Question about my blood work numbers? Triglycerides

[marcos77]

Hello.  

First I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my question.  My name is Mark.  I'm 5' 8" tall, 37 years old and weigh 155 lbs.  I just had some blood work done today and I'm concerned about my high triglycerides.  I don't have a primary doctor or health insurance and trying to get some basic advice.  Here are my numbers below:

CHOL:  137mg/dL
HDL CHOL:  54 mg/dL
TRIG:  173 mg/dL
CALC LDL:  49 mg/dL
TC/HDL:  2.6
Blood Pressure:  101/66

I've been a vegan now for about 2 years.  I road bike about 3-4 days per week and workout too.  So I do stay pretty active.  I tend to eat a good amount of pasta and breads to help with getting my calories in from road cycling.  I really don't want to loose any more weight.  I went from 205 lbs. to 155 lbs. over the past couple of years.   What should I be eating instead of pasta and breads to get my calories in without affecting my Triglycerides?   Thanks

[Flycaster305]

Your ratio is excellent which compares 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol.  I looked up the "Epic Saturated Fat Experiment".  The authority isn't a health professional, but has a BS degree in Diet and Exercise.  My oldest grandchild has this degree, but it hardly qualifies her as an expert, but an advisor.  Also, if you google it, the number of subjects studied was ... one person!...  the 'study' also suggested saturated fats are good for you because our ancestors favored them.  Growing up eating venison and wild birds makes me an expert by this criteria, and believe me, critters carried very little fat compared to today's high fat animals and birds.  I'm an old guy, I've seen the change first hand.
I'm not a health professional but have struggled for years with cholesterol issues.  I have found that eating whole grains in pasta and bread reduced my total cholesterol.    You can make your own marinara sauce using San Marsano plum tomatoes with no added sugar, onions, garlic and Italian herbs.  Limit your wine, and dry reds have lower sugars, use olive oil, and of course exercise, which you do.  Coconut products are considered a very high source of fat and cholesterol. I'd simply carry on and not worry about your diet, just monitor it.  Again, I'm not a health professional.      

[Red_Star]

LDL particles correlate to triglyceride levels.  High triglycerides correlate with small dense LDL (that's bad) and low triglycerides correlate to large buoyant LDL (benign - not a problem).  Saturated fat raise large buoyant LDL. Vegan sources of saturated fat include coconut products and nuts (pili-nuts, brazil, macademia).

Also, you might be interested in the article "Epic Saturated Fat Experiment - The Effects of 15 days of 100 Grams of Saturated Fat Per Day on Cholesterol Levels in a healthy adult male." The very noteworthy lab improvements: "Testosterone increased ~70%, from 586-841 and triglycerides decreased 34%, dropping from 100 to 66. HDL also increased ~27%, from 60 to 76."