Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. Your body uses them for energy.
You need some triglycerides for good health. But high triglycerides can raise your risk of heart disease and may be a sign of metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is the combination of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, too much fat around the waist, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, and high triglycerides. Metabolic syndrome increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
A blood test that measures your cholesterol also measures your triglycerides. For a general idea about your triglycerides level, compare your test results to the following:
While reading I found out that high triglycerides could be caused by consuming too much sugar. I made a decision that day to cut out sugar. Again over the past 2/3 weeks I have not done a good job with this. But at the time I cut out all the "added" sugar from my diet. In other words I quit putting 3 tablespoons of sugar in my tea. I quit doing that 4/5 times a day. Oh and I cut out the cokes, for the most part. I would let myself have a treat once a week. SO I found and downloaded an app for my iPhone. It was a calorie counting app that also allowed me to track my sugar and whatnot. I also started taking my blood pressure at least once a day. Over the course of that first month I also noticed my heart rate started to go down. From the time that I had been put on Enbrel and other biological drugs after failing the Enbrel my resting heart rate had been very high. Like 105 high. Well within just a few days of cutting out the sugar my resting heart rate was in the 90's. I was like hey cool. SO I continued on with the dietary change I had started. I have to say right here and now, I DID NOT go on a diet. I did not intend to lose weight. Do I need to lose weight? Not just yes but Hell Yes. In the grand scheme of things though, needing to lose weight is not why I started this journey. It is though a happy consequence of the journey.
After about a month with the lower levels of sugar in my diet I noticed that my heart rate was now in the 80's resting. I was absolutely thrilled and shocked by this. Now my Step FIL had cut out sugar and been able to quit taking blood pressure med. So I knew that my blood pressure could be affected, never knew what would happen with the heart rate though. I also noticed that I had started to lose excess weight. Again yes I need that, but had not really expected to see it. SO within about 6 weeks of dietary change I got new blood word done. I try to do this monthly because of the fact that I am on Methotrexate as well as Arava. Both of them can mess with your liver function and call me crazy but I like having a functioning liver. With the new results I discovered that my trigs where well within normal range now. Oh and as a happy plus I had lowered my cholesterol level as well. No it wasn't high, but hey any improvement in blood work is a win as far as I am concerned. SO I had taken a step to try and improve one part of my health. By doing so I improved so much more. Because after the heart rate went down I actually had the energy to get up and start moving. Before it was so hard because just walking from the bed to the toilet winded me.
After realising that I could actually make a difference in my own health I decided to take the diet even further. I mean if I could actually change my own blood results by actively making better choices could I actually lose some of the weight I really needed to. I know, I know, that kind of seems like a total no brainer doesn't it? But you see the thing is, that I really actually believed and thought that I COULDN'T lose weight. I had had it drilled into my head that unless I could KILL myself in the gym and really break a sweat I would never lose weight. Let's face it, how many of us with RA, let alone Severe RA can kill it in the gym? How many of us can't even walk from one end of the house to the other? I know I for one had a very hard time with it. Not to mention when I had said in front of my MIL that I wanted to lose weight she tapped my on the shoulder and said, well even if you CAN'T at least you could QUIT gaining it. That hurt, and to be honest it gave me yet ANOTHER excuse to not even try. I did try though, and I am DOING it. Yes I am losing weight. Yes it is very hard. Yes it is taking a supremely LONG time. I mean the estimated finish date for my total weight loss is Feb of 2014. When I look at it that way, it just seem impossible. When I take it one day at a time, it kinda seems impossible some days. SO I try and take it as it comes. Since mid January I have lost 6 kilo's or 13 pounds, so not much. But that is 13 less pounds I carry around on a daily basis. Yes there are weeks when I can have a small gain. Like this week. And yes I wanna go and stuff my face. Like today I had a coke. I have had 2/3 this week alone. The thing is I know I can get up tomorrow and try again though. I am not dieting, I am changing my lifestyle. I am changing the way I look at and interact with food. That is going to take a while. In fact 2 years seems pretty good when you look at it that way. I will get up, I will again take the right action and cut out the extra sugar again. I will keep moving because this is indeed a new journey. It is a journey that I want to take. I want to show my kids that even though something is hard, and may take a very long time, it can be done. Never give up and so on.
I figured I would document the journey just in case anyone wanted to read about it.
