A cardiologist explains
The question most doctors never ask
Why food gets left out of cholesterol care, and what one cardiologist did about it.
Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACCPreventive cardiologist
When I ask my patients what they eat, many of them are surprised. Most tell me no one has asked before, including all the doctors they've seen before seeing me.
Leaving food out of the conversation isn’t a small oversight. What people eat has a profound effect on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and ignoring it sets aside one of the most powerful tools we have.
Zero hours
Most doctors don’t talk about nutrition because they were never trained in it. During my 14 years of cardiology training, at institutions that included Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins, the time devoted to nutrition was zero hours. That isn’t a typo. Zero, in a specialty that largely treats disease caused by lifestyle.
Medical schools and residency programs are starting to add nutrition to the curriculum. But we are a long way from doctors being as expert in which foods to eat as they are in which prescriptions to write.
Food belongs at the center
Realizing this sent me to learn everything I could about what food can do, and to start sharing it with my patients. What I saw next shaped everything that followed: even motivated patients couldn’t get enough of the right nutrients, day after day, from ordinary groceries. Their intentions weren’t the problem. The amounts were.
The right food doesn’t have to be difficult or limiting, and it doesn’t have to taste bad. Food is more than something that fills us up. The wrong food contributes to disease, and the right food helps prevent it.
Why I built Step One
For years I told patients to eat more soluble fiber, plant sterols, plant-based omega-3s and antioxidants. Almost no one could get enough of them, day after day, from an ordinary grocery list. So I built the food. Step One Foods puts all four into oatmeal, bars, granola, pancake mix, smoothie mix and more. Two servings a day replace a breakfast and a snack people already eat. No meal plan, no new diet.
Tested in a randomized controlled trial
Step One was tested in a randomized controlled trial conducted with Mayo Clinic and the University of Manitoba.
“I love that my day begins with either oatmeal or pancakes and ‘what to have for breakfast’ is just taken care of.”
Amy, Step One customer
Start with the 30-Day Protocol Pack
A 30-day supply of the two-servings-a-day protocol. Subscribe and save 20%; most people subscribe so they don’t run out partway through the 30 days the trial measured.
Free shipping on orders over $99. The first order is backed by a money-back guarantee.
See the 30-Day Protocol PackQuestions
Is this a supplement?
No. It’s food: oatmeal, bars, pancakes and more, eaten in place of a breakfast and a snack.
How does it taste?
Step One won a 2025 Good Housekeeping Snack Award.
Can someone on cholesterol medication use it?
Yes. Step One is food, designed to work alongside a physician’s plan. Medication changes should only be made with a doctor.
What about allergens?
Each product page lists its allergens. BBQ Puffs are the only nut-free product.
What if it isn’t right for me?
The first order is backed by a money-back guarantee.
Step One Foods is food, not medication. Talk with your doctor before making any change to a prescribed treatment.