Bland. Boring. Tasteless. Those are just some of the words that pop into the mind of most people when they think about low cholesterol foods.

But not all cholesterol lowering foods fit that description. A low cholesterol diet doesn’t have to mean the end of interesting, tasty meals. Cholesterol lowering meals can include delicious foods, prepared in ways that may be new to you. There is lots of room for creativity and exploring interesting options you’ve never experienced.

One of the first things to keep in mind about a heart-healthy, low-cholesterol diet is that cholesterol appears mainly in animal products.

As you’re undoubtedly aware, red meat from beef contains a lot of cholesterol. There’s less in poultry, but still a lot more than fish. Certain kinds of fish, especially salmon, contain nutrients that actually lower the levels of cholesterol in your bloodstream. If you can eat fish instead of red meat several times a week, you’ll be well on your way to keeping your cholesterol under control.

How you prepare meat and fish also makes a difference. Frying (especially deep-frying) is far less desirable than grilling, broiling, boiling, baking, or sautéing. You should also trim visible fat from red meat, and remove as much skin as possible from poultry.

The major alternatives to meat, of course, are vegetables and fruits. Some of these may already be part of your diet: lettuce, tomatoes, corn, bananas, apples, plums, peaches, etc. But if you spend some time roaming the produce aisle of your grocery store (or your local farmer’s market), you’ll undoubtedly notice veggies you’ve probably ignored before. Many grocery stores now offer foods that probably weren’t on their shelves when you were growing up and developing your favorites.

You may be afraid to experiment with unfamiliar vegetables because you don’t know how to cook them, and what other foods they complement. This is where the Internet and cable TV can give you plenty of help. The “food gurus” on all the cooking shows are always suggesting new and interesting ideas. And you can always type the names of various vegetables into a search engine which will return links to dozens if not hundreds of recipes containing those ingredients.

It’s also true for foods in the grain and nut categories. Most of these contain little or no cholesterol (there are a few exceptions among the nuts). So breads and cereals made from whole grains and nuts are good choices for anyone trying to lower their cholesterol.

For years, a lot of people avoided egg yolks because they were supposedly high in cholesterol. But recent research has found that yolks are generally okay. Of course, you can always go with egg whites or cholesterol-free egg substitutes if you wish.

In summary, your choices are many and varied when it comes to finding low cholesterol foods that are tasty as well as being healthy.

For information related to this article, click on cholesterol free foods.

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