THE CHOLESTEROL LIE. I want to show how differently we should think about cholesterol. People talk about it as if it’s a monster, yet medical textbooks clearly state that without cholesterol, life is impossible. If the body doesn’t have enough, it simply dies. That’s why the body produces large amounts of it on its own—because it needs it. And it produces less when I eat more, and more when I eat less. My body isn’t stupid; it checks what I consume and adjusts accordingly.
Cholesterol is essential for so many vital processes. Under sunlight, my skin makes vitamin D from it—necessary for strong bones, teeth, immune function, and preventing osteoporosis. Tooth decay too is largely linked to a vitamin D deficiency, not a lack of fluoride. Cholesterol also forms the basis of my sex hormones, both male and female types. Without them, fertility, menstruation, pregnancy, and even basic masculine or feminine characteristics would collapse. If I lowered my cholesterol too much, I joke that I might end up wearing lipstick and carrying a handbag.
My stress hormones also come from cholesterol. They don’t create stress—they help me survive it. Without enough, I’d feel weak and overly sensitive. When epidemics strike, the people who fall ill are often those with low stress hormone levels, not necessarily the unvaccinated.
Every cell in my body relies on cholesterol in its membrane, and without it, cells can’t function. Even my brain is full of it—ten percent of its dry mass is cholesterol. Healthy thinking itself depends on it. Yet people are constantly frightened by the word.
I genuinely doubt that cholesterol-lowering drugs come without side effects. How could they not affect vitamin D production, hormone balance, bone health, digestion, or even mental function—especially since no one ever studied these effects thoroughly before or after these drugs entered the market?
When I eat more cholesterol—eggs, sausage, bacon—the body doesn’t collapse. The liver steps in. It filters excess cholesterol from my blood and sends it into bile, which empties into the intestines when I eat fatty food. If I don’t eat fat, that bile stays put, and excess cholesterol can’t be removed. Fat-free diets actually hinder cholesterol elimination and often lead to gallbladder problems. Meanwhile, my liver constantly turns cholesterol into bile acids, even when levels are perfectly normal, because bile acids activate digestive enzymes. Without them, digestion simply doesn’t work.
So my body continually loses cholesterol and continually needs more. And it makes no sense to pretend that everyone should have the same “ideal” cholesterol number. What’s high for one person may be normal or even necessary for another.
For thirty years, people have been told to avoid cholesterol in food—lean meat, low-fat everything, no sun, no salt—while doctors prescribe more and more cholesterol-lowering drugs. And yet cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, strokes, and arteriosclerosis haven’t gone down; they’ve gone up. What has all this fear-driven advice actually achieved?
Just look at the egg, supposedly a cholesterol bomb. If cholesterol were truly so deadly, the chick inside should die before hatching. Instead, it thrives in an environment rich in cholesterol, because life needs it.
There are even scientific studies showing no link between cholesterol levels and heart attacks or strokes; some show that people with higher cholesterol may live longer.
My point is simple: cholesterol is not the enemy. It is essential, natural, and intelligently regulated by the body. And I wish we would at least teach our children to think for themselves—because with a bit of knowledge and common sense, the fear around cholesterol falls apart.
