What this means is that you should make cholesterol-friendly food choices easier on yourself than bad-for-you choices. That way you are far more likely to reach for low-fat, healthy foods over the next 30 days - and for life! - and are less likely to cheat on your new eating plan. There are several ways to set yourself up for cholesterol-lowering success:

1) Get rid of bad-for-you foods and temptations. If you keep cookies, fried foods, and other temptations around, you are more likely to turn to them when you are feeling hungry. As soon as you learn from your doctor that you need to take care about what you eat because of elevated cholesterol, go through your home and get rid of the foods that you should be eliminating or cutting back on.

Give them away to a friend or food bank, if you can. Replace your foods with lower-fat or healthier alternatives. Also get rid of any fliers, advertisements, or menus from take-out places and restaurants. If these things are not in your home, you are far less likely to be tempted by them.

2) Make your kitchen a heart-healthy place. If you have a deep-fryer, give it away. Invest in parchment paper, no-stick cooking ware, a rice steamer, wok, or other appliances and gadgets that make heart-healthy and low-fat cooking more likely. You do not have to invest a lot of money for this. Just buying parchment paper (for lining cooking sheets) and getting rid of appliances that are only for high-fat cooking is often enough to make good low-fat cooking almost automatic.

While you are cleaning out your kitchen, try to find ways to make cooking in your kitchen more appealing. Hang up some nice curtains or at least get rid of the clutter. If your kitchen is an enticing place to cook, you are more likely to cook at home rather than being tempted to eat out.

3) Eat in. For the next 30 days, as you work to lower your cholesterol, you should eat in and eat foods you have prepared yourself almost all the time. Prepared foods and foods you buy from take-out restaurants and in dining areas do not give you as much control over ingredients and preparation. When you make your meals yourself, you can easily reduce how much fats and sodium goes into each meal.

4) Get lots of appealing heart-healthy foods into your kitchen. If you make healthy foods more attractive and visible, you are more likely to reach for them when you are hungry. Buy pretty hanging bowls for your citrus fruits and vegetables instead of hiding them in your crisper. Covered mesh containers are available for fruits - these containers allow fruits to ripen and stay visible, but prevent fruit flies.

5) Consider taking a heart-healthy cooking class. Many community centers and cooking schools now offer cost-effective cooking classes in cholesterol-friendly and heart-healthy foods. This can be an excellent way to make healthy eating fun - especially if you feel out of place in a kitchen. You will learn many recipes and cooking tips for heart-healthy eating, and have the opportunity to spend time with others who are concerned about heart health. Plus, once you learn to cook healthy and delicious meals, you may find that you enjoy cooking and prefer the taste of healthy low-fat foods more!

6) Plan your cholesterol-lowering meal once a week. Most of us plan our days and our finances, but we often leave eating to chance. This can make heart-healthy eating more difficult. After a long day at work, it can be too daunting to come up with a menu and then cook a meal from scratch. Choose one day a week to plan your entire eating menu and then go shopping for the ingredients you will need for the upcoming week. This will ensure that you have all the fresh ingredients and healthy meal ideas you need, so that there is no excuse to turn to convenience food.

7) Get help in the kitchen. Whether you get help from a roommate, child, or spouse, cooking with someone else tends to be more fun. If you can’t find someone to help you, then find some way to make cooking time more fun - listen to music or watch a movie on a portable DVD player as you cook, and cooking time will fly by and you prepare nutritious and cholesterol-lowering meals for yourself.