If you're trying to keep your cholesterol in check, what should you eat?

Harvard HEALTHbeat offers some dietary options for lowering your cholesterol:

• Oats. An easy first step to improving your cholesterol is having a bowl of oatmeal or cold oat-based cereal like Cheerios for breakfast.

• Barley and other whole grains can also help lower the risk of heart disease.

• Beans. Beans are especially rich in soluble fiber. They also take awhile for the body to digest, meaning you feel full for longer after a meal.

• Eggplant and okra are low-calorie vegetables that are good sources of soluble fiber.

• Nuts. Studies show that eating almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and other nuts is good for the heart. Eating two ounces of nuts a day can lower LDL by about 5 percent. Nuts have additional nutrients that protect the heart.

• Vegetable oils. Using liquid vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, safflower, and others in place of butter, lard, or shortening helps lower LDL.

• Apples, grapes, strawberries, citrus fruits. These fruits are rich in pectin, a type of soluble fiber.

• Fatty fish. Eating fish two or three times a week can lower LDL.