High Cholesterol? Eat These 5 Foods To Beat It Back

High cholesterol is one of those health problems that can creep up on you. You can’t feel it and you can't always see it -- while being overweight is certainly a risk factor for the condition, being skinny is no insurance against it. In fact, you could be going about your business, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight, until one day you go to the doctor, and -- BAM -- find out your unexpected high cholesterol diagnosis is caused by your diet.

Thankfully you can easily decrease your cholesterol level by making a few not-so-painful diet adjustments. High cholesterol is caused by the build up of low density lipoproteins in the walls of your arteries, according to the Mayo Clinic. Foods high in fiber and omega 3s reduce this fatty buildup.

Harvard Medical School's publication, HEALTHbeat, has recently compiled a list of five foods that help lower your cholesterol. Below is a slideshow of their picks.