Dr. Prabhat AryaMBBS, MD (Internal Medicine) · DMC Reg. No. DMC-83759drprabhatarya.com

Reviewed by Dr. Prabhat Arya, MD (Internal Medicine) on 29 September 2026

Diet chart for high cholesterol

The kind of fat you eat matters more than the cholesterol in food. Ordinary Indian home food, with less ghee, no vanaspati and more fibre, helps your tablets work.

½ Vegetables and salad ¼ Dal, paneer, curd, egg, fish, chicken ¼ Roti, rice or millet
  1. Change the fat: use mustard, groundnut, rice-bran or soybean oil, measured. Keep ghee and butter small, and never use vanaspati (dalda).
  2. Eat fibre every day: dal, chana, rajma, oats, whole grains, vegetables and whole fruit help carry cholesterol out.
  3. Cut sugar, maida and alcohol. They raise triglycerides, the other bad fat in the blood.

Eat more

  • Vegetables of every colour: lauki, tori, bhindi, palak, methi, beans, carrot, cabbage
  • Dal, chana, rajma, lobia, sprouts, soya
  • Oats, dalia, bajra, jowar, ragi, atta with chokar
  • Whole fruit, twice a day: guava, apple, orange, pear, papaya
  • A small handful of nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, flaxseed, peanuts
  • Fish, grilled or in curry, once or twice a week, for those who eat it

Eat less, and measure

  • Cooking oil and ghee together: 4 to 5 teaspoons per person for the whole day
  • Ghee and butter: at most one teaspoon a day, within that total
  • Full-cream milk, malai, paneer: use toned milk; paneer a small katori
  • Eggs: one whole egg a day is fine for most; extra whites are free
  • Mutton and chicken with skin: small portions, once or twice a week
  • Coconut in chutney and curry: a little

Avoid

  • Vanaspati, dalda, margarine, and oil reused for frying
  • Fried snacks: samosa, pakora, bhature, namkeen, chips
  • Bakery items: puffs, cakes, pastries, cream biscuits, khari
  • Processed meat: sausage, salami, bacon
  • Sugar, sweets, cold drinks, packaged juice
  • Alcohol and all tobacco

A sample day

Vegetarian first; the swap is for those who eat eggs, fish or chicken.

On waking
Water. Tea with toned milk and little sugar. 2 walnut halves or 4 soaked almonds
Breakfast
One bowl of oats or vegetable dalia with toned milk or curd, or two moong chillaSwap: Omelette of one whole egg and two whites, with one multigrain roti
Mid-morning
One fruit: guava, apple or orange
Lunch
Salad. A big katori of sabzi, a katori of dal or rajma, two rotis or one roti with a small katori of rice, curd from toned milkSwap: Fish curry in place of dal
Evening
Tea with roasted chana, makhana roasted in a drop of oil, or sprouts chaatSwap: A boiled egg white
Dinner, by 8 pm
Sabzi, dal or a little paneer, one or two rotis. Lighter than lunchSwap: Grilled fish or chicken without skin, with sabzi
Bedtime
A small glass of toned milk, if you like

Common myths

Refined oil is "cholesterol-free", so it is safe in any amount.
All oils are fat. Measure every oil.
Desi ghee is good for the heart.
Ghee is mostly saturated fat. Keep it to a teaspoon.
Thin people do not get high cholesterol.
Many thin Indians do. Only a blood test tells.
Garlic or arjun bark can replace the tablets.
They cannot. Never stop a tablet without asking your doctor.

Dr. Arya’s note for you

This is general advice for adults. If you also have diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease, also follow that chart; where they differ, the stricter limit wins. When in doubt, ask Dr. Arya.