[donnalou]

Hello everyone...
I guess I should have come here last year. I was at the doc yesterday and was told my trgliserides were over 2000 . I am, nedless to say on a pill now. I was diagnosed with high blood preasure in my early 30's. Twice last year my tris were up... May it was 1060, June it was 175, then in Dec 286. Now it is over 2000? I'm only 50... Not over weight 140, my waist is 34". We changed everything, 1% milk, fat free dressing, fat free YOKE free noodles, Margerine is fat free, cook in canola oil, I quit smoking 5 yrs ago, quit drinking 18 yrs ago....WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??? Thanks for any advice

[princesslinda]

Hi Donnalou, welcome! I moved your post to its own thread so others could find it more easily.

How are your blood sugars running? Do you check them after meals to see how different foods are affecting them? My lipids were all high when diagnosed (as were my liver enzymes), but as my blood sugars normalized, so did they.

Do you watch your carbs? I don't eat a lot of fat-free things at all, seems when they take out the fat, they add in carbs/sugar for taste I guess. I cook with butter or olive oil and eat regular dressings. Noodles generally have lots of carbs, even the low-fat ones, so you might want to consider checking your blood sugar 2 hrs after your first bite of food to see how your body is reacting to them.

[donnalou]

Thank you.. At the moment I have nothing but a pill, the dr. said to exercise. I don't know the other readings for this, I plan on asking the Dr. for a print out to have with the other 3. He wants to see me back in 3 months. There is diabetes in my family. Both grd/ma & grd/pa on same side. But I don't think I have any symtoms. OH...I guess high Trigs, high blood, is symtoms.
I don't really watch what I eat, I try and do portion control. I have a bowl of bran or oatmeal in the morn. I eat fruit, and some 100 cal chips, Dinner I cook regular food, chops, Stew, Meatballs.. Probably not enough veggies or water... Definetly not enough fish. Hubby don't like it. We don't go out to fast food....I'm wondering if this is genetic and no matter what I do I will need to take a pill. I just dont want to end up with daily shots. I do have fat... fat around my middle, probably a big factor so then the standard "35" inch waist for women don't apply to me.. Sorry this is long, thanks again. When I get my other readings I'll post them

[matingara]

Originally Posted by donnalou

Hello everyone...
I guess I should have come here last year. I was at the doc yesterday and was told my trgliserides were over 2000 . I am, nedless to say on a pill now. I was diagnosed with high blood preasure in my early 30's. Twice last year my tris were up... May it was 1060, June it was 175, then in Dec 286. Now it is over 2000? I'm only 50... Not over weight 140, my waist is 34". We changed everything, 1% milk, fat free dressing, fat free YOKE free noodles, Margerine is fat free, cook in canola oil, I quit smoking 5 yrs ago, quit drinking 18 yrs ago....WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??? Thanks for any advice

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no............

this is exactly my story.

my triglycerides are now beautiful.

don't worry about eating fat. eat full fat everything - butter, cheese, meat etc.

but do cut WAY WAY WAY down on carbohydrates. no bread, pasta, rice, fruits and starchy vegetables.

i know it is hard to believe - but it works for me. i am willing to bet it works for you too.



-- Joel.

[CaptainMike]

I have to agree with Matingara. Well before (18 months) I was diagnosed with Diabetes I was diagnosed with very high triglycerides and high LDL cholesterol. The quack Dr. put me on a NO fat, high carb diet: all pasta, rice, potato, bread etc..
No butter, dairy, meat, nuts, eggs. Two years later I was fully diabetic with an A1c in the mid teens. (13.7 maybe?) AND my triglycerides and cholesterol levels were WORSE!!!

Then I was put on an ADA 'Exchange' diet which didn't help a bit. Along with Metformin, Actos, Statins, ACE inhibitor etc.

I did an enormous amount of reading and decided that since nothing else was working I would try going low-carb as an experiment. I have never looked back. 20 months later I am off of ALL meds; no more statins, metformin, actos. My last A1c was 5.6% and my lipids are within the ultra low ranges recommended for diabetics.

I now eat full-fat yogurt, steaks, chicken, shellfish, fish, eggs, butter, nuts, avocados, all veggies etc etc.
I do not eat any pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, or processed, prepackaged, ready-made anything or anything with high fructose corn-syrup added, but that's about all that I avoid.

You'll see a lot of "YMMV" meaning "Your Milage May Vary" so you have to find out what works for you, we are all very different and I'm sure we even have differing underlying causality for our conditions which require different approaches.
Good luck to you!
Mike

[xMenace]

I concur.

Carbs Are Primary Cause of High Triglycerides - Articles supply a fake emaill addy

Carbs Are Primary Cause of High Triglycerides



By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege
Triglycerides are the chemical form of fat found in foods and in your body. When you eat a meal, any unused calories are converted to triglycerides and stored in your fat cells (some triglycerides are also present in your blood stream). Later, they will be released to meet the energy needs of your body.

You’ve likely heard of triglycerides before, as there has been intense research over the past 40 years that confirmed that elevated blood levels of triglycerides, known as hypertriglyceridemia, puts you at an increased risk of heart disease.

Unfortunately, many experts still believe that the way to treat this problem is with a low-fat diet. What is often overlooked with low-fat diets is that people tend to replace the fat with simple carbohydrates, and these are the primary cause of high triglycerides.

There are few absolutes in medicine, but I have yet to see someone with high triglycerides fail to respond to a comprehensive restriction of grain and sugar carbohydrates. I suspect there might be some cases out there, but I haven't seen them.

There is an excellent review of carbohydrate-induced high triglycerides, which thoroughly covers the history and science of my clinical observation, in the February 2000 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

In fact, I wish I would have cited this reference in my letter to the Canadian Medical Journal, published earlier this year, which challenged their review article that claimed low-fat diets are the solution to, rather than the cause of, high triglycerides.

This condition may not present any symptoms until heart disease develops, so the best way to know if your triglyceride levels are within range is with a blood test. Extremely high triglycerides may result in side effects like pancreatitis, an enlarged liver and spleen, and xanthomas, or fatty deposits in the skin.

If your triglyceride levels are elevated, it likely represents a severe abnormality of insulin balance in your body, and it is very important to lower them since, again, high triglycerides are an incredibly potent risk factor for heart disease.

Fortunately, you are being armed with the information you need to get things under control--triglyceride elevation is one of the most easy and straightforward problems to correct by dramatically reducing, or eliminating, grains and sugars in your diet. This includes bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, corn, bagels, cereals, crackers and sweets like cookies, candies and fruit juice. You can read more about the role of sugars in elevated triglycerides in this review in the October 2003 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Although this type of dietary change may sound overwhelming to start, you will soon break your addiction to grains and sugar and your desire for them will decrease, along with your triglyceride levels. Plus, you will likely have more energy than you’ve had in years. My book, The No-Grain Diet, can help you on your way to a grain-, sugar-free lifestyle.

Along with the diet there are two other factors that will protect your cardiovascular health: regularly taking a high-quality fish oil that is chock full of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, and getting plenty of exercise.

When choosing your fish oil it is important to find a brand that is independently tested by a lab and found to conform to purity guidelines. This will ensure that the oil is free of mercury and other toxins. One such brand, which I have found to be of superior quality when I compared it to many other brands, is Carlson’s fish and cod liver oil, and I now offer this exceptional fish oil/cod liver oil to you in my "Recommended Products" section. You can also look for it in your local health food store.

Now is the time of year when people living in cooler climates will want to switch from fish oil to cod liver oil. The main difference between cod liver oil and fish oil is that cod liver oil is high in vitamin D. In warm weather months, the more intense sunshine allows your body to produce high and usually sufficient levels of vitamin D without any supplementation necessary. However, in cool weather when intense sun exposure is limited, your body will need more vitamin D, and so I recommend cod liver oil versus fish oil in cool weather months or climates.

I generally recommend that you take cod liver oil from autumn to early spring, and fish oil from late spring through the end of summer. However, those who live in more tropical environments with regular exposure to more intense sun will most likely be fine taking fish oil year round, as your vitamin D intake from the sun will be sufficient. If you aren't sure of what you should take, please have your vitamin D levels tested as it is possible to overdose on vitamin D.

[shutterbug]

Originally Posted by matingara

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no............

this is exactly my story.

my triglycerides are now beautiful.

don't worry about eating fat. eat full fat everything - butter, cheese, meat etc.

but do cut WAY WAY WAY down on carbohydrates. no bread, pasta, rice, fruits and starchy vegetables.

i know it is hard to believe - but it works for me. i am willing to bet it works for you too.



-- Joel.

Well said.. Same with me. My triglycerides were high and they came down as soon as I lowered carbohydrates in my food intake. Also a big contributing factor is exercise. 30-45 minutes of moderate cardio (walking/jogging) will help greatly.

[donnalou]

wow... so much info. The white stuff huh? All the good stuff. I figured I'd get a few stalks of celery and start chomping on it when a craving hits, I can walk the nieghborhood and chomp away.. Thanks everyone

[donnalou]

From what I'm getting here... This sounds like the "ATKINS" diet... Is this correct?

[matingara]

you can use Atkins as a guideline. i use the atkins recipe site to get a lot of great ideas.

you could also use the Richard Bernstein books as guidelines.

i don't do "diets"

in fact, i am eating (most nights) a small bowl of full fat, sara lee chocolate ice cream. that ain't on anybody's diet plan (except mine).

anyway, start at Atkins to get some ideas.

and, of course, keep posting here.



-- Joel.

[donnalou]

Good to know... I guess I better get this HUGE number down first. Since I'm not diabetic well not told so, how will I be able to know when enough is enough? I saw some weight watchers soups too that sounds good. Do you think 1200 cals is a good start for me? I thought I'd try for that.

[BlueSky]

Also consider that there are various medical and drug related causes of very high triglycerides. Like hypothyroidism, for example. Have other possible causes been checked out?

[volleyball]

You do not have to do Atkins or South Beach or Weight Watchers. But to get started, some lower carb diet is the way to go. Some people get hung up on the diet word. Diet means what you eat so everyone is constantly on a diet if they are not fasting.
I have a simple plan. Cut out things with corn syrup in it. Especially high fructose corn syrup or HFCS. Next extremely limit food with white flour or enriched flour as the first ingredient. Next cut out potatoes and rice.
When it comes to low fat, thing such as dairy where they remove fat and don't put anything in is fine but you'll find as others have said, if there is a package labeled low fat and regular, compare the ingrediants, if the carbs go up, don't buy it.
Meat protein and fat is not the problem.
If diabetes runs in your family, it would be a good idea to convert your family to eating the diabetic way. Not the ADA way, the way we do.

[donnalou]

I forgot to ask.. are yams a "starchy food"? I found a recipe for mashed cauliflower I'm excited to try. I wonder if I should buy the tester and keep track of my trigliserides/ levels. Then I would know what foods affect me??
About 15 yrs ago heck maybe longer, my thyroid was checked but I will ask the dr about that too. But I wonder if this is genetic, my gran/ma & grn/pa on the same side had diebetes. Either way I need to do somethin about it......

[matingara]

Yams are very starchy.

you can look this stuff up really easily at Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com.

Yams are 27g of carbs per 100g. Potatoes are 21g per 100g. so according to that source Yams contain more glucose than potatoes.

There is a great recipe somewhere for mashed cauliflower that looks, acts and tastes like mashed potatoes.



-- Joel.