I'm mostly a lurker here, but I feel compelled to chime in. If you haven't looked into a ketogenic diet, you really should. If you believe the modern research, then you will find that pretty much everything the government has taught us regarding the food pyramid is WRONG. I struggled to get my triglycerides and cholesterol under control for a decade. My old doc wanted me on statins and I refused. For the record, I am only 46.
A ketogenic diet is essentially very high fats and very low cards (in my case less than 50g a day). I did this under doctor supervision, measuring my blood before and after. In just two months, my trigs FINALLY went way down. Good cholesterol up, bad cholesterol down, and total up but form 150 to 160, which is negligible. This while eating TONS of bacon, butter, eggs, and meat!
Also, mental clarity came back and energy and mood were elevated - this is the way we are supposed to eat. I was desperate NOT to go on statins or get diabetes - and unfortunately I was showing the early signs.
If you think about it, obesity in this country started about the time the government started telling us to eat a lot of grains and stay away from fat. :/
The best book to get introduced to the subject is called Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore.
I'd be happy to answer any questions, or go back to lurking!
PS: I read these forums almost daily because my parents moved to the village of Charlotte last year and my wife and I consider the Villages our #1 retirement destination so far. I like to keep up on the things happening and the attitudes of the villagers.