389: Is Cholesterol Actually Good For You? The Truth You Need To Know

Why Diet Rules Feel Exhausting

Anita 0:00

Do you feel as exhausted as I do when you think about these manmade ways. It's exhausting. This is why God says my ways are not exhausting. Dieting, counting points, counting calories, keeping up with your grams of protein. I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve weren't checking their protein in the garden. You know, they weren't worrying about their cholesterol. Why? Because they were eating whole plant foods. They didn't have to. God didn't have to give them any of these rules that exhaust them and that keep them running after things that distract them from their real purpose. When you're living in the way he created your body to optimally thrive, these things become If your body keeps costing you the opportunities you know God is sending, this episode is for you. Welcome to Power On Plants. I'm Anita Ell, a nurse and certified integrative nutrition health coach.

Jarrod 1:57

And I'm Jared Ruel, a physician assistant certified in lifestyle medicine.

Fixing Cholesterol Without Prescriptions

Anita 2:01

Together. We have spent nearly five decades in healthcare and we created this podcast because we keep seeing purpose-driven leaders lose ground to exhaustion, poor lab results, and the health struggles that none of the standard approaches were actually fixing. At the root, We show you how to fuel your body with what it was designed to optimally run on so your energy skyrockets and your labs move in the right direction and you can finally show up to fully live the calling God has for your life. No miserable dieting methods Or white knuckling through diets that were never going to last. If you want the step-by-step system that gets your body fully backing your mission instead of working against it, that's exactly what our accelerator program is built for. You can learn more at power on plants.com/accelerator. And today we are talking about getting cholesterol fixed. No prescription required. Why are we talking about this? Because we keep hearing from everybody. Yeah. Don't you know that cholesterol's actually good for you? I mean, if you're up on all the research, you should know

Jarrod 3:07

And that's a slightly different angle.'cause a lot of times we keep hearing about the demonization of cholesterol and understandably so with the way the mainstream science is going. But now we're hearing the flip side. Oh no, no, no. Don't worry about cholesterol. It's good for you. You need more of it.

Anita 3:22

And there is some truth there because cholesterol is essential.

Jarrod 3:26

It's absolutely essential. It's in every cell of our body. It's in the membrane. We make hormones from it like estrogen, testosterone. I think we've all heard of those very important cortisol, vitamin D bile acids, which help us to digest fats. Yes, even healthy fats found in plant foods. We need those and they're made from cholesterol, so yes. Cholesterol is not the the bad guy that it's been made out to be. Your brain is made up of roughly 25% of your body's total cholesterol, so that is obviously extremely important. Every cell in our body has the capacity to make cholesterol. Now some cells rely more on what is made. Other cells rely more on what is traveling throughout the bloodstream, so it depends on where it is in the body. We know that the majority of cholesterol that's made is composed in the liver. And the intestines also in the brain. Brain makes a lot of its own cholesterol. So this is a very important molecule, but it's been demonized throughout the last 20, 30 years.

Anita 4:30

So what you're saying is our body's actually created by God to make the cholesterol that we need.

Jarrod 4:36

Yes, absolutely.

Anita 4:38

So every day without a single bite of animal food, our body would still make the cholesterol we need.

Jarrod 4:43

Yes, we have the capacity in every cell, but also our liver, our intestines do make it so that it does circulate throughout the bloodstream. But the key there is that we have feedback mechanisms that control how much is there. Sometimes we may need more cholesterol, like if we have an injury. Well, if your cells are trying to heal, they need building blocks to make the cell membranes that is cholesterol, or at least cholesterol is one of the components. So you may have a higher level of cholesterol for short period of time, but once the healing process has stopped, then the body recognizes, alright, we don't need quite so much. Let's gear that down a little bit and make less. And all of that is without eating a single bite of animal food.

How Animal Foods Push Levels Up

Anita 5:25

And that shouldn't surprise us because Genesis 1 29 tells us God gave us every seed bearing plant and every tree with fruit. That was his original design to optimally fuel our bodies well. So then where and how does cholesterol become a problem when it goes to high? Have you ever asked yourself, what is making my cholesterol go too high? What we know is it's not your age, and it's usually not your genes. So if our body is making it and it's designed to make all that it needs, because we were originally created to eat whole plant foods, then what happens when we overload it day by day by day with more and more animal products? And there's no off switch for absorption.

Jarrod 6:11

No, when you're eating it in your diet from animal-based foods, and every animal, every animal, product, egg, dairy, they all have cholesterol because it's an essential ingredient in cells.

Anita 6:24

What about fish though? I mean, it's fish.

Jarrod 6:26

It has cholesterol, every single animal

Anita 6:29

chicken,

Jarrod 6:30

chick chicken, lamb, pork. There's not a single animal on the face of this planet that does not have cholesterol in them. Even the clean animals,

Anita 6:39

An organic and free range and cage free

Jarrod 6:42

cage, free eggs, free range. beef, no hormone added dairy. It all has cholesterol because it's just a natural component of what is in there.

Anita 6:51

So when our body's making all the cholesterol it needs, and then on top of that, we're stacking more and more and more cholesterol eating this animal product, that animal product every day, all throughout the week, what is then happening? Our blood cholesterol climbs and your doctor starts writing you prescriptions.

Jarrod 7:11

Now some of the proponents for eating more cholesterol and saying, Hey, it's good for you. The more the better. They might argue, well, if I'm eating more cholesterol, then won't my body make less? And the short answer is yes, your body can try to regulate that somewhat. But what we know and what the studies show is that it can't compensate for the high level of cholesterol that we're eating. So even if it tries to compensate, it just clearly doesn't do a good job because what do we see in our society?

Anita 7:40

And you could say maybe Jared's just saying this. But then why do the majority of people in the United States and other places where we eat a lot of animal products versus the places they're not eating? A lot of animal products have high cholesterol.

Jarrod 7:57

That is where I was going. If that were really. True. Then we wouldn't have people with total cholesterols of 300 or more, or LDLs of way above a hundred. So if it were really true that our bodies could compensate for the amount of cholesterol that we eat from animal sources, then we wouldn't be seeing what we see. And I feel like this is a way for people to justify what they're doing.

Anita 8:20

And I believe that's true, and it's proven in the fact that this is a rising thing that people are saying now, oh, well cholesterol is good for you, it's good for you. And they're pushing that along with a rise in the keto, paleo, carnivore diets, right? So you kind of can see when you watch the trends as those things rise. So goes the talk. And so we need to look at, yeah, many want excuses for what they're doing, but what if you stopped and considered what is going on on the inside when these numbers are going up? Because my body can't deal with all the cholesterol I'm giving it, which by the way, is only found in animal products. Plants have no cholesterol, zero cholesterol in them. So you go back as a believer to Genesis 1 29, the original diet, that our bodies were created to thrive on, and they have no cholesterol in them yet. God created our body to make all the cholesterol we need because cholesterol is necessary. So now, if we veer off from that way of eating and we start eating animal products and more and more and more of them, we see the cholesterol levels go up more and more and more.

Jarrod 9:29

I think the best approach is to take a 30,000 foot view. Look at the cultures that eat the standard American diet. What are their problems? High cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, all of these issues. When we look at cultures that are almost a hundred percent plant-based, and I say almost because in some of these cultures, maybe they eat meat three times a year.

Anita 9:51

And when they do, it's not the same as the amount of frequency that are eaten on the standard American diet. And so we know that this is different. And it's not just age and genetics, right? You might say, oh, well they were younger. No they weren't. They looked at their age. Oh, well it was their genetics. You know, I just had bad genetics. No, because when those people who have low cholesterol and weren't eating hardly any animal products, move to the United States and start eating the standard American diet, what happens?

Jarrod 10:18

They start getting the standard American diseases, including high cholesterol. Now, when you look at those cultures that are in other countries that are completely plant-based, they don't get cardiovascular diseases, they don't have heart attacks, they don't get strokes, they don't get plaques in their arteries.

Anita 10:34

Stop and think about that for just a minute. Just wrap your mind around the fact that in the cultures Where they eat whole food, plant-based. They are not getting the standard American diseases. They don't have high cholesterol. There's no such thing as heart attacks.

Jarrod 10:49

And for people that are diehard carnivores, look at the Inuits. They don't eat plants at all. They're up in. Arctic Circle, they have access only to animal-based foods. They die in their forties and fifties of a heart attack.

Anita 11:02

And hard arteries. Thus the term die hard that you just used.

Jarrod 11:06

Yeah, exactly. Well, that was unintentional, but

Anita 11:09

They're poor arteries.

Jarrod 11:10

fits, yes, the poor arteries. But you have to take a step back. So what I see happening. As people are wanting to justify what they're doing, So we get told I need protein more and more protein. Yes, we need protein, but not near as much as a lot of people think. And on that topic, did you know that people who eat plant-based, when they eat enough to meet their energy requirements, they get twice the amount of protein as what their body needs?

Anita 11:37

I know it's mind blowing. Because of all the advertising and marketing for protein products.

Statins And The Oxidized Cholesterol Problem

Jarrod 11:43

But then we go to, I need protein. Animals are the only source of protein. But now my cholesterol's out of range. My cholesterol's kind of crazy. But I still need the protein. I need the animal products. And I'm just one of those unlucky genetic ones that my cholesterol is out of range and my doctor's worried. So now I must take a medication. But the common medication statins, what do those do? They do nothing for the animal based cholesterol. They stop our body from making the cholesterol that it would ordinarily make. Now, can that control the numbers? Somewhat to varying degrees of successfulness. Some people lower it significantly, others do not. But what you're doing is you're stopping your own production of the healthy cholesterol, and you're eating a bunch of oxidized cholesterol because most animal products are cooked at high temperature, so they're oxidized. What's the problem with that? Oxidized cholesterol causes damage in the blinding of our blood vessels. What's the problem with that? Now you got a place for all that animal cholesterol to stick, and now you have blockages that develop.

Anita 12:48

Do you feel as exhausted as I do when you think about these manmade ways. It's exhausting. This is why God says my ways are not exhausting. Dieting, counting points, counting calories, keeping up with your grams of protein. I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve weren't checking their protein in the garden. You know, they weren't worrying about their cholesterol. Why? Because they were eating whole plant foods. They didn't have to. God didn't have to give them any of these rules that exhaust them and that keep them running after things that distract them from their real purpose. When you're living in the way he created your body to optimally thrive, these things become irrelevant, irrelevant.

Jarrod 13:32

'cause your body does what God programmed it to do in the first place. You don't have to worry about all this stuff we've gotten so into the minutia of this type of cholesterol. Now the apo lipoprotein B, sure, we now understand even more the pathologic process that goes on. But why are we doing that? So we can develop a medicine to then control it. Because you need your animal protein for protein. No. When we go back to God's way, our bodies will just naturally do what it's supposed to do. We don't have to worry about this type of cholesterol or that type of apo lipoprotein. It just naturally regulates.

Freedom From Tracking And Fear

Not Age Or Genes It’s The Plate

Anita 14:11

Can you imagine the type of freedom. That would bring you, if you were freed from having to do all these manmade ways, you didn't even have to think about it because you were just eating the foods that your body was naturally meant to thrive on, and you enjoyed it as much or even better than your old way of living. It was faster, and it just made sense. And when you ate it, you'd look at your other plant-based friends and you'd be saying things like, oh. Yeah, I feel so deprived right now joking about it because I know it's not funny, like when we're stuck in those old ways of doing things. But once you get free, you realize what a matrix you've been stuck in and it's time to bust out in the matrix so you can live your God-given calling. Don't you wanna just say, I am sick of this and I'm gonna stand up and tell the enemy no more. You can no longer steal from me. I'm not gonna be sucked into these manmade ways, and I do not have to apply dieting to eating the foods that God gave me to enjoy once I know the way, because I've been so pre-programmed, right? I have to get deprogrammed deprogrammed from the old ways of doing things, And that's what eating God's way will do for you.

Jarrod 15:25

So here is a major point I want you to get. This is not an age issue. This is not a genetic issue. This is a dietary issue. This is a. Fork issue. What is sitting on your plate? What we know is animal-based products are the only thing on this planet that have cholesterol and all animal products have cholesterol. You will not be able to email me and tell me you found one that does not have cholesterol, because they all do. But what does not have cholesterol plants and what do plants have an abundance of Fiber.

Anita 16:03

Soluble fiber specifically.

Jarrod 16:05

Soluble fiber, which helps to bind to cholesterol and they hold onto it, so then it gets eliminated. Plants also have phytosterols, which are molecules that look very similar to cholesterol. So basically you take a cholesterol molecule and add a couple little side chains, so now it looks different enough so that it can fit in the lock. It won't open that lock, so it blocks the lock and when cholesterol does tumble by, it can't fit in there, so it never gets absorbed. So we have multiple mechanisms within plants that naturally lower cholesterol. I.

Anita 16:40

I'm pretty sure we're just scratching the surface here on the ones that scientists know of. I mean, what else has God put in these foods? We know a ton of things already, but there are many things that we don't know of that they're doing that are beneficial to our body, and they don't come with the things that cause the problems. Therefore, you have food freedom. You don't have to worry about those things anymore. What would your life look like if you implemented the one two punch? You removed those foods? That you think you can't live without because you're able to do it and stay off of them in a way that you actually love. They taste good to you. They're quick to make. They're simple to make simpler than anything you've ever made before, and you have way more choices than you ever had before. It's going to blow your mind. So now you've gotten those foods out, the animal products that are sabotaging your health yes, even the organic cage-free, free range ones. And now the second part of the punch is that you're putting in the foods that your body has been missing, that it's been crying out for for so long, that has all of these amazing things in it that God's put in there to naturally reduce your cholesterol like fiber, which animal products have zero fiber And then the whole plant foods are filled with the phytonutrients that you need. That's nutrients that are only found in plants like fiber that remove the cholesterol. And like Jared said, even things in the plant foods that block the absorption of the cholesterol. Wrap your mind around that for a minute. What is your life gonna look like when you institute the one-two punch and you do it in the way you actually love? So there's no dreaming of cheat days or no hate in your life anymore. You actually can just live and enjoy it, and now you're free from all those things that the enemy used to keep ahold on you, the manmade ways that exhausted you. This is where you can start fully living the life you were created to enjoy.

Jarrod 18:33

If this is the first time you've ever heard of these concepts and you're thinking, can this really work for me? The answer is yes. One of our clients, Robin, actually just shared her results in our group PPN Peak Performance Network, so you can actually go over there and see her results for yourself@poweronplants.com slash ppn. That is power on plants.com/ppn.

Anita 18:56

Maybe you know this story all too well, yourself. Her doctor was ready to put her on statins, highly encouraging her. She needed to start them, and then this happened.

Jarrod 19:08

Previously her levels were anywhere from two 20 to almost 200 fifties. With her most recent high level being just August of 2025, she had a total cholesterol of 240. She started working with us and eating more plants, and in February of this year, only six months later, her total cholesterol dropped to 175.

Anita 19:29

Okay, so you're saying from her house was 2 49, but that just August. Just this August. That was how long ago.

Jarrod 19:36

That was only six, months ago. At the time of this recording, her level was 240 and in six months she dropped her total cholesterol level by 65 points.

Food As Medicine With A Reality Check

Anita 19:47

In other words, her cholesterol is back to normal. No need for statins. Imagine that. And she's loving her food and the things that we've shown her to do are very, very simple. and we were all laughing and celebrating on our call. I. This never gets old. And this is what I want you to hear from our hearts. The truth that this is not the exception to the rule. We see this happen over and over, and. Over and over. I could keep saying over, but I won't do that to you, but I'm not kidding you. This is what happens on the regular. This is the norm. And so it's not normal to have high cholesterol. It's not normal to have to take statins for high cholesterol. It is normal to eat whole plant foods, to fill your life with an abundance of them in a way that you actually enjoy. So that you naturally, without worrying about your cholesterol or being pushed to take a medication, can have normal cholesterol levels by Finding the way that's enjoyable, quick and simple to eat whole plant foods. Listen, get into Peak Performance Network. You have to see our live results. Again, it's Power on plants.com/ppn. That's for Peak Performance Network, and you're gonna see so many other things in there that you just need. Look, you can get into our search engine. Where you can search the word cholesterol and it will pull up literally for you everywhere. In every single episode we have said the word cholesterol. Think of this like your goal mine, your free treasure chest that you can dive into. We are so serious about helping you get results, and this is the first step. Come and join us right now inside the community. Have you ever heard the saying, let food be thy medicine? Whole plant foods can do what so many pharmaceuticals are trying to do without the exhausting side effects.

Jarrod 21:48

I just had a. In the past when we've gone to bookstores, we have seen the health section and there'll be different books on different herbs or different plants and the medicinal properties of it. So lavender helps with being calm. You just, whatever. I don't recall there ever being a book about what cut of meat cures, what particular problem.

Anita 22:10

so gross.

Jarrod 22:11

nausea. Eat rib eye. If you've got a cough, then eat a T-bone.

Anita 22:17

Or rub a T-bone on your skin if you have a skin problem.

Jarrod 22:21

Or put it in your meat diffuser.

Anita 22:25

That is so disgusting. Jared, you're grossing me out right now. I'm serious. I'm at gross out level 10 point 10.

Jarrod 22:31

But why is it grossing you out? Because it was not meant to be that way. And really, again, when you look at it, it tends to highlight just the craziness

Anita 22:40

You know what it reminds me of? Have you ever seen the videos of where. People don't know that something's about to be thrown at them and somebody throws at the person a big piece of meat and the person's like dodging it and trying not to catch it, and they're just so grossed out. That's what a lot of people are eating on the regular. But then if they throw fruits or vegetables,

Jarrod 23:02

like throw an apple at'em and they catch it, no problem. They don't withdraw from it.

Anita 23:06

they reach out and grab it. That is our natural instinct. Why is that there? Why is it that we don't wanna reach out and grab that dead piece of animal flesh? Why is it.

Jarrod 23:18

And if I asked you that question, you'd say, because it's gross. Well, so then when we subject it to high temperatures for a certain period of time, it becomes un gross.

Anita 23:26

And then we put it in our body and it's engrossed to our body, then, I mean, that's not what we're seeing from the science. That's not what we're seeing from the lab results. The lab results.

Jarrod 23:37

And again, here, we're trying to pull the blinders away from your eyes so that you can take a step back, get a broader view. And look at this with a fresh perspective and realize that we've been lied to as far as like you need meat for protein. And I have this conversation with my patients all the time. Where am I gonna go get my protein? Same place the cow does. Same place, the elephant does

Anita 24:01

Go.

Jarrod 24:02

the gorilla, they eat plants only. They don't have a protein deficiency.

Anita 24:07

don't have a muscle problem either.

Health That Fuels Your God Given Calling

Jarrod 24:09

No, I would not get in a cage fight with the gorilla because it would win undoubtedly. So there's not really a problem here. We've just been led to believe with this repeat messaging over and over again, and now that's what we've been conditioned to believe.

Anita 24:24

The truth is we have an enemy who's behind it all. There are a lot of different ways it's happening in the world, different avenues that these lies come to you through. We go through those step-by-step inside accelerators so you can break free from the lies that have been keeping you stuck for far too long and replace them with the truth that's gonna set you free to fully live the God-given dreams that he has placed on your heart. You are here for a purpose. There is something that God wants you to do. Probably many things to accomplish in this world, but if you have to keep pushing through, trying to survive, barely treading water. To keep things afloat because your body just won't show up for you. You don't have the energy you need, you don't have the productivity you need. How are you going to accomplish your God-given dreams? What about all the people that are waiting for you to be able to do that? Your family, your friends, you know, a friend of mine blew my mind yesterday'cause I was talking to her about all these things, all these problems that eating the wrong things and not getting the right ones in our life causes and I was saying to her, you know, it's just about so much more for me and Jared than helping one person get healthy. Yes, we care about you as an individual, but when you feel good as a purpose-driven leader, there are so many people out there waiting for you that you are gonna help get set free in your zone of genius. And the enemy knows if you cannot show up to do that, those people stay stuck. So for me and Jared, we always think about, this is a kingdom movement that you're becoming a part of at Power on plants. We're not just about eating some old plant foods and getting healthy for what purpose. You have goals, you have dreams. There are people waiting on you so they can get set free, and the enemy wants to keep you stuck in all these crazy, manmade methods that make absolutely no sense.

Jarrod 26:08

So it's kind of like with the car you get a nice car, you keep it in good repair. Do you leave it in your driveway or do you let that car take you to destinations where you can now fulfill your purpose? It's the same way with our bodies. We want to keep'em healthy, and we tend to focus on the positive aspect. Meaning What will this now allow you to do in a positive sense? But in your conversation yesterday, she had a little different angle there that we hadn't thought

Anita 26:35

Oh, it blew my mind because we've always thought about what a massive kingdom movement this is. When we all band together and we stand up and say to the enemy, no more. We're sick of letting you sabotage us with all these manmade rules and ways that are keeping us stuck and exhausted and unable to fulfill our calling. So we think about the massive amount of people that that's affecting. But she said, Anita, you're leaving out something that's just as huge. What about all the people who love and care for that person that's sick? So now how many of those people. Their lives are being affected. They're being taken away from their God-given calling because they're having to spend their time and their effort caring for their family member or their friend or their coworker, or having to pick up extra slack at work because you can't show up. There's so many other people that are affected by having to care for or change their schedules around because you've been fighting what you've been fighting with your help.

Jarrod 27:28

We should absolutely help each other out. But what if you didn't have to deal with these health problems and that freed up your family and friends to be able. To live out what their calling is.

Anita 27:38

Yes. And I have so many of you say to me directly, Anita, look, one of my big things is when I grow older, I wanna live well, not just live long. So I wanna live a lot of life in my years and when I get older, I don't wanna spend my last 5, 10, 15, 20 years Not being able to do what I wanna do and having my loved ones have to take care of me, you know, there are other people that are affected too. So we definitely don't want you to stay sick for so many reasons. We wanna see you set free. And what we can tell you is the research is there, but we've experienced it in our own lives and we help our clients every day come off. Blood pressure medicines come off. Cholesterol medications. Please don't be stopping these on your own. We work with you and your local physician but it's not a difficult process and once you're free, you are going to be singing, dancing, and showing up for your people. And it's going to change so many lives. What would your life look like? Picture it 5, 10, 20 years from now. Even two months from now or one month from now, as in the case of a lot of our clients who are now dreaming and planning and going to the next level and scaling that business, doing things they never even thought they could do before because they didn't realize how good great could feel. Think about that. How good could great feel? You've forgotten. So you're getting up in the morning and you're like, yeah, I feel okay. But then when I get up, you know, my body's saying to me, it's my age, it's like, it's not your age. Like Jared said, age is not a disease. So we don't wake up and feel bad in the mornings anymore. But we used to 15 years ago, and you don't have to either.

Jarrod 29:12

What if you woke up one morning, you started implementing these changes, you started noticing improvement, and you now finally wake up in the morning with hope. Not just improvement, but you now realize I'm not stuck in this disease process for the rest of my life. I can see a reversal. I can have the energy, the aches and pains go away. Now I have hope. And maybe you have certain dreams in your life or maybe you know there are dreams coming that you have yet to realize.

Simple Next Steps And Closing

Anita 29:43

Or maybe you've been spending so much time trying to figure out how to get out of the health struggles you're in, you stop dreaming. It's time to start dreaming again. If you're thinking, I just dunno where to start. First of all, join us inside ppn@powerandplants.com slash ppn. Check out Robin's lab results and all the other incredible testimonials we have in there, plus the ideas that are going to help you get started on your whole food plant-based journey. In the lasting way, and then go ahead and grab the cookbooks right now because they're real. No-brainers. These are all of our tried and true tested favorites that are quick, simple, and delicious for those who are busy and don't have time to waste in the kitchen.

Jarrod 30:23

And if you start eating these recipes, you will get results because you're taking the steps. Even if you don't understand all the whys just yet of why it works, you will get the results because you're following the steps. So that is the first simplest, easiest thing that you could do. And tastiest I might add. It's gotta be tasty.

Anita 30:44

Visions of brownies are dancing in his head right now. You know, it's true.

Jarrod 30:48

Uh, Well, they are now might have to get Kate on that one. to make some brownies for us again.

Anita 30:56

If you've ever stood in the kitchen wishing you had the meals that were not only delicious but actually doing something great for your body. Grab your cookbooks today@poweronplants.com slash cookbook. And as always, remember, you are loved, you're prayed for, and we will see you again soon.