Changing your diet is a lifestyle change that will lead to lowering your cholesterol. There is no shortage of diets on the market today to help you do this.

Eating more plant-based foods will help to lower your cholesterol. Foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes are great good substitutes for high cholesterol foods. If you are wondering which foods are low in saturated fats and calories, cereals, breads, and other whole grains are good to start with. Dry beans, peas, and pasta are usually high in starch and fiber. Six to eleven servings of foods from this group each day is recommended. If you have high triglycerides and/or low HDL (the "good" cholesterol), keeping your carbohydrate intake below 60 percent of total calories is recommended to maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Decreasing the cholesterol levels in the bloodstream is the goal. If you consume excess carbohydrates, your liver will increase its production of cholesterol, causing increased levels of cholesterol in the blood. And you do not want this.

If you follow a diet regimen that allows low animal product intake, your cholesterol levels should improve. Since a lot of animal products are high in cholesterol and saturated fats, they should be consumed in moderate amounts. Saturated fats will actually raise your blood cholesterol level more than simply eating cholesterol itself. Some foods that are high in cholesterol or saturated fat include some meats like red meat with visible fat, organ meat, processed meat like bologna and salami, duck, goose and other high-fat meats such as bacon and sausage. Other foods that are high in cholesterol and saturated fats are butter, egg yolks, cheese and yes even ice cream. Lowering your cholesterol level can be done by eating these types of foods in moderation.

Another diet avenue that you can consider taking to lower your cholesterol is to decrease the amount of trans fat you consume. Trans fatty acid (trans fat), has also been shown to increase the level of LDL ("bad" cholesterol), although not as much as saturated fats. Trans fat will also lower your HDL levels. This is the good cholesterol. An easy way for you to see if a food contains trans fat is to look at the ingredient list on the food label. If words like shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or hydrogenated vegetable oil are on the list, the food contains trans fat. The ingredients are listed on the label in descending order of predominance. Located near the bottom of the list, this is where the smaller amounts are listed. It is also listed on the label under "fat". The amount of trans fat that is contained in the product is often listed just after the saturated fat. Salad dressing, vegetable shortening, sweets, baked goods, and fried foods all contain trans fat. These types of foods should be avoided or at least consumed in very moderate amounts.