DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I went to my doctor a couple of months ago and was told that my cholesterol was high. I had been eating a lot of fried foods at fast-food restaurants without thinking about what I was doing. I thought I could exercise my way to health. Now I eat a lot of fiber and drink coffee with soy milk. Please write the ways one can lower cholesterol. I had a big shock when my mother passed away. Maybe my immune system shut down. – A.R.

ANSWER: I’m sorry to hear your mother died, but her death didn’t shut down your immune system. The immune system has little to do with cholesterol.

You can lower your cholesterol by changing to a diet based on whole grains, fruits and vegetables. There is no cholesterol in any plant product, and this kind of diet emphasizes plant food and de-emphasizes meat and fats. Most of the cholesterol in our blood comes from our liver’s production of it. Fats stimulate the liver to produce cholesterol. Saturated fats are especially bad. Saturated fats are the fats in meats, in whole milk and in products made from whole milk. Low-fat milk is fine. Soy milk is even better. Trans fats are even worse than saturated fats. They’re the fats found in many commercial baked goods. You must become a food-label reader. Trans fat content is now listed on all food labels. You can use monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, found in things like olive oil and canola oil.

Oats and oat bran lower cholesterol, as do soy products.

Forgo fast foods, or be quite discriminating when you eat at fast-food restaurants. Stay away from deep-fried foods. Trans fats are often used in frying those foods.

In four to six weeks have your cholesterol checked again. You should see a marked drop if you make the above changes. If you don’t see a drop, you might need medicines to lower your cholesterol.