Cardiovascular and metabolic health are closely interconnected. Blood pressure, cholesterol and other blood fats, blood glucose, insulin sensitivity, body composition, diet, activity and other aspects of health can all contribute to our longer-term cardiovascular and metabolic wellbeing.

You may already have been diagnosed with a particular condition, or perhaps routine blood tests have begun to show changes that you would like to address before they progress further.

As a qualified Nutritionist with training in Functional Nutrition and advanced Functional Testing, I take a personalised approach — looking beyond an individual test result to consider the wider picture and the factors that may be relevant to you.

People may seek nutritional and homeopathic support for concerns including:

• High cholesterol or triglycerides
• High blood pressure
• Cardiovascular risk
• Atherosclerosis
• Insulin resistance
• Prediabetes
• Type 2 diabetes
• Raised or fluctuating blood glucose
• Metabolic syndrome
• Fatty liver and wider metabolic health
• Weight or increased waist circumference associated with metabolic risk
• A family history of cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes

Nutritional support may work alongside medical care, particularly where cardiovascular disease, hypertension or diabetes has already been diagnosed and is under treatment.

Standard medical tests such as blood pressure, cholesterol measurements and HbA1c provide extremely important information and should remain part of appropriate monitoring.

However, cardiovascular and metabolic risk is complex, and sometimes it can be useful to investigate the picture in greater detail.

Where appropriate, additional functional testing may provide further information about particular aspects of lipid metabolism, blood-glucose regulation, insulin resistance and other metabolic factors.

Rather than recommending extensive testing routinely, I consider whether additional information is likely to be useful in your individual case and discuss the purpose and cost of any proposed test with you first.

Food can have a significant influence on many of the factors associated with cardiometabolic health.

Your programme might therefore consider areas such as the quality and balance of carbohydrates and fats, fibre intake, protein, meal composition and timing, micronutrient status and overall dietary pattern, together with lifestyle factors including physical activity, sleep and stress.

The aim is not simply to hand you a generic “heart healthy” or “diabetic” diet. Instead, we look at your existing diet, health history, symptoms, test results, medications and lifestyle and develop a realistic nutritional programme around you.

Insulin resistance can develop for some time before type 2 diabetes is diagnosed.

Nutrition and lifestyle can therefore be particularly valuable areas to address in people with insulin resistance, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.

Where someone is already taking insulin or another glucose-lowering medicine, improvements in diet and metabolic health may mean that their medication requirements need to be reviewed or adjusted via their general practitioner. 

Supplements are never a substitute for an appropriate diet, and more is not necessarily better.

Where there is an appropriate nutritional rationale, I can consider targeted supplementation on an individual basis, taking account of your diet, health, medications and any relevant test findings.

I can also provide access to professional-quality practitioner supplements at a discounted price where these are considered appropriate.

Cardiometabolic health rarely exists in isolation.

Stress, sleep, hormonal changes, digestive health, activity, weight, family history and dietary patterns may all form part of the wider picture.

This can be particularly relevant for women during perimenopause and menopause, and for men during mid-life when cardiometabolic health may become an increasing consideration.

My aim is therefore to understand not simply an isolated cholesterol, blood pressure or glucose result, but the overall context and the person behind those results and what may realistically be changed.