Causes of High Triglycerides & How I Lowered them Naturally?

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When it comes to causes of high triglycerides, you must look first at what you eat. And sugar is probably one of the main causes of high triglycerides (more on this below).

In this article you will find that you can divide high triglycerides causes into 2 groups:

I. Causes you have no control over; and 

II. Causes over which you have control.

This is probably one of the most important distinctions, as this helps you focus your efforts in those causes that you can control.

Last but not least, you will find out how I lowered my triglycerides naturally.

I. Causes of High Triglycerides You Can Control

There are 3 causes that you can control. And most likely by focusing on these you will lower your triglycerides.

1. Obesity/Being Fat/Weight Gain.

Understand this. Triglycerides are, what we call “fat”. If you can grab your tummy or love handles you are grabbing triglycerides.

Then triglyceride levels usually increase as your weight increases. Excess calories, especially from sugar and alcohol are one of the causes of high triglycerides. Alcohol increases your liver’s production of triglycerides and reduces the amount of fat cleared from your blood. Also, high fat foods increase your triglycerides. For example, red meat, dairy products.

This leads us to the 2nd main reason of high triglycerides:

2. Diet & Foods.

Diet is one of the most important factors in the elevation of triglyceride levels. More you eat, more and more fats start depositing within cells, leading to increased levels of triglycerides in your body.

Refined processed sugar, high fat foods such as red meat and dairy products can all increase triglyceride levels significantly.

2.1. Sugar—A Sweet Poison

Sugar is commonly added to foods during processing and it is one of the most important causes of obesity—another very important risk factor for elevated triglycerides

The American Heart Association recommends that most men should consume no more than 150 calories (about 37.5 grams) or nine teaspoons and most women not more than 100 calories (about 25 grams) or about six teaspoons of added sugar per day. However, this is for the American people. If you’re in Asia or elsewhere you may want to lower it.

I believe that in America the recommended portions are a bit on the high side, so I would reduce that by 20%, whether for Americans or non-Americans.

3. Other Medications

Certain drugs including steroids, birth control pills, and diuretics (water pills given to increase urine output) are known to cause elevated triglycerides. If you already have high triglyceride levels, always seek medical advice before using any of these drugs at home.

How I Lowered my Triglycerides?

While there are various ways to lower triglycerides naturally, I lowered my triglycerides naturally by using Lipi-Rite.

This is the natural supplement that helped to lower my triglycerides naturally to normal levels. This happened after I had tried a couple of non-effective supplements.

This supplement has several ingredients (red yeast, policosanol, garlic, guggul) that help lower triglycerides and cholesterol in a proprietary formula.

While there may be other supplements that contain similar ingredients, I am not sure whether they give results. So in the end the result was much lower triglycerides, and that is enough reason to use it.

II. High Triglyceride Causes you Cannot Control

There are 3 non-controllable causes:

1. Age and Gender.

As we grow older, levels of triglyceride may also start climbing. By the time you are around 60, you may have twice the levels of triglycerides as compared to when you were a child.

If you are a woman you tend to have a bit higher levels of triglyceride levels as compared to men and need to be more cautious.

2. Heredity Factors.

Some people are predisposed to high levels of triglycerides due to hereditary factors. This condition may run in families and people with families at risk need to be more cautious than others.

3. Other Diseases.

Certain diseases if not treated well can lead to a significant increase in body triglycerides. These include poorly controlled diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, and hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid gland). I put this cause as non-controllable since if you have other illnesses it is beyond you and your control already.

References:

(1) Sugar & Carbohydrates – As retrieved from the American Heart Association website.