Why I built this app

A year ago, I found out I had a non-calcified plaque in my carotid artery. My cardiologist prescribed statins,but I didn’t want to solely rely on them - I wanted to try changing my diet and nutrition too.

I read everything I could find on heart-healthy and reversal diets. DASH, Mediterranean, keto to name but a few - but Dr Caldwell Esselstyn's programme from his book “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” stood out. Everything about it just made sense, especially once I looked into the effects of oil, salt and sugar on the arteries. I decided to give it a proper try.

The results came quickly. In six months my LDL dropped from 108mg/dL to 68mg/dL, and then again from 68mg/dL to 56mg/dL. I looked and felt better than ever.

But one thing kept getting harder: sticking to the plan. I found it super restrictive, and I soon got bored of eating plain, bland food every day. I was craving the strong flavours of Asian, Indian, and other exotic cuisines I was used to. I started experimenting with ChatGPT and Claude to convert recipes I'd found online, but often they'd forget the rules I had given; for example, six portions of high-nitrate greens a day, only low-fat tofu allowed twice weekly, no syrups or sweeteners, refined flour and only whole grains. Nothing processed. I was spending a huge amount of time reminding the AI again and again.

There was also nowhere to keep the recipes I was collecting in one place. I was collecting lots of different chats in each AI app. And in the online communities I was part of, I quickly realised other people following Esselstyn were struggling with the same issues too. This is a programme that's very hard to stick to, but if you can, the results are incredibly rewarding. It can literally be the difference between life and death for some people who have had a heart attack.

So I built Forks Over Pharma. First just to help myself stay on the plan. And as I used it, I kept improving it, and my friends who are also following Esselstyn started testing it too and all commented on how it was helping them stay more on track. Now I want to share it with everyone who's trying to reverse heart disease and needs a little help sticking to the rules.

Here's to reversing heart disease, one delicious recipe at a time.

- From Lucy

Not medical advice. Please work with your doctor on any changes to your treatment.