High Cholesterol Is Not the Problem, It Is the Signal
We have spent 50 years blaming cholesterol for something it never caused.
Doctors still tell patients that high cholesterol means they ate too much fat — as if the human body is some clumsy accident machine manufacturing its own heart attack.
But here is the fundamental issue with that idea:
Most of the cholesterol in your blood did not come from your food.
Your liver made it, on purpose.
Roughly 80 to 85 percent of circulating cholesterol is endogenously produced.
That alone breaks the “you ate it so it went up” narrative.
So if your biology chooses to make more, the correct question is not:
“How do I lower my cholesterol?”
The real question is:
“Why did my biology need more cholesterol in the first place?”
Cholesterol Is Cellular Armor, Not a Villain
Cholesterol is a repair and stabilization molecule, especially for the cell membrane.
Your cell membrane is not just a wall. It is an electrical interface that maintains voltage inside the cell.
When mitochondria are stressed from inflammation, circadian disruption, blue light toxicity, toxins, or gut permeability, the membrane becomes unstable.
Voltage drops.
Stability drops.
Oxidative stress rises.
So the body deploys cholesterol like insulation around a fraying electrical wire.
Not to cause disease,to prevent it.
Cholesterol is the fire blanket, not the fire.
If Fat Caused High Cholesterol, Explain This
People on high-fat carnivore or keto diets who cut seed oils consistently show:
✅ lower inflammation
✅ lower triglycerides
✅ better insulin sensitivity
✅ higher HDL
Their numbers do not behave like “high fat = high risk.”
They behave like low metabolic stress = strong repair.
The cholesterol was never the criminal.
It was the first responder.
The Real Problem Is Not LDL, It Is Oxidized LDL
LDL becomes dangerous only when it is damaged. And what damages it?
Not steak.
Not eggs.
Not butter.
What oxidizes LDL is:
• circadian mismatch
• blue light at night
• mitochondrial stress
• seed oil intake
• toxin burden
• chronic inflammation
• low nitric oxide
• poor redox state
Two people can eat the same diet and get opposite labs because it is not the fat, it is the terrain that fat enters.
Statins Do Not Solve the Cause
Statins silence the alarm instead of putting out the fire.
They suppress a symptom while ignoring the instability that forced the body to manufacture more cellular armor.
It is like pulling the battery out of a smoke detector while the kitchen is still burning.
What Actually Raises Cholesterol
Not butter.
Not ribeyes.
Not egg yolks.
The real drivers are:
• mitochondrial stress
• blue light at night
• circadian disruption
• toxin overload
• seed oils
• chronic inflammation
• poor nitric oxide signaling
These weaken the membrane and lower cellular voltage, so the liver increases cholesterol to reinforce and stabilize the structure.
The Real Reframe
High cholesterol is not a disease.
It is a diagnostic signal that your cells are asking for protection.
Cholesterol is not attacking you, it is defending you.
Fix the stress.
Restore voltage.
The body no longer needs the shield, and cholesterol normalizes on its own.
What Damages Cholesterol (and How to Stop It)
Most people do not have a cholesterol problem.
They have a cholesterol damage problem.
The molecule is not the danger.
The damage is the danger.
What Damages LDL
-
Seed oils (linoleic acid instability)
-
Blue light at night (melatonin suppression = zero mitochondrial antioxidant defense)
-
Circadian disruption (repair never activates)
-
Chronic inflammation (endothelial injury)
-
Low nitric oxide (vascular friction)
-
Poor redox state (low electrons = high oxidation)
This is also why some people feel better on vegan or low-fat diets at first.
They accidentally do Step 1, lowering the amount of fat available to oxidize. Symptoms improve temporarily, not because fat was the problem, but because the terrain was too unstable to handle it. The issue is they never move on to repair (Step 2) or rebuilding (Step 3), which is why results eventually plateau or reverse.
What Protects LDL
• Morning sunlight before screens
• Removing seed oils
• Infrared light and early darkness at night
• Zone 2 and strength training
• Nitric oxide habits (sun, breath, beets, humming, grounding)
• Detoxifying the terrain (sweat, sauna, binders, minerals)
The Real Story
Cholesterol does not cause heart disease.
Damaged cholesterol does.
And what determines whether cholesterol becomes damaged is not diet first,
it is mitochondrial health and circadian biology.
Diet changes the input.
Redox changes the outcome.
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