A one-week meal plan for lowering LDL cholesterol with food. Every day includes soluble fibre from oats, barley or beans, a handful of nuts, healthy oils instead of butter, and plenty of vegetables, with oily fish twice in the week. Print it, stick it on the fridge and swap any meal for one you prefer with the same building blocks.
General information, not medical advice
This plan is for education. Portion sizes depend on your energy needs. If you have food allergies, diabetes, kidney disease or another medical condition, or take regular medicines, check with your doctor or a dietitian before making big changes to what you eat. Don't stop or change any medicine because of a diet plan.
What's in the plan
Breakfasts
Mostly oats: porridge, overnight oats and oat pancakes, plus wholegrain toast with avocado, a bran or plain oat cereal, and tofu or one egg on toast. Oats give you beta-glucan, the soluble fibre with the strongest evidence for lowering LDL.
Lunches
Soups, salads and wraps built on lentils, chickpeas, barley and bulgur, with sardines on rye crispbread once in the week. Thursday's lunch uses Tuesday's leftover chilli. See low-cholesterol lunch ideas for more.
Dinners
Salmon or mackerel twice, a half-mince, half-bean chilli, a tofu stir-fry, roast chicken without the skin, wholewheat pasta with white beans, and a homemade bean burger. More recipes are in easy low-cholesterol dinners.
Snacks
Fruit with a few nuts, low-fat yogurt, edamame, air-popped popcorn, carrot sticks with hummus and, on Sunday, two squares of 70% dark chocolate. Our low-cholesterol snacks guide has more.
How to use it
- Shop once for the week. The shopping list on the page covers every meal.
- Swap freely. Keep the building blocks (a wholegrain, beans or fish, vegetables and a healthy oil) and change the meal.
- Check labels for saturated fat. Your daily limit is about 13 g on 2,000 calories (AHA), or 20 g for women and 30 g for men (NHS).
- Keep going, then re-test. LDL responds within weeks, but give it 2 to 3 months before your next blood test. Our 30-day plan adds one change a week if a full week feels like a lot.
Sources
- American Heart Association: Saturated fat
- NHS: How to lower your cholesterol
- Jenkins DJA, et al. Effect of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods given at 2 levels of intensity of dietary advice on serum lipids in hyperlipidemia. JAMA. 2011;306(8):831–839.
- Blumenthal RS, et al. 2026 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia. JACC. 2026
Frequently asked questions
What is a good meal plan to lower cholesterol?
One that cuts saturated fat and adds soluble fibre every day: oats or barley at breakfast, beans or lentils at lunch or dinner, a handful of nuts, oily fish twice a week, olive or rapeseed oil instead of butter, and plenty of fruit and vegetables. This 7-day plan is built that way.
How quickly can a meal plan lower cholesterol?
LDL starts to fall within a few weeks of changing your diet, and most of the effect shows by 4 to 12 weeks. Re-test after 2 to 3 months to see the full change.
Can I eat eggs on a cholesterol-lowering meal plan?
Yes, in moderation. For most people saturated fat raises LDL more than the cholesterol in eggs. The plan includes one egg on Friday as an option.
Is the meal plan free to print and share?
Yes. Download the A4 or US Letter PDF, print as many copies as you like and share the link with anyone who might find it useful.
Follow a plan in the app
Heart Tracker’s free 30-day LDL Reset gives you one change at a time, counts saturated fat and fibre in everything you log, and charts your LDL from each test so you can see your numbers move. Free on iPhone, no account needed.
- 30-day LDL Reset
- Can I eat this? scanner
- LDL & HDL trends
