Changing your diet and making good food choices can have a significant impact on lowering your cholesterol to a healthy level and help you stay off medications.

Researchers have found that eating certain "functional foods" have proven to make a big impact on your cholesterol levels. Studies have shown that combining these "superfoods" may work as well as some cholesterol-lowering medicines to reduce your "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.

The evidence is strong enough that even the FDA has given the certain foods the status of a "health claim" for managing cholesterol.

Many people can't handle or are concerned about the side effects from cholesterol drugs. Focusing on diet gives them an inexpensive and simple option.

However, eating the right foods won’t allow you to eat more of the high-fat foods. It is imperative to cut back most saturated and trans fats, because saturated fats raise your total cholesterol. Trans fats, which can be found in some store-bought cookies, crackers and cakes, are particularly bad for your cholesterol levels because they raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL), "good" cholesterol.

Limit your daily intake of calories to less than 10 percent from saturated fat, and eliminate as many trans fats from your diet as possible.

In addition to a healthful diet, watch your weight, and become more physically active.
Always consult with your health professional to manage high cholesterol. Find out if you will be able to reduce or eliminate your heart medication.

Here’s a helpful list of cholesterol-lowering foods:

1. Foods with fibre. Apple pectin is a soluble fibre that helps draw cholesterol out of the system. The flavonoids in apples act as a powerful anti-oxidant that seems to short-circuit the process that leads “bad” LDL cholesterol to accumulate in the bloodstream.

2. Beans and vegetables are an excellent source of soluble fibre and high in vegetable protein. By combing beans with brown rice, seeds, corn and wheat, you can create a complete protein. Properly combined beans become an excellent substitute for red meat protein that is high in saturated fat. Always choose foods made with whole grain.

3. Brown Rice: The oil in whole brown rice, not its fibre, lowers cholesterol. Brown rice can be combined with beans to form an inexpensive complete protein low in saturated fat. This whole grain also supplies good doses of heart-healthy fiber, magnesium and B vitamins.

4. Cinnamon: A study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day significantly reduces blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It also reduces triglyceride, LDL, the bad cholesterol and the total cholesterol level.

5. Garlic contains the chemical allicin, which has shown to kill bacteria and fungi, and alleviate certain digestive disorders. It also lowers the blood clotting properties of blood. But the most notably health benefit in garlic is its possible usefulness in lowering cholesterol levels.

6. Grapes: Flavonoids in grapes protect LDL cholesterol from free radical damage and reduce platelet clumping. The LDL lowering effect of grapes comes from a compound that grapes produce to resist mold. The darker the grape, the better.

7. Oatmeal and oat bran contains soluble fibre, which reduces your LDL. Five to 10 grams of soluble fibre each day decreases LDL cholesterol by about 5 percent. Eating 1.5 cups of cooked oatmeal provides 4.5 – 6 grams of fibre. If you add fruit, such as bananas, you'll add about 4 more grams of fibre.

8. Salmon and other fish containing omega-3 fatty acids. Research shows that Omega-3 fatty acids also help the heart in other ways such as reducing blood pressure and the risk of blood clots. In people who have already had heart attacks, fish oil, or omega-3 fatty acids, significantly reduces the risk of sudden death. The American Heart Association recommends that people include at least two servings of fish/week, particularly fatty fish. The highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids are in mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon. Bake or grill fish. If you don't like fish, you can also get omega-3 fatty acids from foods like ground flaxseed. Or look for omega-3 fatty acids added to eggs and spreads.

9. Soy: The top health promoting components in soybeans are isoflavones and soluble fibre. Isoflavones act like human hormone that can lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol. Foods such as soybeans, soy nuts, tofu, tempeh, and soy milk are complete proteins. Note: Always used non-GMO soy products.

10. Walnuts can significantly reduce blood cholesterol because they are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Walnuts also help keep blood vessels healthy and elastic. Almonds appear to have a similar effect, resulting in a marked improvement within just four weeks. A cholesterol-lowering diet with a little less than 1/3 of a cup of walnuts/day or 20 percent of the daily calories may reduce LDL cholesterol by 12 percent. But all nuts are high in calories, so a handful (no more than 2 ounces or 57 grams) will do. As with any food, eating too much can cause weight gain, and being overweight places you at higher risk of heart disease.

11. Olive Oil contains a potent mix of antioxidants that can lower your LDL cholesterol but leave your HDL cholesterol untouched. The Food and Drug Administration recommends about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day to get its heart-healthy benefits. To add olive oil to your diet, you can sauté vegetables with it, add it to a marinade, or mix it with vinegar as a salad dressing. You can also use olive oil as a substitute for butter when basting meat. Some research suggests that the cholesterol-lowering effects of olive oil are even greater if you choose extra-virgin olive oil, because the oil is less processed and contains more heart-healthy antioxidants. But avoid "light" olive oils, because usually the so-called light oil is more processed and lighter in color, not fat or calories.

12. Foods fortified with plant sterols or stanols, To cut high cholesterol, look for spreads and foods with plant sterols/stanols, which are substances found in plants that help block the absorption of cholesterol. Orange juice and yogurt drinks fortified with plant sterols can help reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent. The amount of daily plant sterols needed for results is at least 2 grams, which equals about two 8-ounce servings of plant sterol-fortified orange juice a day.