Many of us, more or less, know what cholesterol is. Some even follow-up cholesterol levels on a regular basis, yet the level of triglycerides is of no less importance. If elevated, it can be a risk factor for devastating diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack.

Triglycerides are one of the main plasma lipids. Lipids are fats synthesized by human liver from the food. They are very crucial and necessary for human body to maintain health. There are two main fats (lipids) – cholesterol and triglycerides. Cholesterol participates in formation of all cellular membranes, various hormones, bile acids and similar substances. Triglycerides are the source of energy for the muscle cells, and they also deposit as fat in the adipose tissue. If triglyceride levels in blood exceed the reference range, it promotes narrowing of blood vessel walls together with low density cholesterol and homocysteine, which may oxidise low density cholesterol (higher stress causes proportionally more homocysteine) and hereby it poses a risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, high blood pressure etc. Therefore, elevated triglyceride level is a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease.

Yet, there are lot of things we can do to cut down triglycerides circulating in our blood. Some recommendations:

1. Avoid starch-containing products

If you monitor your triglyceride levels, you should definitely consider the amount of starch in your daily diet. Yes, starch is found in grains, pasta and bread to mention few; however, you must be careful also with vegetables. Unbelievable! Choose low-starch vegetables. Restrict consumption of vegetables like corn, potatoes, peas and instead go for cauliflower, cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes and broccoli.

2. Do not overconsume fruit

Fruits are, no doubt, very good and valuable, and it is better to choose fruit over a fatty dessert. Nevertheless, if you have high triglyceride levels, you might want to restrict your fruit intake to 2-3 per day. This way you will consume less natural sugar found in fruit. If you eat dried fruit, remember that you should consume them less: for example, 4 spoons of raisins per day.

3. Less alcohol

You may think that red wine is good for your heart but too much of alcohol may increase your triglyceride levels. The reason for that is sugar naturally found in alcohol, be it wine, beer or other type. Too much sugar may become a problem regardless of its origin. Your doctor may recommend refraining from alcohol completely if your triglyceride level is very high.

4. Choose canned fish without added oil

Omega-3 containing fish are beneficial for your heart, but as you look for the canned fish read labels to find out if there is oil, natural liquid (water) or tomato sauce added to it. The best option is to buy canned fish without added oil, because those and also fish in tomato sauce contain a lot of salt.

5. Coconut?

Coconuts are fancy these days. You can find coconut milk, coconut water, grated coconut and coconut oil and the very fruit as well in the shop. Coconut is not bad, but it contains large amount of saturated fats. So, if you have elevated triglyceride levels, consult with your doctor if you should restrict or completely avoid coconut in your diet.

6. Better without sodas

Majority of daily sugar intake can come from drinks. Regardless of whether you drink sweet ice tea, regular soda, fruit juice or coffee with syrup, you may consume way too much sugar than your body is able to process. Some of this sugar can be converted to triglycerides. So, when you are cutting back your sugar intake, do not forget to address also your drinks.

7. Limit fried foods

If your triglyceride level is high, you must definitely limit the amount of saturated fats and trans-fats in your diet. They are found in fatty meat, fatty dairy products (e.g. butter), palm and coconut oil, and they are produced by hydrogenising or partially hydrogenising vegetable oils or oils for deep-frying or frying in high temperature (>220˚C). It means that foods like fried meat, biscuits, pastries and cakes must not be a part of your daily menu.