Why Your Cholesterol Is High (Even If You’re Eating Right)
The invisible traffic jam inside your bloodstream, and how to finally clear it with the Cholesterol Repair Blueprint.
The Breakfast That Broke the Paradigm
In 1984, the front page of Time Magazine declared war on cholesterol. The cover? A frowning face drawn on two eggs and a strip of bacon.
That image haunted breakfast tables for years.
For decades, cholesterol-rich foods like eggs, shrimp, and liver were demonized. The message was simple: if you eat cholesterol, your cholesterol will rise. So stop eating cholesterol.
But something odd kept happening.
People would lower dietary cholesterol… and their numbers barely budged. Others went plant-based and saw their LDL drop like a rock—even though they were still eating dietary fat.
Meanwhile, some people loaded up on kale and beans, exercised daily, and still had high cholesterol.
The message was no longer simple. It was confusing. And for many patients, it was discouraging.
So let’s rewind. What actually is cholesterol? Why does your body make it? And how can you fix the system without chasing numbers?
Let’s take a peek inside.
Scene 1: The Liver’s Mailroom
Picture your liver as a 24/7 Amazon warehouse.
Instead of headphones or dog food, it ships something vital: cholesterol.
Around 75% of the cholesterol in your body is homemade. That’s right—your liver makes it. Even if you never ate another omelet again.
Why? Because cholesterol isn’t the villain. It’s a builder.
Your body uses cholesterol to:
Patch cell membranes (every single one of your trillions of cells needs it)
Make hormones like estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol
Manufacture vitamin D
Build bile acids to digest fats
Keep your brain running and your nerves communicating
This molecule is essential. Your body produces it because your body needs it.
Scene 2: Meet the Delivery Trucks
But there’s a catch: cholesterol can’t just float in your blood. It’s oily. Blood is watery. Oil and water don’t mix.
So your body bundles cholesterol into lipoproteins—tiny trucks made of fat and protein.
Each one has a job:
LDL: The delivery trucks. They drop cholesterol off at cells that need repair.
HDL: The clean-up crew. They pick up excess cholesterol and return it to the liver.
VLDL, remnants: These carry triglycerides—a type of fat your body stores for energy. When you eat more calories (especially sugar or refined carbs) than you burn, the liver turns the excess into triglycerides and ships them out using these trucks.
In a healthy body, these vehicles run like a well-oiled fleet—dropping off, picking up, and staying in balance.
Scene 3: When the System Breaks Down
But now imagine this:
The liver keeps sending out trucks (LDL)… but the cells don’t need more cholesterol. So the trucks start circling.
HDL garbage trucks are in short supply. There’s no one cleaning up.
Meanwhile, the roads (your arteries) are inflamed. The lining becomes sticky. Trucks crash. Cargo spills. Immune cells swarm the scene. Cholesterol sticks where it shouldn’t.
That’s how plaques begin to form.
But what caused the flood of traffic in the first place?
Scene 4: Enter the Hidden Force—Insulin Resistance
There’s a hidden system at play—often years in the making—called insulin resistance.
It doesn’t start with cholesterol. It starts with:
Weight gain (especially around the belly)
Too little movement
High stress, poor sleep, ultra-processed food
Over time, your cells stop responding to insulin. That triggers a cascade:
1. The liver produces more triglycerides.
When cells resist insulin, blood sugar stays high. Your liver responds by converting that excess sugar into triglycerides—fat you can store. It then sends out more VLDL trucks to haul them away.
2. LDL particles get smaller and denser.
Too many triglyceride-rich trucks crowd the system. Enzymes swap their triglyceride cargo into LDL trucks, which reshapes them into small, dense particles. These are more likely to sneak into artery walls and get trapped—fueling plaque buildup.
3. HDL levels drop.
The flood of triglycerides also wears out HDL trucks. They get overloaded, dismantled, or simply disappear. Fewer clean-up crews mean more debris floating around.
4. LDL receptors disappear.
Normally, your liver acts like a recycling center—it uses LDL receptors to pull excess LDL out of the bloodstream. But when insulin resistance hits, this recycling system breaks down. The receptors vanish. So the trucks just keep circling, with nowhere to park.
The result? More cholesterol floating around, with nowhere to go and no off-ramps in sight.
This is why many people with high cholesterol also have:
High triglycerides
Low HDL
Elevated fasting insulin
Fatty liver
These are not independent problems. They’re symptoms of the same traffic jam.
Scene 5: So… Does Food Matter?
Yes. But not how most people think.
Dietary cholesterol can affect blood cholesterol—but only modestly. Your body adapts. When you eat more cholesterol, your liver usually makes less.
But here’s the twist:
When people eat more whole plant foods, their cholesterol drops—even if their cholesterol intake stays the same.
Why?
Plants are packed with soluble fiber that binds cholesterol in the gut (aka keep it from being reabsorbed and escort it out the rear end…literally)
Plant-rich diets reduce inflammation
They improve insulin sensitivity, reboot the cleanup crew, and slow the liver’s overproduction
So while dietary cholesterol isn’t irrelevant, the real shift happens when you crowd in the good stuff—not just cut out the bad.
Scene 6: The Good News—You Can Clean Up the System
You don’t need to attack cholesterol itself.
You need to repair the system that handles cholesterol. That means:
Reduce the number of broken trucks (VLDL and triglycerides)
Rebuild your clean-up crew (HDL)
Reopen the receptor exits (help your cells want cholesterol again)
Calm the inflamed roads (the arteries)
And you do that through consistent, healing habits.
You can use targeted tools—like certain supplements, soluble fiber, or even medications when necessary. But none of those work well if the foundation is unstable.
Fix the system, and the numbers often follow.
P.S. A Note on Familial Hyperlipidemia
Some people have a genetic condition called familial hyperlipidemia, which causes very high LDL levels regardless of diet or lifestyle. If your total cholesterol or LDL is unusually high, especially if you have a family history of early heart disease, talk to your doctor about getting tested.
In these cases, lifestyle changes are still powerful, but medication is often essential to reduce risk. It’s not a failure, it’s a tailored solution for a different biology. The key is knowing what you’re working with.
What You’ll Discover Next: The Cholesterol Repair Blueprint
If you’ve ever felt confused by cholesterol, you’re not alone. The truth is, fixing cholesterol isn’t just about removing foods or adding a supplement—it’s about healing the entire system that handles it.
And that’s exactly what we explore in the second half of this article.
As a paid subscriber, you’ll unlock:
The Cholesterol Repair Blueprint: a step-by-step system to lower LDL by addressing the root causes—not just the symptoms
The exact patient-tested protocol I use in clinic, featuring foods and supplements that have helped patients drop LDL by up to 25% (with medical support)
Why fiber is more powerful than most people realize—and which kinds actually move the needle
The science behind walking after meals and how it improves triglycerides, HDL, and insulin sensitivity
What your triglycerides and HDL actually reveal about your metabolic health (and why they matter more than you’ve been told)
How sleep, stress, and nighttime snacks influence cholesterol clearance—and how to shift those patterns starting tonight
The Cholesterol Repair Worksheet, a printable tracker to help you build these habits and reflect on progress over time
You’ll also get full access to the Habit Healer’s Inner Circle, including:
Weekly deep-dive habit guides
Exclusive access to protocols, trackers, and handouts
Early access to new metabolic health series
The full archive of research-backed articles to help you reverse insulin resistance, lower inflammation, and build healing habits that last
This is not about hacks or headlines.
It’s about repair.
And it starts with one healing habit.
Unlock the full article—and everything inside the Inner Circle—below.