If you think you have to be middle-aged or older to check your cholesterol, think again.
Laura Livesey is a relatively young blogger (you can check out her blog, Confidence Kitchen, here).
Because of her age, she says, in this blog post, that her doctors never brought her elevated cholesterol to her attention. But when she went in for routine bloodwork in 2011, her healthcare team took notice. Initially thinking her high cholesterol level results were a mistake, her doctors took a second look.
That’s when they diagnosed Laura with Familial Hypercholesterolemia, a high cholesterol condition that is mainly genetic.
Doctor after doctor after doctor told her she’d need to be on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for the rest of her life. She refused treatment. There had to be another way. One doctor even hinted at the risk of a heart attack due to family history if she did not take the medicine fast. That doctor later changed his mind and allowed Laura six weeks to try lifestyle changes.
She went to work, researching various foods like fruits, nuts and fish—things that are good for her heart and that are known to help lower cholesterol. She increased her veggie intake and cut things like sugar, white flour and processed food with trans fat. After making some changes, Laura chopped her LDL cholesterol by 56 percent.
Now, Laura runs the Confidence Kitchen website, where she shares recipes, natural beauty tips, daily habits and more. Laura is active on social media and wants to change the way we approach heart disease and high cholesterol. (And hey! Who doesn’t love gorgeous food pics on Instagram!)
