A heart-healthy diet is delicious and varied — rich in vegetables and fruits, with whole grains, high-fiber foods, lean meats and poultry, fish at least twice a week, and fat-free or 1% fat dairy products. By learning to make smart choices — whether you're cooking at home or eating out — you can enjoy flavorful foods while making heart healthy choices.

Know and limit your fats.
Unsaturated fats don't contribute to your cholesterol level the way saturated and trans fats do, but you should still limit the amount you consume. 

Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated or trans fat.
Most meats have about the same amount of cholesterol, roughly 70 milligrams in each three-ounce cooked serving (about the size of a deck of cards). The American Heart Association recommends eating no more than six ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, fish, or seafood a day.

Eat at least two servings of fish each week.

• Fish can be fatty or lean, but it's still low in saturated fat.
• Recent research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout, and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.
• Prepare fish baked, broiled, grilled, or boiled rather than breaded and fried.

Select fat-free, 1% fat, and low-fat dairy products.

• Minimize your intake of whole-fat dairy products such as butter, whole milk, and 2% milk, as well as full-fat dairy products (yogurt and cheeses).
• If you drink whole or 2% milk or use full-fat dairy products, gradually switch to fat-free, low-fat, or reduced-fat dairy products.
• Look for fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese, part-skim milk mozzarella, ricotta, and other fat-free or low-fat cheeses.

Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.

• Use liquid vegetable oils and soft margarines in place of hard margarine or shortening.
• Limit cakes, cookies, crackers, pastries, pies, muffins, doughnuts, and French fries made with partially hydrogenated or saturated fats.

Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol.

• Try to eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol each day.
• Some common cholesterol-containing foods include whole eggs (about 200 mg per yolk), shellfish (50 to 100 mg per ½ cup), “organ” meats such as liver (375 mg per 3 oz), and whole milk (30 mg per cup).
• Egg whites don't contain cholesterol and are good protein sources, so they're fine. In fact, you can substitute two egg whites for each egg yolk in many recipes that call for eggs.

Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars. 
Many snack foods and beverages have added sugars. Cut back on added sugars to lower your total calorie intake and help control your weight. These foods also tend to be low in vitamins and minerals, but their calories add up quickly. In addition, drinking calorie-containing beverages may not make you feel full, which could tempt you to consume more than you need and add to your weight.

Choose and prepare foods with little or no sodium. 
Too much sodium in your diet can increase your risk of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure can increase your risk of heart attack, heart disease, and stroke.

Salt is just one source of the sodium you consume every day. Many processed foods contain sodium in other forms, too. Some medicines are high in sodium. Be aware of all your sources of sodium and aim to consume less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day.

Cholesterol, fiber, and oat bran
Fiber is classified as "soluble" or "insoluble." When regularly eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, soluble fiber has been shown to help lower blood cholesterol and may also help reduce the risk of diabetes and colon and rectal cancer. The American Heart Association recommends that you eat at least 25–30 grams of dietary fiber — in both soluble and insoluble forms — every day. The more calories you require to meet your daily needs, the more dietary fiber you need. Try to eat at least 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories you consume.

Source: American Heart Association