I write a lot about looking sexy and feeling good, but today I want to talk about what happens INSIDE your body when you follow a few simple nutrition guidelines.

Triglycerides are fatty acids in your bloodstream.

The higher your triglyceride levels, the more risk you have for heart disease, diabetes, and strokes.

When I tell people to eat more fat and protein, and cut out grains, they FREAK.

Conventional Wisdom says that the way to reduce triglycerides is to eat more crap like oatmeal, whole wheat bread, and other grain products.

But it turns out that eating grains (even WHOLE GRAINS) will actually RAISE your triglyceride levels.

Yes, really.

Now, a triglyceride level above 500 mg/dL is classified as high risk.

Today’s case study had a triglyceride level of 3100mg/dL.

More than SIX TIMES the high risk level.

And in only 3 weeks he dropped from 3100mg/dL to 202mg/dL.

What medicines and surgery did he have?

NONE.

He consulted with Dr. William Davis (author of Track Your Plaque: The Only Heart Disease Prevention Program That Shows How to Use the New Heart Scans to Detect, Track and Control Coronary Plaque).

Dr. Davis didn’t prescribe any medications or insane hormonal therapies.

The patient reduced his triglycerides to 1100 mg/dl in ten days by…. taking 3600 milligrams of fish oil per day and eliminating wheat, cornstarch, and sugars.

No statins, no fibrates, just cheap, easy fish oil capsules and cutting out sugar and wheat.

I think that’s super-cool. No messing around with poorly understood drugs, no dangerous side effects, just natural fish oil.

As Dr. Davis says on his blog: “No question: Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil are the best tool available for reduction of triglycerides. The effect is dose-dependent, i.e., the more you take, the greater the triglyceride reduction“

But the story gets even better: After another 10 days of fish oil and cutting out a few foods, the patient’s triglycerides dropped to… 202 mg/dl!!

That’s a 93.5% reduction in triglycerides in less than 3 weeks – with no drugs.

202 mg/dl is still high, but if he sticks to the program I’d be willing to bet he gets it down to safe levels – despite having a genetic predisposition to high triglycerides.

If you want to raise your metabolism and at the same time lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, here are a few simple things to do:

- Stop eating grains: Get rid of wheat, corn, oats, and rice.  For extra bonus points, get rid of all soy.  Think that leaves nothing to eat?  Here’s a short video tour of my grain-free kitchen:

- Start taking fish oil. One capsule a day doesn’t cut it.  I recommend one gram per fifteen pounds of bodyweight as a bare minimum.  (ex: Weigh 150 pounds?  10 grams of fish oil, minimum.)  More is better.

(A warning about fish oil:  If you go from taking none to taking a handful every day, you might experience stomach pain and watery gray poop.  Start off with 1 capsule each at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and increase one capsule every few days.  This eases your system into it, with no weird gray doody)

– Cut out sugar and fake sugar. Sugar will raise your triglyceride levels, and some studies have found that even fake sugars such as Splenda, Equal, and Nutrisweet can raise triglycerides as much as the real thing.

Bottom line: Don’t listen to the BS about cutting out fat or going on drugs as a cure for high triglycerides.  You can fix your health with a few simple changes.

Talk to you soon