Need to lower your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raise your HDL (“good”) cholesterol? You may be able to do it by changing your diet. The main strategies are losing weight and avoiding the saturated fats in meat and dairy products and the dangerous trans fatty acids used in commercially produced foods (they’re vegetable oils to which hydrogen has been added to make them more solid). But consider these tips to hurry things along:

1. Eat oatmeal: Consuming 5 to 10 grams of soluble fiber a day can lower LDL by about 5%. A cup and a half of cooked oatmeal gives you about 4.5 grams of soluble fiber, and you can get more from kidney beans (3 grams in 1/2 cup), Brussels sprouts (3 grams in 1?2 cup), pears (2 grams in a medium pear), psyllium (5 grams in one tablespoon), and prunes (1 1/2 grams in 1/4 cup).

2. Munch on walnuts: About 1/3 of a cup daily (240 calories) can cut LDL cholesterol by 12%, providing you’re on a 1,200-calorie-per-day cholesterol-cutting diet.

3. Eat more beans: Just 1/2 cup of pinto beans daily (toss them in salads) can lower LDL by 8%, according to a 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture study.

4. Go low-carb: Cutting out cookies, candies, and other sweets (substitute fiber, fruits, and vegetables) can boost your HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels by about 10%.

5. Take a hike: Aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming) can increase HDL cholesterol, but for physical activity to pay off you’ve got to work out for at least two hours a week and burn 900 calories while you’re at it. If you can manage that, a 2007 Japanese analysis of 25 studies found that you could push your HDL up high enough to reduce men’s heart disease risk by 5% and women’s by 7.6%.

6. Talk to your doctor: If lifestyle changes don’t help get your cholesterol down to desired levels, talk to your doctor about alternatives, possibly medications. The National Institutes of Health suggests aiming for a total cholesterol level of less than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) of blood and an HDL above 60 mg/dL. Ideally, your LDL should be below 100 mg/dL, but if you have no other risk factors for heart disease and your total cholesterol and HDL are within desirable limits, an LDL between 100 and 129 mg/dL is considered acceptable.