Today I want to talk about another factor that has been connected to  heart disease. Triglycerides.

What are triglycerides?
If you’ve ever had a blood workup you’ve undoubtedly been informed of your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Triglycerides are a kind of fat present in your body. Calories which your body doesn’t need immediately get converted into triglycerides, which are stored in your fat cells and transported around the body with the help of protein packages called lipoproteins. When the body needs energy between meals special
hormones release the triglycerides for your body’s use. If you consume more calories than your body needs for energy you may have an excessively high level of triglycerides in your blood.

Triglycerides are connected to heart health. A high level of triglycerides in the blood may be related to heart disease. What’s the difference between triglycerides and cholesterol? They are both types of fat that move around the body in the blood. As mentioned above triglycerides provide you with energy. Cholesterol, on the other hand helps build cells in the body and also builds hormones.

The normal level of triglycerides in the blood is considered to be less than 150 milligrams per decileter (mg/dl). Between 150 and 199 mg/dL is considered borderline high. Over 200 is considered high. It’s important to keep the level of triglycerides low because a high level may contribute to atherosclerosis - hardening of the artery walls. Atherosclerosis seriously increases your risk of contracting heart disease and aving a stroke. Sometimes high triglycerides is an indication of some other problem in the body like low levels of thyroid hormones, liver disease, kidney disease or diabetes.

“Metabolic Syndrome” is a syndrome which is comprised of a few problematic symptoms. These symptoms are: high blood pressure, excessive fat around the middle, low amounts of HDL (the “good” cholesterol), high blood sugar and high triglycerides. Metabolic Syndrome IS known to increase the risk for quite a few nasty diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes..

The causes of high triglycerides are very often consuming too many calories from carbohydrates. Very often obese people have high triglycerides. There are certain medications that also may increase the levels of triglycerides in the body, including birth control pills, estrogen (hormone replacement therapy), tamoxifen, steroids and beta blockers. People with diabetes sometimes have high triglycerides, especially if the their
diabetes is not controlled.

The absolute best way to lower your triglycerides is to cut down on your simple carbohydrate intake. This means cutting down on foods containing sugar like cakes, cookies and all commercially baked goods. Check labels on all foods and try to make sure that sugar is number 5 on the list of higher. The sooner sugar is mentioned in the list of ingredients, the more sugar present in the food. Cut down even on carbohydrates that
don’t contain sugar, like pretzels and bread. Carbs are converted to sugar in the body. You will find that if you seriously cut down on your carbohydrates your triglycerides level will drop dramatically.

Increasing your excercise is another way to lower your triglyceride levels.

If these two natural ways don’t help you may need to see your doctor and resort to medication. But, it’s usually better and more heathy to “go the natural route” first!

Here’s to our heart health!!

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