"Healthy by eating" series | Don't panic if your blood lipids are high, eating this way can help you stabilize your blood lipids

High blood lipids can not only cause atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease, but also may induce a series of diseases that seriously endanger human health, such as pancreatitis. We need to pay attention to this. So, what exactly is high blood lipids? And how can we prevent it before it happens?

Common blood lipid test indicators include triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Abnormal blood lipid indicators usually refer to elevated triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein, or decreased high-density lipoprotein. However, how can you confirm whether your blood lipids are normal? Here is the range of normal blood lipids. Generally speaking, triglycerides should be less than 1.7mmol/L; total cholesterol should be less than 5.18mmol/L; low-density lipoprotein should be less than 3.37mmol/L; high-density lipoprotein ≥1.04mmol/L. Values ​​exceeding these values ​​are considered abnormal blood lipids.

There are many causes of dyslipidemia. Some patients have genetic issues, which are often caused by gene defects. Family members of these patients, such as parents, siblings, often also have dyslipidemia, which is what we call "family clustering" characteristics. The dyslipidemia of these patients is called primary dyslipidemia.

There are also some patients whose dyslipidemia is related to diet and bad living habits, such as liking to eat fried food, liking to sit for a long time, not liking to exercise, etc. The dyslipidemia of these people is acquired dyslipidemia, which is primary dyslipidemia, and it is most likely to be prevented.

In addition, some patients' dyslipidemia is secondary, because of certain diseases, such as diabetes, immune system diseases, kidney diseases, etc.; some patients' dyslipidemia is due to the use of some special drugs, such as hormones and diuretics. In addition, women's lack of estrogen after menopause may also cause dyslipidemia.

How and what to eat for each meal is something that every patient with "three highs" or person at risk of "three highs" needs to pay special attention to. Healthy eating habits can prevent the occurrence of "three highs", and for patients who already have "three highs", it can also help improve the "three highs" indicators.

So how should we eat when we have high blood lipids? Actually, it is very simple. The best way to cook food is steaming and boiling. Without destroying the nutrients, the fat in the food can be filtered out, and the original flavor of the food can be retained to the greatest extent.

If you like meat, remember to avoid frying when cooking animal foods. Don't take too much cholesterol, generally no more than 200 mg per day. Animal offal, egg yolks, fish roe, squid, etc. have high cholesterol content, so just eat them in moderation.

You can eat more marine fish because the omega-3 fatty acids in marine fish, also known as polyunsaturated fatty acids, can reduce the viscosity of the blood and make the fatty acids in the blood develop in a healthy direction, which is beneficial to the body.

Usually, pay attention to maintaining food diversity, mainly cereals, eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. Pay attention to fine matching, and add corn, oats and other ingredients to the coarse grains in moderation. Eat about 350g of staple food every day, and be sure to eat less sweets. In addition, stigmasterol in soybeans has the effect of lowering blood lipids, so you can eat more soy products.

Of course, increasing exercise, avoiding overweight and obesity, and sticking to a light and low-salt diet can all prevent the "three highs".

This article was scientifically reviewed by Xu Zhongqing, Director of the General Medicine Department of Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.