Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Have you heard of the Portfolio Diet? This plant-based spin on the Mediterranean Diet has become increasingly popular in people looking to support healthy cholesterol levels. Learn more from Amanda Williams, MPH.
High levels of triglycerides can be extremely detrimental to your well-being, but the good news is that there are nutrients that can help.
triglycerides
InViteⓇ Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey, Ph.
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In Part 1 of this episode, I discussed what triglycerides are, how they become elevated and some of the damage they can do, especially in the heart. I also discussed how they can relate to fatty liver disease, which is a lot more common than you think. Today, we’re going to discuss other ways that triglycerides can impact the body.†
Extremely high triglycerides can cause severe inflammation of the pancreas, which is known as pancreatitis. That’s not a comfortable condition. In pancreatitis, you get pain in the stomach area and it can radiate around to your back. It can cause severe nausea and vomiting and can also make your abdomen feel tender and swollen. There are a lot of symptoms that go along with pancreatitis. The problem is that if this happens too frequently, it can be connected to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. You never want inflammation in an organ if you can help it.†
According to the American Health Association, young people with high triglyceride levels have a four times greater risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke than people with normal triglycerides.†
High triglycerides often accompany other conditions, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, kidney disease and hypothyroidism. Your thyroid is a master gland that controls your metabolism. When it’s not functioning well, you tend to get inflamed. Your good cholesterol drops, your bad cholesterol goes up and your triglycerides go up. You also frequently have fatigue and it’s hard to focus and concentrate on things.†
A healthy lifestyle is the best way to help lower your triglyceride levels. That’s the key. If you’re overweight or you’re sedentary, that’s strongly associated with developing hypertriglyceridemia. This is because you’re not burning the calories from your food.†
It’s important to exercise regularly. If you can do about 30 minutes a day for most days of the week, that can help burn triglycerides.†
You should also avoid sugary foods and refined carbohydrates. This includes anything made from white flour, like white bread or pasta. Avoid high fructose corn syrup. This might be the worst thing because you’re mixing glucose with fructose, which seems to have a worse effect on people than just having either of those on their own.†
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You should choose healthier fats. Red meat is not the best thing for your blood fats. Fish is much better because it’s high in omega-3 fatty acids and also has a lot of other healthy things in it such as the mineral magnesium and the amino acid taurine. These nutrients are good for your heart, brain and eyes.†
In this episode, Jerry Hickey, Ph. continues his discussion on triglycerides. He explains how this fat can impact the health of the pancreas and also provides recommendations of foods to eat and foods to avoid in order to support healthy triglyceride levels. Stay tuned for Part 3 of this episode, coming soon!†
Key Topics:
Thank you for tuning in to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at InViteⓇ Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the InViteⓇ Health Podcast.
Triglycerides are a lipid found in the body that help ensure that your body gets the energy it needs between meals. But if you have too much of this fat, it can impact your heart, liver, pancreas and more. Learn more about how this can affect your health from Jerry Hickey, Ph.
The micromineral chromium is needed for healthy blood sugar, energy production and more, but this nutrient is frequently overlooked. Learn why it’s important to ensure you have enough of this mineral within your body.
oats
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Recently, on one of my radio programs, a caller asked how oats lower cholesterol. Why are they heart healthy? I thought this might be a good topic to cover quickly on one of these episodes. You can tune into our new web radio show right on our website from 10AM-11AM every week day. If you have a question you’d like to have answered, call 888-831-3279.
The importance of fiber in oats
Oats are loaded with fiber. There’s the husk, which has a very high concentration of fiber. This is the outer shell of the oat seed. Right below that, the first layers that are edible are the bran. That’s also loaded with fiber. They’re loaded with different kinds of fiber, including both insoluble fiber and soluble fiber.
So, how does this lower cholesterol? Soluble fiber and insoluble fiber help absorb the cholesterol and the saturated fats that are in your foods. One way oats have value is they help lower the amount of cholesterol that can be absorbed, like a sponge. They’ll absorb some of the cholesterol that’s in the bowels.
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They also have a second activity. You can’t absorb many fibers and those are the insoluble fibers. Your body and digestive system don’t know this. How do you break down fats to absorb them? You release bile acids and cholesterol is a major component of bile acids. When you eat fiber throughout the day, you’re releasing bile acids to break it down, yet that’s not working, so you keep on releasing bile acids. These acids have to be replaced and this is done by taking cholesterol out of the system and devoting it to making more bile acid. One way you’re blocking cholesterol is by actually inhibiting the absorption in the intestines. A second way is you’re taking cholesterol out of the bloodstream. Beta glucans help do that also.
Beta glucans are very interesting. You find beta glucans in mushrooms, where they’re more involved with stimulating the immune system. The beta glucans in oats are different. The beta glucans in oats are not immune system stimulants. They’re more involved with removing cholesterol.
How to consume oats
You need a good serving of oats. Whole oats, like steel cut oats, need to be cooked. If you’re using instant oatmeal, that’s like eating sugar. Oats should take about 20 minutes to cook.
Oat bran can be eaten raw. Oat bran is part of a healthy diet. In fact, we add it to one of our products called Sterols Plus Hx. This supplement has red yeast rice, which helps inhibit the manufacturing of cholesterol by your liver, as well as sterols, a type of fat from plants that helps block the absorption of cholesterol from your food, and oat bran, which basically takes the cholesterol out of your bloodstream. It’s the oat bran that’s high in beta glucans.
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Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about why it’s so important to eat fiber.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
