Have you been told you have high cholesterol? It's becoming a much more common problem these days and the good news is that with healthy diet and exercise most people can lower their cholesterol naturally. As you start looking around for the right type of diet to follow, it can be confusing. There are so many mixed messages about what foods to eat and what to avoid. A lot of people just give up in frustration!But there are a few good guidelines to go by that will help get results.

First of all eliminate fried foods from your diet. Frying foods might add to the flavor, but it also adds to your heart attack risk. Instead of frying experiment with other methods of cooking. Steaming, poaching, baking with just as light spray of oil or stir frying in stock . All these methods of cooking will help you reduce the amount of calories and fats you take in straight away.

Second, change to skim milk dairy products and those with plant sterols added to them. Plant sterols are added to some margarine's and milk products. They taste just fine and you simply use them instead of full cream products. Studies have shown that using these products will have a measurable effect on reducing your cholesterol within a few weeks.

Third, make vegetables, particularly green ones, and fruits the basis of your diet. Eat a large green salad at lease once every day. Try out new recipes for vegetables and eat 3-4 different colored vegetables each day with your evening meal. Snack on fruit or vegetable sticks instead of processed, sugary foods and you will be doing your heart a favor! In winter make vegetable soups. Try juicing your vegetables in the mornings to get even more nutrition. Carrot and celery or apple juice with breakfast will give you a good boost of nutrition and green juices are good too.

When choosing good foods to lower cholesterol naturally it is best to remember that the more natural they are the better. Processed foods have added fats and sugar and often have the fiber removed. Eat a plant based diet with small quantities of low fat meat and you will soon see results.Planning a low cholesterol diet menu need not be difficult. You need some good information about nutrition and health and some sample food plans to get you started. You might need to try some different cooking methods and be organized, but lowering your cholesterol naturally with diet is possible.