It is easy to assume that if you feel healthy, your internal health must be fine too. That was certainly my assumption. But my Stride blood re-test had something else to say. This is the story of what ApoB revealed, why it mattered, and how small, deliberately simple changes shifted the data.

Watch: What My Blood Biomarkers Revealed

In this short video, I share what surprised me most when I reviewed my results, particularly around inflammation, cholesterol, and ApoB, and what happened after retesting three months later.

What the data showed

On the surface, everything in my life looked healthy enough. I had spent most of my adult life as an Olympic athlete, where training and nutrition were not optional. But life had changed.

I was over 40.
I had two kids.
I was building a startup.
I had moved house and country.

Training volume had dropped and stress had crept up. While I still felt fine, my biomarkers showed some early warning signs:

• CRP, an inflammation marker, was 1.39, higher than I expected

• LDL cholesterol was elevated

• ApoB was higher than I was comfortable with

• Folate, vitamin B9, was lower than optimal

This type of profile is something we see often in high functioning individuals. Externally everything looks fine. Internally, small shifts are already happening.

What ApoB revealed and why it matters

Fats and cholesterol are not water soluble. Blood is mostly water, which means lipids cannot move freely through it on their own.

To transport lipids around the body, the liver packages them into small particles called lipoproteins. You can think of these particles as tiny boats floating in the bloodstream, carrying cholesterol and triglycerides to tissues that need them.

ApoB is the structural protein that forms each of these boats.

Every atherogenic lipoprotein particle, including LDL, VLDL remnants, IDL, and lipoprotein(a), contains exactly one ApoB molecule. That means:

• One ApoB equals one boat

• More ApoB means more boats

• More boats means more lipid cargo moving through the bloodstream

This is why ApoB is often described as a particle count, rather than a measure of how much cholesterol is inside the boats. LDL cholesterol tells you how much cargo is being carried. ApoB tells you how many boats are on the river.

From a heart health perspective, the number of boats matters because each one has the potential to enter artery walls and deposit cholesterol. Over time, more boats mean greater cumulative exposure of blood vessels to lipids, even if each boat is carrying a relatively small load.

In my case, both LDL cholesterol and ApoB were higher than I wanted. That combination suggested this was not just a lab quirk, but an early pattern worth addressing.

This pattern is more common than you think

This type of blood profile is common in people who:

• are over 40

• train less than they used to

• carry more cognitive and emotional load

• still appear healthy on the surface

It is also why ApoB is so useful. You cannot feel particle number. You cannot sense low grade inflammation building. Without data, you would never know.

The science behind the changes I made

I did not go on a radical health kick. In fact, I deliberately kept things simple and boring.

Running twice per week instead of once

This modest increase improves insulin sensitivity and triglyceride handling, which influences how many ApoB containing particles the liver produces.

Adding fibre at meals

Rather than cutting foods out, I focused on adding fibre. Fibre supports lipid clearance, stabilises post meal triglycerides, and improves gut health, all of which indirectly reduce ApoB particle burden.

Increasing protein intake

Higher protein intake supported appetite regulation, stable energy levels, and better glucose control, which feeds into healthier lipid metabolism.

Addressing low folate

My folate level was lower than optimal. At the time, we were deliberately developing a methylated B vitamin product, which likely contributed to the improvement seen on retesting.

What happened after three months

After three months, I retested. The results were clear:

• Inflammation markers dropped significantly

• Folate levels improved

• ApoB came down

• LDL cholesterol trended down

The key point is this. I could not feel any of this happening. Without retesting, I would never have known whether the changes were working.

The bigger takeaway

Health is not something you fix once. It is something you track over time. Most of the changes that move important markers like ApoB are not dramatic. They are small, consistent adjustments made with feedback. Data turns vague intention into something measurable.

Once you can see what is happening inside your body, you can actually change it.