About Triglycerides
Triglycerides: Why do they matter? (from MYO Clinic)
Triglycerides are an important measure of heart health. Here’s why triglycerides matter — and what to do if your triglycerides are too high.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, there’s something else you might need to monitor: your triglycerides. Having a high level of triglycerides, a type of fat (lipid) in your blood, can increase your risk of heart disease. However, the same lifestyle choices that promote overall health can help lower your triglycerides, too.
What are triglycerides?
Triglycerides are a type of fat (lipid) found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn’t need to use right away into triglycerides. The triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, particularly “easy” calories like carbohydrates and fats, you may have high triglycerides (hypertriglyceridemia).
What’s considered normal?
A simple blood test can reveal whether your triglycerides fall into a healthy range.
- Normal — Less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), or less than 1.7 millimoles per liter (mmol/L)
- Borderline high — 150 to 199 mg/dL (1.8 to 2.2 mmol/L)
- High — 200 to 499 mg/dL (2.3 to 5.6 mmol/L)
- Very high — 500 mg/dL or above (5.7 mmol/L or above)
For those trying to lower their triglycerides to this level, lifestyle changes such as diet, weight loss and physical activity are encouraged. That’s because triglycerides usually respond well to dietary and lifestyle changes.
Food to Avoid If You Have High Triglycerides
“Information taken from WebMD”
Starchy Veggies
Some vegetables are better than others when you’re watching your triglycerides. Limit how much you eat of those that are starchy, like corn and peas. That way, your body won’t turn the extra starch into triglycerides. There are plenty of other options, like cauliflower, kale, and mushrooms, to choose from.
Baked Beans With Sugar or Pork Added
Beans have fiber and other nutrients going for them. But if they’re made with sugar or pork, they may not be the best choice. The label on the can should say what’s in there, and how much sugar and fat you’re getting. Switch to black beans, which are a great source of fiber and protein, without saturated fats or added sugar.
Too Much of a Good Thing
No doubt: Fruit is good for you, especially if you’re having a piece of fruit instead of a rich dessert. But when you have high triglycerides, you may need to limit yourself to 2-3 pieces of fruit a day. That way, you won’t get too much of the natural sugars that are in fruit. If you’re having dried fruit, remember that the serving size is much smaller: 2 tablespoons of raisins, for example.
Alcohol
You may think of alcohol as being good for your heart. But too much of it can drive up your triglyceride levels. That’s because of the sugars that are naturally part of alcohol, whether it’s wine, beer, or liquor. Too much sugar, from any source, can be a problem. Your doctor may recommend that you not drink at all if your triglyceride levels are very high.
Canned Fish Packed in Oil
Fish is good for your heart. But when you’re buying canned fish, check the label to see if it’s packed in oil. You’re better off buying canned fish that’s packed in water. Usually, both are available on the same shelf at the grocery store.
Coconut
Coconut is trendy. You can find coconut milk, coconut water, coconut flakes, coconut oil, and the fruit itself. Some say coconut has health benefits, but it’s also high in saturated fats, so ask your doctor if you should limit it or avoid it completely.
Starchy Foods
Eat too much pasta, potatoes, or cereals and your body can turn them into triglycerides. You can still have them, but you have to stay within proper serving sizes. A serving is a slice of bread, 1/3 cup of rice or pasta, or half a cup of potatoes or cooked oatmeal.
Sugary Drinks
A lot of the sugar you get may come from a glass. Whether you drink sweet iced tea, regular soda, fruit juice, or a syrupy coffee drink, you may be getting more sweetness than your body can handle. It may turn some of that sugar into triglycerides. So when you’re cutting back on sugar, remember to include your drinks in that, too. Limit yourself to no more than a cup (8 ounces) of sugar-sweetened drinks per day.
Honey or Maple Syrup
You may think of honey and maple syrup as being healthier or more natural than refined sugar. But like sugar, they can raise your triglyceride levels. When you’re working on lowering your triglycerides, cut down on sugary sweeteners across the board, even if they’re not table sugar.
Baked Goods
Because of your high triglycerides, you should limit the saturated fat in your diet. That includes the saturated fat in the butter that’s baked into pastries. You should also avoid trans fats altogether. Check the nutrition facts label to be sure.
High-Fat Meats
You don’t have to give up meat completely. But you should choose lean cuts and trim any visible fat. Meat has saturated fat in it, so you want to limit that as much as possible to help bring your triglyceride levels down.
Butter or Margarine
Use olive oil as a replacement for butter and margarine, which may have too much saturated fat or trans fat, when cooking meats and vegetables or making salad dressing. Canola, walnut, and flaxseed oils are also great alternatives.
1. Aloe Vera Is High in Vitamins & Minerals:
Aloe Vera contains many vitamins including A, C, E, folic acid, choline, B1, B2, B3 (niacin), B6. Aloe Vera is also one of the few plants that contains vitamin B12.
Some of the 20 minerals found in Aloe Vera include: calcium, magnesium, zinc, chromium, selenium, sodium, iron, potassium, copper, manganese.
2. Aloe Vera is High in Amino Acids & Fatty Acids
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are about 22 amino acids that are necessary for the human body and it is said that 8 of these are essential. Estimates of the amino acids found in aloe range from 18-20 amino acids, with all 8 essential amino acids.
Aloe Vera also includes quite an impressive range of fatty acids. Aloe contains three plant sterols, which are important fatty acids – HCL cholesterol (which lowers fats in the blood), campesterol, and B-sitosterol. All are helpful in reducing symptoms of allergies and acid indigestion. Other fatty acids include linoleic, linolenic, myristic, caprylic, oleic, palmitic, and stearic.
3. Aloe Vera is an Adaptogen
Aloe Vera is a well-known adaptogen. An adaptogen is something that boosts the body’s natural ability to adapt to external changes and resist illness. It is thought that aloe’s power as an adaptogen balances the body’s system, stimulating the defence and adaptive mechanisms of the body. This allows you an increased ability to cope with stress (physical, emotional and environmental stress like pollution)
4. Aloe Helps with Digestion
Poor digestion is related to many diseases. A properly functioning digestive tract is one of the keys and foundations of health. Aloe is known to soothe and cleanse the digestive tract and help improve digestion. The interesting thing about taking aloe internally is that, because it is an adaptogen, it helps with either constipation or diarrhoea, helping to regulate your elimination cycles in whatever way you need. It’s been a great remedy for people with problems such as irritable bowel syndrome as well as acid reflux. Aloe also helps to decrease the amount of unfriendly bacteria and in our gut keeping your healthy intestinal flora in balance. Aloe is also a vermifuge, which means it helps to rid the body of intestinal worms.
5. Aloe Helps in Detoxification
Aloe Vera is a gelatinous plant food, just like seaweeds and Chia seeds. The main benefit to consuming gelatinous plant foods in your diet is that these gels move through the intestinal tract absorbing toxins along the way and get eliminated through the colon. This will help the proper elimination of waste from your body and help the detoxification of your body.
6. Aloe Alkalizes the Body
Disease cannot manifest in an alkaline environment. Most people are living and subsisting on mostly acidic foods. For great health, remember the 80/20 rule – 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acidic. Aloe Vera is an alkaline forming food. It alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits.
7. Cardiovascular Health
There hasn’t been a lot of studies conducted on aloe’s effect on cardiovascular health, but there has been some research to show that Aloe Vera extract injected into the blood, greatly multiplies the oxygen transportation and diffusion capabilities of the red blood cells.
According to a study published in the 2000 issue of the British Medical Journal, beta sitosterol helps to lower cholesterol. By regulating blood pressure, improving circulation and oxidation of the blood, lowering cholesterol, and making blood less sticky, Aloe Vera juice may be able to help lower the risk of heart disease.
8. Aloe Helps Boost the Immune System
I think given the stresses of our daily lives, everyone can use a boost to their immune systems. The polysaccharides in Aloe Vera juice stimulate macrophages, which are the white blood cells of your immune system that fight against viruses.
Aloe is also an immune enhancer because of its high level of anti-oxidants, which help combat the unstable compounds known as free-radicals, contributing to the aging process. (Free radicals are a bi-product of life itself, it is a naturally occurring process but we can overload ourselves with unnecessary free-radicals by living an unhealthy lifestyle). Aloe is also an antipyretic which means it used to reduce or prevent fever.
9. Aloe Vera is Great for the Skin
Because of aloe’s well-known healing properties for the skin, aloe is one of the primary compounds used in the cosmetic industry. It is a known vulnerary, (meaning it helps heal wounds) and is great for applying topically to burns, abrasions, psoriasis and even to bug bites. Aloe acts as an analgesic, acting to help relieve pain of wounds. It’s feels especially good to cut a stem of aloe, place it in the fridge and rub it on sun burnt skin – the immediate soothing effect feels like an absolute lifesaver. Aloe is also an antipruritic: A substance that relieves or prevents itching. Aloe vera is an astringent: which causes the contraction of body tissues, typically used to reduce bleeding from minor abrasions.
10. Aloe Vera is a: Disinfectant, Anti-biotic, Anti-microbial, Germicidal, Anti-bacterial, Anti-septic, Anti-fungal & Anti-viral:
Wow, I think that covers all anti- bases. Okay, I admit, that was just a sneaky way to add in another 8 good reasons why you should keep an Aloe Vera as a handy (to to mention beautiful) house plant and incorporate it’s uses into your healthy lifestyle. Aloe Vera’s active ingredients are sulphur, lupeol, salicylic acid, cinnamic acid, urea nitrogen and phenol which are substances that prevent the growth of disease-causing microorganisms and act as a team to provide antimicrobial activity thus eliminating many internal and external infections, also active against bacteria. It also helps to treat fungal and viral infections.
11. Aloe Helps Reduce Inflammation
Aloe Vera contains 12 substances, including B-sisterole, which can help to slow down or inhibit inflammation. This may be able to help with painful joints due to stiffness and help improve joint flexibility.
12. Weight Loss – A Secondary effect
Improving your digestion, and detoxifying your body will have a secondary effect of promoting weight loss because when you start to improve your digestion you naturally eliminate more efficiently, which is a primary way that we all detoxify – through our bowels. This will lighten your toxic load on your body and will give you more energy.
Aloe Vera Intake Precautions
This plant is incredibly medicinal, yet there are some cautions against long-term use. Just because a little is beneficial, doesn’t mean that a lot is more beneficial. This is an incredibly potent plant and should be used with a level of respect for its potency. Long-term use can lead to loss of electrolytes, especially potassium.
Tip: Avoid taking aloe internally during pregnancy, menstruation, if you have haemorrhoids or degeneration of the liver and gall bladder.
– See more at: http://happyandraw.com/top-12-benefits-of-aloe-vera/
Dental amalgams
A much exited client rang me the other day. In a triumphant voice he proclaimed that he finally had got rid of his allergies.
I had been treating him for heavy metal poisoning with some good results, diminishing his eczema, rushes and improving his respiratory system. However he was still highly sensitive to many things. He could not go out dinning with his family and friends in case someone had used a pan that had mushrooms or nuts or just about any type of food. He also was taking up to 8 anti histamine tablets. This made him miserable as he felt isolated.
Three weeks ago he had a tooth ache. He went to his dentist only to find that one of the teeth with amalgam was rotting. The dentist removed the amalgam, cleaned the tooth and told him to come back when the inflammation would have subsided.
Apparently, since that day, he has not had to take one anti histamine, he has been able to eat mushrooms, nuts…..he is completely transformed and over the moon.
So if you have skin issues, allergy issues and you have teeth filled with old fashion amalgam get your dentist to remove the old amalgam and see how your metabolism reacts.
Worth a try
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