When shopping around, choose leaner cuts of poultry, such as chicken and turkey, which are lower in saturated fat than duck or goose and will help lower cholesterol.

 To benefit even further from choosing good, lean meats, try turkey instead of chicken. Turkey is lower in fat than chicken by about 75 percent.

 Choosing turkey bacon and ground turkey burger over their pork and beef counterparts is always a good idea. The poultry meats are usually lower in saturated fat. Be sure to check the label on the poultry before buying because ground turkey tends to have a lot of dark meat and fat. Pick a lean, light cut of turkey meat and have the butcher grind it at the deli. This way, you'll know exactly what you're buying.

 Dark meat contains more than twice as much fat as white meat, so always reach for white meat first. The breast meat is the leanest of these. Many people even prefer the flavor of white meat over the flavor of dark meat.

 And of course, always make sure the poultry you choose is fresh looking. It should not have signs of drying, discoloration, bruises, or blemishes. Poultry should always be kept cold to prevent bacterial contamination. It should be cold when you touch it. Make cold meats one of the last things you put in your cart when grocery shopping.

 Don't eat the skin of the poultry when trying to lower cholesterol. Most of the fat in poultry is stored in and under the skin of the bird, as opposed to beef, where it is marbled all throughout the meat. When the skin is removed, the fat is reduced by as much as 40-50 percent, which will help reduce your cholesterol level!

 When cooking a whole bird, the skin can be kept on while it cooks and removed before eating, or it can be removed before being cooked. For those who are in a time crunch, skip the skin and go straight to the skinless poultry at the store to avoid having to remove the skin yourself.

 Broiling, baking, grilling, and steaming poultry are all better options than frying. These methods release more of the fats that are stored and hidden on the meat.

 Use a nonstick pan to cook poultry or use vegetable oil or cooking spray to keep the poultry from sticking to the pan. These choices are much better to keep the bird from sticking than butter, shortening, or other fats that become solid at room temperature.

 The total amount of poultry you should eat each day is 5 ounces or less because even the leanest poultry still has some saturated fat. And each little bit of saturated fat adds up to high cholesterol levels and big heart problems!

Keep cholesterol levels low by carefully choosing and preparing poultry, and you will find yourself looking and feeling healthier. Once these simple changes are made in the kitchen, they will become second nature while cooking. And the lower-fat flavors will be heart healthy as well as delicious to eat!
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