1. Lose weight. If you’re overweight, losing 5 to 10 percent of your body weight—just 10 to 20 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds—will reduce your triglycerides by about 20 percent.
2. Cut the sugar. Individuals whose added sugar intake is less than 10 percent of daily calories have the lowest triglyceride levels. The AHA recommends that only 5 percent of your daily calories come from added sugars. That means no more than 150 grams (9 teaspoons) for men and 100 grams (6 teaspoons) for women per day. Because the biggest sources of sugar in the American diet are soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, one way to restrict your sugar intake is to drink no more than three 12-ounce cans a week.
3. Stock up on fiber. Instead of consuming sugar and other refined carbohydrates, focus on more fiber-rich foods, such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
4. Limit fructose. Studies have found that consuming too much fructose—a type of sugar—leads to high triglycerides. High-fructose corn syrup is a major source of fructose. Because regular table sugar contains about the same amount of fructose as high-fructose corn syrup (50 percent versus 42 to 55 percent), you'll need to limit both in order to lower your triglycerides. You can determine whether a food contains sugar or high-fructose corn syrup by reading the ingredients list.
5. Eat a moderately low-fat diet. You may be surprised to learn that diets that are very low in fat are not as effective at lowering triglycerides as diets moderately low in fat. The AHA recommends that people with high triglycerides get about 25 to 35 percent of their daily calories from fat
