You’ve probably seen the bloodwork photos on Twitter or Reddit. Someone eats nothing but ribeye and eggs for six months, feels like a superhero, but then their labs come back and their LDL is sitting at 350 mg/dL. Their doctor starts using words like "heart attack" and "ticking time bomb." It’s terrifying.
But here’s the thing. You don't necessarily have to quit the lifestyle to fix the numbers.
Learning how to lower cholesterol on carnivore diet isn't just about eating less fat; it's about understanding why your body is dumping lipids into your bloodstream in the first place. Most people panic. They go back to eating oatmeal and chicken breasts. Honestly, that’s a shame because, for many, the fix is just a few metabolic tweaks away.
The Lean Mass Hyper-Responder puzzle
We have to talk about Dave Feldman. He’s the guy who basically pioneered the research into why lean, fit people see their cholesterol skyrocket on low-carb diets. He calls them Lean Mass Hyper-Responders (LMHR).
If you have low triglycerides, high HDL, and sky-high LDL, your body might just be using LDL as a transport vehicle for energy. Think of LDL as a boat carrying fuel (fat) to your cells. If you don't have much body fat and you aren't eating carbs, those boats are working overtime.
However, just because it’s "natural" doesn't mean everyone is comfortable with an LDL of 400. High LDL in the presence of inflammation is a bad recipe. If your hs-CRP (a marker for inflammation) is high, you’ve got a problem. If it’s low? You’re in a different conversation entirely. But let's assume you want those numbers down anyway.
How to lower cholesterol on carnivore diet without quitting meat
The easiest lever to pull is the type of fat you’re eating.
Stearic acid is the primary saturated fat in beef. While it’s generally neutral for cholesterol, some people’s livers react to a massive influx of saturated fat by downregulating LDL receptors. Basically, your liver stops pulling the "boats" out of the water.
Swap the tallow for leaner cuts
If you’re frying everything in suet or eating the fattiest brisket you can find, try switching to flank steak, sirloin, or even lean ground beef. You can add back fats that are higher in monounsaturated fatty acids. Think of it as a "Mediterranean-ish" carnivore approach.
💡 You might also like: Can I overdose on vitamin d? The reality of supplement toxicity
- Use a bit of olive oil or avocado oil if you aren't a purist.
- Stick to leaner wild game like elk or venison.
- Focus on fish like salmon or mackerel.
It sounds like heresy to the "fat is king" crowd. But if your goal is a lower LDL, reducing the total saturated fat load is the fastest way to get there. It’s simple biology.
The "Feldman Protocol" (The Lipid Energy Model)
Dave Feldman famously showed that you can drop your LDL by hundreds of points in just a few days by increasing your calorie intake, specifically from fats. This sounds backward. Why would eating more fat lower cholesterol?
It’s about signaling. When you eat a ton of fat, your body thinks, "Oh, we have plenty of energy coming in, we don't need to mobilize all these internal stores."
I wouldn't recommend doing this right before a life insurance physical just to "cheat" the test, but it proves that cholesterol is a dynamic energy marker, not just a static "clogged pipe" measurement.
Why your gallbladder might be the secret culprit
If you aren't producing enough bile, or if your bile is "sludgy," your body can't effectively excrete cholesterol. Cholesterol is actually how we get rid of waste.
Many people on carnivore have been low-fat for years before switching. Their gallbladders are lazy. When they suddenly hit the system with 200g of fat a day, the system backs up.
- Try adding an ox bile supplement.
- Use TUDCA to help with bile flow.
- Drink plenty of water with sea salt to keep things moving.
When bile flows well, cholesterol gets carried out of the body through the digestive tract. If you're constipated—which happens to a lot of new carnivores—that cholesterol can actually be reabsorbed. Gross, right? But true.
Eggs and the "Hyper-Absorber" reality
Most people can eat a dozen eggs a day and their cholesterol won't budge. They are "compensators." Their liver just makes less cholesterol to balance it out.
📖 Related: What Does DM Mean in a Cough Syrup: The Truth About Dextromethorphan
But about 20% of the population are "absorbers."
If you have the ABCG5/G8 genetic mutation, your body is way too good at soaking up dietary cholesterol. For you, those six-egg omelets are a direct ticket to a high LDL reading. If you suspect you're an absorber, cutting back on egg yolks and organ meats like liver can make a massive difference in your labs within 30 days.
The role of dairy (The hidden spike)
Heavy cream is the enemy of low LDL.
There is something about the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) in liquid dairy that seems to spike LDL more than butter or cheese for many people. If you’re putting a heavy splash of cream in your coffee every morning, stop.
Try black coffee or just use a little butter. Or better yet, cut the dairy entirely for a month. Dairy is a common inflammatory trigger anyway, and inflammation + high LDL is the real danger zone for arterial plaque.
Testing that actually matters
Stop looking at "Total Cholesterol." It’s a useless number. It’s like measuring how many vehicles are on the road without checking if they are ambulances or delivery trucks.
You need to ask your doctor for an NMR LipoProfile.
This test measures your LDL particle number (LDL-P) and the size of the particles. You want "Pattern A"—large, fluffy balls that bounce off arterial walls. You want to avoid "Pattern B"—small, dense particles that get stuck and oxidize.
👉 See also: Creatine Explained: What Most People Get Wrong About the World's Most Popular Supplement
If you are on a carnivore diet and your LDL is high, but your particles are all large and fluffy, many functional medicine practitioners, like Dr. Paul Saladino or Dr. Shawn Baker, argue the risk profile is significantly different than someone with high LDL and high blood sugar.
Watch the ApoB
If you want the gold standard, check your Apolipoprotein B (ApoB).
ApoB is a single protein found on every potentially atherogenic (plaque-forming) particle. Many cardiologists, like Dr. Peter Attia, believe ApoB is a much more accurate predictor of heart disease than standard LDL. If your ApoB is low despite a high LDL, you can breathe a little easier.
Practical steps to take right now
If you’ve got a doctor’s appointment coming up and you want to see those numbers move in a downward direction while staying carnivore, here is the playbook.
- Prioritize lean beef. Swap the ribeye for New York strip or sirloin. Trim the visible fat for a few weeks.
- Eliminate liquid dairy. No milk, no heavy cream.
- Increase your movement. Zone 2 cardio (walking at a brisk pace where you can still talk) helps the body utilize fatty acids more efficiently.
- Check your iodine and thyroid. Hypothyroidism is a massive, often overlooked cause of high cholesterol. If your thyroid is sluggish, your LDL receptors won't work. On long-term carnivore, some people's T3 levels drop if they aren't eating enough calories.
- Add some seafood. Replacing a few red meat meals with wild-caught shrimp, scallops, or lean white fish reduces saturated fat intake significantly while keeping you in ketosis.
Don't let a single blood test scare you into a diet that makes you feel worse. Cholesterol is just one piece of the metabolic health puzzle. Look at your waist circumference, your blood pressure, and your fasting insulin. If those three are trending in the right direction, you’re likely doing better than 90% of the population.
Focus on the quality of the fats. Keep the inflammation low. Use the tools of modern medicine—like the calcium score (CAC) or Cleerly scan—to see if there is actually any "gunk" in the pipes before you freak out about the "boats" in the water.
Stay meat-based, but be smart about the chemistry.