September is National Cholesterol Education Month, and a good time to remember that controlling your cholesterol helps keep your heart healthy. High cholesterol is a major risk factor for the leading killer of Americans, coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol is important in the body's metabolism, serving as the base for various steroid hormones and as a normal component of bile. However, too much cholesterol can clog blood vessels and arteries.

Limiting saturated fat in the diet is the best way to reduce blood cholesterol levels. This can be done by choosing foods naturally low in total fat and high in starch and fiber, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Connie Bloedel, R.D., a nutritionist at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay, offers these additional tips to help keep your cholesterol in check:

• Eat less saturated fat, and fat overall
• Use modest amounts of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat, if necessary.
• When you do eat fat, substitute unsaturated fats -- either polyunsaturated or monounsaturated -- for saturated fats.

Saturated fats are found in tropical oils such as coconut oil, palm or palm kernel oil, and meat fats such as lard, butter, cream and other high-fat dairy products.

Polyunsaturated fats are found in fish oils and vegetable oils such as corn, safflower, sunflower, soy and walnut oils. This type of fat may lower both the good cholesterol (HDL) and the bad cholesterol (LDL).

Monounsaturated fats are found in olives and olive oil, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, avocados, and canola oil. This type of oil lowers the bad cholesterol (LDL) without lowering the good cholesterol (HDL). Monounsaturated fat is the more heart healthy type of fat.

National Cholesterol Education Month is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP). The NCEP has created a special website which offers easy-to-understand information about the prevention and treatment of high cholesterol. Check it out at www.nhlbi.nih.gov/chd/.