Blood sugar and lipids

weightofyourskin

I had blood tests done last month and my blood sugar, cholesterol, lipids and triglycerides were all normal/low. However, I just started taking a new medication and one of the potential side effects is increased blood sugar and lipids. I'm going to need to do monthly blood tests to monitor those, and I'm not TERRIBLY worried since I'm healthy, but I've read horror stories about people whose triglycerides jumped from the low hundreds to the high 400s while on this drug! (Well, okay, it was ONE person. I'm still freaked out!)

I'm looking for suggestions of what to eat/not eat to make sure that doesn't happen. I eat clean about 90% of the time. I get most of my sugar from fruit and vegetables, although I've been known to give in to the occasional can of Coke. Obviously I'll cut out the soda, but what fruit/vegetables have a lot of sugar? Any of them high in sugar but really nutritious enough to make them worth it?

As for lipids, I'm consistently under my daily fat/cholesterol limit according to MFP. I do most of my own cooking with cooking spray or a bit of olive oil; if I need to grab a quick bite on the go I get a chicken pita or sushi. But I know some seemingly innocent foods have a lot of hidden fat... but at the same time, I've been told that the fat/cholesterol you eat doesn't have a high impact on your blood lipid/cholesterol level, so I'm a bit confused by this point.

I'd appreciate any suggestions or advice you have! I'd hate it if this medication that's supposed to help me ended up giving me a heart attack... :grumble:

KatyE213

To be honest it sounds as if you already eat really well and theres probably not much more you can do. The only other thing I know that helps is eating oats, they combat high cholesterol. I often eat porridge for breakfast (oatmeal I think if you are in the US! I know a little bit about it because I have a family history of high cholesterol which fortunately has missed me out up to now! But thats why I've read up about it a bit. Exercise also raises "good" cholesterol hence lowering "bad" cholesterol.

Good luck and I hope the medication doesn't have the nasty side effect for you!

4theking

To lower your triglycerides you need to lower your carbs.....they go hand in hand. Fats get the bad rap for cholesterol and cholesterol gets the bad rap for heart issues, but I think triglycerides are the issue.

neanderthin

If it's the medication that causes these effects and you already have decent numbers, there's really nothing you can do and considering your age, your probably overreacting.

Also like to mention that if your trigs are over 150, that there's a lot of room to reduce them and I certainly wouldn't consider anything above 150 normal, personally I see that as high, mine are around 40. Also considering that the vast majority of heart attacks in the US are with cholesterol numbers in the normal to lower range I would be more concerned with other factors like the ratio of HDL/LDL, trigs, blood glucose numbers. C-reactive protein status, that kind of thing. Also when consuming fat they need to be the right ones.....cooking sprays is not one of them. You want natural fats and no refined vegetable oils and contrary to popular belief these fats are not the problem with CHD. High blood sugar, insulin resistance, low HDL, high trigs are the result of a high carb diet with it's fair share of refined sugars in conjunction with weight gain. Don't fear the fat.