Just as a bit of a retort to this. LDL as a number is one of the least powerful predictors of heart disease (and it’s actually an inverse predictor of cancer, though no one ever talks about that side of things). You might be able to read into it a little with particle size and other health indicators, but it just doesn’t seem that important if you look at data. There is actually some theories now going around of the healthy triad of cholesterol numbers where you see high LDL and HDL with low triglycerides. Its becoming more of a thing now with higher fat and animal based diets. But time will tell.
It is, and there is fairly strong research supporting it as such too. I bought a bottle a while back and have been using it daily during my cut.
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I chuckle a little every time I hear “it’s natural, unprocessed so it must be ok.”.
Okey Dokey!
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When people tell me all protein is the same, and have a habit of noting black widow venom is a protein.
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Yep. Vespids, snake venoms, amatoxins, all proteins.
And to your point on industrialization, all of our protein supplements are fractioned waste byproducts of industrial food production, along with all of the oils, sugars, etc.
I wish I had a copy of an old article from Scientific American from when I used to read more. The gist of it was that industry despises waste, and given enough time will find a latent use for what ever waste or byproduct is created as a result of its methods. It then went on to list a bunch of amazing developments, like the man made fibre industry, playground and athletic surfaces, etc. Phoenix rising from the ashes type stuff.
All while deftly avoiding epidemic levels of diseases of lifestyle and affluence. 
Agriculture industry “We have X million cubic tons of industrial crud. What are we going to do with this crap?..”
6 Mos. Later " …a new study has found that this cyclic dextrin has blah blah osmolality…"
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I don’t feel that I offered much to retort. I never stated that I consider LDL alone the be-all and end-all. You may feel that it is an almost meaningless way to predict heart disease – which I do not think is unpopular today – but many will still face resistance when they go full keto and then present new bloodwork to their doctors. That is why there are so many alarmist posts on the Internet. Maybe it is bad, maybe it is not.
I’ve encountered other theories involving the various cholesterol levels, but my post came more from personal experience – I eat a lot of animal fats, and it does not result in a lipid profile that would concern conventional doctors. I am a healthy individual, so I see no reason to not continue eating this way. Considering my education and that I am not a qualified dietician, I find biology extremely complex and don’t feel comfortable making blanket statements. I simply found what works for me.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’m a huge proponent of adding animal fats to one’s diet, especially among other women my age who typically abstain from egg yolks, butter, red meat, etc.
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Sorry I should have been more precise. I meant to retort the idea of the general fear of LDL levels, not you specifically.
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I agree with all of this, for the record. I just find the simplistic argument of “this is what our ancestors ate, therefore good”, to be akin to “natural, therefore good” that yourself and @SkyzykS talked about. If you can see it as a shorthand for “eat less processed crap, and make sure the stuff you eat, eats less processed crap” then I’m right on board.
Correct. It’s not my religion, and I think I laid out some more nuance in my earlier posts. Also note it’s a perspective shift I’m talking about not a rule to follow. Contrary to the way I stated it earlier, the logical inverse is more what I believe. Instead of assuming that “paleo” foods (that may or may not really be what people back then ate) are always good for us, I think it would go a long way to just not assume foods are healthy if they are recent additions.
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I’m in full agreement with you. Modern diets and lifestyles seem tailor made to kill us.
I’m obviously a tad cynical, but really, it’s just so easy to over consume now.
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Wanna thank everyone for their contributions so far, and really appreciate the sentiment shared by @QuadQueen Schedule has been crazy right now and I want to give everything I read here my due diligence before offering a reply, but wanted it known I’m receiving and appreciating this.
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I can’t find it but I recall that sometimes when people are lobbying for very high-carb diet they’ll refer populations that have diets with a tremendously high fruit content but one thing that stuck to me with regards to that was a counterargument someone else raised which was that there’s a substantial difference in how sweet a grocery store apple is compared to a wild apple.
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Got a chance to read through all the replies. Very much appreciated by all contributors. Definitely agree with the sentiment regarding the significance of individuality as it relates to nutrition. @QuadQueen my current nutritional approach is a pretty wild departure from my heydays, haha. It took a wakeup call with some bloodwork one day to get me in that direction. I am genetically predisposed to high blood cholesterol: LDL AND HDL. My mom’s blood was actually studied at stanford, as her HDL was in the triple digits desipte a lifestyle that wasn’t terribly conducive to it. No history of heart disease in the family and my triglycerides are in the 30s if that, but many docs still key in on that LDL, and when it creeps too high the “statin” words starts coming out. An avocado a day keeps the Doctor away it seems.
I DO seem to respond to animal fats, for good and for ill. From the discussion here, it’s looking like my current approach of avoiding man made transfats and limiting animal trans fats is probably the “safest” way forward as far as not venturing into the unknown. I HAVE taken away from this that the animal based transfats aren’t inherently bad, and there are some good things in them, but as far as keeping my bloodwork clean enough to avioding meds, it might not be in my best interest.
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Same with a domestic ribeye and a wild ribeye, 
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Don’t take a statin if you don’t need it, but statins are demonized too much IMO. They are the number 1 drug class at preventing mortality. Sure they have some sides.
You could look at red rice yeast. It varies a lot in quality from what I have read, where the low quality ones might have 20X less of the thing (monacolin K) that provides the impact to cholesterol. The active ingredient, monacolin K in red rice yeast is actually the active ingredient in Lovastatin (a statin), so you may get statin like sides?
Just something to look into.
https://www.elitefts.com/education/red-yeast-rice-for-healthy-blood-lipids-whos-foolin-who/
@T3hPwnisher I would completely agree with your thinking on this. Given that genetic predisposition and your prior results - keeping the higher trans and saturated fat animal products in a low/moderate range is definitely the ticket.
A couple other asides here - In the event your LDL ever does start creeping back up, and if they don’t already, I would ask your doc to run an LDL sub-particle lab. If you’ve got mostly the “large and fluffy” Subclass A LDL - you probably don’t need meds. If the “small dense” Subclass B is the predominant vein - then intervention becomes more important. The “small dense” stuff is the dangerous stuff. (As is true with “small dense” women - we’re dangerous… lol).
Additionally, the driver for high/increasing cholesterol numbers and high LDL is primarily due to the combination of less than optimal fat choices (high saturated, trans, omega 6s) with shitty and/or high amounts of carbs. I tell people that you can be healthy on a low carb/high fat diet and you can be healthy on a low fat/high carb diet, but you can’t be healthy on a high fat/high carb diet. So, having your literal “cake” and eating too - is not a thing that anyone should be doing on the regular.
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My experience with said sides was horrible. I am a much bigger fan of correcting with dietary and lifestyle changes, and will do whatever I can to keep that up.
Right now I use a product called “Cholestoff”, which checks the box enough for me.
@QuadQueen very much appreciated! My low-carb lifestyle seemed to have been a bit of a blessing in that regard, and part of me wonders if it was a form of natural self-medication. I just seem to naturally gravitate toward it.
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I would put something like this (plant stanols) in the same category as red rice yeast. Effective supplements.
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Outstanding. The science on it seemed sound enough.
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