I too have a problem with the risk factor model being drawn from the total population of the average "Joe". Even things like age as a risk factor seem kind of silly to me. What can be done about your age? I do believe that there are populations where high LDL may be an indication of a problem and in other cases the number is meaningless. I recently took a risk factor quiz for diabetes risk. The result: I was at high risk and should call a doctor to be tested for diabetes. My age was a risk factor. My "overweight" status was too. They asked if I had ever had high blood pressure (but they didn't ask if I currently had high BP). The model was kind of a joke. I don't want to be treated for risk factors. I want to be treated for the disease (if necessary).

I don't consider the Feldman protocol a hack, per se. I didn't actually do the Feldman protocol last year when I got my stellar numbers. I sort of borrowed from it and your 'dairy free' experiment. I was dairy free and I just made sure that I ate enough extra fat to be in a well fed state in the days before the blood draw (not burning my own fat - not losing weight). My LDL was 57 on that test. Then 6 months later I was eating dairy again and in weight loss mode before another test. My LDL was 138. Is it a hack just because I know how to manipulate the number? I just feel like I know more about this as it applies to ME than my doctor does. I see it this way... some ketogenic individuals have really low LDL-C in a well fed state. The same individual can have a relatively high LDL-C when they are using their own body fat for energy. Dairy may or may not have anything to do with it. I'll be having my next cholesterol test in a month. I plan on doing the same thing I did last year -- a well fed LCHF state in the days before the test -- except that I will be eating my usual amount of dairy. I want to know if being dairy free contributed to my low numbers last year. The N=1 goes on.

Your numbers look good to me. You are a healthy man, Rob.