TED Audio Collective.

This is TED Health, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective, and I'm your host, Dr. Shoshana Ungerleiter.

Welcome back to our special series called A Healthyer You. In today's

episode, I want to start by sharing a bit of my own personal health journey. Over the past five years,

I noticed that my LDL, or the bad cholesterol, was creeping up slowly. Nothing too alarming,

but enough to keep an eye on. The higher that number is, the greater the risk

for things like heart attacks, strokes, and other diseases later in life. This past spring,

I went in for a routine checkup and saw that my bad cholesterol had jumped by 25 points. This was

surprising because I've worked hard to develop positive habits in my

life. I eat pretty healthy. I exercise every day, and I'm proactive about my health. So naturally,

I started digging into the research and reached out to a preventive cardiologist to get her expert opinion.

She first ordered a test to check for inherited genetic mutations, which thankfully came back negative.

Then she recommended I try a high fiber, low saturated fat diet for a few months.

We did give it two and a half months months and honestly, I didn't know what to

expect, but I was shocked when my LDL levels dropped by nearly 30 points, now close to the normal

range. I learned things that completely surprise me, like how powerful simple dietary changes can be, even when you think you're

already doing everything right. It's easy to assume that if you're eating relatively healthy

and staying active, that you've done all you can. But sometimes the smallest tweaks can have

the biggest impact. This experience reminded me how crucial it is to

stay curious and keep asking questions, especially when it comes to something as important as your

heart health. And that's why I asked Dr. Danielle Bellardo to join us today. Dr. Bellardo is a

preventive cardiologist. She's also my doctor.

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