Well, my trygliceride count was over 568 and I think under 150 is normal. The Doc said I was a heart attack waiting to happen. I can't claim the diet or exercise was my physical salvation. Nope longer life through LIPITOR! Took me from 568 to 168 in a matter of months with periodic liver testing. My liver is fine. I too have given up fries, and all alcohol and miss neither. I eat a lot of zero carb ice cream. More vegetables, too. I think I have just modified my eating habits in a healthier way. But South Beach worked for me, no doubt.
This also brought my blood-sugar levels down toward "normal" although I needed another month for that to happen.
The most important ingredient in my diet was simple fanaticism tinged with full blown OCD (obsessive/compulsive disorder) type devotion to achieving control.
The doctor also prescribed the "One Touch" meter of death and that kept my level of fear sufficiently high to keep me focused on the objective of living better through less!
This evening's news has it that if you have diabetes you have more than a 60% greater chance of developing Alzheimer's than other folks.
More OCD. More focus.
I did abuse it at first, I was going through cheese like there was no tomorrow. Same with bacon and eggs. After 6 months I had blood work done and my cholesterol was 300 with a ratio of 6.98 (between LDL and HDL). My doctor gave me a months supply of Lipitor and told me to stop all red meats and eggs. I refuse to take the Lipitor and in 9 weeks time I reduced my cholesterol by 102 points to 198 and my ratio is 4.71. I intend on trying to get my ratio to around 3. My triglycerides are 59 and everything else is fine.
I have only one problem, now my doctor isn't very friendly, we use to be on a good friendly basis but he chooses to be different, evidently he doesn't like the idea of me correcting my problem on my own.