You already know that your body uses food as fuel. You may not have thought through the specific mechanics of how that works, though. It isn’t like you eat a sandwich and 100% of that energy gets converted into fuel right away. You might not necessarily need it all at once.
Instead, your body has a storage system to save and use that fuel later. Those storage systems are called triglycerides, and they get stored in your fat cells. Triglycerides play a key role in helping you move throughout your day with sufficient energy. But if you get too many of them, you can run into problems.
If recent bloodwork revealed that your triglyceride levels are too high, see Fuad Alykhan, MD, and our team at Loudoun Walk-In Medical Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Dr. Alykhan can develop a plan to help you lower your triglyceride levels, helping you defend against serious complications like heart disease and stroke.
Triglycerides are essentially your body’s fuel storage and delivery system. They’re the most common form of fat in your body.
You might eat a big breakfast, then go on a hike later that day. Triglycerides play a key role in making the fuel from that breakfast available to use as you’re ascending a steep part of the trail.
Ideally, your triglycerides aren’t storing fuel for your body for long. But if you eat more fuel than your body can burn, triglycerides build up.
We can measure your triglyceride levels with a blood test called a lipid panel. In a healthy adult, triglycerides fall below 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). Anything above that can pose a health risk.
Specifically, if you have an excess of triglycerides, you have a higher risk of:
High triglycerides can also be an indicator of diabetes and other health problems.
If your triglyceride levels fall above 150 mg/dL, Dr. Alykhan can work with you to bring them back down. As you might suspect, healthy lifestyle changes go a long way to get this kind of fat under control. That includes:
These changes can help you slash your triglyceride levels by as much as 70%. And you don’t have to implement them alone. We know that changing your diet or sticking with an exercise plan isn’t easy. Our team can come alongside you to build a personalized plan for finding healthy lifestyle changes that work for you.
If lifestyle changes alone don’t bring your triglyceride levels down, Dr. Alykhan may also prescribe medication.
Don’t let high triglycerides put your health at risk. For support in lowering your levels, call our office to schedule an appointment or simply walk in today.
