Patients with hyperlipidemia often have elevated blood sugar and blood pressure. Their blood lipids are mainly characterized by elevated triglycerides, and they are usually on medication. It is well known that Western medicine for lowering triglycerides can easily damage the liver, and his transaminase levels have also increased, causing him much distress. Below, I will introduce how to lower blood lipids, and it must be achieved through the following eight words: "tighten your mouth, loosen your hands."
"Tighten your mouth" refers to controlling your diet, especially foods high in cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as other high-calorie foods. You should know that China's economy has developed rapidly, and today's abundance of food is simply incredible. People haven't had time to update their dietary concepts, yet their dining tables are already filled with chicken, duck, fish, and meat. As a result, the blood lipid levels of Chinese people have skyrocketed, and the number of patients with hyperlipidemia continues to increase.
"Loosen your hands" means increasing physical activity. I gave two contrasting examples, one being migrant workers, the other being urban women of a certain age. Migrant workers, who primarily engage in manual labor, often cook with lard containing large amounts of saturated fatty acids and eat fatty meat, yet few of them have high blood lipid levels. On the other hand, many urban women in their forties frequently complain about gaining weight even from drinking water, despite consuming salad oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids. The fundamental reason for these two different outcomes lies in whether or not they exercise. Migrant workers are physically active all day, and the fat and blood lipids in their bodies are consumed and transported during exercise, making it less likely for them to develop high blood lipids even if they consume fatty meat and lard. Urban women of a certain age have very little physical activity and low energy expenditure, so even if they consume salad oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids, lipids and fat still accumulate in their blood vessels and under the skin.
"Eating" is the favorite pastime of most patients with high blood lipids, so "tightening your mouth" is not easy. I asked this director to make weighing himself a daily essential task, constantly reminding himself and setting the goal of losing weight as important as lowering blood lipids. Each meal should consist of only a small amount of rice and meat to ensure necessary nutrition, while the remaining space in the stomach is filled with vegetables (with minimal oil). Stop eating when you're seven-tenths full and leave the table, maintaining a sense of hunger (intestinal rumbling) an hour before the next meal.
Generally speaking, after 1-3 months of dietary and exercise adjustments, blood lipids will significantly decrease along with weight loss. This director called me about four months later to report good news: without taking lipid-regulating drugs or liver-protecting drugs, his liver function was normal, and his weight, blood lipids, blood sugar, and blood pressure had all decreased. He wondered, "Why did all four indicators improve?" I told him that hyperlipidemia can cause insulin resistance in the body, and reducing blood lipids increases the efficiency of insulin in lowering blood sugar. Loosening your hands and tightening your mouth increases energy consumption and reduces intake, naturally lowering weight. The decline in weight, blood lipids, and blood sugar, combined with the mental relaxation brought by appropriate exercise, also leads to a drop in blood pressure.
Blood lipid tests include the following contents:
Total cholesterol (TC);
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) ——
"Bad" cholesterol, too high increases the risk of coronary heart disease;
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) ——
"Good" cholesterol, too low is a risk factor for coronary heart disease;
Triglycerides (TG) ——
Under certain conditions, high TG increases the risk of coronary heart disease.
Tips: Foods that help lower blood lipids
People with high blood lipids can regularly consume foods that help lower blood lipids, such as jujubes, hawthorns, wolfberries, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, kiwifruits, cucumbers, celery, eggplants, peppers, radishes, carrots, garlic, mushrooms, tofu, oats, etc. If you have high blood pressure, please refer to the hypertension diet.
If lifestyle changes are ineffective, medication may be needed
There are some people whose blood lipids do not significantly improve after dietary and exercise adjustments. This could be due to a lack of certain proteins or enzymes in the body responsible for transporting blood lipids, requiring drug treatment. When using drugs for lipid regulation, dietary and exercise treatments should still serve as the foundation to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal dosage and reduce side effects from the drugs.
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