Is High Cholesterol Always Bad?

The Subconscious Fat of It

Mr. Skeptical comments, “By asking the question, Is High Cholesterol Always Bad? You’re already telling us that high cholesterol isn’t always bad.”

“I guess you can assume that.”

“You’re likely going to bash medicine again, right?”

I shake my head. “Nope.”

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Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet

I want to start this off today by talking about one of my nicest clients. Let’s call him John. John is doing his cardiology internship at a “prestigious” hospital. He was selected as one of six applicants out of over 600 into that cardiology fellowship program.

Getting through a fellowship program in cardiology isn’t easy. And they pay you much less than a regular MD salary. John told me that it’s a sacrifice for three years, but once those three sacrificial years are up, you earn a lot more money as a cardiologist.

John had gotten used to a certain income as an MD. So, he travels on weekends to other states, where he gets paid better as a regular MD. During the week, he works long and insane hours as a cardiology intern. As I said earlier, he’s a nice guy, and I can tell he wants to help people, but he also wants to get paid well for it.

Mr. Skeptical interjects, “Nothing wrong with that.”

I give Mr. Skeptical a dirty look. “Of course not. I never said there was. However, from the multitude of podcasts I listen to, books I read, and research I do for this newsletter, I often talk to him about some of the latest scientific research studies. He’d never heard of any of them. He knows very little about nutrition, except for the standard American diet he was taught in medical school.”

“I’m sure he’s a very busy guy.”

“He is, and that’s my point. He doesn’t have time to research independently because he’s so busy working all the time. When in school, he never had time to digest and ponder scientific research because there wasn’t any time for that while trying to get thorough medical school.”

“But he learned a lot in medical school.”

“Obviously. He did. Nevertheless, it was all based on research funded by pharmaceutical companies.”

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Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet

High cholesterol is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease. To say that high cholesterol is causing heart disease would be like saying firefighters cause houses to burn. When houses burn, you see firefighters around, but did the fireman cause the fire?

But don’t take my word for it. See this article. The New York Times article shows how several prominent scientists got paid to shift the blame for heart disease from sugar to fat. The blame was then thrown on fat and red meat as the culprit of heart disease. A high sugar or carbohydrate diet (be aware that ALL carbohydrates convert to sugar) is what leads to heart disease.

Mr. Skeptical folds his arms. “So you’re saying this is another case of love and money making the world go around.”

“Yes. Isn’t that always the case? Bullshit scientific research claimed opioids weren’t addictive, and look what happened with the opioid crisis. Did you think that was the only time something like this had happened? This issue of many Americans-taking-statins-to-lower-cholesterol-bullshit won’t ever get the same attention that the opioid crisis has, but it’s still deep Subconscious Fat affecting many.

Mr. Skeptical shrugs his shoulders, not even responding. I hide a smile, for it feels good.

The Harvard scientists and the sugar executives with whom they collaborated are no longer alive. One of the scientists who was paid by the sugar industry was D. Mark Hegsted, who went on to become the head of nutrition at the United States Department of Agriculture, where in 1977 he helped draft the forerunner to the federal government’s dietary guidelines. Another was Dr. Fredrick J. Stare, the chairman of Harvard’s nutrition department.

With the above quote from the New York Times article, I don’t have much faith in authority figures telling me what to eat.

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Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level

The main point is that I’m not blaming doctors who prescribe statins to lower cholesterol. Cardiologists have paid a steep price to be where they are. After making such sacrifices, they don’t want to lose their high-paying hospital jobs. As I mentioned before with my client John, most MDs don’t have time to ponder or question scientific research.

Most doctors started wanting to help people, yet many became glorified salespeople for pharmaceutical companies.

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Practical Suggestions and Conclusions

There are cases where if someone is eating a standard American diet and the cholesterol is high, then maybe they should go on statins. However, some in the carnivore and keto communities have higher cholesterol levels when eating more meat. Yet, few go on statins, and they aren’t worried.

If you are eating more meat and, your cholesterol goes up, and you’re prescribed a statin, tell the doctor you want to try Orio cookies instead.

Mr. Skeptical squints at me, saying, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the recent Harvard research experiment that motivated me to write this post. See the study here and image below.

Mr. Skeptical is reading the research paper with his jaw on the floor.

The Oreo experiment is quite shocking. It shows that Oreo cookies lowered cholesterol better than intense statin therapy. However, if you tell your MD about this study, I’d bet more likely than not, they’d never heard of it, much less studied it.

We are each unique individuals, and our health depends on many interconnected factors. Remember that your greatest wealth is your health, so invest in it by learning more about it.

Be aware.

PS Full disclosure: Chat GPT was used to research and enhance this post.

PSS For those in the Miami area: Welcome those from the farmers market at Legion's Park and a special thanks to Simon from Cleaverandhog.com. See the next MeatUP and Resistance Band Training Meet-ups here and here.