Singer Lulu's drastic lifestyle changes after GP diagnosis left her 'frightened'

Scottish singer Lulu has admitted to taking on drastic lifestyle changes after a diagnosis left her feeling "frightened".

Many of us will be marking the beginning of 2022 by making resolutions to better our lives, and it's something Lulu knows all about.

After watching her father Eddie pass away as a result of high cholesterol, the 73-year-old singer decided to make the effort to monitor her own which led to a shocking diagnosis.

The Daily Express reports that Lulu was left "frightened" when her GP told her that she had raised cholesterol herself - with her fears stemming from the fact it is a big risk factor for coronary heart disease.

The diagnosis caused her to reflect on her father's death, and she said: "My father's death - at the age of 71 - was terrible. I loved him dearly. He had worked in the meat market in Glasgow for years and was a great singer.

"Unfortunately, he didn't really take care of his body and he'd had plenty of health warnings that he ignored.

"So even though I've always tried to look after myself, when I discovered that I had raised cholesterol, memories of my dad's illness spurred me on and I made sure that I did something about it."

She was quickly motivated to make changes to her diet in an effort to lower her cholesterol.

The star admitted that she threw away ice-cream from her freezer and stopped putting butter on sandwiches as well as starting to include cholesterol-lowering foods as part of her everyday diet.

Lulu now makes an effort to start the day with a cup of hot water and lemon, a coffee, porridge, muesli and yoghurt with her understanding how important the first meal of the day can be.

The NHS suggest eating foods that are high in unsaturated fats in small amounts to lower cholesterol. These foods include: oily fish, nuts, seeds, avocados and vegetable oils and spreads.

The singer admits to eating all of these foods, as well as reportedly drinking "loads of water".

Lulu would rate herself fairly high in terms of her health as she has always made an effort to be health conscious.

She said: "If I had to rate my health on a scale of one to 10, I'd give myself a nine. I've always taken care to exercise and to eat a good diet. I eat organic food, because there are so many chemicals in non-organic produce."

Despite her efforts to look after her health, the singer faced a scary battle against pneumonia - an infection that causes the air sacs in one or both lungs to inflame.

The inflamed air sacs tend to fill with fluid or pus which causes a severe cough - it can be caused by bacterial infections or a virus.

When speaking to the Daily Mail, Lulu called the condition her "worst illness" with her initially not realising how serious it was.

She said: "I thought it was just a bit of a cough, and toured with it — then when I got back to London, the doctor said I should have been thrown into hospital."

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