Marybeth's Step One Success Story

Facing familial hypercholesterolemia, Marybeth has struggled with high cholesterol levels  for most of her life. 

“I tried to avoid fats, avoid sugars,” she says. “I was prescribed statins, changed my diet, I exercised and nothing seemed to help lower my cholesterol.”

Her cardiologist suggested Marybeth take an injectable medication to help lower her cholesterol, but there were two problems. 

The injectable cost $14,000 a year and her primary care physician recommended not taking it because it was still being studied at the time and the long term side effects had not been determined.

“That was scary,” she says.

Marybeth informed her cardiologist that she would not take the injectable and he recommended Step One Foods. After one month of eating Step One Foods twice a day, her total cholesterol improved by 36 points, down to 185 from 221. 

“I was amazed at what a difference it made... just by eating this product twice a day,” she says.

 Marybeth first tried Step One Foods about five years ago and since then, she’s continued to eat two Step One products, every day. 

“After being on Step One Foods for over a year, at a regular followup visit with my Minneapolis Heart Institute cardiologist who had originally recommended the injectable Repatha, it was quite obvious that he was very surprised at such a large jump in the right direction of all of my lipid panel statistics purely as a result of only adding Step One Foods to my diet,” she says. “He told me to just keep doing what I was doing because it was obviously working!”

Now, Marybeth’s cholesterol is 1/2 of what her highest numbers ever were in her life and she continues to only take one cholesterol-lowering pill (Crestor) for added protection per Dr. Klodas’ recommendation. 

“For breakfast as a matter of habit now I always have Step One Sprinkles in my own home-cooked steel-cut oatmeal,”she says. “In the afternoon or evening I have one of the delicious chocolate bars, or a cranberry pecan bar, which I always carry in my purse & car for hunger emergencies, and because in addition to enjoying their flavor, they don’t crumble or melt in the heat. Step One has become an easy, delicious habit.”

Right now, Marybeth is focused on bettering her overall health. 

During COVID, she managed to lose 10lbs and keep her cholesterol in the normal range.

“My primary care physician who knows and respects Dr. Klodas pronounced me in excellent health at my annual physical in July,” she says. “I have no other health problems, & take way fewer medications than ever before. My seasonal allergies which caused bronchitis & pneumonia also seemed to have lessened so much that I’ve been able to stop medications that I previously had to take forever year round.”

Marybeth plans to continue her focus on healthy longevity, all while eating two Step One products every day.