I recently quit taking statins. My decision was motivated by reading two books:

"Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259/

and

"The Big Fat Surprise" by Nina Teicholz

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

Finding that statins would lengthen my lifespan by at most ~30 days or less really chapped my ass (i.e.,irritated me), given that so much time and effort went into prescribing/ordering/buying/taking/monitoring statins on a regular schedule, along with their attendant blood tests (Total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides et al) and time spent listening to my fear-mongering physician:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+long+will+statins+lengthen...

When I faced my doctor down about this he fell back to saying that "you increase your probability of a heart attack by 17%". He neglected to say how significant it was that, in the last year alone, I had lost 15 pounds, increased my exercise level, now slept better and had improved my diet significantly. He went through the motions but I stood firm. In desperation he threw out "But high blood pressure is strongly correlated with increasing age and you can't turn the clock back!" I countered that my blood pressure is better than it's ever been and that I intend to reduce it further. Then I told him that the cholesterol hypothesis is dead [ed. the cholesterol hypothesis is the idea that cardiovascular disease is caused by high levels of cholesterol in the blood stream]:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=is+the+cholesterol+hypothesis+...

With that, he seemed dumbfounded and finally stopped selling me statins.

We've fallen back to a previous era where physicians in the USA are useless except for trauma intervention and as gatekeepers for antibiotics (and other newer drugs). If the USA would allow pharmacists to prescribe (as is done in Europe) we could save trillions of dollars. But physicians' prestige and power would be reduced to a shadow of what they are today. Time to put them back in their proper place.

Covid-19's revelations of the flawed advice of "experts" has been enlightening. Every expert source has failed in big ways: epidemiology is a laughing stock, the FDA, WHO and CDC have dropped the ball repeatedly, given flawed advice, reversed guidelines and in general, established a baseline of SNAFU FUBAR:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=SNAFU+FUBAR

But my physician is no better: he's been selling me bullshit for decades.

And now this article. Grrr! Good thing my blood pressure is under control!

This video on "Vegetable Oils: The Unknown Story" provides interesting story about the war on fat in the US, by the author of the book "The Big Fat Surprise" [1][2].

According to the author, she was about to name her book "The Big Fat Lie", but eventually decided against it.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UnOryQiIY

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

Please check this video on Vegetable Oils: The Unknown Story by the author of the book "The Big Fat Surprise" [1][2].

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UnOryQiIY

[2]https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

Most of the people are ignorant about the things and fat they put inside their body (that includes me). Please check this video on Vegetable Oils: The Unknown Story by the author of the book "The Big Fat Surprise" [1][2].

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UnOryQiIY

[2]https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

You're right that ketogenic diets don't have to be meat-centric. This is why I promote the carnivore diet and not the ketogenic diet.

Not all of the resources I pointed you to are about ketogenic diets, though -- some are about carnivore diets. For instance, there are the books of Vilhjalmur Stefansson who lived for years on a meat-only diet and was monitored at Harvard while on this diet.

Nina Teicholz also provides a phenomenal tour of the literature and demonstrates that a lot of the science does in fact support a carnivore diet. You should look up some of her phenomenal lectures on YouTube, or read her book The Big Fat Surprise: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

If you would like to contribute to getting more research done on the carnivore diet, then you can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/carnivore-research

As many have said -- cholesterol is not indicative of much, HDL can be useful but still not much. First thing I would do is study a little bit about it, I found this book very informative, The Big Fat Surprise https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

I've been Keto for 18 months and it's changed my life (I've previous tried Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescetarian, and a few others) -- I also got my blood tested 6 months after starting and I was in "perfect" levels according to the nurse -- but cholesterol specificaly is a terrible indicator.

LDL is correlated but not causative and it's been discovered that HDL is a much better indicator.

Take a look at this book: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/14...

It goes into it quite a bit more -- cholesterol is a _terrible_ indicator of overall health. This is well known in the Keto community.

Whoops. I tried to google something (besides a video) to sum up fats discussed in a book[1] and came to that. Didn't notice it was referring specifically to RCO.

The points from the video[2] (and book) still stand though.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1451624425

[2] https://youtu.be/8aXTuBYb5-c

If you're interested, the book Big Fat Surprise talks a great deal about how fat (other than trans fat) isn't bad for you.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Fat-Surprise-Healthy/dp/145162...

There are questions about polyunsaturated fats as well, i.e. vegetable oils. The book "The Big Fat Surprise" [1] talks about this in some length if you're interested.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Fat-Surprise-Healthy/dp/145162...

I would have agreed with you completely before this summer. I had done weight watchers and lost weight, but as soon as I stopped tracking my diet (and restricting my calories), my weight drifted right back to where I started. Gary Taubes has a whole section in Why We Get Fat on how you can't keep weight off by temporarily restricting calories.

This summer I've been reading a lot of books [1] on a low carb, moderate protein, high fat diet. It is called a LCHF or Keto diet. I now think that insulin resistance has a lot more to do with weight than I realized. I've lost 30 pounds this summer without counting calories (or weight watchers points). I just keep my carbs below 20g a day, and try not to eat too much protein. I'm not hungry, it doesn't take time to track, I feel really good, and the weight has some off so much faster than with weight watchers.

[1] My summer reading, that has really changed my life:

Why We Get Fat, by Gary Taubes

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259

The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, by Nina Teicholz

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/145...

Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health, by Denise Minger

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Food-Pyramid-Politics-Interests/...

Keto Clarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet, by Jimmy Moore, Eric Westman MD

http://www.amazon.com/Keto-Clarity-Definitive-Benefits-Low-C...

I was really surprised that most of what the medical establishment says about diet is so incredibly backwards.

I'm now reading "The Big Fat Surprise" (http://www.thebigfatsurprise.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Fat-Surprise-Healthy/dp/145162...). I have not read the whole book yet but if what is written in it is truth then there is no science I am expecting in lipid hypothesis and that's is very disappointing. I will double check some facts myself after reading this book but it is interesting. 1-star comments in amazon look valuable as well.

Just spent 20 minutes by following comments, blogs and found this:

http://www.foodpolitics.com/2014/03/is-saturated-fat-a-probl...

http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fal...