Cholesterol Explained: What High Levels Really Mean for Your Health
- Jaime Heer, FNTP, RWS
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 18 hours ago
Cholesterol gets a bad rap in the world of modern medicine. But it’s so much more nuanced than simply labeling it “good” or “bad.” In this post, we’re going to break it all down—what cholesterol actually is, where it comes from, what it does in your body, and what it really means when your doctor says you have “high cholesterol.”
What Is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that plays a vital role in your health. It’s used by the body to make hormones, neurotransmitters, cell membranes, and bile.
Why Your Body Needs Cholesterol?
✅ Building healthy cell membranes, ensuring structure and fluidity
✅ Supporting brain and nervous system function via the myelin sheath
✅ Producing bile to digest and absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K)
✅ Converting sunlight into vitamin D
✅ Creating key hormones—like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol
✅ Repairing cells and tissues after damage
✅ Transporting antioxidants (like vitamin E and CoQ10)
✅ Assisting in detoxification by eliminating toxins through bile and bowel movements
Cholesterol is not your enemy—it’s a key building block in your body.
Where Does Cholesterol Come From?
Your body makes about 70% of its own cholesterol—right in your liver, intestines, ovaries, adrenal glands, skin, and muscles. The other 30% comes from the food you eat, particularly:
Animal products (eggs, meat, dairy)
Nuts and seeds
Fats from fruits like avocado and olives
Here’s the smart part: your body adjusts production based on your diet. Eat more cholesterol? Your body makes less. Eat less cholesterol? Your body makes more. It’s all about maintaining balance for vital functions.
Understanding Your Lipid Panel:
When your doctor runs a cholesterol test, what they’re actually measuring are the lipoproteins—the carriers that shuttle cholesterol and triglycerides around your body. Here’s a breakdown of the key markers:
Standard Lipid Panel Markers:
🔹 Triglycerides: A type of fat used for energy, made in the liver and from your diet—especially sugar and refined carbs. Excess calories can lead to high triglycerides, which are stored as body fat and linked to metabolic issues.
🔹 VLDL (Very Low Density Lipoprotein): Transports triglycerides and cholesterol throughout the body. As it sheds triglycerides, it transforms into LDL.
🔹 LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein): Often labeled “bad cholesterol,” but really, it's just delivering cholesterol to cells in times of need. It’s essential—but elevated levels can signal damage or inflammation.
🔹. HDL (High Density Lipoprotein): Often called “good cholesterol,” HDL collects excess cholesterol from the bloodstream and tissues and transports it back to the liver, where it can be broken down and eliminated. Higher levels are considered protective against heart disease.
🔹 Total Cholesterol: A general summary of HDL + LDL + triglycerides—not a complete picture on its own.
🔹 Cholesterol to HDL Ratio: Used to evaluate cardiovascular risk, but again, not the whole story.
More Accurate Cardiovascular Health Markers
Ask your healthcare provider to add these to your lipid panel for a more accurate assessment of cardiovascular health:
🔹 Apolipoprotein A-1 (ApoA1): The main protein in HDL. Helps clear fats from tissues and is protective against heart disease.
🔹 Apolipoprotein B (ApoB): A component of LDL and VLDL. Can contribute to plaque buildup in arteries when elevated.
🔹 ApoB to ApoA-1 Ratio: A more accurate risk marker than traditional cholesterol tests. High ApoB compared to ApoA-1 = increased cardiovascular risk.
A Simple Analogy: Cholesterol as the Road Crew
Think of cholesterol like a road repair project:
LDL is the truck delivering construction materials (cholesterol) to damaged roads (cells).
HDL is the truck picking up leftover materials and returning them to the depot (liver).
Neither is good or bad—they're just doing their jobs. But if you see a lot of LDL trucks on the road, it begs the question:
Why does my body need so much repair? What’s causing the damage?
Why Statins Aren’t Always the Answer
When cholesterol markers come back high, conventional medicine often turns to statins as a first line of treatment. These medications lower cholesterol numbers on a lab report—but they don’t always address the underlying reasons why cholesterol may be elevated in the first place.
⏰ It’s a bit like turning off the fire alarm while the kitchen is still burning. 🔥
Cholesterol often rises in response to inflammation, oxidative stress, hormonal imbalances, or tissue damage—because it plays a key role in repair, hormone production, and detoxification. Suppressing its production without identifying what’s driving the need for more cholesterol may not address the root issue.
While statins do lower LDL cholesterol, studies have shown that for many people—especially those without a history of heart disease—they don’t significantly reduce the risk of heart attack or extend lifespan. And they can come with side effects, such as muscle pain, fatigue, and a reduction in CoQ10, a nutrient critical for cellular energy and heart health.
So why are so many people still on statins? Because let’s be honest—treating lab values will a pill is much more quick and convenient. But real prevention and healing come from asking deeper questions and addressing the root causes: inflammation, poor diet, metabolic dysfunction, stress, and more.
*Pro tip: If you're taking a statin, talk to your healthcare provider about supplementing with CoQ10 to support mitochondrial function and cardiovascular health.
What Really Drives High Cholesterol?
Cholesterol imbalances are often a symptom of deeper dysfunction & inflammation that are often caused by diet and lifestyle factors including:
A diet high in processed food
Imbalanced blood sugar
Chronic stress
Poor sleep
Sedentary lifestyle
Gut dysfunction
Environmental toxins
Instead of suppressing symptoms, we can restore balance by supporting these key areas.
How to Lower Cholesterol Naturally
You can improve your cholesterol levels naturally by focusing on daily habits and lifestyle.
Start with:
✅ Hydration: Drink ½ your body weight in ounces per day + add electrolytes
✅ Whole Foods: Cut out processed junk and eat nutrient-dense foods
✅ Movement: 30 minutes of moderate activity, 5x a week
✅ Stress Management: Meditate or practice deep breathing 3x/week
✅ Sleep Hygiene: Create a calming bedtime routine away from screens
✅ Detox Support: Add in foods like turmeric, ginger, cruciferous veggies, fresh herbs, medicinal mushrooms, milk thistle & burdock root
Nutrients to Support Healthy Cholesterol Levels
Omega 3 Fatty Acids: wild caught salmon, sardines, mackerel, walnuts, pasture-raised eggsm grass-fed beef, avocados, high quality fish oil supplement (CLICK HERE)
Coenzyme Q10: organ meats, oily fish
Soluble Fiber: chia seeds, flax seeds, legumes, psyllium husk
Niacin (Vitamin B3): pasture-raised poultry, tuna, liver, legumes
Polyphenols: berries, pomegranate seeds, turmeric, dark chocolate, green tea
Green Tea Extract
The Best Marker for Cardiovascular Risk: ApoB/ApoA-1 Ratio
Emerging research shows that the ApoB / ApoA-1 ratio is the most reliable marker for assessing heart disease risk—more so than LDL alone or even the cholesterol:HDL ratio.
✳️ High ApoB (damage and plaque risk)
✳️ Low ApoA-1 (reduced ability to clean it up)
➡️ High ratio = higher risk
Rethinking Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is not your enemy. It’s a crucial molecule that your body depends on for repair, hormone production, immune function, brain health, and detoxification.
Rather than jumping straight to medication, start by asking why your cholesterol is high. And if you’re ready to work on the root causes—like diet, digestion, stress, sleep, and movement—I’d love to help guide you through it.
Ready to get to the root cause of your cholesterol imbalance?
Book your free intro call and let’s create a plan for optimal health:
OPTIMAL RANGES
Metabolic & Cardiovascular Health Markers from a Functional Perspective
Resources:
Restorative Wellness Solutions Functional Blood Chemistry Course
Making Sense of Cholesterol Tests, Harvard Health Publishing
The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with statin therapy in people at low risk of vascular disease: meta-analysis of individual data from 27 randomised trials, B Mihaylova, J Emberson, L Blackwell, A Keech, J Simes, E H Barnes, M Voysey, A Gray, R Collins, C Baigent
How statistical deception created the appearance that statins are safe and effective in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, David M Diamond 1, Uffe Ravnskov
The role of coenzyme Q10 in statin-associated myopathy: a systematic review, Leo Marcoff 1, Paul D Thompson
Apolipoprotein B and Cardiovascular Disease: Biomarker and Potential Therapeutic Target
Apolipoprotein B: Bridging the Gap Between Evidence and Clinical Practice
Heart Disease + Cholesterol: Debunking The Real Cause Behind Heart Problems
Ditch the Statins; How to Naturally Lower Your Cholesterol | Dr. Aseem Alhotra, Dr. Mark Hyman Show
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