HELP! I Have High Cholesterol… and It’s Nearly Christmas

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 the all-or-nothing December guilt

• Understand what actually matters for your cholesterol

• Learn simple ways to enjoy the festive season without writing the whole month off

First things first: December is not a normal month

Let’s be honest. December isn’t business as usual.

You’ve got:

• Work dos and Christmas lunches

• End-of-year drinks

• Family gatherings

• Tins of biscuits and “just one more” chocolates

• Routines going out of the window

If you lean towards all-or-nothing thinking, this is prime time for:

“I’ve blown it now. I’ll just enjoy myself and be ‘good’ in January.”

The problem? December is not one giant, continuous buffet from the 1st to the 31st. It’s actually a mix of:

• Ordinary days – pretty standard work/home days

• Social days – drinks, meals out, parties

• Big days – Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve

In our heads, we tend to lump everything together as “a write-off”.

The first mindset shift I want you to make is this:

❝ December isn’t ruined. It’s just a wobbly month where good-enough choices still count. ❞

You don’t need a perfect December for your cholesterol to improve. You need enough better choices, most of the time, over weeks and months.

And December still counts.

What actually affects your cholesterol? (Spoiler: not just Christmas dinner)

A lot of people imagine that one big meal will undo everything. The classic fear is:

“Christmas dinner will wreck my cholesterol!”

That’s not how it works.

Cholesterol is influenced by patterns over time, not one-off meals.

Some of the big things that matter:

• Saturated fat intake over time: Fatty cuts of meat, butter, cream, some cheeses, pastries, and certain processed foods can raise LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) when eaten in higher amounts regularly.

• Fibre intake – especially soluble fibre: Found in oats, beans, lentils, chickpeas, fruits and vegetables. Fibre helps your body get rid of excess cholesterol. Think of it as a gentle internal “sponge”.

• Movement and activity levels: Regular movement helps boost HDL (the “good” cholesterol) and supports heart health in multiple ways.

• Alcohol, smoking, stress and sleep: These all affect your heart and blood vessels too, directly and indirectly.

So when we’re thinking about December, the goal isn’t to micromanage one or two meals. It’s to protect your foundations as much as possible around the festivities – not instead of them.

The three “layers” of December – and where your power actually lies

I like to break December down into three layers:

1. Ordinary days: Your more typical days – working, doing the school run, normal-ish meals at home.

2. Social days: Plans like Christmas lunches, parties, drinks with friends, family meals out.

3. Big days: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve – the truly special occasions.

Most people behave as if every day is a “big day”. That’s where the damage creeps in.

If you only remember one thing from this blog, make it this:

Protect your ordinary days.

If your ordinary days are still roughly aligned with your heart-health goals, the social and big days have far less impact overall.

What does “protecting ordinary days” look like?

Think simple, consistent habits:

• Keeping a heart-healthy breakfast most days e.g. Porridge with fruit and nuts, or wholegrain toast with eggs and tomatoes

• Making sure there’s some fruit and veg in your day, even if lunch is a bit chaotic

• Not turning every December evening into “festive snacks night” just because the tree is up

These might not feel dramatic, but they really do add up over a month.

How to handle “social days” without the all-or-nothing spiral

Now let’s talk about your social days – the meals out, drinks, and parties.

The key word here is plan, not punish.

A lot of people try to “save up” calories: skipping breakfast and lunch so they can go all in later. The result? You turn up absolutely starving, eat far more than you intended, feel rubbish, and slip into guilt mode.

Instead, think about scaffolding the day:

• Have a decent breakfast with fibre and protein. This keeps you steadier and stops you turning up ravenous.

• Add in some movement earlier in the day. A walk, a workout, even 10–15 minutes of something. Not as punishment – just as a reminder that you still value your body.

• Decide on your non-negotiables in advance. For example: “I’m going to enjoy the roast potatoes and dessert, but I’ll skip the bread basket and creamy starter.”

That way you still enjoy yourself, but it’s not a free-for-all.

Simple “damage limitation” strategies (that don’t feel like punishment)

This is where we get practical. Here are a few easy ways to support your heart health without feeling miserable.

1. Focus on adding, not just removing

Instead of obsessing over what to cut out, try asking:

“What can I add in that’s kind to my heart?”

For example:

• Add veg to your plate, even at a buffet

• Add beans or lentils to a stew or soup

• Add a piece of fruit in the afternoon instead of automatically reaching for chocolates

Those additions help your heart, even on more indulgent days.

2. Hold onto your “anchor habits”

Anchor habits are small routines that tether you to your values, even when life is chaotic.

These might be:

• A short daily walk

• A glass of water before your first tea or coffee

• A mostly-consistent, heart-healthy breakfast

You don’t need to do everything in December. But hanging onto two or three anchors makes a huge difference.

3. Don’t let leftovers take over

Often, it isn’t Christmas Day that has the biggest impact – it’s the days of grazing afterwards.

Things like:

• Half a tub of cream that “needs using up”

• Boxes of chocolates left open on the coffee table

• “Just finishing” the cheese at 10pm every night

If you know you’re likely to keep picking just because things are there, it’s okay to set some boundaries:

• Freeze leftovers into proper meals

• Move chocolates into a cupboard instead of leaving them out

• Remember: you don’t have to finish food to be grateful for it

Your body is not the bin.

Guilt: the sneaky mindset that keeps cholesterol high

Let’s talk about guilt.

Picture this: you go to a party, eat more than planned, drink more than you meant to, and come home thinking:

“I’ve ruined it. My cholesterol is going to be awful. I might as well carry on now and sort it in January.”

Guilt doesn’t directly change your cholesterol levels – but it does push you deeper into all-or-nothing thinking. And that thinking is where the most unhelpful patterns live.

Instead, I’d love you to practise a gentle reset phrase:

“Okay. That wasn’t my ideal choice, but one event doesn’t undo everything.What’s one thing I can do next that’s kind to my heart?”

Not “How can I punish myself?”

What’s one kind next step?

That could be:

• A glass of water

• A normal, balanced meal the next day

• A short walk outside

• Going to bed at a decent time

• Taking five minutes to breathe and de-stress

Those small, compassionate resets are far more powerful than you think.

A quick word on alcohol

December and alcohol tend to go hand in hand.

From a heart-health and cholesterol perspective, it’s usually not the odd drink – it’s the pattern.

Regular heavy drinking can drive up triglycerides, disrupt sleep, impact appetite, and make healthy decisions harder the next day.

Rather than “I must not drink at all,” you could experiment with:

• Choosing which events you genuinely want to drink at

• Alternating alcoholic drinks with alcohol-free ones

• Setting a gentle upper limit before you go out

Again, we’re aiming for more mindful, not perfect.

Your heart doesn’t switch off in December

If you’ve recently had a cholesterol test and the numbers have scared you a bit, I want to reassure you: Your efforts still count in December.

Your heart doesn’t close for Christmas.

Every time you:

• Add some fibre to a meal

• Go for a walk

• Choose an earlier night

• Keep one of your anchor habits going

…you’re casting a small vote for your future health.

December might be messier than other months. That’s okay.

You do not have to choose between:

• “Full-on festive chaos” or

• “Joyless, rigid health plan”

There is a middle ground. And that’s where real, long-term change happens.

Your December game plan (in a nutshell)

To bring it all together:

• Protect your ordinary days: Keep them as close to your usual heart-healthy habits as feels realistic.

• Scaffold your social days: Don’t starve yourself to “earn” food. Build the day around the event so you arrive feeling calm and in control.

• Let your big days be big: Enjoy Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve without guilt – then gently return to your anchors.

• Ditch the “I’ve blown it” script: Replace it with: “What’s one small thing I can do next that’s kind to my heart?”

Want support turning “good intentions” into real change?

If you’re reading this thinking:

“I know roughly what I should be doing… I just can’t seem to stick to it, especially when life gets busy,”

you’re exactly who I had in mind when I created my Heart-Healthy Living Toolkit.

It’s a self-paced digital toolkit designed to help you actually put all of this into practice, without needing a full coaching programme.

Inside, you’ll find practical, jargon-free resources to support your heart health, including:

• Simple, clear explanations of what really moves the needle for cholesterol

• Weekly webinars to bring the concepts to life so you understand exactly what you need to focus on each week

• Done-for-you planning tools to make meals and movement easier to stay consistent with

• Checklists, prompts and mindset tools to help you break out of the all-or-nothing cycle

You can dip in and out in your own time, come back to it whenever life goes wobbly, and use it as your “go-to” reference whenever you need a reset.

Limited-time offer

Right now, you can get £20 off the Heart-Healthy Living Toolkit until 7th December using the code CYBER20 at checkout.

And once you’ve bought it, access is for life – including any future updates I add.

So if you’d like some friendly, expert guidance in your back pocket as you look after your heart (through December and beyond), you can get it here, pop in CYBER20, and get started today.

And finally, please remember you don’t need a perfect December. You just need enough small, kind choices that look after future you. 🧡