Your one-week diet regime

Day one

The aim is to bring your bad cholesterol levels down by increasing good HDL cholesterol and avoiding too much saturated fat. Throughout the week, use a sunflower spread instead of butter and also watch your sugar intake - more than 25g a day (a can of fizzy drink, for example) will turn into fat and then cholesterol.

If you can't conquer your craving for snacks, swap your normal biscuit for something like fig rolls, which are higher in cholesterol-busting fibre, and replace your crisps with nuts.

Instead of a breakfast bar grab a sesame-seed bar - hydrogenated fats and sugar-laden morning snacks are the worst thing you can eat, says Alli Goodbold. Sesame seeds are good sources of Omega 6s and 3s.

Day two

A bowl of Cheerios with milk isn't bad, a bowl of no-added sugar oat muesli with added nuts and low fat soya milk is super-healthy. Eight chopped almonds or walnuts with soya milk will provide half of the Omega 3s you need daily and the oats are packed with soluble fibre which encourages tummy bacteria to increase good cholesterol.

Day three

White toast and jam is nutritionally empty and the unrefined carbohydrate in the bread can end up as sugar and then cholesterol unless you have an active day ahead. Go for no-added sugar jam and wholemeal toast, which is full of insoluble fibre that binds with cholesterol to help transport it out of the body.

Day four

If you're running late, a granola bar can seem a healthy choice - but it contains as much fat as a croissant and much more sugar, so get a low fat blueberry muffin instead, a fruit that's high in polyphenols, a type of antioxidant which is most active against cholesterol.

Day five

Swap sugary fruit yoghurt for fresh fruit and yoghurt.

Day six

It's Saturday, you went to the gym, so you need something filling. Instead of your usual toast frenzy, whip up some kedgeree in the frying pan with chopped onion fried in tsp of olive oil, cooked brown rice, smoked trout or mackerel - oily fish is beneficial - and a tsp of dry curry mix.

Day seven

Eggs, as long as they're not fried, are perfect and are loaded with Omega 3s. Even better, make an omelette out of the whites.

Lunch

Day one

Cheese on white toast can contain half your day's cholesterol allowance. Instead have a Columbus Omega 3-enriched egg on wholemeal toast.

Day two

Try a wholemeal pitta with salad, houmus and felafel. Pittas typically contain two-thirds less fat than sliced bread.

Day three

The saturated fat in baked potato with chilli and cheddar can be more than two-thirds your recommended allowance. Veggy chilli and beans makes a fibre-filled alternative. The antioxidants in the chilli will stop cholesterol settling down in your arteries.

Day four

Salad dressings such as blue cheese, caesar and thousand island can be terribly fattening. Make your own dressing - Omega-3 rich Udo's Choice Oil Blend is recommended (from £8.95, call NutriCentre 020 7436 5122). Add seeds and squeeze on some fresh lemon too.

Day five

At the deli, steer clear of salami, and have a pasta dish with antioxidant-rich tomatoes, onions and basil pesto - both rich in flavonoids - and olive paste.

Day six

Buy or make some grilled Italian-style vegetables and take houmus, yoghurt or tomato-based dips with vegetable and pitta crudites.

Day seven

For a cooling cholesterol-kicking treat, chilled soups such as gazpacho, melon and cucumber, beetroot or even Scandinavian-style berry are all rich in antioxidants.

You can stick to the plan even if you take away at lunchtime. Here's our pick of the cholesterol-busters:

Starbucks pesto chicken with sunblushed tomato ciabatta, £3.85

Pret A Manger avocado salad wrap, £2.70

Boots Shapers salmon and cucumber sandwich, £1.50

Tesco's Sushi fish selection pack,195g, £1.99

Marks & Spencer Count On Us lemon Moroccan-style chicken with rice, £2.99

Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself chargrilled chicken salsa sandwich, £1.95

Dinner

Day one

There's nothing wrong with eating the occasional kebab - lamb is one of the few red meats which contains Omega 3s (the others are game meats such as venison) but make sure it's lean.

Day two

Takeaway Thai curry is often swimming in saturated palm oil, so choose a Chinese chicken stir-fry with cashew nuts instead. Cashews are high in Omega 3s, chicken is mainly polyunsaturated fat.

Day three

Love prawn fettucine with cream and lemon? Prawns, surprisingly, contain bad cholesterol, so replace with Omega-3-rich hot smoked salmon chunks with half- fat Greek yoghurt.

Day four

A typical pepperoni pizza contains more than twice the fat you should have in a day. Pizza Express's Napoletana - capers, Omega 3-rich anchovies, olives and tomato - add up to 539 calories and practically no saturated fat (without the mozzarella).

Day five

Takeaway fish and chips contain two-thirds Omega-6 fat. Salmon steaks poached in fish stock and white wine served with fennel, broccoli and creamed garden peas contains half your daily need of Omega 3, B6 and your quota of the vitamins B12, B3 and B5 which are noted for their cardiac-boosting effects.

Day six

Avoid red meat and instead try tuna steaks, full of Omega 3s.

Day seven

To make a roast healthier, add seasonal fresh herbs. Remove the saturated fat in the chicken's skin after carving.