Nick Norwitz explains how his body raises LDL by losing fat and lowers it by gaining fat. He calls this the lipid energy model: when you're lean and insulin-sensitive, your LDL tracks with how much body fat you're storing, not genetics or diet type alone.
I can raise my cholesterol with this avocado and drop it with this butter. And no, I'm not making this up. Let me explain. I have very high LDL cholesterol, and normally when people see this number, this high LDL number, their brain shuts off and the conversation stops. The biomarker is high, so we need to lower it. But understanding why a biomarker is elevated is incredibly important. In my case, it's not genetic. It's metabolic. Because I'm lean, insulin sensitive, and highly fat fueled, my body moves a lot of fat-based energy through the cholesterol system. This is known as the lipid energy model. And here's where it gets interesting. If I lose body fat, my LDL goes up. But when I maintain or actually gain fat, my LDL tends to stay stable or go down in the case of gaining fat. So, if I want to use this avocado to raise my LDL, all I have to do is eat very little, maybe 2 avocados per day and some eggs and sardines. I'll lose weight, lose fat, my LDL will go up. On the other hand, if I want to use this butter to lower my LDL, I can just turn it into a milkshake, maybe do some ice cream, a banana, drink it over a few days or weeks, gain a little fat and add carbs to my liver, and just like that, my LDL will plummet. It's not magic, it's physiology.
