and alcohol is related to high triglyceride levels
• Limit beer and mixed drinks. However, one glass of red wine can be beneficial since researchers say it lowers LDL or bad cholesterol.
• It's not easy to give up trips to the doughnut shop or cherry pie with coffee. But if you are trying to improve your health, it's important to make changes. Don't make the mistake of switching from cherry pie to cherry-flavored sorbet or low-fat cherry Danish. You are really just trading one form of sugar for another. Instead, eat whole cherries, and perhaps just a dollop of whipped cream.
• Instead of eating the white foods, switch to brown foods such as whole wheat pasta, brown rice and oats. Beer does not qualify as a brown food.
• Exercise for your heart
• Your heart is a muscle and needs exercise like every other muscle in your body. Exercise your heart muscle with aerobic exercises, but don't push yourself too hard.
• Finally, losing weight can lower your triglycerides.

In addition to a healthy diet and exercise, fish oil and garlic has been shown to help people with elevated triglycerides. Before trying higher triglyceride level lowering drugs, make lifestyle changes and include fish oil supplements and garlic in your diet.

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