Triglycerides: Fill & Download for Free

Being overweight is in itself a risk factor for heart disease. It also can increase your cholesterol. Losing weight will help lower your LDL, total cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. At the same time it can help you raide your HDL.

My blood test results came back recently with apparent cause for concern. I had to book a telephone appointment to discuss my results.One of the GPs in the clinic I was registered in gave me a ring. She told me that my total cholesterol levels were higher than the recommended reference range.“Not by much,” she reassured me, “but your total cholesterol is higher than normal, which puts you at a greater risk of cardiovascular heart disease. It’s not at the level where you’re going to need statins yet, but if you don’t make lifestyle changes you might have to one day.”Hm. Okay. So I decided to press on and asked her what made my total cholesterol levels so high.“Well, your LDL levels are on the higher side, but still within normal range, and your HDL levels are high, which is good. Your triglycerides are almost 0.”“Wait a minute,” I reply, “you’re telling me that all my numbers are within normal range. My triglycerides and LDLs are normal. So am I right to think that the only reason why my total cholesterol levels are elevated beyond the normal range is because my HDL is high?”“Yes, essentially that,” she said.“And that I am at an elevated risk for heart disease because of this?”She was silent for a moment. “We generally just recommend that people with high cholesterol go through lifestyle changes to ameliorate this.”“What would you recommend that I do?” I ask.“You could start by getting some physical exercise and making changes to your diet,” she says, “cut out fats, replace butter with margarine, use vegetable oils, that sort of thing.”I had to stifle a laugh at this point. I do resistance circuit training every other day and run a cumulative total of 20–25km every week. And I think I’ll start using margarine and vegetable oils when I want my triglycerides to go up, not down. And not that I have anything against saturated fats, but most of the fat I consume is monounsaturated anyway; I generally subsist on mackerel, avocados and almond butter. But I didn’t say any of that, of course.“Thank you for the advice, I’ll see what I can do,” I say, “Out of curiosity, could I have a look at my results personally?”“Sure, I’ll make them available for you at reception. You can come and pick it up whenever you want.”And pick it up I did.I glanced at my results. My VLDLs and triglycerides were so low they were almost negligible. My total cholesterol to HDL ratio was something like 2. My non-HDL cholesterol was lower than 3 mmol/L. My triglycerides to HDL ratio was 0.2.I think I’ll take my chances.

Image source: Know you good and your bad fats.... HDL plant based fats, vs LDL animal fats sticky fats... #l… | What causes high cholesterol, What is cholesterol, Hdl cholesterolWhat causes high levels of fat in the blood? The wrong diet, like the Standard American diet (SAD) and a lack of regular exercise. In addition, too much beef and saturated fats can also raise your cholesterol. Too many sweets raise your triglycerides. A Mediterranean diet lowers both the bad LDL cholesterol and the triglycerides.More info: 13 Simple Ways to Lower Your Triglycerides.