The Heart-Healthy Living Blog

Recipe Book, Heart-Healthy Living Course or 1:1 Coaching If you’ve landed here, chances are you care about your heart health, but you may not be sure what kind of support you actually need. Maybe you’ve recently been told your cholesterol is raised. Maybe you want to lose weight in a way that also supports your heart. Maybe you are overwhelmed by conflicting advice. Or maybe you know the theory, but you are struggling to turn it into consistent habits. Over the last few years

If you’ve been told to make lifestyle changes before your next cholesterol blood test, you may be wondering how quickly cholesterol can actually change. This post explains what is realistic, what affects results, and how to use the next 12 weeks well.

If you know the basics of lowering cholesterol but still feel stuck, it may not be a knowledge problem. Here’s why real-life implementation matters more than another list of tips.

Weight loss and cholesterol reduction do not need separate diets. A heart-health-first approach can support both by focusing on fibre, better fats, balanced meals and realistic habits.

Meaningful cholesterol improvements can happen within a few months for some people, but results vary. Here’s what one client’s experience taught me about realistic lifestyle change.

You do not need perfection or a complete lifestyle overhaul to improve cholesterol. These five realistic lifestyle changes can support cholesterol and long-term heart health.

If you’ve ever wondered whether vitamin D and cholesterol are connected, the answer is yes… actually more than many people realise. But does low vitamin D cause high cholesterol? And can taking vitamin D supplements improve your cholesterol levels? The answer is a little more nuanced than many headlines suggest. In this blog, we’ll break down: How cholesterol and vitamin D are connected What the latest research actually shows Whether vitamin D supplements can lower cholestero

If your healthy habits have slipped, it may not be a discipline problem. Sometimes the real issue is stress, poor sleep or emotional load, and understanding that can help you get back to yourself more gently.

You do not need to give up every treat to lower cholesterol. Here’s how chocolate, biscuits, takeaways, cheese and alcohol can fit into a heart-healthy lifestyle without guilt.

If you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and pre-diabetes, you do not need three separate diets. Here’s how one heart-healthy approach can support cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar together.

If you’re trying to lower cholesterol but feel inconsistent, confused or stuck, it may not be a discipline problem. Here’s why lowering cholesterol can feel harder than expected, and what helps.

If you’ve been told your cholesterol is raised, it is easy to panic, overcorrect or follow the wrong advice. Here are seven common mistakes people make when trying to lower cholesterol, and what tends to work better instead.

Free cholesterol advice is everywhere, but knowing what to do is not always enough. This post explains what you are really paying for when you invest in structured, doctor-designed heart-health support.

Cholesterol is an important part of heart health, but it does not always tell the full story. For some people, risk is influenced by factors that are not routinely measured or discussed. Lipoprotein (a), often referred to as Lp(a), is one such factor and is gaining increasing attention. It is a genetically inherited lipoprotein that behaves differently from the cholesterol markers most of us are familiar with. Let’s break it down clearly and calmly. First things first: this

Recently, I turned down what would probably have been a very lucrative opportunity. Not because it wasn’t tempting. Not because it wasn’t well presented. But because my ethics are not for sale. I will keep the details vague, but I was approached by someone entering the supplement space. They had a product that claimed to help lower cholesterol and support weight loss, and they wanted my opinion on whether it could be a good fit for my audience. On the surface, this might soun

Why I don’t personally recommend these approaches for people with raised cholesterol If you’ve been told your cholesterol is high and you’re exploring different dietary approaches, it’s very likely you’ve come across keto or carnivore diets. They’re often framed as a solution to modern health problems. Cut the carbs. Eat more fat. Simplify everything. And for some people, that message is understandably appealing. But when it comes specifically to high cholesterol , these are

If your cholesterol has crept up in your 40s or 50s and you’re sitting there staring at your blood results thinking, “But nothing’s really changed…” , you’re probably right. This is something I see all the time. Women come to me confused and frustrated because they haven’t suddenly started eating 'badly' or stopped moving, yet their numbers have shifted. They replay what they eat, how much they exercise, whether they’ve done something wrong, and often end up feeling like thei

If you’ve ever thrown yourself into a strict plan to “finally sort your health out” - only to burn out, give up, and end up back where you started - you’re definitely not the only one. Whether your goal is to lower your cholesterol, improve your fitness, lose weight, or just feel more like yourself again, it’s very easy to treat health like a sprint: New rules New habits Go harder, go faster, do it properly this time But that “all in” approach is often the very thing that ke

Why that matters for your heart. At this time of year, you’re probably seeing and hearing a lot of “new year, new you” messaging. New habits. New body. New rules. A complete reset. For many people, that messaging feels motivating for about a week - and then quietly crushing. Because real life doesn’t pause in January. Work is still busy (if not more so!). Family responsibilities don’t disappear. Energy levels might be low. Motivation comes and goes. So what if you didn’t nee

Bear with me, this is about to get very metaphorical. So, the vast majority of people I work with are classic all-or-nothing thinkers. They have never reached their health and fitness goals because they live in either extreme. They’re either going to the gym six days a week. Or not at all. They’re either eating nothing but lettuce leaves. Or anything and everything they can get their hands on. Essentially, they’re all in. Or they’re all out. It’s either black, or it’s white.

If December always feels like one long internal battle between “being good” and “sod it, it’s Christmas”, fear not, I'm going to help you find the middle ground. If you’re living with high cholesterol, a family history of heart disease, or you’ve just hit the age where your annual blood tests have started to invoke anxiety, this pattern can feel even more stressful. You want to enjoy yourself, but you also don’t want your health to slide. The good news? You don’t need to be

So you've got high cholesterol… and now it’s nearly Christmas. There are mince pies in every room, your inbox is full of party invitations, and there’s a permanent box of “just help yourself” chocolates in the office. Part of you is thinking " What’s the point? I’ll just start again in January.” The other part is quietly panicking that every roast potato is clogging your arteries. If that sounds familiar, you are absolutely not alone. In this blog, I want to help you: Drop th

Have you ever caught yourself saying… “I’ve ruined it now. I’ll start again on Monday. Why can’t I just stick to it like everyone else?” If so, you're not alone and you’re not the problem. You ’v e just been taught the wrong approach. In this post, I want to unpack one of the most common patterns I see as a health coach and how one client’s story (which reflects so many others) shows us what real progress actually looks like. Because it turns out… it’s not about being perfe

Low-carb and keto diets can help some people lose weight, but they are not always the best choice for high cholesterol. Here’s why LDL cholesterol can rise, and how to take a more heart-health-first approach.