Which nutrients to track to lower glucose and cholesterol?

jm755328

Hi all,

I am loving myfitnesspal! I've been using it for about a month. My husband and I (in our 60's) have been trending up in glucose, while still "normal" we're on the upper side of that. And I've always been a bit high for cholesterol, so we're eating healthier to do what we can to avoid heart issues and pre diabetes.
The nutrients are so helpful in getting a better idea of what foods contain what, but I'm a little confused about the fats -- just fats, or saturated fats, poly, mono, trans, cholesterol? I would like to track sugar for sure, and carbs, and protein. So that leaves 2 nutrients to choose, fat wise.
Would you folks suggest for the best tracking of nutrients to simply lower cholesterol and get our sugar levels down? Would love to hear any ideas!

thanks,

Jan from Ohio

NYPhotographer2021

I have had both high sugar and high cholesterol. I track Carbs/Fiber/Protein/Fats/Cholesterol. I try to keep my carbs low. If you aren't diabetic, keep watch that carbs don't go over 150. I try to keep them below 30. Cholesterol is 300 so I try to keep under that. Which is way harder to do than the carbs. Both protein and fats are set at 25% and 65% which leaves carbs to be set at 10%.

tcunbeliever

If you're going to track carbs it can also be helpful to track fiber - you can subtract fiber from overall carbs if you want to look at net carbs.

As for fats - trans and saturated are bad for high cholesterol, while mono and poly are good for reducing high cholesterol, so which do you want to track, a number to stay under or a minimum to try to consume?

jm755328

thanks, that's all helpful information! Probably I'll track trans and/or sat fats, and keep them under control. I'm amazed how many foods have carbs and how difficult it is to keep the carbs down as well as fat. I thought we were eating kind of healthy, compared to a lot of people, but the nutrients amazed me. At least I'm getting a clear picture of what we're doing nutritionally.