I'm a 56 year old male, average height and weight, BMI = 24 who exercises
regularly. I'm athletic and not a bit overweight. My latest lipid profile
was:
TC = 138 Trig = 45 HDL = 49 LDL = 80
but I'd like to improve these numbers - particularly HDL and
LDL - through diet, not drugs. I eat a sensible low-fat diet
heavy on fish, chicken, veggies.
I understand monounsaturated fat can increase HDL and
decrease LDL, so for the past couple months I've been
eating around one cup of raw almonds daily. They make a
great snack. That daily cup amounts to 48 gm total fat, of
which 31 gm is monounsaturated, 12 gm is polyunsaturated
and 5 gm is saturated. Almonds contain lots of protein,
fiber etc. as well.
I have a yearly physical scheduled for next month, when I'll
see what changes in lipids my diet has produced, if any.
My question is, am I overdoing it? Forty-eight gm of total
fat per day (just from the almonds) seems like a lot of
fat. Is this too much? Is there a downside to doing what
I'm doing?
George