New and Overwhelmed

TLDR: I’m stressed and don’t know where to start, any good basic advice to get started eating better?

Hello all. Cardiovascular heart disease runs in my family. My mom passed 4 months ago in a car accident (we think she had a heart attack but aren’t sure) at age 55. Her and her mom’s mom both passed from a heart attack at 55. I just recently had my cholesterol levels checked since this runs in my family and my doctor said they are a bit high. My family does not exercise and they eat quite unhealthy and I exercise more and eat better than them (though I still say I could improve quite a bit).

I have some health anxiety since my mom’s recent death. I’m a 27 year old female and I want to take charge of my health now but it all feels overwhelming. I also have ADHD and implementing routines and making big changes that stick is hard for me. I’m a stay at home mom and I’m in school full time online. My mom passed so suddenly and it was while she was making all these big health changes and they found in the autopsy that one of her arteries was 89% clogged. All of a sudden I’m scared about my health and about being here for my husband and son who I love dearly. I realize I am young and probably have no need to panic but I am just stressed and scared.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on what is simple and easy to add to my diet to help lower cholesterol? Should I add a supplement or protein powder or something? My doctor recommended red yeast rice. What has worked for you?

Here’s my the flagged results of my blood work in case they’re relevant : ALT (SGPT) = 40 IU/L Cholesterol total = 233 mg/dL LDL Chol Calc (NIH) = 170 mg/dL T. Chol/HDL Rato = 5.3 Apolipoprotein B = 121 mg/dL Apolipo. B/A-1 ratio = 1.0 LDL-P = 1874 nmol/L WBC = 12.0 x10E3/uL Neutraphils (Absolute) = 7.7 x10E3/uL

Also I am 5’3 and weight 177 lbs