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

Not all cholesterol lowering foods are like that. A low cholesterol diet doesn't mean you'll never again enjoy interesting, tasty meals. Meals that are low in cholesterol can include delicious foods, made in ways that may be new to you. There is endless room for experimentation while you're learning to love tastes you've never experienced.

Trrue, tt will be hard to cut back on food that comes from animals if you're used to eating a lot of them. But remember, cholesterol comes mainly from animal-based foods, so your first step will be to look for other choices.

As you're probably aware, there's a lot of cholesterol in red meat. Poultry contains less, but still a lot more than is found in fish. Certain kinds of fish, particularly salmon, contain nutrients that  actually reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood. If you can replace red meat in your diet with fish several times a week, you'll be well on your way to keeping your cholesterol under control.

How you prepare meat and fish matters too. Frying (especially deep-frying) is far less desirable than grilling, broiling, boiling, baking, or sautéing.

It's also a good idea to trim visible fat from red meat, and remove as much skin as you can from poultry.

The alternate options, of course, are vegetables and fruits. Some of these are probably already 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. You can get dozens of fruits and vegetables in grocery stores now that probably weren't available when you were younger. Look around and you're bound to spot things you've never even tasted.

You may be afraid to try unfamiliar vegetables because you don't know the best way to prepare them, and what other foods go with them. This is where the Internet and cable TV can give you plenty of support. The "food gurus" on all the cooking shows make their living coming up with new and interesting ideas. And you can always type the names of unusual vegetable choices into a search engine, which will return information on dozens if not hundreds of recipes containing those ingredients.

The same is true for foods in the grain and nut categories. Most of these contain little or no cholesterol (there are a few exceptions in the nut category). So whole grain breads and cereals are good choices for keep your cholesterol in line.

For years, a lot of people avoided egg yolks because they supposedly had high concentrations of cholesterol. But recent research has found that yolks are generally okay. Of course, you can certainly stick 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 or cholesterol-free foods that are tasty and healthy at the same time. For additional tips, articles and information, click on cholesterol health .