Sometimes, high cholesterol can be lowered naturally. Eating a diet rich in fiber and lower in fat can increase your HDL cholesterol and lower your LDL cholesterol. However, some people follow the proper diet, exercise, and do everything they need to be doing but still have high cholesterol — and high LDL in particular. One of the reasons for this is you can inherit high cholesterol. So, if one or more of your family members has high cholesterol, your risk for having it increases.